Study Skills for Higher Education: Active Listening Project

This project delves into the crucial role of active listening skills for university students. It begins by defining active listening and highlighting its significance in fostering mutual understanding and effective communication. The main body of the project discusses various challenges students face during lectures, class discussions, and tutorials, such as the vast amount of new content, unfamiliar accents, difficulties in maintaining concentration, and issues related to the length and speed of lectures. Furthermore, the project provides a detailed explanation of how students can develop and enhance their active listening skills. It emphasizes the importance of listening for meaning, checking comprehension, adapting note-taking styles, focusing on lectures, giving undivided attention, asking clarifying questions, synthesizing information, and paying attention to non-verbal communication. The project also stresses the significance of being patient, avoiding distractions, and cultivating self-awareness to improve listening skills. The conclusion reiterates the importance of active listening for academic success and overall communication effectiveness, urging students to actively engage in lectures, eliminate distractions, and develop empathy to enhance their skills.

Study Skills for Higher
Education

Contents
PROJECT 2......................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Discussion of active listening challenges that are faced by students at university while
attending lectures .......................................................................................................................1
Explanation on how students develop their active listening skills..............................................2
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

PROJECT 2
INTRODUCTION
Active listening skills can be described as manner of responding to people which will
help them to enhance their mutual understanding (Bletscher and Lee, 2021). It is considered as
an important step which is undertaken by individuals for defusing the situation as well as seeking
solutions to varied issues. It is also used in managing conflicts and manage teams in a strategic
manner. It requires that an individual listen to another in a careful as well as attentive manner for
retaining the information for later. It is an important skill which aid in recognising perspectives
as well as feelings of other people in a rational manner. It also foster a culture of respect in
surroundings which assist individuals in responding carefully. It essentially comprises of
responses that helps in depicting the views of another person regarding their experience. This
essay demonstrates an understanding about varied challenges which are faced by students at
university in respect to active listening. This also covers an study on how students can develop
active listening skills in them in an effective manner.
MAIN BODY
Discussion of active listening challenges that are faced by students at university while attending
lectures
Active listening refers to responding with all senses by receiver. It is significant for
building communication effective through active listening which help to made speaker know
about relevancy of their presented content (Edwards-Groves and Davidson, 2020).
Students face varied issues in regards with active listening while studying in the
university during lectures, class discussions and tutorials. One of the challenge that is faced by
university students is lot of new content as course that is to be covered is vast in its approach.
New chapters are joined on a continual basis which led students to face problems regarding
active listening. By learning lot of things, students get bored at a time and this led to ignoring the
lecture tutorials as well as class discussions. This practice has affected their active listening
skills.
Unfamiliar assent also cause issues in active listening of students while at the university.
It has been assessed that numerous accented speech lead to a significant reduction in regards
with comprehension (Ellis and Abbott, 2018). Unfamiliar accent which can be either native or
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non-native can cause serious issues in listening comprehension as well as familiarity with
specified accent. It is clear that students face issues after listening unfamiliar accent, for
example, if a learner is familiar with American English accent then he can face issues in relation
to Indian English accent. This exercise can certainly interrupt whole listening comprehension
procedure. Unfamiliar accent which can be listened through tutorials and class discussions by
students at the university which make comprehension impossible to listeners.
University students face challenges regarding concentration for long period of time which
can affect their active listening skills in an adverse manner. When students have to focus on
tutorials and class discussions for a long time, it is an human psychology that they lost in-depth
which can affect their active listening. At that time, they were just listening in a passive manner
as they have lose their interest in tutorials and lectures.
Some other challenges that are faced by university students are length & speed of
listening, cultural differences and quality of recorded materials. It is imperative for professors to
maintain speed and length while delivering lectures as mind of students are filled with lots of
information when they have to attend long class discussions. It has been assessed that cultural
knowledge in relation to language has important effect on the understanding of the learners. It
has been analysed that if listening task involves differential cultural materials then its
informations should be given to learners in an effective manner. Quality of recorded materials
can poses as a issue for students in regards with their active listening skills. In some classes,
professors use recorded lectures and tutorials which are of not good quality can create issues to
active listening skills of students.
Over-assessment of skills can also poses as a challenge for enhancing active listening
skills for university students as this can lead to change their perspectives (Grohol, 2018).
Ambushing encompasses of gathering information which can be used in later stages for attacking
the speaker with over-judgement. These challenges led students to lose their focus in class
discussions and lectures as well as they miss key information.
Explanation on how students develop their active listening skills
It has been assessed that attentive learners can be good as well as fast learners. It is the
function of attentive learners that they do not just hear to lectures but listen it carefully as well as
start processing it in a strategic manner (Hoppe, 2018). It is imperative for students to listen for a
meaning by not just focusing on words but start concentrating on its intent. It is desirable for
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students to determine the central idea behind the intended message in order to enhance their
active listening skills. It is imperative for them to pay a close attention in regards with anecdotes,
explanations or any other detail which are used for clarifying things. In order to enhance active
listening skills in an effective manner, students can should check their comprehension after their
listening task gets ended. It is imperative for students to closely monitor their comprehension as
it aids them to make sure that their active listening strategy is working or not.
