Why we should teach active listening

2023 is loud.

In Tesco, you can buy ear defenders at the till in recognition of the fact that everywhere is loud.

There is constant background noise, whether it be music, traffic, advertising, apps, screens, or people just screaming to be heard. There is noise.

In our homes, Black Mirror is creeping into our lives as Siri and Alexa join into our conversations, while turning the volume up.

The WHO have reported that by 2050, 1 in 4 people will suffer from some form of hearing loss. Surely that can’t be coincidental.

There is noise and everywhere is loud.

The more we hear, the more noise we make, and the louder everything becomes.

“Empty vessels make the most noise.”

And there is noise…

Everywhere..

…and nobody listens.

“Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.” (Native American proverb)

Why should we teach listening?

Language acquisition

Listening is a key skill of language acquisition. Along with writing, reading and speaking, listening lies at the core of developing our communication skills.

As young children, we listen to the words which we hear spoken around us and then begin to develop our own communication skills. Crucial as this aural aspect to our vocabulary development is, it is also, almost always passive. Listening, is generally something we do without thought. Whilst young children absorb the information around them, they give no active thought to the process of listening. It is something that just happens. The vocabulary that develops as a result of listening, is dependant on the skills of the people that surround us and the words that we hear.

In Bringing Words to Life, Beck, McKeoown and Kucan noted that:

“ The practical problem is that there are profound differences in vocabulary knowledge among learners from different ability or socioeconomic groups from toddlers to adults. Consider that:

• By age 3, there is strong evidence of a gap in vocabulary knowledge for children of different SES groups (Hart & Risley, 1995)”

As a result of this early disadvantage, the vocabulary gap broadens.

“There is much evidence – strong correlations, several causal studies, as well as rich theoretical orientations – that shows that vocabulary is tightly related to reading comprehension across the age span.” (Bringing words to life).

As teachers, the vocabulary we use every day in the classroom is absorbed latently by the pupils in our classroom. Using higher level vocabulary as the norm and introducing Tier 2 words as early as possible, is one route into reducing the vocabulary gap as is explicitly teaching the etymology and morphology of words in order to create a greater understanding of ‘word family trees’, thereby enable pupils to decipher texts more accurately and expediently.

Latent, passive listening, however, is slow to take effect, and in a world of noise, what guarantee is there that this knowledge will stick and have the impact we want it to have?

By talking to children with a higher level of vocabulary, and by teaching higher level vocabulary, we want children to demonstrate their understanding of those words by using them actively in writing and speech. In order to enter this stage of fluency and expertise, however,  a word in your vocabulary passes through different stages (Dale 1965).

Stage 1: Never heard it

Stage 2: Heard it, but don’t know what it means

Stage 3: Recognises it in context as having something to do with ___

Stage 4: Rich decontextualised knowledge of the word’s meaning.

At stage 4, the word can be used in writing and speech with confidence. At that stage, it has entered a fluency of vocabulary where it can be used effortlessly and correctly.

As an adult, we make a conscious effort to expediate this process. For example, I once watched a programme where a consultant used the phrase, “This will have a deleterious effect.” The word ‘deleterious’ was not in my vocabulary and never had been. I looked it up (it means harmful); repeated it to myself for a while and used it as appropriate. This is now a word with which I am fluent. It took effort and activity. This was not a passive process. I repeated this process with vellichor and petrichor. At the age of 48, I have three new words. It takes effort.

Active listening

Whilst listening is generally something that you do without considering it, active listening takes effort.

If we want children to develop their vocabulary and to reach Stage 4, where they are demonstrating their fluency of understanding through speech and in writing, they need to be active listeners.

Have you ever watched a good cross-examination? A question is asked and answered. The best cross-examiners are brilliant active listeners. They hear the words and they hear the spaces. It’s the spaces that they exploit to their advantage. It is skilful and practised.

For anyone, regardless of age, active listening is tough.

You need to look at the speaker and focus on what they are saying.

You need to think about what is being said and balance that information against what you already think or know.

Perhaps most importantly, you need to consider what they are not saying, what they have omitted or circumnavigated.

Finally, you need to check your understanding by asking questions.

If the children in our classrooms become good active listeners, they will hear what they are taught and what their peers have to say. They will consider the information carefully and begin to fill the gaps in their own knowledge as well as in the other speaker’s words.

“When you talk you are only repeating what you already know. If you listen, you may learn something new.” Dalai Larma.

We can promote active listening in the classroom everyday by asking children to take notes as they listen; to be prepared to ask questions or have questions asked of them; to have sentence stems at the ready to help the less confident. We can provide copies of the higher level vocabulary that we have used and taught so that it is accessible and ready to be used by the children as they try to integrate new words into their vocabulary and to gain confidence.

Active listening expediates understanding and makes a passive experience into a busy one.

In teaching active listening, we are also teaching children how to be good communicators; to avoid misunderstanding and conflict.

Empathy

“Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.” (proverb)

Being a good communicator isn’t of course all about the level of our vocabulary or the words that we use – although these are useful attributes to acquire. Being ignored is a fast track to low self-esteem and misery and the fear of not being heard is particularly prevalent in a society where noise is the norm.

Active listening is polite, respectful but above all it is a kindness. To hear someone is one thing but to stop and listen to what they are saying…and what they are not saying, shows both interest and empathy. In my experience, not many people are particularly skilled at active listening, and we are drawn to and have trust in those that are.

To be a skilled listener, is to be valued. This is a skill worth teaching as much as the ability to be a great writer or mathematician.

Active listening should form part of classroom practice every day and for anyone who thinks otherwise, maybe Larry King has the answer.

“I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I am going to learn, I must do so by listening.” -Larry King