Different Methods to Learn English Listening

Galuh Dara Kirana

University of PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya

I. Abstract

Usually learning English Listening as the second language has its own difficulty. To
make it easier for the learners to learn English Listening, there are different methods for the
learners. However, not all of the methods will fit to their listening style. It could be only one
or more than one methods that will fit to them. Hopefully, one of the methods will help them
to increase their listening skills.
Keywords : English Listening, learners, and methods.

II. Introduction

In English, the first language skill that we receive and learn is listening. Listening is
receiving word by word through the ears to become a sentence that we hear everyday. That
sentence that we hear everyday contains meaning that will be processed by our brain.
Listening really need to be focused and have to put some attention on it. Moreover, if English
is the second language, it will need more attention and focus. So that we will understand what
is the actual meaning that the speaker say to us.

To learn English-listening, there are actually various methods that the learners can try.
The reason is the learners can try all of the methods in order to find which method that fit to
them. They may find that they are faster to learn English-listening by more than 1 methods.
Any kind of methods are allowed as long as they are accomplished the aim to learn
English-listening. It will motivated them to learn English-listening more because they like the
method that really fits to them. By doing so, it will help them to master English-listening
even faster.

In order to master English, they have to learn one of the skills which is listening. “Of the
four linguistic activities, it is listening that most speakers are often unaware of, in both its
importance and practice” (Dadzie and Awonusi, 2009). By learning English-listening it also
means that the learners have to practice to listen. Listen in any kind of accents and
intonations. It will help them to understand even more what the speakers say even if they
have different accents and intonations. The more they practice, the more they master
English-listening because practice makes perfect.

III. Discussion

A. The Difficulties Learning English-listening

In every learning process, especially learning English-listening, there are always some
difficulties that will be found during the learning process. One of the difficulties is the
speaker has different accents. Those accents are naturally gotten by where they live.
Generally, every area has its own accents. Based on what Goh (1999) stated, 66% of learners
mentioned a speaker’s accent as one of the most significant factors that affect listener
comprehension. Once they misunderstood the word that they hear, it will mess up their
understanding.

The next difficulty is the listener is not used to listen in English. What they hear
everyday is not English language. They don’t speak to another speaker using English
language because they used to do conversation with their native language. The listeners are
not familiar with the vocabulary as well. It is highly recommended for the listener to know
and understand a lot of vocabulary, so that it will be easier for them when they learn
English-listening.

The last difficulty is English is not their mother language. When they learn English, it
may their second or third language that they have been learning so far. It is clear that English
language is more difficult to learn than their mother language.

B. Various Methods to Learn English-listening

When the listeners want to improve their listening skill, they will use various methods
that suit to them. One of the methods that they can use is listen to English song. Lynch (2008)
said that pop songs are so popular that have strong influences to use in teaching. According to
Liao (2006) and Jiang (2004), English songs have beautiful melodies and the lyrics are easy
to imitate and memorize. By those reasons, it is clear that English song can help the students
for their listening comprehension. They can learn how word by word said by the speaker with
the right pronounciation. They also can improve their vocabulary because they will find new
vocabulary in every song that they hear.
 Not only listen to English song, by watching English movie can help them to master
English-listening skill too. Ismaili (2013) explained that using movies in EFL classroom
shows that movies can develop students’ listening and communication skills. Watching
English movies with English subtittle will improve their skill in understanding spoken
language, they know how to exactly pronounce words, they learn new vocabulary that they
found on English movies that they watch, and they slowly used to listen in English language
with the right grammatical forms. In English movies, sometimes they will find that the actors
has different accents. It will help them to get used listen to different accents.

However, the best method among of them all is talk to English speaker. Whether that
they are native speaker or non-native speaker. Not only they used to listen in English, they
will also get used to speak in English unintentionally.

C. The Reasons Why English-listening Should be Learned

Anderson and Lynch (2003) stated that listening skills are as important as speaking skills
because people cannot communicate face to face unless both types of skills are developed
together. When the listeners are learning English-listening, they must have known what are
the aims of learning this. Not only to master 4 of the skills in English language, it is also
useful for everyday life such as to avoid miss communication with the English speaker. Most
people think if they capable to write and speak in their second language means that they
master the language very well. However, if they do not have the listening skills, it is almost
impossible to communicate in a good way. As what Yildirim (2016) said, listening plays an
important role in communication in people’s daily lives. When they have the chance to speak
with English speaker, they do not want to leave a bad impression to them. They will put
much effort to avoid miss communication with the English speaker. The listeners also want to
have a good conversation with the English speaker. By doing that, it will greatly affect their
listening skill. Not only listening skill, it will improve their speaking skill too.

IV. Conclusion

Because learning english listening is not easy and need a long period time to learn, that is
why there are various methods to make the learners learn English Listening easier. In order to
master English Listening, the learners should often listen to many speakers with different
accents and intonations. So that in the next future the learners will have a great conversation
with another speaker.
 References

Anderson, A. & Lynch, T. (2003). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dadzie, A. B. K. & Awonusi, S. (2009). Nigerian English: Influences and
Characteristics. Bariga: Sam Ironausi Publications.
Goh, C. (1999). Teaching listening in the language classroom. Singapore:
SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

Ismaili, M. M. A. (2013). Academic Journal of Disciplinary Studies. The Effectiveness of

Using Movies in the EFL Classroom - A Study Conducted at South East European
University, 2(4), 121-129.
Liao, Y. (2006). English songs and teaching college English Listening. Journal of Yibin
University, 5, 95-97.
Lynch, L. M. (2008). Using popular songs to improve language listening. Retrieved from
http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Popular-Songs-to-Improve-Language-Listening-Co
mprehension-Skills&id=104984
Yildirim, S. & Yildirim O. (2016). The Importance of listening in language learning and
listening comprehension problems experienced by language learners, 16(4),
2094-2110.