The Silent Struggle: Challenges In Listening For EFL Learners (And Tips For Teaching Listening Skills)

Listening forms a significant part of the communication process in our everyday live. For this reason, teaching it as a skill to our English learners is a must. Let’s have a quick look at why it is, in fact, one of the more challenging skills to master when learning a foreign language, why this challenge seeps into the ESL classroom, and how we can overcome it.

Before we get into the challenges, let’s explore why listening in your own language is achievable. 

How we hear in our native tongue

When we listen to something, like a podcast, we usually know the context, we make predictions, we have an interest in the topic, we understand the language, we focus on the bits we are listening for, and we filter out the parts we are not interested in or do not need. 

The process is nearly seamless. 

Why listening trumps reading in difficulty

Then comes the challenge of listening in another language. Why is this so hard?

A better way to understand this challenge is to perhaps compare it to reading information in another language – in other words, why is listening in a foreign language so much more challenging than reading in a foreign language? 

Here are a few of the top reasons why:

• When we read, we can pause when it all becomes too much. 
• We can re-read the tricky parts to clarify understanding. 
• We can see spaces between the words. 
• We can read at our own pace. 
• We only have the words to deal with- no intrusive sounds, accents, background noise. 

The mechanics of spoken English

Now, when we listen, perhaps to a live lecture or song in a foreign language, we don’t have the luxury of putting the speaker or singer on pause. Once we’ve missed an important point, it might be gone forever. 

When someone is speaking, we have aspects of pronunciation to deal with, such as accent, the speed of the speaker, and the variety of English – not to mention background noise. 

Read more: Integrating Pronunciation Into Your EFL Lessons

Speed

People naturally speak quickly, but there are some variations in English that are spoken especially quickly. In listening, we need to learn to differentiate between words to be able to make sense of what is being said. 

Because of connected speech, there are no ‘spaces’ between spoken words at times. For example, the phrase ‘good girl’ sounds like ‘goo-gl’ when said naturally.  

This is difficult for a learner even when the sentences are spoken slowly and deliberately, so when it is spoken quickly it can be even more challenging.

Accent

When you think of someone who comes from Texas, USA and someone who comes from Sydney, Australia, you will understand that even though they speak the same language they sound completely different. This is especially problematic for learners who are not aware of the different pronunciations of words and are only familiar with one version. When they hear a word pronounced differently, they might interpret it as a completely new word.

Variety

Just as there are loads of different English accents, so there are different varieties of English. While an Australian is enjoying his barbie, a South Africa is having a braai; people in the United Kingdom play football while North Americans play soccer – the list of vocabulary differences and variations is endless. When listening to someone speaking English, a non-native speaker needs to not only listen to what they are saying but interpret that in relation to where they come from.

Read more: Which English Should I Teach In The Classroom?

These are aspects of listening we cannot change. 

So, when we play audio material for our students, they too have these issues to deal with, which often leads to a drop in confidence. 

What to do?

Scaffolding success: A step-by-step procedure for the classroom

A listening activity in class should mirror a real-life listening experience. 

First, choose level- and age-appropriate material. Make sure the text is not too long – the longer a text, the more difficult. 

 The next step is to set a context that is engaging and relatable.

 Imagery works well during this initial stage, as it gives students a visual point of focus and allows them to predict what they think the listening will be about. 

Once they’ve made friends with the context, and made a few predictions of their own, pre-teach any difficult vocabulary that might cause a barrier while listening. This helps prevent cognitive overload.

Then, set a simple task to test their understanding of the gist of the material (perhaps 2-3 questions), after which you should set a more comprehensive task (6-10 questions) that tests a deeper understanding of the material, its message and the language devices used to express this message. 

Finally, give them a speaking task that allows them to verbally respond to the material with their own ideas, opinions and personal experiences, such as a discussion in pairs or groups, a role-play speaking task or an interview or simulation task. 

With this simple procedure, you’ve scaffolded the process for them, making it far more achievable for them to engage with the material, understand it and actually enjoy the experience. Happy listeners all round! 

Low-prep alternatives: Listening skills without audio files

Also, remember that listening tasks do not only require recorded audio materials. You can create low-prep listening tasks to give your students the practice they need. 

Here are a few listening activities that do not require audio materials:

Teacher-led listening tasks

• Teacher tells a short story and the students answer gist or detail questions
• Teacher gives instructions and the students follow them (eg, drawing, moving objects)
• Teacher reads a short text aloud and the students sequence events or complete notes

Student-to-student listening tasks

• Information gap activities (students have different information and must listen to complete a task)
• Find someone who… activities
• Interviews or surveys
• Role-plays and simulations

Live listening tasks

• Classroom announcements (real or simulated)
• Guest speaker (even briefly)
• Student presentations with listening tasks for the class

Listening with visuals

• Picture dictation
• Describe-and-draw activities
• Map or diagram labelling based on spoken instructions

The very first time I did a listening lesson, it was nothing short of nightmarish!

My students were lost, I had to play the audio way too many times, and the sense of it all was buried in all this chaos. My first step was to speak to my manager who then came to observe one of these disastrous lessons so that she could give me the direction and guidance I needed. 

I then tried the 5-stage listening lesson (introduce the topic, pre-teach vocabulary, first listening task, second listening task, follow-on speaking task), and have not looked back since! 

Lesson of the day: don’t be afraid to ask for help when your listening lessons bomb, and give some of the ideas above a try. 

In a nutshell, here are our top tips for teaching listening to English learners:

• Prepare your learners for the text by providing a context. Give them time to discuss and predict what they are going to hear.
• Pre-teach keywords using the gist-to-detail rule. 
• Provide clear tasks. Never just say “listen.”
• Repeat the listening as often as necessary. Listening to a text just once is not enough for learners to fully comprehend it.
• Pause the listening when necessary. This allows the learners to focus their attention on specific information.
• Expose your learners to different English accents and varieties to build real-world ear flexibility.
• Focus on connected speech in your lessons. Explicitly teach how words blend together. 
• Keep it short. Use audio clips under 3 minutes to avoid student fatigue and maintain high focus.
• Incorporate live listening. Don’t rely solely on recordings; tell personal stories or read news snippets yourself to provide a face-to-face listening experience.

Read more: Improving Listening Skills In Your EFL Class

Author Bio

Written by

Luan Dreyden

Edited by Kirsten Colquhoun

Luan is a Language Practitioner and certified ESL instructor. Her love for the English language led her into the classroom. After gaining experience at the top language schools in Cape Town, she went on to become the Head Teacher of a well-known English institution. This is where she discovered and practised her passion for teacher training. She now runs the TEFL courses for The TEFL Academy in Cape Town and continues to teach second language learners – both in the classroom and online. Read Luan Dreyden's story →