LISTENING EFFECTIVELY http://charlenetrejo1.efoliomn.

com/LIS
Listening, it is an active, complex process that includes being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing information, interpreting communication, responding, and remembering. To listen effectively, we use not only our ears, but also our eyes and hearts. You demonstrate mindfulness by paying attention, indicating interest, and responding to what another expresses. It also enhances communication in two ways. First, attending mindfully to others increases our understanding of how they feel and think about what they are saying. When we really listen to others, they engage us more fully, elaborate their ideas, and express themselves in greater depth. Being mindful is a choice we make. There is no amount of skill that can make you mindful to others. Listening also involves physically receiving oral messages. For many of us this happens through hearing. When we are fatigued or when we have to be attentive for extended periods of time without a break our ability to receive messages may decline. It is also a good idea control distractions that hinders listening. Effective listening includes responding, which is communicating attention and interest as well as voicing our own views. Skillful listeners give signs that they are interested and involved. This is what makes listening such an active process. The final part of effective listening is remembering, or retaining what you have heard. "According to communication professors, we remember less than half of a message immediately after we hear it." Effective listeners let go of many details and retain basic ideas and general impressions. Obstacles to Effective Listening-there are two broad types of obstacles to good listening: those external to us and those inside of us. External Obstacles:There is the message overload the amount of communication in our lives makes it impossible to listen fully to all of it. Message overload occurs often in academic settings, in which readings and class discussions are packed with detailed information. You may also experience an overload when a speaker is presenting information verbally and at the same time showing a graph with complex data. There are environmental distractions the sounds around us can divert our attention or make it difficult to hear clearly. Good listeners try to reduce distractions, it is considerate to turn off a television, radio and cell phones which ring when you least expect them to. Internal Obstacles: A common obstacle to listening is preoccupation. When we are absorbed in our own thoughts and concerns, we can not focus on what someone else is saying. For example. if you are preoccupied with a report you need to prepare, you may not listen effectively to what a colleague says. When we are preoccupied with something other than what another is saying, we are not listening mindfully. Another obstacle to effective listening is prejudgment of others and ideas. Sometimes we decide in advance that others have nothing to offer us, so we tune them out. If a friend, co-worker or family member's ideas have not impressed you in the past, you might assume he or she will contribute nothing of value to a present conversation. Another kind of prejudgment occurs when we impose our preconceptions of a message on the person who is communicating. This can lead us to misunderstand what the person means because we have

not really listened on her or his own terms. When we impose our prejudgments on others' words at the relational level of meaning we express disregard for them and what they say. It may also deprive us of information, which can be costly in the workplace.
Listen up! Teaching is all about communicating, and communicating includes listening as well as speaking and writing. You are probably aware that one of the most important things in any healthy relationship is communication. Not only should both parties be able to verbalize their thoughts, questions, and ideas; but they should both be willing to really work at LISTENING to each other. Effective teachers really work at listening, understanding and responding to their students. Not everyone has good listening skill and this includes teachers. However, there are certain things that can be done to improve listening skills. The concepts below may help you to become a better listener and help you to model these skills to your students in the classroom. The key concept is that successful communication involves being an active listener. How to be an active listener

Be attentive. o Use your face, voice, and body to show that you are truly interested in what the other person is saying. Listen with an accepting attitude. Ask some questions to demonstrate that you are sincerely interested. Use reflections and restatements frequently to try to communicate to the person what you think they are saying and test for understanding. Use encouraging words to show you are listening. o "Mmm, hmm" o "I see." o "Right." o "Uh, huh." Use nonverbal actions to show you are listening. o relaxed posture o head-nodding o facial expression o relaxed body expression o eye contact Use encouraging words that will invite them to continue on. o "Tell me more." o "Sounds like you have some ideas on this." o "I'm interested in what you have to say." o "Let's talk about it."

Things to avoid while being an active listener

Do not interrupt. Do not interrogate. Limit the number of questions you ask so that you are "drilling" them. Do not try to think of your response in your own head while you are listening. Do not change the subject. Avoid phrases like: o "Are you sure." o "You shouldn't feel that way." o "Its not that bad." o You're making something out of nothing." o "Sleep on it. You'll feel better tomorrow." o "That's a dumb question." Do not be judgmental, which will allow students to feel that they can communicate questions and ideas.

References: "Listen and Learn!" (1999, November). Facilitator CHIPS, issue 5. "I Know You Hear Me, but Are You Listening?" (1999, Decameter). Facilitator CHIPS, issue 6. http://www.ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Listening.htm

