How to develop your listening skills for C1

I used to have regular 1:1 conversation classes with a high-level manager from Milan. I have to confess that I didn't particularly enjoy working with him because there was a huge disparity between his ability to produce spoken English and his ability to listen to spoken English.

I get the feeling that he liked the sound of his own voice and was used to people listening to him speak at length.

Our 30-minute lessons used to develop as follows:

• He would start talking about a topic
• I would listen and try to comment on what he was saying, ask relevant questions, ask for details and clarifications.
• He would completely ignore my comments and continue with his monologue.
• When he finally finished his monologues, I would ask him questions about the topic.
• He would completely ignore my questions and continue with a new monologue.

If I were to assess his speaking skills, I would have given him C1 for spoken production (his monologues were coherent and cohesive with a wide grammatical and lexical range, and a high level of accuracy) but I had no idea about his listening skills.

One day just as our class was about to end, he asked me what I thought his overall English level was. I told him that his speaking was good but I wasn't sure about his listening. I suggested a quick assessment and he agreed.

I played the audio recording and a look of horror came across his face.

I understand nothing. Nothing. Not a word.

We finished the class and I never saw him again.

Your listening skills can be difficult to assess. There are practice tests but they are often designed for specific exams, and you might be affected by exam anxiety: the fear of feeling that you are being tested may impact your performance.

As you know, C1 is based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of References for Languages). You can use their self-assessment grid to get an approximate idea of your listening level.

Let's compare C1 with the level below and the level above.

There are a few points to note here:

• B2 users can follow extended speech when the topic is reasonably familiar; at C1, you should be able to understand people talking about unfamiliar topics.
• At C1, you are expected to be able to follow unstructured conversations and identify relationships between speakers without being told who they are.
• At C2, you can understand any type of broadcast (TV, films, radio, podcasts) without any effort. At C1, you can understand films and TV shows (with visual clues to help you understand) without paying too much close attention.
• At B2, you can understand standard dialects but are not expected to understand fast native speakers or non-standard dialects. At C2, you are expected to understand almost everybody, although you might need some exposure to some varieties of English first.

Your Overall Listening Comprehension at C1

As I mentioned earlier, English levels are based on the CEFR, which you can read more about here. Warning: it's over 200 pages long and is not an easy read.

Luckily, I've looked at it for you and here's an image to make it clearer.

How you can develop your listening skills for each aspect

Understanding conversation between other speakers

Conversations are unstructured, messy, and full of interruptions, repetition, questions, ungrammatical structures, and changes of topic. If you write down (transcribe) what people actually say in conversations, you'll be amazed by how chaotic they are.

Watching discussion shows on TV is a great way to improve your ability to follow unstructured conversations. Really focus on the following areas:

• how speakers introduce topics
• how speakers take turns (interrupting, preventing interruptions)
• how speakers tell anecdotes and stories (sequences and linkers)
• how people refer back and forward to what they said and what they are going to say.
• how people agree and disagree, ask for clarification and details, giving and asking for opinions.
• how people express feelings and attitudes.

Tip: Find a discussion or interview show on Youtube and use the transcript - lots of useful natural phrases and expressions.

Listening as a member of a live audience

Unlike conversations, which are generally conducted in an informal register, presenters usually use a more neutral, formal professional, or academic style. Listening to presentations such as TED Talks helps you deal with more focused listening about complex topics. You should focus on:

• signalling and sequencing phrases (Firstly, let's move on to, In conclusion)
• use of pausing, repetition, key words, and highlighting key points and sub-points to support arguments.
• the speaker's delivery; how they slow down and speed up to express essential and extra information.

Tip: Find educational and informational videos about your hobbies or interests. You can learn about the topic and practise your listening skills at the same time.

Listening to announcements and instructions

Listening to this type of material requires focus. You have to pay attention to specific details. You should get used to taking down notes on key words, figures, numbers, so you might want to deliver a code to help you identify essential information. You should focus on:

• instructional and educational materials about technical and scientific topics.
• public announcements in airports, train stations etc.

Tip: Search Youtube for instructional videos about household appliances, gadgets, and digital products and services. Ask yourself questions about science and engineering. See if you can find videos that answer them.

Listening to audio media and recordings

You have to get used to listening to a wide range of broadcasts from news bulletions to weather forecasts, from interviews to documentaries. Watch the news in English, find some podcasts about current affairs, your interests, and of general interest, and make notes while you're listening. You should focus on:

• a wide variety of accents, dialects, topics, and broadcast types
• listen to material related to social, professional, academic, and more general issues
• listen carefully for the speaker's mood, attitude, viewpoints and implicit (not expressed directly) feelings.

Tip: Subscribe to a few podcasts and listen to them while you're doing other things (going for a walk, working out at the gym, doing the housework, cooking etc.).

Your weekly tasks

• Check out the self-assessment grid and assess your level
• Reflect on your listening skills. Be honest about what you do well and what you struggle with
• Track how much focused listening you do in English this week
• Find some listening materials - they can be designed for English learners or fluent speakers. BBC 6-minute English is a good place to start.
• Commit to a listening plan (15 minutes per day of focused listening is enough)
• Combine listening with other skills: after listening to a recording, record an audio or written summary of the content.

If you have any other suggestions for developing your listening skills or podcast recommendations, feel free to add them in the comments section.