Why Your Listening Improves Very Slowly

Author: Rahul Rana
Is your listening improved very slowly?

This is a typical issue among intermediate listeners.

Numerous intermediates feel like their listening has remained at a similar level for years, even if they still listen to English regularly.

This is something that I’ve experienced myself.

When I started to improve my listening, it didn't take long for me to see an improvement.

However, as time passed, turned out to be increasingly more troublesome for me to see any improvement. I was still listening to English regularly, but my listening appeared to improve at an amazingly moderate pace.

At the time, I didn’t know why. But now I do.

If you have not noticed a significant improvement in your hearing in the long run, then the reason is:

You keep listening to things that you can easily understand.

Here are examples:

  • You keep hearing the same speakers which you can understand very well.

  • You hear only American English, but British English is not

  • You keep listening to the same topic(s). For example, you only listen to business podcasts.

Do not misunderstand me, it's okay to listen to simple content because it can still improve your listing. but be careful. If you listen only a few easy, then do not expect to see quick improvements.

It's just trying to improve your piano skills by playing simple songs like "Happy birthday to you". This is not effective

There a Way to Improve Your Listening "Quickly".

Yes, there is. Here’s how:

Listen to "challenging" English material.

Let me explain.

First, split the contents of English into three categories, depending on the difficulty.

  1. Too difficult to understand.

  2. Easy to understand.

  3. Challenging.

Let’s discuss which category is best.

Category 1: Too Difficult to Understand

This is the sort of material in which you can't even understand the main idea.

If you hear something and think, "I do not understand what they are discussing", then you are listening to such English content.

It's a waste of time that you can not understand. So, you should avoid such a hearing material.

Category 2: Easy to Understand

This is the sort of material in which you can understand almost every single word. (Example: a talk by a native speaker who speaks slowly and clearly.) The reason for the difficulty of improving intermediate students is that they only listen to such content.

Category 3: Challenging

Challenging English material are discussions in which you can't make out each and every word or sentence, but you still understand the main idea.

Examples of challenging material:

  • A conversation in which people speak a little bit fast (but you can still follow the conversation).

  • A conversation that includes some words and phrases you do not know (but you still understand the main idea).

  • Conversation that can understand 80-90% of contents.

This is the best type of English content to listen to.

Want to improve quickly? Challenge yourself!

Need to know why beginners improve quicks. That's because, for them, they almost listen to everything that is challenging. When you open yourself to challenging stuff, you improve rapidly.

So, if you’re an intermediate or advanced listener who needs to improve rapidly, ensure that you listen to a lot of challenging stuff.

Here are some ideas on how to do this:

  • Listen to speakers who don’t speak clearly – Do not listen to those whom you can fully understand. it is difficult to understand some speaker rather than other Listen to those people too.

  • Listen to various topics – Do not listen to conversations on similar topics. Be sure to hear the topics that you are not quite familiar with.

  • Listen to both American and British English – If you are already good at listening to one of these accents, then practice listening to the other pronunciation.

Summary: How to Improve Your English Listening Skills

These are the most important things you have learned from this article:

  • Another way to listen to many English is by making it entertaining by two-tier interesting YouTube channels and popular TV shows and movies.

  • You should hear a lot of English every day. The best way to do it is to listen to English which is not required for concentration or deep thinking during activities.

  • You should listen to a lot of English every day.

  • If you are making a start, be sure to shorten it at the beginning. And if possible, you should read in English to learn new vocabulary.

  • If your listening understanding is at an intermediate level, and it seems like it’s no longer improving, listen to challenging English material MORE.

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