Study Skills for Success: Addressing Listening Challenges in Education

This essay explores the various listening challenges encountered by students in higher education, including inability to concentrate, pace of speech, environmental and physical distractions, lack of preparation, and psychological factors. It delves into how these barriers, such as classroom environment, speech speed, and interruptions, can hinder effective learning. Furthermore, the essay emphasizes the importance of active listening skills and provides strategies for students to develop them, such as giving undivided attention, using body language, asking relevant questions, and providing feedback. By addressing these challenges and implementing active listening techniques, students can enhance their learning experience and academic performance. Desklib offers a variety of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to further support students in their academic endeavors.

Study Skills For
Higher Education

Listening is one of the most important skills that a students can have. Listening is a skill
that they can have a benefit to improve their listening ability. Academic skills support students to
become more operative learners. Listening is one of the most important skills a student can have
(Bruhn and Remund, 2018). By becoming a better listener student can improve their
productivity as well as their ability to perform. Active listening is important for students to
encourage them to be attentive in the classroom. Active listening is simple when there are rare
distractions. This is not only be helpful in the classroom for students but also helps students to
face the barrier to active listening and focus. In this essay, listening challenges experienced by
students are discussed. They can have a difficulty to concentrate properly that creates barrier for
them to listening.
There can be various listening challenges faced by students. One of them can be inability
to concentrate. Most of the students have difficulty to concentrate during the lecture that made
them inactive in the classroom. They find distractions everywhere, for not getting distracted
students should avoid devices like mobile phones and tablets. Unnecessary talking can also cause
for distraction for students, when someone talks to the teacher while taking a lecture (Lestary,
2019). . Students who came into a class without essential materials than that can distract
themselves and also the surrounding students. Classroom environment can also make students to
feel anxious and makes things pressurized for them to bear it.
Pace of speech can also be a challenge for students to listening skill. When teacher
teaches so fast and their speed is too quick (Merritt, 2021.). It can be difficult for students to
understand the words and that made them face the challenge during the classroom. Sometime the
teacher might be speaking so fast because they are nervous or don't think their students are
listening them properly, or they are interested in listening. If they are naturally a fast speaker that
also makes students to have listening diff-Fin_584956965iculty. This can lead to a lack of
communication between the teacher and student. Slow pace of speech can generally believe to be
easier to listening than natural speech rate.
Environmental and physical challenge can also be a barrier for students such as
lightening, temperature and furniture can affect the ability to listen. A room that is too dark can
also make student sleepy, if the classroom is too warm or cool rises suddenly that can be the
physical discomfort for the students barriers can be distracted students to listening.
Environmental noise can interfere with the ability of student in the process of incoming

information from the teacher (Saputra, Akib and Hartanti, 2022). It is important for students to
tell teacher about all the problem they are facing during the lecture and not able to maintain
complete concentration on the lectures. Sometimes changes can be made to reduce the huge
amount of environmental and physical barrier for betterment of students and helps them to
listening properly during the lecture.
Lack of listening preparation is the another barrier for the students for effective listening.
Many of them never received any formal training and instructions related to proper listening.
They just think it can come automatically over the time. Listening is one of the most important
part of learning and teaching (Sinsheimer and Fotuhi, 2022). In state to be successful in listening,
students should arise with some plan such as picking notes during hearing, making pattern, or
students should have methods for feeling themselves easy during listening. The listening process
comes through with four covariant, the communication, the verbalizer, the hearer and physical
environment. That is why when there is a difficulty in listening it appears challenging finding out
as there a lot of the causes which can easily impact the execution of the listening.
Psychological challenge can also affect students listening ability. In this barrier it
featured that the students in listening deals with their concentration level. Figuratively, this
problem looks psychological (Soruç, Dinler and Griffiths, 2018). The barriers can affects
students ability to listen that can be sickness, students who are not well they unable to listen
teachers properly. They are unlikely to be able to listen properly as well as the perfect and fit
student can. Actually when hearing, most of the students were incapable to focusing on every
individual thing verbalized by the teachers. For example, when students find one portion
confusing, they keep thinking of it. Hence, students are stuck in the first section and could not
move on to the next section.
Interruption can be a challenge to students if they are listening properly with the
concentration and if someone disturbed the class suddenly (Spataro and Bloch, 2018). This can
included that by asking the questions which have no sense, talking and disturbing the students
while the lecture is going on, then students can faced the challenge to proper listening. When a
teacher is speaking, students should be thought of their next question. They should have to listen
them first and then ask their next question later that can be disturbed whole class and students
who are trying to focus in the class that can be problematic for them too.

