Why Listening is Difficult

by C. N. Grivas

For a student of English, listening is difficult for two main reasons. The first is connected with the difficulty anyone –even a native speaker– might have with listening comprehension exercises as they are often presented in teaching books. To understand this we need to consider what happens in real life when we listen to someone. The second reason is based on the fact that students are trying to listen to a foreign language. To examine this second issue closely we need to think about problems that foreigners have when listening to English.

What listening involves

If we examine what is involved in the task of listening in real life, we may be better able to understand what is often difficult about some listening comprehension tasks. In our everyday lives, we often listen to things which we cannot (or do not) reply to directly: recorded messages, TV or radio programmes, music, someone giving a lecture or making a speech, etc. In other situations we take part in some sort of exchange: making arrangements, giving an interview, chatting, getting advice (e.g. from a doctor), etc. These situations are quite varied but they generally have some things in common.

First, we almost always have a basic idea of what we are going to hear. We have certain expectations and the facility to predict what we are about to hear. For example, we turn on the radio at a certain time to listen to the weather forecast. We listen for key words and phrases and we have an idea about what kind of vocabulary will be used. It is very unusual to begin listening to something without knowing what the subject will be, and it would take a native speaker some time to work out what the conversation is about; it is far harder for a student of English. That is why pre-listening tasks are important.

Secondly, we can usually see the speaker. Of course, this is not true for (all) phone conversations, but in most other situations we actually watch the speaker. It helps us to understand what is being communicated when we can see the interlocutor’s mouth move, the facial expressions and the gestures he or she makes. Students who are played a recording do not have this visual assistance.

Thirdly, in most conversations there is a great deal of repetition. Speakers in real life conversations tend to use fragments, instead of full sentences, as they are often interrupted and have to start again. We often say something in two or more different ways, usually to give emphasis. Someone describing a house might say:

Oh yes….well….it was really big, you know…
      I mean, a huge big place…
You just couldn’t believe the size…. massive….

If the person listening to this happens to miss the first adjective big, he or she can still easily understand what is meant by the repetition of big and the use of synonyms: huge and massive. Fortunately, every recording is played twice for students to get what they missed the first time around.

Finally, a characteristic of listening in real life is that we usually respond to what is being said, even if that means simply nodding or murmuring Hmm. This shows the speaker that his or her words are being understood, but it also helps the listener, because the speaker slows down when it appears that the listener isn’t following. Students listening to a CD recording don’t have this help either.

Listening as a foreigner

Foreign students of English encounter difficulties of varying degree when faced with the listening comprehension exercises. To begin with, some sounds in English do not exist in other languages, which makes it hard to produce them when speaking and of course to hear them. For instance, in Greek there is an /s/ sound, similar to the English /s/, but the English voiceless /ʃ/ doesn’t exist. Greek students who hear the word “shock” may be convinced that they have heard the word “sock“. (An interesting corollary to this is that students frequently produce written words with mistakes, such as “I was socked“). English vowel sounds, especially diphthongs like wait, and consonant like /sks/ in risks, are also hard to produce and hear accurately.

Furthermore, English intonation and stress can create immense problems for foreign listeners. The habit of stressing one syllable in a word and swallowing the others adds to the difficulty of comprehending a listening task. Intonation is also used to convey the speaker’s feelings, such as anger, sarcasm, disappointment, enthusiasm, but the foreign student may not pick up on the emotional cues.

Moreover, some students of a second language may develop the habit of switching off when an unknown word is encountered. The student believes I can’t understand that word, so I won’t be able to understand the rest either. Native speakers continue to listen, perhaps remembering the unfamiliar word so that they can ask its meaning later, but more often deducing the meaning of the word from context.

Finally, foreign students often fail to predict what is likely to come next, while native speakers do so naturally. Some of this ability may be connected with knowledge of idioms, colloquial expressions and slang, so that when a speaker says: And of course, while the cat’s away…. the native speaker knows what comes next, ...the mice will play. (an account of someone having fun while authority is absent).

However, a great deal of the skill of prediction as well as other listening skills can be taught, leading to the elimination of the difficulties outlined above. Besides, when difficulties are perceived as challenges, the student’s performance is bound to improve. There is no difficulty that attentive listening cannot overcome.

This article first appeared in the printed version of the ELT News.