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Student government provides the perfect opportunity for students to listen critically to campaign platforms and student speeches. It is also important to recognize when our own views might be clouding our understanding or reception.Įrkek & Batur (2019), Turkish researchers who identified specific classroom exercises to boost critical listening comprehension, suggest that guided student government activities might provide excellent critical listening examples for students. One of the essential individual components of critical listening is the ability to recognize the difference between assertions of fact and assertions of opinion. There are many lists of tips to improve cognitive listening comprehension, but few include clearly-defined student exercises to accomplish critical listening goals in the classroom.īelow are several specific listening skills exercises suggestions to improve comprehension, paired with classroom activities. It can be challenging for teachers to find specific activities to focus on these components. Strategic and critical listening skills exercises Paired with the current prevalent idea that teachers “shouldn’t grade behavior,” listening becomes an activity that happens by chance rather than a deliberate skill to be planned and practiced, especially at the higher grade levels. However, there is also a lack of concrete, applicable strategies that teachers can use to improve students’ critical listening skills (Erkek & Batur, 2019). Teachers talk of curriculums that are so tightly packed with other content that they rarely have time to teach soft skills like critical thinking in listening. Hierarchical wants to please the teacherĮven though we tend to believe that listening is one of the most important foundational skills, it is very often neglected within school curriculums (although at least 22 states now test listening). Taking notes, paying attention analyzing what classmates have said, considering teacher responses, responding to teacher prompts Participate in the discussion listen to classmates and the teacher to offer a thoughtful response.Īvoid having the teacher call on them listening to the teacher to answer if called on. Teacher’s expectations for students’ beliefs Haroutunian-Gordan’s (2011) identified four interrelated elements of listening (the listener’s goal, the situation, the role the listener takes, and the relationship between the speaker and listener), and there can often be a disconnect between teachers’ expectations and students’ beliefs about each.Ĭonsider this pairing during a whole-class discussion: Why is teaching critical listening so challenging? Using critical thinking in listening might include analyzing a message to identify gaps in logic and reasoning, identifying and analyzing speaker bias, distinguishing between fact and opinion, and detecting propaganda techniques. Strategic listening asks students to listen to identify and process what they’ve heard, while critical listening asks the listener not only for comprehension of the message but also for evaluation. Critical listening and strategic listening are vital pieces to building active listening comprehension – and are especially crucial to both success on listening exams and in the classroom, generally.
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