Language proficiency is also a challenge for students as learning a second language is not
easy. Listening is indivisible ability of learning ordinal language without doubtfulness. Though it
is very serious trouble about listening students knows the word, but get on the wrong meaning.
Phonic fluctuation of a word can misguide them (Tabieh, and et.al., 2021). Student knows the
word in written form but not the oral variation. Students have trouble to catch a word from a
related speech such as a talking. If students cannot understand most of the single words used to
associate circumstance. Students may feel having a lack of courage to asking about the language
or opinion they do not know about.
Explain how students can develop active listening skills
To improve the listening skills for students this skill is important which is known as
active skill. Active listening helps students not just make a conscious effort but that also helps
them to understands the proper meaning and complete message which is communicated by the
teacher. To enhance the listening skills of students they need to let the teacher know that the
students are listening properly. Active listening takes a concentration and determination to be a
good active listener. Listening without jump over the conclusion makes students inactive because
if they are skipping that part that means that are not interested in that topic. When students
understands something, they can ask the teacher to explain that.
Students can develop their listening skills with the help of Active listening skill which
can help students to pursue in their learning by reasoning, considering, examine and generating.
In class students take training on skills, resolve difficulties, conflict with complex quiz, form
conclusion, intent answer and explicate the thought in their own words through with written
material and communication.
By applying fresh cognition that helps students to encrypt information, concepts, and
skills, listening skills can be developed. In their representation by connecting it with preceding
information, coordinate knowledge, and change in objective. (Vishnupriya and Bharathi, 2022).
Students can also develop their active learning, when a teacher uses a light break. This break is
measured to punctuate particular points and thought. Once the teacher spell a particular
important element, they can take a break to let that content source in and pursue with classroom,
asking if there are any questions concerning the point that has been form.
By providing chance to students to talk about a topic and even argument with one another
is a great way to addition active learning in the classroom. When teacher asks students to

consider a topic or support a point of view, they can force them to evaluate more carefully and to
look for the information in an influence of their content. Collaboration can also make a situation
where students must believe more than one placement. Teachers may have a thought about a
conception in their mind, but when they discuss it with few co-workers who have various ideas,
it might change their primary perception.
Students can be instructed about active listening skills after some time. However, it also
means that the students take on new patterns when it comes to listening the instructor.
Substantially, a student should try to hold back the eye interaction with their teachers. Interaction
is an easy mode of focussing on a vocalizer for the rising up the concentration.
Whether finding a problem, moderate an issue or look into a concept, they are processing
thought and formation for higher understanding. Students should give teacher their undivided
attention and acknowledgement. By putting aside the distracting thoughts can also makes
students an active and good listener. Using the body language and gestures to show that students
are engaged. Active listening is planned to promote respect and perceptive that they are gaining
information perspective (Wise and Hsiao, 2019). It takes a lot of accumulation and establishment
to be an active listener. Asking a relevant question, can show that student's have been listening
and that helps in clarify what has been said. Listening effectively is one of the most important
skills students can have in their lives.
Eye contact can also an important part of a face to face conversation. That should be
seems like the students are understanding what the teacher is trying to saying. Too much eye
contact can show the teacher that student is pretending to be active, so they have to break eye
contact for a second. Then they can again stay focussed on them, do not look down and upwards
that seems like they want to end up the conversation and not interested in that topic. While a
teacher is communicating their thoughts and points, students should not interrupt between them.
After a teacher completing with their words and with their points then students should feel free to
ask the questions and their doubts.
By providing the feedback students can show that they were listening properly and they
remember the accurate words and meaning of what teacher taught. Providing feedback can
reflect students are attentive in the classroom. Feedback can be a corrective mechanism to
develop the active listening skills.

Reflection of content of feelings involves reflecting back the content of what teacher has
just said. Reflective listening appears deceptively simple, but it takes practice and much more
skills. This strategy can also help students to be active in the class, this says that students should
listen more than they talk. It can only restate and clarify what the teacher has said, they should
not ask questions or what they believe or not (Lestary, 2019). They should understand the feeling
reflected in what they say. Responding with acceptance and empathy, not with indifference.
Repeat back the effect of the point of view expressed and should express the genuine reason to
the teachers.
From this essay it is concluded that various challenges are faced by the students during
the lectures which has been very difficult them to concentrate them in the classroom. The
unnecessary conversation can distract whole class and students. Whereas sometimes pace of
speech can be a very big difficulty for students in listening, they cannot understand the words
which is told by the teacher because they were too fast (Bruhn and Remund, 2018). Some of
environmental barriers also make challenge for students. Intentionally Interrupting in class can
disturb the whole class, like asking anything which are not related to class or subject. Further,
Active listening helps students to be concentrated and helps them to make their listening skills
perfect. Strategies involved in this essay which helps students to be active in class. Students
should give teacher their undivided attention and acknowledgement. Active listening is planned
to promote respect and perceptive that they are gaining information perspective.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Listening Skills: A Pilot Study. Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication.8(2)
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Lestary, N.L.G.W., 2019. THE USE OF SONGS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’LISTENING
COMPREHENSION ABILITY. Yavana Bhasha: Journal of English Language
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Merritt, M.R., 2021. Active Listening in the Diverse Roles of International School
Leaders. IMCC Journal of Science. 1(2). pp.1-1.
Saputra, D., Akib, M. and Hartanti, R., 2022. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IMPLEMENTING
LISTENING JOURNALS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ACTIVE
LISTENING. PROJECT (Professional Journal of English Education). 5(3). pp.527-
534.
Sinsheimer, A. and Fotuhi, O., 2022. Listening to Our Students: Fostering Resilience and
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Soruç, A., Dinler, A. and Griffiths, C., 2018. Listening comprehension strategies of EMI students
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Listening and Creative Thinking Skills. European Journal of Educational
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Wise, A.F. and Hsiao, Y.T., 2019. Self-regulation in online discussions: Aligning data streams to
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