Enhancing Student Learning: Active Listening Skills at University

This essay delves into the critical role of active listening in a university setting, addressing the challenges students encounter due to poor listening skills. It highlights the diverse factors impacting students' ability to effectively listen, such as varying learning styles and attention spans. The essay examines the detrimental effects of these challenges on students' academic performance, including misunderstandings and unclear conceptual knowledge. It then offers a comprehensive analysis of active listening, emphasizing its importance in enhancing comprehension and promoting student autonomy. The main body explores specific strategies for students to improve their active listening skills, such as maintaining eye contact, being attentive, and avoiding interruptions. Additionally, it suggests pedagogical approaches for teachers, like designing engaging lessons and fostering student connections, to cultivate a supportive learning environment. The essay concludes by reinforcing the significance of active listening as a cornerstone for academic success and personal growth.

INDIVIDUAL
ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1. Listening challenges that the students face at the university...................................................3
2. Ways in which the students can improve their active listening skills......................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Students face a lot of problems while focusing in the class due to which their concepts
remain unclear and also misinterpreted by them. This is a major problem that is faced by the
students as well as the teachers too, because they get blamed for not being efficient in their
teaching skills by the parents. This report will briefly discuss about the challenges that are faced
by the students due to lack of active listening skills and what is the impact of these challenges on
the students. Further it will also discuss the ways through which these listening skills can be
developed.
MAIN BODY
1. Listening challenges that the students face at the university
Each and every student in the educational sector is diverse, in terms of grasping power,
learning speed, presentation skills, confidence, financial backgrounds, etc. One of the major
skills that is majorly different in students is their power of listening (Tennant. Long. and Toney-
Butler., 2017). In an education system, the most important and essential thing from a student’s
perspective is listening. If the student will not be able to listen to things clearly and precisely
they will not be able to understand in the most effective manner that these skills should be
understood in.
One of the mostly faced problems faced by the students in the educational sector is improper
listening skills. This further affects the results and grades of the students on an enormous level
because of their misunderstanding of the topic and unclear conceptual knowledge (Tabieh. and
et.al., 2021). But every problem comes with its solution, and a problem or issue as huge as this
also has a solution, and the solution is referred to active listening skills. If the active listening
skills of the students are developed and sustained among them then this problem can be solved.
Active listening refers to a listening that requires comparatively more effort than regular
listening (Nemec. Spagnolo. and Soydan., 2017). For listening an individual needs to put a
conscious effort for hearing what is said by someone and then understand that information and
further retain it. This listening basically focuses on showing attentiveness and interest in regard
to the context of the speaker.
Active listening is very important because it helps to enhance and deepen the understanding
of any topic by the student. Active learning also supports the development of the abilities and

autonomy of a student to learn the topics that are discussed by the teachers in the class. Also, it
gives a sense of control and also greater involvement over the learning procedures of themselves.
There are many ways through which students can develop their active learning skills and
also maintain it in the long run. Not only the students require to implement strategies but also the
teachers require to implement some strategies in their teaching techniques to develop active
listening skills among students. Some of the major ways are as follows:
 Be open minded – It is very necessary for students to keep an open mind. Keeping an
open mind while studying or learning anything new allows the student to listen to the
point of view of another person (teacher) without refuting or interrupting immediately to
what is said or explained by them (Mamlok., 2017).
 Maintaining eye contact – Maintaining an eye contact with the speaker or even leaning
forward while listening are some of the little things that make the student feel interested
and a part of the conversation or discussion. As a student acts like they are interested
their eyes and mind do not wander here and there and then they actually stay focused and
the pretending becomes real and they actually learn and understand.
 Being attentive – By being attentive in the class the student can understand and learn
more consciously. By being more attentive in the class the students will not feel
distracted and concentrate and understand more. The attention spans of students are not
so long because of which they can not particularly grab every knowledgeable thing for a
long period of time. But by staying attentive they will learn more (Adams., 2019).
 Being patient – It is very necessary to be patient and listen calmly and carefully, through
this the understanding power of the student in particular increases. One must focus on
what the teacher is trying to say. So learning to be more patient and to focus on what the
teacher is saying is a very essential [part of development of active listening skills.
 No interruption – It is necessary to provide space to the speaker and also not interrupt in
every thing, this leads to disturbance and also gaps between conversations lead to
understanding issues and communicating issues for the teacher as well as other
classmates. It is not bad to ask questions but letting the teacher finish their topic or
conversation first is essential. Through this the interest of the teacher will also enhance in
teaching the students and the teacher will also interact with them on a better level.

 Create connection with students – Creating a connection with the students helps the
students to be more present in the class which leads to enhancement of their listening
skills too. This can be done by the by letting the students ask questions after every topic
is finished, so the students don’t have any doubts before proceeding to the next topic.
Also, the teacher can interact with the students in any ways that are comfortable for the
teacher and the students (Whitney., 2008).
 Designing of lessons – The teacher should design the lessons in such a way that it
becomes easy for the students to understand each and every topic. This can be through
any preferable at which is more understandable and appreciated by the students of the
class, such as, relating the topic that the class is studying to a story and presenting it to
the class in a story manner, so it becomes more interesting for the students. Through this,
students will pay more attention and also listen to things more attentively and also not
only just listen to things but also understand and remember them in detail.
2. Ways in which the students can improve their active listening skills
Paying attention
The students are required to give the complete attention to the speaker and address the message
being received from that. Identifying that the non verbal communication also has a loud voice
which can be done by looking at the speaker directly, not getting distracted by the thoughts,
preventing being distracted by the environmental factors and to actually listen to the body
language of the speaker (Xolmurodova, 2021).
Giving feedback
The personal filters, judgements, beliefs and the assumptions can distract the student from what
they hear. So as a listener the role of the students is to understand what is being said to them
which can require the students to reflect on by asking questions about what is being said to them.
This can be done by paraphrasing, asking the questions to clear particular points and to
summarize the comments of the speaker on regular basis.
Avoid judgement
The students must allow the speaker to first finish every point before they ask any kind of the
questions and they should also not interrupt or disturb the speaker with any counterparts.
Interrupting will only lead to make the speaker frustrated and will hinder the complete
understanding of the message which is a waste of time (Simamora and Oktaviani, 2020).

