ABSTRACT
When you are learning a foreign language, listening and reading have a dual purpose: any material you read or listen to is (1) a piece of information from which you need to extract meaning – even if you are reading purely for pleasure, and (2) a tool for improving your familiarity with and ability in the language you are learning. It is worth keeping this distinction in mind, as approaches which help you to work out the meaning of a given extract may well be different from those you might use to improve your understanding of the way the language works or how it sounds. Whatever your purpose in listening or reading, the more you know about the processes involved and the strategies you can use to support these processes, the more successful you are likely to be.
