Active Listening SkillsTeach your students to use active listening skills to improve classroom performance. Active listening skills are part of the communication domain in a classroom performance assessment. There are different types of listening used in the classroom for students to be effective learners. Sometimes when students are not performing well in the classroom, there may be an issue with their receptive language. True listening means we not only hear what is said, but have comprehension. It means we know when we do not understand something and can use certain skills for clarification, analyzing and monitoring. Assessing listening skills is often done by a speech therapist, but classroom teachers can analyze if their students are listening effectively. We need to be teaching children listening skills as outlined below so they can be successful in the classroom. Types of ListeningThere are actually 5 areas of the Active Listening Domain of Types of Communication.They are: Listening Skills, Vocabulary, Comprehension and Analysis, Classroom Directions and Classroom Discourse. For the sake of shortening a lengthy topic, the areas will be put into three groups:
Effective Listening SkillsListening skills means that the student can attend to information in a way that allows him/her to process it. An effective listener can disregard other sounds that would interfere with comprehension. The listener is able to focus and sustain attention.Assessing Listening SkillsThe student should:
Listening VocabularyVocabulary is key. When a student is having trouble understanding an interactive read aloud and I know he or she has been listening, I immediately look at listening vocabulary.Listening vocabulary means that a person has essential vocabulary to be able to comprehend auditory information. You will know if a child is struggling with listening vocabulary through simple observational assessments. Assessing Listening VocabularyThe student should:
Following InstructionsThe typical school day is packed with instructions. Students must be able to decide what to do with information from lessons, test and homework directions, activity directions and transitions. Teachers evaluate a students active listening skills by observing if they can follow instructions.Being able to follow instructions is also part of executive communication skills. We also expect our students to follow implied directions, such as how to act in certain situations. We expect students to infer our meaning, or "read between the lines." Students who lack these skills often cannot succeed with implied directions. Assessing Listening for Instructions
If a student is struggling with listening skills, then teachers should intervene. These students must be explicitly taught active listening skills. The speech therapist is often your best resource for finding just the right listening skill activity. Return to Top: Active Listening Skills About Advertising Privacy Policy How to Make a Website
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