Listening to lectures

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Because lectures call for such a different type of listening, students often encounter problems. Be ready for these and plan ways to beat them.

• Understanding a "new" accent
• Understanding fast talkers
• Understanding jokes
• Getting used to a different system
• Listening, looking and writing at the same time
• Finding links between the lecture and the textbook

Understanding a "new" accent

One difficulty students have in listening to lectures is understanding a "new" accent. Maybe your high school English teacher talked with one kind of accent and now your lecturers use a different one. In English speaking universities the staff come from many different countries and from different parts of the same country. This means that even though they are all speaking English it may take a week or two to get used to their voices.

Suggestions:

1. Look at the lecture topic on the course outline. Do you understand the title?

2. Find out the meaning of the topic before the lecture.

3. Read the textbook chapter on the topic.

4. Think about the questions you think the lecturer will be answering.

Understanding fast talkers

A second problem can be the speed of the lecturer's talking. Some students don't even know if what they are writing down is one word or two.

Handy tips

1. Ask if you can record the lecture. Some lecturers allow recordings but others don't.

2. Try to note key points like names, statistics and dates.

3. Use a capital letter instead of writing the key word every time it is mentioned. For example if the lecture is about water pressure just write WP each time.

4. Make up your own shorthand system for common words. Here are some that are commonly used. There are many more and we suggest reading more about taking notes so that you become efficient at it.

& = and
# = number
A = B = A equals B
A -> B = A leads to B
@ = at

5. Use plenty of space on the page as you take your notes. Make lists and sketches. You can add details later from your textbook.

6. Write down what you think you hear. Then later try saying it aloud if it doesn't make sense. Perhaps "be low" is really "below" for example.

Understanding jokes

As you will know from your own language, jokes depend on knowing a lot of things that are not said as well as understanding the words that are said. They also depend on the speaker and the listeners finding the same things funny. What sounds funny in one place may sound stupid in another.

• Suggestions

It is annoying to see other people laughing while you don't know why, but think of this. Some of the students who are laughing may not understand the joke either. People sometimes laugh along with the others just to look good. One day as you learn more about the country and its famous people, the names and events that everyone knows about and as your English improves, you will understand the jokes too. It just takes time.

Getting used to a different system

If you have changed countries to go to university then you are getting used to many new things: the food, the culture, and of course the language. You might think that in lectures things will feel the same, but that is not always the case. Listen to these students.

Our lecturers at home helped us to take notes. They used to write a list of points on the board. That way you knew which was point 1, point 2 and so on. Here they just keep going on and on so you don't know where the next point came.

We used to listen to our teachers without writing because they would hand out notes or say "That's all in Chapter 8.". Here, if you don't get it down you're lost.

Why don't they speak slowly? Our teachers used to dictate the notes.

The problem here is you can't expect the same thing from all the lecturers. They all have their own styles.

• Handy tips

1. Time is probably the best way to overcome the problem that everything about lectures seems difficult and strange.

2. Talking with other people, including native speakers of English, will remind you that other people have similar problems.

Listening, looking and writing at the same time

Students say that writing and listening at the same time is a problem. “How can I write fast enough to take down all the important bits?”, they ask. Actually you need to be doing three things: listening, writing and looking because while lecturers are talking they may also be writing on the board, pointing to overhead transparencies or  showing slides. Maybe there are handouts as well. In that case listen to what the lecturer says about the handouts. Are they the same as the lecture or something extra?

• Suggestions

Looking up from your note-taking from time to time is important as you will find clues from the way the lecturer moves around.

Finding links between the lecture and the textbook

If you are better at reading English than at listening to it, then you may notice that the words the lecturer says are sometimes different from the words in your textbook. The important words for the subject are the same, but not all the words that join the ideas. The same thing is likely to happen in your language. People write in a slightly different way from the way they speak.

• Handy tips

1. Read the textbook chapter before the lecture.

2. If you can't do that, read it soon afterwards looking at your notes to see how they match.

For further advice, see Chapter 8 of Study Skills for Speakers of English as a Second Language, by Marilyn Lewis and Hayo Reinders.