Learning English is difficult, isn’t it? Many Americans believe that their variety of the English language isn’t hard to learn or speak, but many students learning the language would disagree. These learners may have a clear grasp and understanding of written English, but when an American speaks, students are often left thinking, “huh?”
Don’t worry, *I have you covered. Below I have created a list of 5 common problems many students have when listening to authentic native English speakers:
1. Reductions
Reductions, also called connected speech, is easy to identify, but requires a bit of work to comprehend. However, not doing so will make it more difficult for you to understand when someone says,”How’yadoin’ ta’day?” when you have learned “How are you doing today?”.
Suggestion: Learn which common words or phrases are typically reduced in connected speech and practice saying them as well as listening to and for them in authentic spoken English.
2. Schwa (ǝ)
The Schwa, with the phonetic symbol of “ǝ“, though rarely taught in ESL/EFL classrooms, is the MOST common sound in the English language. The Schwa is a reduced vowel sound in English that native speakers use when a syllable in a word is not receiving primary stress.
Suggestion: The Schwa, which is pronounced like “uh“, will not only improve your listening compression, but also your oral fluency/pronunciation.
3. What’s your goal?
Many language learners want to comprehend every word that is spoken to them by a native speaker. Though this goal is not fully wrong, it is often not the best approach to listening comprehension.
Suggestion: A better way would be to listen for meaning. By listening for meaning, you don’t slow yourself down by focusing all of your energy on each word, each syllable, each phoneme. Instead, you focus your attention on the global meaning of what’s been said. Most native speakers of any language focus on meaning when listening and not on individual words.
4. Speech Segmentation
When native speakers of English speak, the words they are saying often don’t sound as you believe they should. After all, you HAVE seen these words written down and used in sentences, right? Written English often does not look the same when spoken because speakers use connected speech/reductions as well as parsing (how one segments—pauses, for example—their speech)
Suggestion: Try an “audio flood” approach in which you watch and listen to newscasts, podcasts, radio shows, TV shows, films, etc. in English. Your goal is not to understand every word that is spoken, but to train your ear to hear the rhythm of the language and notice when the speaker pauses/breathes.
5. Vocabulary
To understand written or spoken language, you must be able to understand at least 95% of the words being used. If you do not, it may be impossible for you to grasp the meaning of what’s being said based only on the words used. Similarly, Americans usually uses phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions (like the one I used above) when they speak which make grasping meaning of individual words difficult.
Suggestion: Read! Shadow reading is an active way to work on both listening AND speaking. It also is beneficial for you to learn the new vocabulary in a real context.
What area of listening do you struggle with and who did you overcome the difficulty?
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- (Informal) Idiom-Have (got) someone or something covered: To provide whatever it is that is needed. To take care of everything.
