Listening is very important in language learning. Through hearing more accurately learners will speak more accurately, they will be able to develop their vocabulary, and refine their understanding of grammar.

Active Listening in English has been designed to provide learners with a wide variety of realistic listening texts in everyday situations. There are five units in the program. The units, which are graded in terms of difficulty, contain four types of listening task:

•	A Listening for Information task - here the learner must listen for something specific, e.g. what food items are mentioned by a shopper.
•	A Listen and Respond task - here the learner must take the part of one of the speakers and respond by choosing the most suitable option. Areas covered include meeting people, eating out, and booking tickets.
•	A Listening and Note-taking task where the listener must fill out forms, take messages and complete timetables etc.
•	A General Listening task - here the learner listens to an interview or to a talk and must first answer gist questions and then specific questions on the text.

Only after the learners have completed an exercise will they be able see the text itself thereby encouraging the learner to optimise its value.