When you are learning English, listening is not only about understanding what people say. It is also an opportunity to notice how English is actually used. Whether you are listening to a podcast, watching a film or series, or even listening to a song, you will probably hear many idiomatic expressions and collocations.
Collocations are usually easier to spot. These are combinations of words that English speakers commonly use together.For example, we say make a decision, not do a decision, and take a risk, not make a risk.
Idiomatic expressions can be less predictable: if someone says“That really struck a chord with me”, they are not talking about music. They mean that something created a strong emotional reaction. If it’s “raining cats and dogs!” no literal pet is falling from the sky, but torrential rain keeps on pouring.
When teaching and learning, especially when using listening tasks, you’ll notice they often contain a lot of useful expressions and collocations. This is not an accident. Coursebook audio is usually not authentic content. In language learning, authentic content means language that was “created” (sic) for real communication rather than specifically for learners. A podcast episode, a YouTube video, a film or a song can all be examples of authentic content.
Coursebook recordings, on the other hand, are usually written or adapted with learners in mind. They may be recorded by actors or teachers and designed to include particular vocabulary, grammar or functions. They are therefore often easier to understand and more controlled than real-world English.
This is useful and important in the sense that coursebook audios test whether you know particular lexical items and chunks, usually pre-selected by a framework of reference. Just to make all the terms extremely clear, alexical item is a word or expression that we learn as a unit, i.e. the new vocabulary your teacher introduces before a particular task, for instance. A chunk is a group of words that frequently occur together, such as “as far as I know”, “at the end of the day”, or “make a difference”. Listening activities can help you recognise these combinations and check whether you can understand them when you hear them.
But you don’t need to wait for your next listening exercise to do this. Just start noticing language everywhere. Yeah, I know, easier said than done. But don’t fret! I’m here to help, that’s my job!
One useful strategy is to turn (any and all) listening into a noticing activity.The next time you watch something or listen to something in English, don’t only ask yourself:“Do I understand this?”Also ask:“What expressions do I recognise?What words seem to go together?Is there an expression here that I could use myself?”
You don’t need to understand or record every new word. Instead, try to notice interesting combinations of words and pay attention when you hear them more than once.And this can work with almost anything you listen to.
Let’s start with something slightly unexpected: black metal.Yes, black metal. It’s a personal favourite of mine, so this is very much an example of my own taste. It might sound aggressive — and, depending on the song, it absolutely can beheheheh — but it is still exposure to English!
Take the song“Celestial Violence” by black metal mastermind Ihsahn. In just a couple of lines, we can notice some useful combinations:
Stay
And I will turn these unforgiving words into a star
Stay
This scenery would change if we could watch it from afar
Pain
Like icons of our suffering, distilled, the works of art
Pain
A sting of life to bind us to these heavens, torn apart
You may already know watch and afar, but from afar is a useful expression meaning from a distance. Let’s check another example.
Sing
And celebrate the chaos of this canvas that is night
Sing
But strike a chord of dissonance when harmony betrays to lure you blind into the light
An emptiness so deep
Even time will disappear
And strike a chord is an idiomatic expression. If something strikes a chord with you, it creates a strong emotional response or feels personally meaningful. In the song, the expression is combined with dissonance, which gives it a particularly interesting meaning and image.The point isn’t that you should start listening to black metal to improve your English. (Although I obviously wouldn’t complain and highly recommend Wintersun and Tristania as your starting point.) The point is that anything you genuinely listen to can become an opportunity to notice language.
Not convinced yet? Heavy metal might be just too much for you? Fine! Let’s look at a soundtrack song, then.
You can do exactly the same thing with music that is much more likely to appear in films, playlists and social media.Soundtrack songs are especially useful because popular songs often go viral and catch on easily. You may hear the same lyrics repeatedly without even trying to study them.
For example, in “Glamorous Life” by Lady Gaga (from the hit film “Devil Wears Prada 2”), we can notice several useful chunks:
[Verse 1]
Wanna see my name under the lights (Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh)
I need the applause, it cuts me like a knife (Oh-oh-oh)
Haunted by a dream that I can’t fight (Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh)
Watching my face drifting out of sight
[Chorus]
I might need a hero to stop me from breaking
Or I’ll be the villain and feed off the pain
Can I be myself in a world that’s just faking?
Only wanna drive in a fast world
I’ll just crash ‘til I die of the glamorous life
Again, don’t just focus on individual words. Look at the whole combination highlighted for you.If you know name, lights, cut, knife and hero, you might still not automatically notice how these words are being combined. When you see your name in lights that means you’ve achieved widespread fame and success; if what someone says, feels or do cuts you like a knife, you feel acute emotional pain, discomfort and distress—usually due to betrayal or cruel criticism. And if a here stops you from breaking, then they have been able to impede that you harmed yourself (meaning achieved by using the idiom “stop from”, i.e. to impede).
Once you start paying attention to chunks, you can begin to build a much richer vocabulary.You might even ask yourself:
- Where else have I heard this expression?
- Is it literal or idiomatic?
- Can I use it in a different situation?
- What other words commonly occur with this word?
- Does the expression sound formal, informal or neutral?
You don’t need to stop a video every ten seconds or write down everything you hear. In fact, that can quickly make listening feel like homework.Instead, try this:First, listen for general meaning. Then, when something catches your attention, notice the expression. If necessary, check its meaning or look for another example; verify if other speakers use the piece of language in similar ways. Finally, try to use it yourself later when writing a comment on a social network, when speaking to a friend in English, or just taking down notes on your language notebook.Over time, this can help you move beyond knowing individual words to recognising how words naturally work together.
All that is an important part of becoming a better user of English: not simply learning more vocabulary, but becoming better at noticing, remembering and using the language you encounter. But… What about you? What have you discovered in something you’ve listened to or watched in English? Share an expression, collocation or chunk you’ve noticed and tell us where you found it!I’ll love to know more.
See you in a future text,
Ani
Anico is an English teacher educator, materials writer and exam´s tutor with over a decade in the field
