Developing Active Listening Skills for Higher Education Students

This article discusses the challenges faced by students in higher education while attending lectures and provides recommendations on how to evolve their active listening skills. It emphasizes the importance of active listening and its impact on learning outcomes. The article also provides tips on how students can improve their listening abilities, such as focusing on the lecturer, taking notes, and avoiding distractions.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

Contents
ASSESSMENT 2.............................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Discussion of active listening challenges that are faced by students at university while
attending lectures.........................................................................................................................1
How students can evolve their active listening skills.................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

ASSESSMENT 2
INTRODUCTION
The ability to listen attentively could be regarded as sensitivity towards other
individuals, which aids them to escalate their comprehension and understanding. It could be said
to be a very important tool in diffusing hostility together with looking for relevant solutions to
an assortment of problematic issues. It is incredibly useful to mitigate and contain the
consequences of adverse circumstance in a manner which is amicable. A person well versed in
the skill of active listening is expected to absorb the main talking points in the course of
communication, to be able to engage the speaker in a constructive way. The skill aids in
comprehension of the viewpoint of the speaker in conjunction with the feelings that are attached
to the speaker's viewpoint. (Dinnar, 2022)The skill of active listening fosters an environment in
which individuals feel a sense of respect when talking and expect a intellectual addition to their
talking points. The essay below discusses the variety of issues faced by students at higher
eduction institutes and provides recommendation how to evolve the skill in a manner which is
conducive to their learning.
MAIN BODY
Discussion of active listening challenges that are faced by students at university while
attending lectures.
The skill of active listening demands sensitivity from the listener to the disposition and material
being conveyed to them. To gather the complete meaning behind the words of the speaker, the
non verbal cues must be kept in mind. The ability to listen intently includes listening without
causing prejudice to the words or intention of the speaker. The people who are completely versed
with the skill of active listening refrain from jumping ahead to find solutions while the speaker in
is the middle of content. Rather the structure that these people keep is focussing on listening first
and giving response in a constructive manner. (Ármannsdóttir, 2020).This gives the speaker the
impression that their view point and cognitive processes are being attended. Moreover it
conveys to the speaker that your attention was not divided on making judgement. The
expressions on the face and the non verbal cues of the listener should be kept in check in order to
not appear disrespectful to the speaker.
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In the context of higher educational institutes the learners face various issues while
lecture, tutorial or discussion is going on. One consistent and ever present issue that the
students face on a regular basis is not being adequately familiar with the topic at hand. This may
be result of various factors, such as students not preparing for the lecture prior to entering the
class. The tutor introducing or cramming various topics without giving prior notice to the student
that they are going to cover a certain topic. Both of which diminish the learners capability to
comprehend or retain the topic.(Bletscher, and Lee,2021) A new topic may overwhelm the
learners and cause boredom which has a cascading effect on their future learning ,if the topic
being covered is connected intimately with future topics. This may cause the learner to be
indifferent towards the speaker and the topic.
The skill of active learning may also suffer in the case when students are hearing a
particular accent for the first time. It could be that either the student is non native English
speaker or the tutor is non native speaker, both of which would cause problems. Being tuned to
listen to particular accent and comprehend that accent takes time, due to which the students may
do away with asking questions or respond in a constructive manner. Newer accents also demand
that the listener must pay extra attention to specific details which may cause the learners to be
interested in the topic.(Edwards,Groves and Davidson, 2020)
Learners in higher educational institutes are often characterised as having little spans of
attentions when compared to the length of the lecture. If a particular topic takes very long to
wind down then the comprehension of learners suffer, due to them not being able to pay attention
to the topic. To make their listening more fruitful it is essential to maintain the curiosity of the
students due to which the students short term memory gets converted in to long term memory.
Hurdels to active listening also include fast speed of the content being spoken. It is
essential to maintain a normal rate of speaking so that the comprehension of students dos'nt
suffer. As the students have to absorb huge swathes of information at once and retain that. If the
speed of the content being spoken is too fast then it will exit the short term memory without
making way into long term memory. (Novick, Realyvasquez, and Ramirez, 2021,)
Other major hurdles for the ability to listen actively are deficiency in knowledge about
culture of the language. The students may be unfamiliar with certain slang terms or idioms or
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other cultural aspect which are associated with a particular language in a particular geographic
location. This lack of comprehension results in not being able to get the entire picture of what is
being tutored or miss the central point around which the whole thing revolves. The quality of
pre-recorded materials being used by the tutor should be ensured to have proper standards. The
students may try to ambush the tutor with their prejudices, in the form of focussing only on the
material which contradicts their views, due to which they ignore the important aspects of the
lecture. (Hills,2018.)The learning outcome of students may also be damaged if they are not able
to comprehend the central point or have an overview of the topic.
How students can evolve their active listening skills
The student apt in the ability of listening actively are excellent at retaining and processing
the information being imparted to them. Further their problem solving skills and deduction
capabilities are exceptional in determining the future course of the topic.
Learners could improve their ability to listen actively by gathering the intention or the
focal point of the content being put in front of them. The focal point of any topic aids to
determinate the cohesive chronological order of the topic. Non verbal cues such as hand gesture,
tone of the speaker add to better comprehension. For evolving active listening abilities in an