Respond appropriately
Active listening is made to motivate understanding and respect as the students are acquiring the
different perspective and information. The students get nothing by going against the speaker and
putting them down. So the students need to be open, honest and candid in how they respond,
present their opinions in a respectful manner and treating the person how they want to get
treated.
Focusing on the body language
It is also necessary for the students to work on their body language and showing the interest to
what the speaker has to say. The opportunities are that when they find any interested listener then
they tend to become more confident in the way they speak and it will also assist the students in
understanding the message that the speaker want to communicate. The gestures like adjusting the
facial expression, nodding the head and making the adjustments from the slouched posture will
help in making the job done (Erdoğan, 2019).
Using eye contact
When the student make the eye contact with the speaker then there are reduced chances of the
distracting thoughts. Although it is necessary to maintain the eye contact till the students are
comfortable otherwise more than that it will become awkward for the students.
Summarizing the words
Making a summary of what the speaker says is one trick that can prove out to be fruitful in the
listening skills of the student. A summary will also help in making sure what the students
understood, by providing them an opportunity to clear their points that were not understood
properly and add their opinions to what has been already told about (Spataro and Bloch, 2018).
Staying engaged in the class
The students are needed to sit in the front and center of the class and they also need to take part
in the discussions taking place in the class. Answering or asking the questions when the students
have any kind of the query will help them in the active listening. The students also need to
prepare for the next class on the following day, do the homework given and notes from the
previous lessons of the class.
Regulate the energy
The students are required to check themselves as the lessons goes by, keep a check on their
emotional along with the energetic state. Another thing that they should keep in their mind is to

take care of their body and get a full night sleep, going for the walk at the break time, staying
hydrated and healthy.
Empathise with the speaker
Effective and active listening is totally based upon the emotional intelligence as well as empathy.
In order to have the empathy in the students then they are required to feel the emotions of the
speaker while they are teaching and feel what they are going through at that moment. Although it
is complicated to do this and need a lot of effort as well as concentration but it will help in
improving the quality of the communication from the students side (Syakur, 2020).
Staying focused
If the students find it difficult to emphasize on what the speaker is saying then they must try to
repeat the words of the speaker in their head while they say them which will assist in practising
what they are saying and also help the students in the concentration. The students are also needed
to avoid any kind of the distractions such as the other conversations going on in the room.
Being open minded
The students are required to listen to the speaker without any kind of the judgement and examine
what the speaker is saying mentally. The students should feel free any ask the queries that they
have but they should not get involved in the internal discourse like comparing the speaker with
others. If the students get involved in any kind of judgement then they are likely to decrease the
value of the speaker.
Reflect
The students should not only assume what they have understood from the coach but they also
need to reflect or mirror the information given by the speaker. This technique of listening by
reflecting will help the students in indicating that they and the speaker are on the same page.
Clarify
The students should not feel shy or hesitated in asking any kind of the queries from the speaker
and if they have any doubts or confusion then they need to ask from the speaker about that.
Active listening is all about understanding the speaker and then being understood as the listener.
When the students get a clear idea about the perspective of the speaker then they can start to
introduce their own opinions, suggestions, feelings as well as ideas.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been discussed about the listening challenges that the
students get to experience at the university. The report also discussed about the ways in which
the students develop their active listening skills. Unfortunately most of the students are not good
at the listening skills that can create so many problems as the students spend majority of their
time in listening to the lectures in the class. If the students inculcate in themselves the art of
listening well then they can improve every aspect of their life like the academic, social, personal
and the professional level.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adams, M.C., 2019. The Effectiveness of Interpersonal Communication and Active-Listening
Skills with Individuals with Communication Disorders.
Erdoğan, V., 2019. Integrating 4C skills of 21st century into 4 language skills in EFL classes.
International Journal of Education and Research.7(11). pp.113-124.
Mamlok, D., 2017. Active listening, music education, and society. In Oxford Research
Encyclopedia of Education.
Nemec, P.B., Spagnolo, A.C. and Soydan, A.S., 2017. Can you hear me now? Teaching listening
skills. Psychiatric rehabilitation journal, 40(4), p.415.
Simamora, M.W.B. and Oktaviani, L., 2020. What is Your Favorite Movie?: a Strategy of
English Education Students to Improve English Vocabulary. Journal of English
Language Teaching and Learning.1(2). pp.44-49.
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.
Syakur, A., 2020. Improving the Eighth Grade Students’ Listening Comprehension Achievement
by using Dictation Techniques. Konfrontasi: Jurnal Kultural, Ekonomi dan Perubahan
Sosial.7(3). pp.205-216.
Tabieh, A.A. and et.al., 2021. The Effect of Using Digital Storytelling on Developing Active
Listening and Creative Thinking Skills. European Journal of Educational
Research. 10(1). pp.13-21.
Tennant, K., Long, A. and Toney-Butler, T.J., 2017. Active listening.
Whitney, B., 2008. Social inclusion in schools: improving outcomes, raising standards. David
Fulton Publishers.
Xolmurodova, O., 2021. DEVELOPING ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS THROUGH FAIRY
TALES. Журнал иностранных языков и лингвистики.2(4).