Ineffective listeners often tries to pen down every detail which they listen through
lectures and class discussions in order to prepare notes (Inks, 2018). This practice has made
students unable to identify central idea for which the notes are prepared. At the contradictory to
this, effective listeners adapt teaching style for note-taking which suits their teachers and
professors. They can concentrate on central ideas as well as jot down the details or expand them
in an effective manner. In order to enhance active listening skills of students, they should adapt
the practices related to effective note-taking.
It is common for students to feel distracted when professors started to discuss complex or
sophisticated topics. It is possible that students can hear every word of lecture but can not
process it in an effective manner in a short time (Maben and Gearhart, 2018). It is imperative for
students to focus on their lectures in a strategic manner which led them to develop their active
listening skills.
Varied strategies that can be undertaken by students for developing their active listening
skills in an effective manner. For enhancing their active listening skills, university students
should concentrate on what is being said which comprises of giving an undivided attention to
speaker (Mamlok, 2017). It is not necessary that students can get agree with the lectures but is
imperative to listen and carefully evaluate them carefully. Students can ask with their professors
by repeating their words in relation to what has being heard.
It has been advised to students to try to make an eye contact with their professors which
help them to improve their focus on the communicated message. It is imperative for students to
be patient at the time when professors make their points and try to process that in a strategic
manner. Professors should not be disrupted in between by students which help them to develop
their active listening skills in an effective manner. Students can ask their questions or queries at
the end when professors had made their point in an effective manner (Nemec, Spagnolo and
Soydan, 2017). It is also imperative for teachers to indulge the students and try to teach them in
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an interactive manner. This practice led students to listen actively to their teachers as questions
can be asked from them regrading class lectures. Synthesizing can be adopted by students for
enhancing their active listening skills. This practice relates to with the practice whereby students
can repeat what has been taught to them by faculty members of university. It is imperative for
students to practice the lessons in their own words through which they can access their progress
in relation with active listening skills. Through this practice, they can understand lessons which
are taught to them in an effective manner which led them to enhance their active listening skills.
In order to enhance active listening skills, students should focus on non-verbal
communication as well as the words which are spoken by professors during lectures and
tutorials. It is imperative for students to understand the non-verbal cues of the speaker in order to
connect with them in a more deep manner. It is important for students to use PACE formula
which suggests that determination of purpose, responding with a query, analyse body language
of the speaker for ascertaining rapport and thank them for their inputs (ЕРМАКОВА and
РОМАНОВА, 2021). It is imperative for students to stay curious with their lessons which led
them to keep motivated and connecting deeply to a conversation with the speaker in order to
develop their active listening skills. It is significant for learners to develop empathy which helps
in validating the attention towards their lessons in an effective manner.
For enhancing active listening skills, university students can pay attention to their body
language as well as posture. As body language of students sends a message to the professor as
well as the student itself. As when learners are not in a proper position, they are not listening
actively. It is imperative for students to focus on their posture while attending lectures in
university. It is also important for learners to being away from all the distractions such as social
media, phone and other related gadgets. It is significant for them to look into the eyes of the
speaker for developing their active listening skills. It is critical for students to become self-aware
specially of their mind which is considered as significant for learners to develop their active
listening skills.
It is desirable for students to build up their mind and body posture effective before
attending a lecture session and class discussions. Acting of self-awareness is not appreciable for
learners as this can create hindrances in enhancing their active listening skills. It has been
assessed that key for active listening is to stop talking as well as thinking and put the mind in
conscious state for processing the information they have get from their professors. In order to
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enhance active listening skills of students, they can summarise their learning in a proper manner
for preparing it afterwards.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned essay, it has been concluded that active listening skills are
considered as significant for university students as this aid them in facing varied challenges in an
effective manner. Active listening is considered as significant aspect in communication skill as it
inspires students to perform with honesty and integrity. Active listening is concerned with
building trust as well as connections which help students to identify and solve issues regarding
these skills. It is imperative for students to enhance their active listening skills which help them
to gain success in their life. For enhancing their active listening skills, they should be present
actively in lectures and class discussions. It is imperative for students to remove all the
distractions which are coming in their way of developing active listening skills. They can also
develop empathy and pay attention to their body language for enhancing their active listening
skills. Major challenges which are undertaken by students regarding development of active
listening skills are unfamiliar accent, quality of recoded materials, vast content and many more.
This has made students of university to lack their active listening skills as vast content made
them bore and uninteresting.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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.
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.
Ellis, P. and Abbott, J., 2018. Active listening, part one: how and where. Journal of Kidney
Care. 3(2). pp.126-128.
Grohol, J., 2018. Become a better listener: Active listening. Psych Central.
Hoppe, M. H., 2018. Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen and Lead, (French). Center
for Creative Leadership.
Inks, K., 2018. Active Listening for a Lifetime of Music Understanding and
Enjoyment. Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Elementary General Music,
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp.17-32.
Maben, S. K. and Gearhart, C. C., 2018. Organizational social media accounts: Moving toward
listening competency. International Journal of Listening. 32(2). pp.101-114.
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.
ЕРМАКОВА, И.В. and РОМАНОВА, О.А., 2021. TAKING NOTES AS A WAY OF
DEVELOPING ACTIVE LISTENING SKILLS.