Teaching Listening Skills

Following are several specific classroom exercises that I have developed for teaching and enhancing students' listening skills.

Peer Dialogues

As a scholar yourself, you know the value of talking about your current research project—to anyone willing to listen. Introduce your students to the value of this kind of informal peer work.

At the mid-point in their work on a term project or major research paper, have students get into pairs. Ask person A to speak for five minutes, describing the main points of his/her work to person B—who is instructed to listen attentively, without taking notes. Reverse roles: B describes her/his work to A. Then have each write a brief description of the peer's project, as he/she understands it—noting areas of confusion or gaps in understanding. Exchange papers. More than a test of rote recall, this exercise lets students see what their work looks like in another's eyes—and where concepts that seem clear to the author might become muddy in the translation.

Student Papers

For the following exercises, which involve reading student papers aloud, collect the papers and redistribute them. Not only will the class feel freer to respond to anonymous work, but attention is heightened as students are unable to predict when their own work will be read.

Assign a "respondent": Assign one student "respondent" to identify the main point or argument of the paper; assign a second to note the use of supportive details or examples; and assign a third to point out effective phrasing. (Student critiques should, of course, emphasize the strengths of a paper over the weaknesses.)

Suggest a title: As each paper is read, ask the class to suggest an appropriate title. While this exercise is especially valuable for creative writing or composition essays, even the act of titling a psychology paper will help to identify its main argument and reflect its tone. Noting any significant discrepancies or difficulties in identifying a single main point can assist the author in clarifying the presentation of his/her ideas.

Both of the following activities ask students to listen for illustrative details that are equally essential in creative essays and thesis-based research papers.

Creative writing / personal essays: Require that students listen without paper and pen in hand to each essay being read aloud. After each reading, ask them to recall effective details, noting especially sensual imagery such as sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch.

Research papers: A thesis-based argumentative paper in any discipline needs to be supported by illustrative examples or details. In this two-part exercise, first ask students to identify the thesis or argument of each paper. Introduce a competitive element by encouraging students to shout out—or raise a hand—as soon as they feel they've heard what sounds like a thesis statement. (You can even divide the class into teams and keep score.) Once the thesis has been accurately identified, the second part of this exercise requires students to listen for examples that support the author's argument.

Shared Text

To some extent, it's our own fault: We encourage lazy listeners when we allow students to open their books and read along—or, worse yet, pretend to read along—with the text being read aloud.

Instead, startle your students by insisting that they keep their books closed (and no cheating!) the next time you engage in a group reading from the assigned text.

On another day, bring to class one copy of a non-assigned book, from which students can read aloud a selected text.

In each instance, you can maximize involvement and attention by asking students to read no more than one paragraph each, passing the shared text from one reader to the next. (The other side of listening skills—oral communication skills—are also enhanced in this exercise, as readers become aware of the importance of pronunciation, articulation, and vocal projection.)

Read to Your Students

Finally, bring outside texts to class to read to your students yourself. These readings may or may not be directly relevant to the course content. As incongruous as it may sound, I close each of the evening classes that I teach in prison with the reading of a lullaby.

Consider the following sources:

Students see extracurricular readings of this type as a little "gift" from their teacher; they show their appreciation by listening attentively.

At the beginning of this semester, I read a lengthy Brothers Grimm tale to my Children's Literature class. Several weeks later, a question on their exam asked students to identify details from the reading. They had not been warned at the time of the reading or in the review session prior to the exam that they might be held accountable. Still, forty-nine out of fifty students were able to adequately address this question. They were listening.

This Teaching Tip was contributed by Laura Bates from the Department of English, Indiana State University, October 4, 1999.