KEYS TO BETTER LISTENING COMPREHENSION

KEYS TO BETTER LISTENING COMPREHENSION

1. Understand What Makes Native Speakers Hard to Understand

The great number of vowels and phthongs in English. Some of them very similar to each other.

• Minimal Pairs

1. Boat - Bought
2. Mad - Mud
3. Hurt - Heart
4. Men - Main
5. Than - Then
6. Live - Leave
7. Bit - Bet

The way that native speakers shorten and link sounds.

• Speech Pattern 1 : Contracted verb and negatives

                                        I'm , He's , They'll , We've , Won't , Can't .

                                                O.K . I'll do it.

                               (no stress on I'll : no particular emotion)

                                        I will do it. Nothing can stop me.

                        (stress on will : shows determination)

• Speech Pattern 2 : Weak Forms

                                        I can ski .

                                        I kn ski .

                                       Here's my book.

                                       Here's md book.

• Speech Pattern 3 : Phonetic Links

                                       He works as an engineer.

                                       He work sazanen ngineer.

                                       She is interested in it.

                                       She(y)isinterestedinit.

                                       They went to amazing place.

                                       They wentto(w)anamazing place.

• All in One :
  He won't accept it from me.

          He won'tacceptit fromme.

       2. Improve your own pronounciation

• Common pronounciation trap 1 : Some spelling = Some sound

                'ea' --> /i:/ (jean)              'u' --> /u/ (put)

                   - Great                             - Judge

                   - Hear                              - Furious

                   - Learn

                   - Instead

• Common pronounciation trap 2 : Word Stress

            Which syllable is stressed ?

                   DEvelopment        deVElopment        deveLOPment        developMENT

  

            You might expect the following words to be pronounced similarly.

                    proPOSE         &         PURpose

       3. Learn primarily with your ears rather then your eyes.

                    WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT THEY SAY!

• Listen to audio books rather than read the printed version.
• Listen to the radio and watch films in English as much as possible.
• If you are using a course book, work more with the accompanying CD and the book itself.
• If you are using a word you have learnt by reading and have never heard it before, make sure you check it pronunciation.