EduCareer StaffBlog"Rinjin Blog" | "EduCareer"Supporting your career in English teaching in the Japanese school system

Listening for Fluency

2010/11/02

Just listening to a language- even if you don't understand what is being said- can help you develop your language skills. Research done at the Victoria University suggests that that just listening to the sounds and rhythm of your target language encourages the brain to prime itself for language learning and develop the neurons needed to learn the target language. Movies, music, podcasts- all these things can help lead to more rapid language acquisition even if you are not analyzing as you listen or translating- in fact, it helps even if you don't understand most of the content! Instead, the listening acts as training for your brain, allowing you to apply and remember what you learn in formal study much more effectively.

This is practically the opposite of the typical Japanese grammar-translation approach, in which listening is often not emphasized. But by using native materials as much as you can and not letting arguments of "but they won't understand it!" stop you, you can increase your students' abilities in a fun and easy way!

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