When you prepare yourself for the listening situation, you have a better chance of listening well or listening to understand. Prepare yourself by becoming familiar with the topic you will be listening to. If you're going to be attending a lecture, read the assigned material or introductory material on the lecture's topic so that you are familiar with the vocabulary. If you are going to have a conversation with, for instance, an academic adviser about taking professional classes, learn as much as you can about the school and English language programs before you engage in the listening situation. In situations where you cannot do this, like conversations with your colleagues or friends, try to predict the structure of the conversation to make listening easier.
Although asking questions can be uncomfortable, pretending that you understand something that you do not is even more uncomfortable. In a conversation, ask clarification questions when you are unsure of what the speaker is saying. In a lecture you may not be able to ask questions immediately, but write down your questions and ask your professor later in her office hours.
Listening for understanding requires far more than just understanding the words that the speaker is saying. In addition to these words, you need to understand how tone, body language and facial expressions affect the meaning of the communication. Evaluate all of these verbal and non-verbal cues while listening to determine how the speaker is treating the topic, whether he is being serious, sarcastic or funny.
Let people know that you are practicing your English listening skills, and ask them if they will help you practice by checking your understanding of what they have said. Then, after a person is done talking, summarize his argument. Next, ask if you have summarized correctly. Listen to the corrections that the speaker gives you, and determine how you went wrong in misunderstanding this. Try this over and over again until you are generally summarizing correctly.