3 effective ways to practice English listening at home

Are you facing a situation where you practice listening but don't understand anything? Do you spend countless hours listening to English but your scores don't improve? The reason for this problem is undoubtedly that you have been listening in the wrong way. How can you achieve effective English Listening Practice? In the following article, PREP will share with you the most effective methods to practice English listening and quickly increase your listening scores.

I. Understand the reasons why you can't hear English clearly

1. Incorrect pronunciation

The first reason why you can't hear English clearly is that your pronunciation is not accurate. In many cases, you hear each word or some specific words, but you can't understand what people are saying or the meaning behind their words. The simple reason for this is that you are not familiar with the correct pronunciation of those words.

2. Insufficient vocabulary or grammar

In some cases, there are words that you hear but you are unable to understand their meanings. It's understandable if there are one or two words that you don't know, but if around 30-40% of the words in a sentence are unfamiliar to you, then you won't be able to grasp the meaning of that sentence.

3. Insufficient information processing speed

In some cases, many people have difficulty processing information quickly. This has nothing to do with your ears, as your ears can hear the sounds, but you haven't processed the information fast enough to understand it before the conversation moves on to another topic.

II. Some tips to practice English listening effectively

Here are three effective ways to enhance your English Listening Practice, which are simple and worth considering if you are experiencing difficulties when listening to IELTS Listening exercises!

1. Practice accurate pronunciation

The first effective way to improve English listening skills is to practice accurate pronunciation. Here are a few steps you can take to achieve accurate pronunciation:

• Open the transcript and listen to the audio again to identify the words you can't hear. Mark each word that you can't hear.

• Look up the pronunciation of each word in a dictionary, listen to the audio sample, and imitate it. Pay attention to stress and final sounds.

• Repeat each word you can't hear 1000 times to train your mouth. Once you pronounce it correctly, you will be able to hear it accurately.

2. Enhance vocabulary and grammar for effective listening

The next effective way for English Listening Practice is to enhance vocabulary and grammar. To improve your vocabulary and grammar, you can study the transcript to grasp the knowledge. Additionally, if there are any grammar structures that you don't know or understand, you should look them up to gain a deeper and broader understanding.

For vocabulary improvement, you need to learn all the words in the listening material, except for specialized or technical terms that usually appear in Section 4. You should aim to understand 100% of the words used in the questions. For new words, use a dictionary and create a separate notebook for reviewing. Review each vocabulary word about 5 times at the following intervals:

• After 1 hour

• After 1 day

• After 3 days

• After 1 week

• After 1 month

If you forget a word during any of these review sessions, start again from the first session. To achieve effective English listening practice, you cannot be lazy. However, if you diligently enhance your vocabulary, you will have a high chance of success.

3. Develop the habit of quick comprehension

The final effective way for English Listening Practice is to develop the habit of quick comprehension. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Trying to accurately guess the context will help you listen effectively. Pay attention to the words used in the questions, as they can help you understand the conversation.

• If the conversation is too fast for you, you can use slow-down software, typically set to around 0.7-0.8 speed, to give yourself an additional 20% thinking time without the speech being distorted.

• However, the most important aspect is your commitment and perseverance. If you don't understand something in the listening, listen to it again, but firmly refuse to let the knowledge slip away in vain, treating it like watching a movie or listening to music. This feeling may be a bit uncomfortable, but if you overcome it, the results will be very rewarding after 1-3 months.

In terms of frequency, it's important to maintain daily listening practice, ranging from 30 minutes to 300 minutes, depending on your specific needs. The achievement you will gain is the ability to understand every word and achieve a high band score. Now you have a clear understanding of these three effective ways to improve your English listening skills, right?

III. Conclusion

The aforementioned effective methods for English listening practice will help you conquer any listening tests, especially in IELTS Listening. PREP wishes you effective preparation for the IELTS exam and the achievement of high band scores in real test scenarios!