What is Active Listening and How Can It Help in School?
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Introduction
Listening is one of the most important skills a student can have in school and outside of it. From listening to teachers as lessons are being taught to hearing ideas and opinions from others, students learn to listen in order to memorize the knowledge being shared.
It’s easy to get into a never-ending loop of passive listening and to fall into a trap of retaining the information for only a short amount of time. In order to learn, it’s important to participate in active listening.
What is Active Listening?
Active listening is when you carefully listen to what others are saying—not to immediately have a response, but to understand what is being said fully. Then, if a response is required, you’ll be better prepared to respond because you’ve thoughtfully prepared it.
For students, active listening can help during class lectures, in tutoring sessions, or even when doing homework by yourself or with others. Being able to understand what the other person has said and what may be required of you can make school so much easier!
Remember, active listening doesn’t naturally happen for everyone, and that’s okay! Hopefully these tips help you learn how to put active listening into practice no matter what setting you may find yourself in!
7 Steps to Active Listening
There are 7 steps you need to efficiently perform active listening:
1. Be Attentive
Make sure that when listening to others, you give them your full attention. Try to avoid distractive environments or being surrounded by things that may distract you, such as your phone, other nearby conversations, or more.
Sometimes, you can even be distracted by your own thoughts. Often when someone is speaking, an answer or solution is not always needed. Rather than distracting yourself by coming up with an answer while the other person is speaking, try to focus only on them and remember that you can always answer later!
2. Ask questions
The key to active listening is asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are questions that when asked, the other person cannot reply with a yes or no. Instead, they would be prompted to respond with a more well-thought-out answer.
Asking these types of questions allows the speaker to elaborate and for you to clear any confusion that you as a listener might have. Asking questions can be a great tool for helping you understand the more complex topics you’ll be studying in high school and beyond!
3. ask for clarification
Sometimes asking questions is not enough. Or, you may not be getting the answer you need. In this case, asking the speaker directly to clarify any points that they’ve made can help you understand correctly, clear up any confusion, and make the conversation clearer on both ends.
4. Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is the act of repeating what someone else has said in your own words. Through this act, you can double-check if you have received the information from the speaker correctly. At the same time, you can show that you’re trying to understand and that you’ve been paying attention to them.
Paraphrasing can also help you retain information!
5. pay attention to your Body Language
A big part of our communication comes from body language. Make sure that the other person understands that you have been paying attention to them and you understand what they are saying with your body language.
Some simple ways to show you’re actively listening are by keeping eye contact, nodding your head, facing the other person, and keeping your body open. For example, crossing your arms or legs as may come off as closed or cautious behavior!
6. Show empathy
Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. What do they know? What have they experienced? What are their sources? Why are they telling you this? It is important that you understand not only what is being said to you but also why it is being said. Come with an open mind, and don’t be quick to judge or share advice while the other person is speaking.
7. Summarize
Last but not least, summarize! Go over the conversation with the other person one last time after it’s done. See if you missed something during the conversation or if something wasn’t understood correctly.
We are all humans and sometimes no matter how hard we try to perform active listening, we can get distracted! Summarizing is a good way to make sure you have performed well at the end of the conversation!
Final Thoughts On Active Listening
Your attention span and active listening can vary based on circumstances. For example, in a classroom, a student may be more attentive because they are not prone to distractions, but they may be unable to paraphrase during class. As another example, during a group project, you may be able to paraphrase or summarize what others have said, but there are distractions everywhere so it may be difficult for you to explain.
You cannot always do every step consistently. As long as you are aware and do different steps to ensure you are performing active listening, you are doing a good job!
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