Research School Network: Are you Listening? Gaurav Dubay, shares his thoughts about the important role listening plays in cognition.

“Are you listening?” This question is echoed in classrooms up and down the country. Teachers are acutely aware of the important role listening plays in imparting knowledge, yet we may not always productively check or have an awareness of the principles that underpin effective listening for cognition. The question arises, how do we teach our pupils to listen effectively? Whilst there is no silver bullet, it is hoped that the guiding principles below – firmly rooted in the evidence we have available – will give us the tools to begin tackling the thorny problem that is listening.

What follows are three recommendations that encourage students to listen intentionally where we can make the biggest difference: in the classroom.

1. Identify Listening Barriers:

In its ​‘Putting Evidence to Work – A School’s Guide to Implementation’ (2019), Sharples et al suggest ​‘a tight and appropriate area for improvement’ is identified before a school improvement intervention is used. If listening ability is seen as a weakness in a school, it is important to drill down and identify the barriers that prevent our students from listening effectively. Barriers to effective listening include:

- Cognitive Overload – Too many instructions confuse students
- External Noise – Crowded corridors, traffic, birds chirping, bees buzzing … could potentially distract our students
- Overly flamboyant classrooms and PowerPoint presentations – This can lead to a lack of focus and to that end we ought to consider the possible distractions the aforementioned can create
- Lack of trust – It is perhaps unsurprising that students are less willing to engage in listening in a classroom where trust is lacking. Burns (2022) urges practitioners to build ​‘psychological safety’ in the classroom to combat such barriers to listening
- SEND adjustments – If reasonable adjustments are not made for our SEND students, there is every likelihood that such students would choose to disengage
- Listening is not explicitly taught – Mannion and Mercer (2020) argue that ​‘listening is the gateway to understanding’ and much of the research-informed initiatives that lead to strong learning – direct instruction, metacognition and approaches to social and emotional learning – rely heavily on the ability to listen effectively

2. Model Good Listening

In its simplest form, Riches (2019) describes modelling as the process of ​‘seeing before doing and therefore minimising the ambiguity around the outcome.’ However, modelling good listening isn’t exactly written on the wall. Although written for the purposes of modelling practical demonstrations, the following from Caviglioli and Sherrington (2021, p 84 – 85) could provide the useful steps needed to model effective listening.

(1) Secure Attention: This process involves you securing the attention of your students and enabling students to actively observe the components involved in active listening. Scripts may be useful in encouraging students to listen effectively e.g. Doug Lemov’s SLANT technique in ​‘Teach Like a Champion 3.0’ (2021).

(2) Set the Scene: When modelling active listening, be clear about the contextual aspects you want students to observe and the areas they need to focus on.

(3) Demonstrate in Small Steps: Demonstrate active listening in small steps. This may, for instance, involve explicit teaching around effective eye contact and body language, rephrase or restate ​‘what students say’ (Amaro) to demonstrate close listening skills and to not simply talk like Socrates – but to listen like Socrates – to agree, build and challenge on the views of peers.
It is essential that there is an understanding that this process – when deconstructed – takes time to implement. However, it is important that we weather the ​“time” challenge as the learning gains over time are likely to outweigh the negatives.

(4) Check for Understanding: As with any teaching process, it is important that opportunities are built in to check for understanding. Sherrington and Caviglioli (2021, p85) stress the importance of asking probing questions to:
– ​‘assess what [students] are observing’
– ​‘give reasons for steps in a [listening] procedure’
– ​‘relate observation to theory’.

(5) Consolidate the Learning: Ashby (2017) argues that ​‘Multiple exposures provide students with multiple opportunities to encounter, engage with, and elaborate on new knowledge and skills.’ If we want our students to develop effective listening skills, we not only model but we repeat and consolidate the learning. Repetition teaches automaticity but consolidation is, in my view, the deliberate exploration of the ​‘why’ – in this case, why we value listening.

3. Build Listening Routines

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term ​‘routine’ as ​‘a sequence of actions regularly followed’. If we want to establish an environment in which students effectively listen, they need to develop the habits of good listening and those habits are developed through routines that enable students to develop the automatic behaviours conducive to their success. However, building listening routines can be difficult – fortunately, packages – including Skills Builder Universal Framework (www.skillsbuilder.org) – can help.

However, building listening routines can be difficult – fortunately, guidance is available through the Skills Builder Partnership’s Universal Framework for Essential Skills.

The Skills Builder Universal Framework sets out the steps to build eight essential skills, one of which is listening. Each skill is split into 16 measurable and teachable steps encouraging individuals to master the skill. The Framework enables students to develop listening skills to:

(1) Get started – Listen to others
(2) Intermediate – Demonstrate listening
(3) Advanced – Recognise influence
(4) Mastery – Listen critically

The Final Word…

Effective listening is a practice that needs developing and explicit teaching. We are hardwired to listen and reply; it is harder, however, to listen and understand. Understanding requires the ability to perceive, interpret, regard and conclude. In order to acquire knowledge, we need to encourage our students to listen effectively. Whilst the methods we use to do this are context-specific, phrases like ​“Listen to me” or ​“Are you listening?” are unlikely to hit the mark.

Bibliography

Asbhy J (2017). ​‘High Impact Teaching Strategies: Multiple Exposures’.
Berger R (2003). ​‘An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftmanship with Students’. US: Heinemann Educational Books
Burns A (2022). ​‘Building Trust with Students – Even Before Class Starts: How to promote psychological safety in the classroom’. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University
Caviglioli O and Sherrington T (2021). ​‘Teaching Walkthrus 2: Five Step Guide to Instructional Coaching’. Woodbridge: John Catt Publishing
Lemov D (2021). ​‘Teach Like a Champion 3.0: 63 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College’. Hoboken, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass
Mannion J & Mercer N (2020). ​‘Teaching listening: The gateway to understanding’
Riches, A (2019). ​‘Effective Teacher Modelling’
Santoyo PB (2018). ​‘Leverage Leadership 2.0: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools’. US: Jossey-Bass
Sharples J et al (2019). ​‘Putting Evidence to Work – A School’s Guide to Implementation’. London: Percipio
Skills Builder Universal Framework: https://www.skillsbuilder.org/…