Student Resources: Listening
The key to effective listening is two-fold: first, eliminating barriers; second, being active—in productive ways—while listening.
There are numerous barriers to effective listening. Five are especially noteworthy.
Selective listening is just what it sounds like, listening to only some things. When in a situation in which a speaker is trying to persuade you, you may listen well to ideas and information that fit what you believe and not listen to ideas and information that support a view you disagree with. When in a situation in which a speaker is trying to inform you, you may listen to ideas and information that are easy to grasp or entertaining and not listen to all that you need to attend to, such as the complex or tedious material in a course you’re taking.
“Reloading” occurs in contexts such as classroom discussions where conflicting opinions are being voiced. Rather than listen to what others are saying, you may instead be busy planning your next contribution to the discussion. You’re busy “reloading,” rather than carefully listening.
A Poor listening environment may be poor because it’s too hot or too cold, because the acoustics are poor, because the distance between the listener and the speaker is too great. You should do whatever you can to put yourself in a good listening environment. Some environmental characteristics are beyond your control, but not all. So, don’t rush to fill in that back row in the classroom; and, maybe, don't sit next to your buddy: his or her presence might tilt the listening environment for you to the poor side.
Literal noise may be a conversation between two students during a lecture that inteferes with your truly listening to that lecture. Or it may be music from another classroom or the many voices out in the hall or a buzzing fluorescent light overhead. You should do whatever you can to reduce the interference of literal noise.
Emotional “noise” is different from literal noise. If you just did poorly on a test and can't get that poor performance out of your mind when sitting in your next class, those interfering feelings would be emotional “noise.” If you are having boyfriend/girlfriend problems, they can also be emotional “noise.” The word “noise,” in these cases, is being used metaphorically. Nonetheless, this kind of “noise” can be just as distracting as loud music or a loud conversation. Reducing this “noise” is often difficult, but you should try to do so and, then, find out what you may have missed. Check somebody else’s notes, for example, for information you missed because you were emotionally distracted.
There are also numerous ways to be active while listening. Three might be mentioned. A familiar one is note-taking. Good note-taking strategies are active ones that, for example, require you to discern the hierarchy of the information you’re hearing and to distinguish key ideas from supporting material and supporting material from extraneous information. Two less familiar ways to be active while listening are vocalized listening and critical listening. When you practice the former, you speak to yourself (silently) what the speaker is saying. The technique keeps you engaged. When you practice the latter, you ask questions about what you’re hearing as you’re hearing it. Is there evidence? Is the evidence good? Could there be another cause for whatever phenomenon that is being discussed? You’re not just recording information; rather, you’re critically examining it as you record it.