When it comes to improving listening skills in a second language, there are a lot of myths out there. How many times have you heard that you will learn a language simply by watching TV and movies in that language? Some people claim that they absorb a second language this way, almost as if it’s magic!
I can’t tell you how discouraged I felt when I still could not understand Japanese television well even after studying for two years. Other students seemed to learn just by watching anime and dramas. What was my problem?
Well, the truth is, the goal of improving listening by simply absorbing language is not realistic. You will get input this way, of course, but it will not be comprehensible, which is considered necessary for language learning (see Krashen’s Input Hypothesis). You can listen all you want, but if you cannot understand any of the content language, you will have a frustrating learning journey ahead!
So what can you do to optimize your learning from listening?
The key is to have a strategy. Strategic listening will be much more beneficial to your language learning than simply passively listening to materials (see John Field’s work for more detail on this).
There are many listening strategies out there, and you should combine strategies and approaches that best help you.
Here, I will present a 3-step strategy for learning from TV and movies that I usually recommend my students in listening and speaking classes. Any TV show or film will do – choose something that interests you and can keep your attention.
1- Watch the movie in the target language with subtitles in your language
Yes, use the subtitles in your own language. Despite what some teachers say, there is absolutely no problem with using your first language in order to learn your second language.
This first step allows you to listen to the English and start to make connections between your first language and second language, while also fully understanding the story.
2- Watch the movie again in the target language with subtitles in the target language
This time, you will focus more on the language itself by connecting the written language with the spoken language. In this step, you may want to take note of new words that seem to be important or used frequently.
3- Watch the movie again without any subtitles
Now that you have focused on the content and the language of the film, watch again without any subtitles. You will probably still not catch everything, and that is okay. However, this is a good exercise to test your listening comprehension skills and review the vocabulary and grammar you have learned from the film already.
And that’s it! Easy, right?
Try it out, and have fun doing it! Do you have any other recommendations for how others can improve their listening skills by using TV and films? Comment below and share your ideas! Also, stay tuned for future blog posts about more helpful listening strategies!
Add Comment