How to Train Your Ears for TOEIC Listening – Anytime, Anywhere

Student practicing TOEIC listening with headphones using active recall

🗝 Before you read:
Look at the article title and image. What do you think this article will be about?

Many TOEIC students wait for classroom time or study sessions to practice listening. But high scorers know that listening training can happen all day, every day.

Accelerated Learning encourages students to increase exposure and train their ears using real audio — podcasts, audiobooks, news, or even songs.
But it’s not just about hearing — it’s about listening with purpose. Ask yourself questions while listening:
• Who is speaking?
• What’s the topic?
• What do they want?
• Is the tone formal or casual?

Passive listening is useful, but active listening helps the brain identify patterns, accents, and structure — all critical in TOEIC Part 1–4.
High scorers often shadow what they hear (repeat it aloud), guess meaning from tone and stress, and pause to predict the next sentence.

The more you listen, the more your brain learns. Make it part of your routine — 10 minutes while commuting or cleaning can make a difference

📋 Understanding meaning

How well do recall and understand?

  1. What’s the difference between hearing and listening?

  2. Why is shadowing useful for TOEIC learners?

  3. What types of questions should you ask yourself while listening?

  4. What does it mean to listen with purpose?

  5. How does increasing exposure improve listening ability?

  6. What do high scorers do when they listen to audio content?

🧠 Building Vocabulary

Match the meaning word

  1. Retain

  2. Distraction

  3. Ritual

  4. multitasking

  5. Concentrate

A .Focus

B. Routine

C. Doing many things at once

D. Remember

E. Interruption

✍️ Part 6 – Text Completion

Instructions: Choose the word or sentence that best fits the blank in the text.

Passage 1

I listen to a short podcast every morning. Then I try to ______ what the speaker is going to say next.

Choices:
A. translate
B. guess
C. understand
D. predict

Passage 2

After listening, I repeat what I heard out loud. This is called ______.

Choices:
A. dictation
B. shadowing
C. echoing
D. acting

✍️ Part 5 – Incomplete Sentences

Instructions: Choose the best answer to complete each sentence.

  1. Many TOEIC students _____ practice listening only during class time.
    A. avoid
    B. begin
    C. only
    D. wait to

  2. It’s helpful to ask questions about the speaker’s tone and _____.
    A. grammar
    B. voice
    C. meaning
    D. emotion

✍️ Part 7 – Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage

Improving your TOEIC listening skills doesn’t require special textbooks. It requires time and attention.
Listening while doing something else, like walking or cleaning, trains your brain to understand speech patterns.
High scorers ask questions while they listen and try to repeat what they hear.
Over time, their ears adapt to speed, pronunciation, and different accents.
This is why consistent exposure and purpose-driven listening are more effective than just doing practice tests.

Questions:

  1. What helps improve TOEIC listening?
    A. Passive reading
    B. Focused listening
    C. Grammar review
    D. Speaking practice

  2. What do high scorers do with what they hear?
    A. Ignore it
    B. Translate it
    C. Repeat it
    D. Copy it

  3. Why does listening while walking help?
    A. It reduces stress
    B. It builds multitasking
    C. It trains speech understanding
    D. It slows you down

  4. What is a better method than only doing practice tests?
    A. Daily listening routines
    B. Grammar-focused study
    C. Memorizing answers
    D. Taking breaks

🧠 Self-Reflection

The most important step in any lesson is not just completing the task, but making meaning from it. Take 2–3 minutes to reflect on your learning today. You don’t need perfect answers — just honest ones. This is how high performers grow.✍️ Write in a notebook, type below, or say it aloud — what matters is doing it.

  1. How often do I practice listening each day?

  2. What could I add to my routine to improve?

  3. What new phrase or strategy did I learn today?

  4. When will I practice shadowing this week?

  5. What kind of audio will I use tomorrow?

My TOEIC Coach logo – Real Coaching | Real Confidence