While I was looking for a better way to practice American English I found a website, where you can find radio channels from all over the world. Do you think it is a good idea to practice your listening skills of American English in this way?
The website is onlineradiobox.
Whether it is a good idea or not to listen to a specific radio programme depends on the difficulty level of the language. If the programme's level is at your level or just a little bit higher, you will be able to understand most of it and you should be able to guess the meaning of many other words and expressions. The type of input you get is known as comprehensible input.
If the radio programme's level is much higher than your own, you will probably understand very little and perhaps even misunderstand some of what is said. This means that you don't get enough comprehensible input to benefit from listening to it. You may even get frustrated.
The term comprehensible input was popularised by the American linguist Stephen Krashen. He has talked about this in numerous publications, interviews and videos. See for example the video Stephen Krashen: Language Acquisition and Comprehensible Input. In this video, demonstrates two types of lessons, one of which is an example uses comprehensible input. When demonstrating the use of comprehensible input (in a short German language lesson), he uses visual clues, such as pointing to part of his body and by drawing on a sheet of paper. This makes it easier to understand what he means by the German words he uses. Visual clues are not available when you listen to the radio, so it is very important to choose the radio programmes wisely: check that the speed is not too fast, that the subject is something you already know a few things about, and, above all, that the subject is interesting to you.
You can listen in two ways: passively or actively. By passive listening I mean simply listening, possibly why doing something else (while jogging, washing the dishes, ..). By active listening I mean doing certain things to remember some of the words, phrases and grammatical constructions used in the programme, e.g. taking notes, looking up things and possibly even relistening to a recording (if that is available).
So you can definitely benefit from listening to radio programmes if you bear the above things in mind.
Practicing your listening skills by tuning into radio stations is a great way to improve your American English! Listening to live radio exposes you to real-time conversations, current events, and a variety of accents and dialects, which is very beneficial for language learning.
If you're exploring more options beyond OnlineRadioBox, you might want to check out RadioTub. It offers a wide selection of radio stations from around the world, including many that broadcast in American English. This can provide you with a broader range of content to practice with, whether you're interested in news, talk shows, or music.
Listening regularly and to different types of programs can help improve your comprehension and vocabulary. Happy learning!
