In-class teaching methodology also encourages listening for key words and guessing meaning from words in context in order to understand the main idea or key points of the listening text.\u00a0 This technique tries to focus the student on the important content words, rather than aiming for a more complete understanding of the spoken words.\u00a0 This approach is understandable given short time-frames to learn and preparation for exams which require candidates to find specific information in a listening text, but can we do more in terms of \u2018learning to listen\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Decoding<\/u><\/strong><\/span>: It is true that a native speaker of English will predict or fill in content while\u00a0listening to another person speaking without necessarily \u2018hearing\u2019 every word they say. However, at the same time they also \u2018decode\u2019.\u00a0 This means they match the sounds that they hear with their own active vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical structures<\/strong>.\u00a0 For a native speaker this process is automatic, but for a learner of English it requires effort, concentration and most crucially, practice.\u00a0 This practice involves a more detailed, technical approach than just listening for comprehension<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is not to say that the \u2018coursebook\u2019 style of listening is in any way wrong, it is very often necessary to listen for the \u2018gist\u2019 of what someone is saying even if in the real world we don\u2019t usually have a question to help focus us on the relevant information, but it is extremely beneficial to develop a more complete, and more reliable, listening skill.<\/p>\n So, how can we do this?\u00a0 One answer is really quite an old fashioned one, and that is by doing dictations<\/strong>.\u00a0 The modern difference to this old-school activity is the options that the internet now allows us to practice on our own<\/strong> with a large variety of dedicated websites.\u00a0 Some examples are more authentic<\/strong> than others, often within the same website, so it\u2019s worth looking for dictations that sound more like \u2018real\u2019 English<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The following are some examples from the internet (there are many others), offering dictations according to level.\u00a0 You could also find some audiovisual content, do your own dictation and compare to a transcript in websites like the last two examples below.\u00a0 These sites also offers dialogues as an alternative to a monologues as well as a large variety of accents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n http:\/\/www.fonetiks.org\/dictations\/<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.breakingnewsenglish.com\/dictation.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.learnenglish.de\/dictationpage.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.elllo.org\/<\/a> great for listening to different accents.\u00a0 You can hide the transcript and do all or part of the video as a dictation.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.englishlistening.com\/<\/a> also very impressive for accents and different ways of speaking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another possibility to help establish the connection between heard sounds and language knowledge is watching video with subtitles<\/strong>.\u00a0 Most TV series and films now offer this option, but there are also shorter online possibilities with subtitles such as TED Talks (where it is very easy to find something to suit all tastes).\u00a0 If you are a learner of intermediate level or higher, you will have probably received advice to watch TV and other audiovisual without subtitles.\u00a0 This is still good advice because you are practicing a different kind of listening (perhaps more related to the coursebook style mentioned above). \u00a0Watching with subtitles has a different purpose<\/strong>, which is to train yourself in the sounds of English compared to how they sound and your own language knowledge.\u00a0 The most common criticism of this kind of exercise is that the learner relies too much on reading and forgets to listen.\u00a0 I believe that is a danger and for that reason the learner must understand the reason<\/strong> for doing this activity in order to maintain concentration on listening.\u00a0 Additionally, and if the learner\u2019s level permits, they should also alternate with viewing without subtitles to maintain a balanced approach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ambient English<\/u><\/strong><\/span>: in the decoding English section we talked about intensive active practice using dictation and more extensive, passive practice in viewing video with subtitles. In this part our recommendation is to become even more passive!<\/strong>\u00a0 When you are cooking, or exercising, or even travelling you can have English media (podcasts or video, when possible) playing.\u00a0 Your can pay attention or not to the sounds you hear.\u00a0 The point is that even when you are not paying attention your subconscious mind is at work<\/strong>; you are becoming more accustomed to the sounds of English and you are allowing the language to become a part of the \u2018background\u2019 of your life.\u00a0 This is not to say that you can just put on a podcast and the learning will take care of itself, but passive listening can complement your learning to listen<\/strong> in useful ways.\u00a0 As you listen, your brain will begin to recognise patterns and repetitions in what you hear and prepare the way for active learning.\u00a0 Also, the more you practice intensive listening, with dictations for examples, the more meaning you will extract from passive listening so the benefit becomes a virtuous circle!<\/p>\n To sum up<\/u><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n To become better listeners we have to be aware of different ways of listening to define an effective strategy.\u00a0 A way to represent this strategy might be the following:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Formas de Escuchar<\/strong><\/p>\n En este art\u00edculo se analizan distintas formas de aprender ingl\u00e9s a trav\u00e9s de la escucha. Analizaremos 3 formas de escucha y c\u00f3mo el conocerlas e identificarlas puede ayudarte a mejorar.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n La metodolog\u00eda de ense\u00f1anza en clase tambi\u00e9n fomenta la escucha de las palabras claves y la adivinaci\u00f3n de significados de palabras por el contexto con el fin de entender la idea principal o los puntos principales del texto que se est\u00e1 escuchando. Esta t\u00e9cnica intenta enfocar al alumno en las palabras que transmiten el significado en lugar de pretender que comprenda la globalidad de las palabras pronunciadas. Esto puede entenderse en contextos en los que el aprendizaje se ha de producir en cortos periodos de tiempo y en preparaciones de ex\u00e1menes en los que el alumno necesita encontrar informaci\u00f3n espec\u00edfica en una audici\u00f3n pero \u00bfpodemos hacer m\u00e1s para \u201caprender a escuchar\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Pero, \u00bfc\u00f3mo lo conseguimos? Una respuesta bastante anticuada es haciendo dictados<\/strong>. Una alternativa moderna a esta actividad de la vieja de escuela son las opciones que nos presenta internet para practicar por nuestra cuenta<\/strong> con una gran variedad de p\u00e1ginas web dedicadas a ello. Algunos ejemplos son m\u00e1s aut\u00e9nticos<\/strong> que otros, incluso dentro de la misma p\u00e1gina web, por lo que merece la pena seleccionar aquellos que suenen m\u00e1s a \u00a0un ingl\u00e9s \u201creal\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Los siguientes enlaces son ejemplos de internet (hay muchos otros), que ofrecen dictados de acuerdo al nivel. Se pueden encontrar tambi\u00e9n contenidos audiovisuales, puedes hacer tus propios dictados y comparar con una transcripci\u00f3n en p\u00e1ginas web como los dos \u00faltimos ejemplos del listado. Estos sitios ofrecen tambi\u00e9n di\u00e1logos como alternativa a los mon\u00f3logos as\u00ed como una gran variedad de acentos.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n http:\/\/www.fonetiks.org\/dictations\/<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.breakingnewsenglish.com\/dictation.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.learnenglish.de\/dictationpage.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.elllo.org\/<\/a> \u00a0genial para escuchar diferentes acentos. Puedes ocultar la transcripci\u00f3n y hacer todo o parte del video como un dictado.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/listening-strategy-1-300x210.png\")
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