Listening techniques

This resource provides tips and techniques to help you develop your listening skills and take effective notes during lectures.

Developing your listening skills

Improving your listening skills takes time. However, you can develop these skills more effectively and efficiently with the following exercises and activities.

1. Create your own listening activities

By listening to speakers in a variety of situations in your daily life, you will gain familiarity with different speaking styles and levels of formality.

  • Look for authentic (real-world) practice such as: lectures (both recorded and live), videos and television programs, songs, podcasts, and even 'eavesdropping' (listening to other peoples’ conversations e.g. on public transport).
  • Choose local materials where possible to help with accent and colloquial expressions
  • Note new expressions you hear and try to use them in  a sentence. This will help you to remember new vocabulary.

Have you found a video or podcast to practice with? Here is a good approach to purposeful practice using recorded materials:

  1. If the recording is long, pick a short section to listen to again – maybe 3 minutes
  2. While you listen, take notes, leaving spaces on your page to add detail later
  3. After you listen, review your understanding to build a richer picture of what the speaker was talking about
  4. Replay the recording two or more times, adding to your notes each time to fill in details you missed.

2. Match your listening style to your purpose for listening

The way we listen depends on what we need to do with the information we hear. We may listen for general understanding, such as when we learn about a new concept or idea. At other times we need to listen for detail, for example when we want to understand specifics such as numbers, places, or facts.

Explore the tips below for ideas on how to adjust your focus when listening for these different purposes.

    • Focus on identifying the topic by listening for key words (tone, volume and pauses in speech can also help)
    • Listen for ‘signposting’ expressions. e.g. “There are two main causes of...” “One important aspect of this is...” “and finally...”
    • Check your understanding as you listen. e.g.  ‘I heard “train” so it might be about transport. No, now I am hearing “thought...idea...mental” so maybe “train” has something to do with thought?’
    • Keep listening even if you can't understand everything. Focus only on the high level information and ignore unknown words
    • Take notes of the main points, not every specific detail.

    • Prepare some questions to identify the information you are looking for
    • Listen for key words connected to those questions
    • Be aware of the kind of information you need: is it numbers, dates, places, academic terms, actions (e.g. in Science it may be important to know if something is absorbed, excreted, retained--or some other process)
    • After you listen, check the accuracy of what you heard by asking questions or checking notes.

3. Pay attention to body language

Speakers often emphasise or echo what they are saying with physical gestures, posture and facial expressions. Watching these can also give you clues about what their message relates to.

Explore the tips below for ideas on what to look for:

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Listening in lectures

Before the lecture: Prepare

At university, we often listen to learn new information. However, we do this by building on what we already know, even in our first language.

Therefore, it's a good idea to prepare to listen in lectures by first checking what you already know, and predicting what you will probably hear.

Try the following alone, or with other students:

  1. Brainstorm ideas about what the lecture may cover and note down key vocabulary in English
  2. Read the lecture outline and any slides provided, focusing on headings, pictures and diagrams
    • try to explain the content to yourself
    • note any new vocabulary and look up the most frequent new words
    • note new or difficult ideas: try to improve your understanding of these by reading sections of the references for the lecture.
  3. Predict some questions that the lecture may provide answers to and add them to your notes.

During the lecture: Take effective notes

We take notes in lectures as a record of learning to prepare for assessments and research. Note taking also focuses your attention, and therefore helps you to better understand the content of the lecture.

Try these ideas for effective note taking:

  • Take a copy of the slides to the lecture: these will provide you with the main points
  • Add extra details directly on to the slides as you listen
  • Don’t try  to write down every word your lecturer says, but focus on understanding ideas
  • Listen actively by:
    • noting points are unclear to you, are important, or apply to a particular assessment.
    • writing instructions and comments to yourself
    • listening for answers to the questions you prepared ahead of time about the lecture content
  • Write down any references given in the lecture so that you will know where to find this information later.

Note taking systems like abbreviations and formatting can help to get ideas down on the page quickly. Explore the headings below for tips on these areas.

    • Develop a set of preferred abbreviations, either your own abbreviations or standard ones. Some examples are:  
      • NB:  this is important;
      • Cf. compare;
      • Ref.  information is in this reference...;
      • ?  not clear/ I didn't understand;
      • ! I missed information here

    • Use any  note taking format that you find helpful. This might include:
      • arrows to connect sections;
      • flow charts; diagrams or pictures;
      • boxes around text;
      • a column for instructions or comments to yourself to review later

After the lecture: Polish your notes

Review and update your notes while the content is fresh  in your mind: straight after the lecture.

Consider doing this with other students, in a study group (see tip below).

Aim to create your own comprehensive record of the lecture to help you complete your assessments.

Things to look for as you review your notes:

  • Will your notes make sense when you re-read them later in semester? Update any unclear wording
  • Do you have correct spelling for new, academic or technical words?
  • Is the information complete and accurate?

Study groups and Academic Integrity You may discuss notes with peers, but you should create and use your notes separately. If your notes are too similar to those of another student, your assignments may look similar. This may lead your assessor to suspect collusion, which is a form of academic misconduct.

Visit Academic Integrity for more information.

Final tip

Listening improves with practice, so try to practise every day, even if only for 10 minutes. Choose an everyday situation such as a lecture, a television programme or a conversation in the corridor, and apply some of listening strategies outlined here.