Today we focussed a bit more on listening skills. We’ve listening to radio and TV programmes over the last few weeks. In many ways, these are as much exercises in note-taking and analysis and evaluation as they are listening.
However, we looked at listening today in of terms inter-personal communication. I introduced the notion of “active listening” and we did an exercise at the start of the class which focussed our attention on how we listen.
Dom observed the various one-to-one discussions and came up with three types of listeners: the note-takers; the eye-contacters; and the interactive listener. Very perceptive observations by Dom.
We discussed what talkers looked for in a listener (and what they got in the exercise).
Some of the positive listening skills which were identified were:
- Listener giving feedback
- Listener using comments to clarify
- Listener obviously engaged
- Positive body language
- Giving advice
Some people identified “giving advice” as a positive listening skill, but there was some debate whether this is always desirable.
Some of the less positive elements which were identified were:
- Lack of eye contact (although this, in fairness, was when the listener was taking notes)
- Listener inaccurate when summarising information
- Giving advice (again)
- Taking notes (is this always negative)
Part of the reason for this focus on active listening was to draw your attention to on another aspect of the course which is assessed: discussions.
These discussions assess your ability to speak clearly and accurately on a subject. It is also important that we see that you are actively listening and that you can handle questions. We've had plenty of these throughout the year and, as a class, you are very capable of having engaging and thought-provoking discussions.
Today, we had a discussion based around the Enemies of Reason programme. Everyone contributed very positively to that (although, of course, many agreed to disagree on a number of points). Thanks to all of you for engaging positively in that discussion. If you’d like to continue the discussion, feel free to do so here by using the comment function.
Nadine said that she was going to a spiritualist tonight and I’ve asked her to share her thoughts on the experience here.
Finally, I previewed what we’d be moving on to next. We will be using the same analysis skills which we used to study the various documentaries to start analysing written texts (in particular we’ll be focusing on some newspaper articles).
We discussed the difference between tabloid and broadsheet/quality newspapers. We’ll take it up from there next week.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Active listening and discussion on "Enemies of Reason"
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2 comments:
Having just read your post, I have come to realise that I am very much, a note taker in terms of interactive listening although I do write way too much. Occasionally I surprise myself by posing questions as the speaker elaborates; thus becoming an interactive listener. Nevertheless, I do find I am qiuite easily distracted by movement and background noise and to this end we conducted a little experiment during Dieca's Spanish class, which personally, I found useful. It entailed listeniing to an article about an earthquake in Japan; first with our eyes open and then with them closed. I discovered that I absorbed more with my eyes closed. I know that I have to improve upon my listening skills, especially as learning languages involves so much of it. With regards to discussions, I feel I am able to articulate my own opinions rather well but find eye contact rather intmidating and difficult. Lastly I'd veture to say that I am ultra sceptical regarding spiritualism, paranormal activity and otherwordly phenomena. I am a realist and come down firmly on the side of rationally, scientifically proven and logical explanations for randomly occuring events. And it may be just me and feel free to correct me if i am wrong, but more often than not, it is women who seek the advice of these charlatans who masquerade as mediums and so-called spiritualists for financial gain.
Thanks for that Greig. Dieca's exercise sound interesting. You're on the right on the ball I think about distractions. We have to force ourselves to not get distracted when we need to listen for long periods. Taking notes is helpful, but we often miss points as we're too busy writing. The answer, I suppose, is some sort of balance. I mentioned in class that when I'm at meetings I'll often look like I'm not listening as I'm drawing meaningless designs on paper - however, I feel, at some level it helps me focus on the discussion.
Thanks for the comments on the programme as well - we missed your input in class, but at least this blog allows us to get a sense of your opinions on the matter.
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