How to Improve Listening Comprehension by Making Inferences?

Posted byamonanPosted inUncategorized

Imagine you are a tourist in a country whose language you do not speak. In a restaurant, you hand over a credit card to pay for the bill, but the server seems to say something apologetic in response. Even though you don’t understand his words, you can probably conclude that the restaurant doesn’t take credit cards, and you need to pay with cash instead.

This is the technique of inferring meaning: using clues and prior knowledge about a situation to work out the meaning of what we hear.

Similarly, we can infer the relationship between people from the words they use, without having to find out directly. Take the following conversation:

A: Tom, did you do your homework?
B: I did, sir, but the dog ate it.
A: That’s a terrible excuse. You’ll never pass your exams if you don’t work harder.

We can infer from the use of the words ‘homework’ and ‘exams’ that this is a conversation between a student and his teacher. By using contextual clues and our knowledge of the world, we can work out what’s being said, who is speaking and what’s taking place. (https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/five-essential-listening-skills-english-learners)

When learning a new language, you will not only need to understand what someone says but how he or she says it and what can be inferred by the manner in which it was said. In other words, in addition to understanding the main and important supporting points of a listening passage, you will need to draw conclusions about conversations and lectures. A higher-level skill than listening for main ideas, inferencing involves a deeper pragmatic understanding of the language.

Maybe you have heard these kinds of questions in the exams you have taken before: “What does the speaker imply…? What can be inferred from this talk? According to this conversation, what is most likely true? What is probably true about…?” Therefore, being able to answer inference questions improves your listening proficiency, and you will be able to score higher on the listening, speaking, and writing sections, all of which will test your listening comprehension abilities.

Though developing this listening skill is important for improving your overall listening proficiency of English, many English learners experience considerable difficulty. Case in point, English learners with limited English proficiency will have difficulty with inferencing because they are so focused on just getting the gist of the listening passage that are unable to draw conclusions about information that may not have been mentioned directly.

So how do you solve this problem? Practice, practice, and practice! It is important that you learn to use the context of a conversation or talk to help you draw accurate conclusions. For example, consider the following conversation between two speakers and the accompanying question:

Man: I can’t seem to get started on my writing assignment.

Woman: Maybe you should think about going to the writing center.

Man: Why should I? I don’t have very much time before I have to turn in my assignment.

Woman: If you go to the writing center, you can get help with all stages of the writing process. The tutors there will show you how to get started with your writing assignment.

Man: Maybe that might help after all.

Woman: You bet it will. In addition, they will read your written drafts and then provide constructive criticism and encouragement, all of which will help you to strengthen and clarify your ideas through the process of revision.

What is probably true according to this conversation?

  1. The man will probably not go to the writing center.
  2. The man will not complete the assignment.
  3. Quite possibly, the man has never been to the writing center before.
  4. The man and the woman are taking the same writing class.

Since the man appears to not know much about the writing center and since he makes no mention of ever having used it in the past, the best answer to this question is three. It is likely that the man has not gone to the writing center previously.

As you can see from this example, making accurate inferences involves an ability to go beyond just what is said. Using the context of the conversation or lecture may help you in understanding why a speaker says something or how a speaker says something.

(Adapted from: https://bettertoeflscores.com/how-to-develop-an-ear-for-making-accurate-inferences-about-listening-ibt-listening-passages/779/ )

HOW TO PRACTICE INFERENCING?

How much can you infer about what is taking place, who is talking, and what their relationship is? Now listen to the clip a second time but watch it too. Were your conclusions correct?

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