Listening is one of the most important skills when it comes to learning English, especially for
beginners. Actually, listening plays a significant role in language development for learners. If you
still struggle with this important skill, keep reading on. To find out the best listening methods, it
makes sense to examine some common challenges in the learning process.
Firsly, listening is the ability to hear and understand what other people say. It is also the basic skill
that we have in learning language because we listen before we speak. Just take the example of the
babies. Before they can talk with their parents, they only give signs when they want to
communicate with them by crying. They only listen to the speech or sounds that close to them. By
the time, they gain all of knowledge and information from the people near them. Besides, lack of
English words is probably the number one reason why you cannot fully understand what you
hear. Languages are formed by words, so without words you can do nothing. If the number of
unfamiliar words is too big, it may be hard for you to understand the given message.
Secondly, learners start to imitate and try to speak. Of course, this takes time, the babies cannot
talk directly when they listen to the language. So, this is the same as the learners who try to learn
English as a second language. Especially in listening ability. Listening is a receptive skill because
the learners do not need to produce the language. They only receive and try to understand the
language. In addition, since you’re learning English as a second language, its grammar structures
are new and strange to you. You won’t know it well because it isn’t what you’re used to in your
mother tongue. Although grammar isn’t the very first thing in learning English, it has its place in
listening. Without understanding grammar rules, listening may be hard.
Thirdly, learners themselves lack backgound knowledge. Background knowledge includes
understanding of many fields: sciences, culture, economics, politics, religions, art and so on.
Among all, cultural knowledge is the most important since it strongly affects communication.
Listening materials may deal with any area of life. Existing background knowledge helps
listeners with prediction and meaning interpretation.
In general, English teachers consider listening the very first skill to be taught, followed by
speaking, reading, and writing. Listening gives an important input to second language
acquisition. It can also determine the development of the other three skills.