LISTENING SKILLS FOR LECTURES

 

LISTENING EFFECTIVELY is hearing and understanding what a speaker is saying and how it applies to you and then remembering it for future use and evaluation. There are ways to improve your listening skills. The following is a list of some basic techniques for effective listening.

1. Recognize how ideas are organized. Lectures usually begin with some type of introduction, followed by a thesis statement which is supported by additional information. Most professors bring closure to their lecture by summarizing what they have covered. Learn to identify the lecture style that is used by your professor.

2. Become involved in what is being said. Be an avid listener. Constantly analyze what is being said.

3. Cut through (or screen out) distractions.

• background noise
• unusual accents, dialects, and language mistakes
• speaker disorganization, emotion, or habits
• superflouos material
• your own inner voice

4. Organize statements into main points and supporting reasons. Using an outline form may be helpful.

5. Discriminate between relevancies and irrelevancies. Remember that not all information is important.

6. Maintain an active body state. Keeping alert and having eye-contact with the speaker will help you listen more effectively.

In order to improve your listening skills you will need to practice using the suggested techniques until they become automatic. The following chart summarizes ten habits which differentiate effective and non-effective listening. Choose one or two habits to practice today!

Eight habits which differentiate non-effective and effective listening

THE NON-EFFECTIVE LISTENER	THE EFFECTIVE LISTENER	STRATEGIES
subject is dry - doesn't apply to me	pays attention - asks what's in it for me?	Find areas of interest
judges the delivery - gets hung up on errors	judges the content - skips over the errors	Judge the content, not the delivery
tends to enter into arguments quickly and make judgments before comprehension	doesn't judge until their comprehension is complete	Hold your fire - don't judge too soon
listens for facts	listens for central ideas	Listen for ideas and recognize patterns of organization.
uses one type of note-taking and takes excessive notes	has several note-taking systems and writes down only the important information	Use different kinds of organization - be flexible more notes - less value
passive - shows no energy output - acts bored	active - stays involved with the speaker	Work at active listening
distracts easily	fights distractions - knows how to concentrate	Resist distractions
does not exercise their mind - seeks easy, recreational reading material	exercises their mind with more difficult material and is familiar with harder subjects	Exercise

 

 

 

 

Source: Utah State University, Academic Resource Center