5 Power Concepts of Listening*

*adapted from Wolff and Marsnik, Perceptive Listening 1 - One Process Brain Concept (O.P.B.C.) Listening is processed in the brain my the central nervous system which processes only one thing at a time. Observing the one process brain concept means remembering this principle and focusing your listening rather than dividing it. However, one thing a time can be a very rich experience. Holistic listening respects the one process brain, but also takes advantage of brain's hemispheric specialization: Left hemisphere - verbal, analytical, digital, linear, logical Right hemisphere - nonverbal, analogic, spatial, holistic A good listener finds ways to incorporate both hemisphere's processes. For example, by assessing the relative importance of "left brain" or "right brain" thinking in any given situation, a listener can effectively zigzag back a forth between attending to verbal and nonverbal messages. 2 - Speech Thought Time Differential (S.T.T.D.) Most speakers talk at a rate of 120-180 words per minute, but listeners can think at a rate of 400-800! Wondering what to do with that extra time? Summarizing what the speaker has said is an effective strategy for using the STTD. Another strategy (although riskier because if you are not careful it can lead to silent arguing and other bad listening habits) is to predict what the speaker is going to say next and then check your predictions. Here is an example of effective use of the STTD: 1 - summarize what the speaker was just saying 2 - "guess" what might be coming next 3 - listen carefully to see how right or wrong you were in #2 4 - make note of what was unique about what the speaker just said (or how it was said) 5 - summarize again 3 - Listener Self Concept (L.S.C.) Self concept is that collection of qualities we attribute to ourselves. Our self concept (SC) influences our behavior (B) and our behaviors influence the way people actually respond to us (AR) and those actual responses influence our perceptions (P) and our perception's of how others see us influence our self concept (SC) and so on... By knowing about how we see ourselves, we can be alerted to situations where we might not see ourselves a good listeners OR might reject good listening techniques because what the speaker is saying may conflict with who we think we are. 4 - Motivation (The big "M") All people are motivated by needs, basic physiological, safety, love and belonging, self esteem, self actualization. A listener can motivate his or herself by thinking about what can be gained from the listening experience. 5 - Listener "D" Formula

Don't Daydream Don't Do other Tasks Don't Worry Don't make plans http://amshubb.tripod.com/5power.htm

Listening Skills
The average college student spends about 14 hours per week in class listening (or perhaps I should say "hearing"--there is a difference!) to lectures. See if you can improve your listening skills by following some of the strategies below: Maintain eye contact with the instructor. Of course you will need to look at your notebook to write your notes, but eye contact keeps you focused on the job at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture. Focus on content, not delivery. Have you ever counted the number of times a teacher clears his/her throat in a fifteen minute period? If so, you weren't focusing on content. Avoid emotional involvement. When you are too emotionally involved in listening, you tend to hear what you want to hear--not what is actually being said. Try to remain objective and open-minded. Avoid distractions. Don't let your mind wander or be distracted by the person shuffling papers near you. If the classroom is too hot or too cold try to remedy that situation if you can. The solution may require that you dress more appropriately to the room temperature. Treat listening as a challenging mental task. Listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act--at least it shouldn't be. You need to concentrate on what is said so that you can process the information into your notes. Stay active by asking mental questions. Active listening keeps you on your toes. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you listen. What key point is the professor making? How does this fit with what I know from previous lectures? How is this lecture organized? Use the gap between the rate of speech and your rate of thought. You can think faster than the lecturer can talk. That's one reason your mind may tend to wander. All the above suggestions will help you keep your mind occupied and focused on what being said. You can actually begin to anticipate what the professor is going to say as a way to keep your mind from straying. Your mind does have the capacity to listen, think, write and ponder at the same time, but it does take practice. http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_listening.html

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Teaching Business Classes Teaching ESL English Listening Teaching English ESL English Lessons

Teaching listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any ESL teacher. This is because successful listening skills are acquired over time and with lots of practice. It's frustrating for students because there are no rules as in grammar teaching. Speaking and writing also have very specific exercises that can lead to improved skills. This is not to say that there are not ways of improving listening skills, however they are difficult to quantify. Student Blocking One of the largest inhibitors for students is often mental block. While listening, a student suddenly decides that he or she doesn't understand what is being said. At this point, many students just tune out or get caught up in an internal dialogue trying translate a specific word. Some students convince themselves that they are not able to understand spoken English well and create problems for themselves. Signs that Students are Blocking

Students constantly look up words Students pause when speaking Students change their eye contact away from the speaker as if they are thinking about something

Students write words down during conversation exercises

They key to helping students improve their listening skills is to convince them that not understanding is OK. This is more of an attitude adjustment than anything else, and it is easier for some students to accept than others. Another important point that I try to teach my students (with differing amounts of success) is that they need to listen to English as often as possible, but for short periods of time. Listening Exercise Suggestion

Suggest a number of shows in English on the radio, podcasts online, etc. Have students choose one of the shows based on interest Ask students to listen to the show for five minutes three times a week Keep track of student listening to encourage them to keep up the practice Check with students to confirm that their listening skills are improving over time

Getting in Shape I like to use this analogy: Imagine you want to get in shape. You decide to begin jogging. The very first day you go out and jog seven miles. If you are lucky, you might even be able to jog the seven miles. However, chances are good that you will not soon go out jogging again. Fitness trainers have taught us that we must begin with little steps. Begin jogging short distances and walk some as well, over time you can build up the distance. Using this approach, you'll be much more likely to continue jogging and get fit. Students need to apply the same approach to listening skills. Encourage them to get a film, or listen to an English radio station, but not to watch an entire film or listen for two hours. Students should often listen, but they should listen for short periods - five to ten minutes. This should happen four or five times a week. Even if they don't understand anything, five to ten minutes is a minor investment. However, for this strategy to work, students must not expect improved understanding too quickly. The brain is capable of amazing things if given time, students must have the patience to wait for results. If a student continues this exercise over two to three months their listening comprehension skills will greatly improve. http://esl.about.com/cs/teachinglistening/a/a_tlisten.htm