manner which is efficient as well as effective, the learning outcome which was intended by the
tutor must be weighed against what was actually learnt by the learner. This comparative analysis
of the outcomes also helps students to further gain an insight on the topic at hand. It is essential
for the students to keep focused on listening while the lecture is going on, instead of writing
down everything the tutor speaks. Writing down everything makes students not focus on the
topic at hand and miss non verbal communication since they are predisposed with writing the
material down.
Only essential items must be written down in order for them to compare the tutors
intended learning outcomes with the actual comprehension of the students. Further the student
can deduce the points which are essential for the topic and writes about his own idea. For the
evolution of listening abilities to occur the students need to prepare before the lecture so that the
topic at hand doesn't seem alien to them. Its very common to get full of information when the
central idea remains elusive to the listener in which case they can't make logical arrangements of
the topic and its various aspects.
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The students should always keep focused on the lecturer and make eye contact with the
tutor in order to not get distracted. Its not expected out of students to conform to the tutors way
of thinking rather they should focus on the material so the formation of their unique way of
thinking takes place. The students should not shy away from asking the tutor to repeat certain
information which is complex, as the tutors are well are of the areas the students face difficulty
in and are ready to repeat that information or expand upon it so that the learners comprehend it
better.(Spataro, and Bloch 2018)
It is of supreme significance to be keep patience and hold off any possible questions as
they may get resolved on their own during the course of the topic. However if the tutor gets
interrupted in the middle of their content it may make them loose focus and miss out on certain
topics. So the questions are always encouraged but by being patient the student can get their
respective queries answered in a manner which is conducive to the decorum of classroom. The
tutor could after the lecture gets over answer5 the questions in a more relaxed and better way.
Noting down questions which need to be clarified helps students on focussing on the present
content and stimulates their minds to maintain curiosity, which is very important to form long
term memories.(Schmidt, 2018.)
The non verbal communication is just as important as the verbal form as the non verbal
communication deciphers the nuances of the topic at hand. The hand gestures, expressions
could help them in identifying the gravity of the topic. The PACE framework in this regard
proves to be incredibly helpful . The first portion of the framework assists in identifying the
purpose behind the content, the second part involves questioning on the content, the third part
analyses the non verbal cues of the speaker and lastly gratitude for the input given by the
speaker. Empathy or the quality of empathising pours emotions into the learning ability which
helps in crystallizing the comprehension since emotions are very powerful tool in evolving the
learning ability.(Doyle, 2019)
For developing listening ability one crucial aspect which is often ignored is the posture
of the learner. Postures are very important firstly a correct posture helps students concentrate
secondly an incorrect posture can distract the lecturer. Students must avoid all types of
electronics which have a tendency to cause distraction. The electronic device use in the class also
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negatively impact the tutor who is providing the content as they think the student is not interested
in the topic.
The mind of the student should be conditioned to receive knowledge whenever it is
provided by the tutor. The students should keep track of their health as missing out few lectures
can make them uninterested in the future topics since in higher institutions of knowledge every
subject is interlinked. The students should be given prior notice of the topic which is to be
covered in future in order for them to get familiarity on the topic. Also it should be ensured that
the quality of the material which is used in the classrooms are up to the standard because a low
quality recording or materials distract the students and makes learning difficult.(Hoppe, 2018)
CONCLUSION
The essay above provides the importance of developing active learning skills. Active
learning skills connote that students are not merely hearing the information being presented to
them rather the learners are actually engaged in that topic and are able to retain the crux of the
content and the crucial points. If a person continuously enhances their learning skills they can
process information in a better way and lodge them into their long term memory in a strategic
manner. This skill is not only important while they are learners but also could help them in
getting lucrative and coveted jobs. Other than being useful in professional life active learning
skills can also enhance their personal relationships and social life. The student must keep track
of their health to not miss out on crucial content and refrain from using electronics while in the
classroom. Some components which could hamper the learning ability is unfamiliarity with
accent, sub par quality of recorded material, not giving prior notice to the students about the
topic which is to be covered or the student not adequately preparing for the topic.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Spataro, S.E. and Bloch, J., 2018. “Can you repeat that?” Teaching active listening in
management education. Journal of Management Education, 42(2), pp.168-198.
Novick, D., Realyvasquez, M. and Ramirez, N.A., 2021, October. Active Listening for
Engineering Students. In 2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-4).
IEEE.
Hoppe, M.H., 2018. Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen and Lead, (French). Center
for Creative Leadership.
Hills, L., 2018. Staff Coaching: Using Active Listening and Powerful Questions to Unleash Your
Staff's Potential. The Journal of Medical Practice Management: MPM, 33(5), pp.302-
308.
Bletscher, C.G. and Lee, S., 2021. The Impact of Active Empathetic Listening on an
Introductory Communication Course. College Teaching, 69(3), pp.161-168.
Dinnar, S.M., 2022. How Active Listening Can Guide a Joint Session. Alternatives to the High
Cost of Litigation, 40(6), pp.91-93.
Ármannsdóttir, G.B.,2020 Can improv improve teamwork?: how can the tools of improv be used
by leaders to create high performing teams by improving active listening, increasing
psychological safety and, as a result, boosting creativity? (Doctoral dissertation).
Edwards-Groves, C. and Davidson, C., 2020. Noticing the multidimensionality of active
listening in a dialogic classroom. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,
The, 43(1), pp.83-94.
Schmidt, G.B., 2018. Listening is essential: An experiential exercise on listening
behaviors. Management Teaching Review, 3(4), pp.287-294.
Doyle, A., 2019. Important active listening skills and techniques. The Balance Careers.