Listening skills

What listening is

Listening is one of the four main language skills‏‎ along with reading‏‎, writing‏‎ and speaking‏‎.

Listening is the ability to accurately receive messages in the communication process.  Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood – communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

Good listening skills also have benefits in our personal lives, including: a greater number of friends and social networks, improved self-esteem and confidence, higher grades in academic work and increased health and wellbeing.  Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, listening brings it down.

Listening is not the same as hearing.  Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that: it requires focus.  Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body.  In other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages.  Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.

Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps.

• Hearing.

 Hearing just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said.

• Understanding.

The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let's go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, "Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra."

• Judging.

After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, "How could the stripes to be different for every zebra? But then again, the fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable."

Tips for being a good listener

• Give your full attention on the person who is speaking. Don't look out the window or at what else is going on in the room.
• Make sure your mind is focused, too. It can be easy to let your mind wander if you think you know what the person is going to say next, but you might be wrong! If you feel your mind wandering, change the position of your body and try to concentrate on the speaker's words.
• Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk. Speakers appreciate having the chance to say everything they would like to say without being interrupted. When you interrupt, it looks like you aren't listening, even if you really are.
• Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak! You can't really listen if you are busy thinking about what you want say next.
• Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are the most important points the speaker wants to get across. They may be mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and repeated a number of times. Pay special attention to statements that begin with phrases such as "My point is..." or "The thing to remember is..."
• Ask questions. If you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said, just ask. It is a good idea to repeat in your own words what the speaker said so that you can be sure your understanding is correct. For example, you might say, "When you said that no two zebras are alike, did you mean that the stripes are different on each one?"
• Give feedback. Sit up straight and look directly at the speaker. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. At appropriate points you may also smile, frown, laugh, or be silent. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your face as well as your ears!

Thinking fast

Remember: time is on your side! Thoughts move about four times as fast as speech. With practice, while you are listening you will also be able to think about what you are hearing, really understand it, and give feedback to the speaker.

Teaching Listening

Can Listening Be Taught? Yes. A lot of listening ability comes with practice and exercise, but there are a number of points which, if you explain them to your class, will help them understand how to listen and what to listen out for and why an error might be made.

There is no one-stop solution however in the classroom there are a number of strategies a teacher can use to help students listen well.

• Once we have an idea about the problems a learner faces, we can better find solutions and effective methods of teaching. Thus it is important to explain to your class how the written sentence can differ from the spoken sentence because of the reasons above. When students know that in certain situations articles‏‎, for example, is almost not spoken then they learn to "hear" this in an utterance.
• Many students are bound to the written word. When doing a listening exercise, have all books closed so students only listen rather than try to match the sounds to words on the page.
• Encourage the use of the IPA to help explain precisely how a word is spoken.
• Introduce accents into the class. Keep this simple but have students listen to a "neutral" text and then the same in an accent. Then have them point out and analyses the differences in pronunciation.

Breaking from Reality

Normally we only get one opportunity to hear something. With learners, of course, you can make it easier by allowing two or even three plays. But remember, if the students can't "hear" something after that time, then you need to work out why they can't. Perhaps the speaker is speaking too fast or they're using an unusual word. Don't just tell your students the answer and forget it; rather, take a note of what went wrong and cover that point in the next lesson.

With beginners‏‎ you need to make sure the speaker is very clear and slow. As your students get more practice you can increase the speed of delivery to a more normal rate.

Quick Tips

Volume - if you are using a CD or iPod in the classroom then set the volume to be loud enough for everyone in the class to hear properly and clearly. Check with the person farthest away from the source to see if they can hear it before starting the exercise. Also, try turning the treble up and the bass down for clearer spoken sounds.

Finally remember also that listening is also hard for native speakers so have patience with your class because whilst native speakers will occasionally come across a word they do not understand whilst they are reading, they are more likely to mishear something (known as a Mondegreen) or ask for something to be repeated so they can understand it fully.

We spend a lot of our time listening

Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing. (Adler, R. et al. 2001).

Based on the research of: Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L. and Proctor, R. (2001) Interplay: the process of interpersonal communicating (8th edn), Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt.