ELT365 · Day 152 — Why listening is harder than it looks

Idea — Listening in a second language demands simultaneous decoding of sound, parsing of grammar, and construction of meaning — all in real time, with no rewind button.

Example — A learner who reads I should have gone easily may miss it in speech as /aɪ ʃədəv gɒn/ — four words compressed into a blur.

Try — Record yourself saying three natural phrases. Play them back. How much did you compress?

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