How Do I Enhance a Student's Listening Skills?

Instructors come across the problem often. Students are not listening when they are teaching. Active listening may come naturally to some students, but for others it is a skill that needs to be cultivated and honed. Though there are many approaches to improve a student’s listening skills that can be explored in a more intricate way, there are some basic activities that will enhance a student's listening skills and can be easily woven into any classroom setting.

Instructions

1. Find out if you need to modify your teaching style. Ask your students to fill out an anonymous evaluation of your teaching, and ask them to identify whether they find your teaching style engaging, and if there are any techniques or activities that would improve classroom dynamics. If the evaluation is anonymous, they will be more honest with you. Sometimes it is important to look inwards when your students are not listening to your lectures, and before going through a variety of techniques to improve their listening skills, it would help to know if you are engaging the majority of your students in the first place.

2. Have your students read out loud. If you teach an English class, select a book that is appropriate for their comprehension level and have your students take turns, reading one paragraph each. Each student will have to follow along as classmates read, so she is ready to read the right paragraph come her turn. If you teach a non-literature-based class, select an article that is relevant to your lesson or a chapter out of a textbook that you find engaging.

3. Put on a video and have your students answer questions about the video while it is playing. This will force your students to listen actively because they will have to respond to details in the video.

4. Have audio sections of exams. The majority of your tests can be written, but find a way to incorporate an audio question, where the student is forced to listen and process what he hears and write the answer down. This works particularly well for language courses, but it can be integrated into any classroom situation.

References

• Little Ones Reading Source: Teaching Children Listening Skills Through Reading