MicroEnglish provides listening practice through dictations that train your ears to decode natural English at the word level. Rather than just listening passively, you actively transcribe what you hear, getting instant feedback on every single word. This will train you to identify the gaps between words, and recognise words even when they are pronounced in an unexpected way.
You’ll listen to carefully curated audio in authentic accents, then type what you hear word by word. When you miss something, simply replay it, see the correct answer, and train your brain to recognize that pattern next time. This develops bottom-up listening skills that transfer to all real-world situations.
Each MicroEnglish exercise focuses on a specific vocabulary item (phrasal verbs, idioms, or business English expressions) that you’ll actually hear in real conversations. Each exercise contains 3-6 dictations, giving you multiple opportunities to practice with the same vocabulary in different contexts.
You’ll practice with British (RP, London, Northern), American, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Australian accents, among others. This will help make sure you’re prepared when you encounter these accents in real life.
Dictations like this provide what we call ‘intensive’ listening practice. By doing these kinds of exercises regularly, and combining them with ‘extensive’ listening practice using podcasts and audiobooks, you’ll quickly see an improvement in your listening skills in real life.