Listening: A Neglected Art

Kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms rarely emphasize listening, so educators have referred to it as the “neglected” or “ignored” language art for more than 50 years. We may have disregarded listening introspectively because we have been doing it all our lives and have forgotten its importance. Despite all the technological and other developments, people still struggle with listening. One of the most effective strategies for dealing with life’s challenges is listening to other people. Given how frequently we use it, listening is frequently referred to be the most crucial language skill. According to research, people listen just as much as they read, write, and talk together.

Listening vs. hearing

Listening and hearing are two distinct activities. Hearing is the response brought on by sound waves triggering the ear’s sensory receptors to grasp what someone else is saying, we need to listen to what they are saying and mentally analyze their message. To do this, we must focus our attention and give it our whole attention. For effective listening, we need to put our agendas aside and place ourselves in the speaker’s position.
 
 When sound waves hit our eardrums, we hear—often without paying attention. Likely, we didn’t listen when we can’t recall what we heard. A situation that frequently happens when we are presented with a new acquaintance serves as a nice illustration. We can’t remember the person’s name a few minutes later. Why? Probably because when we were introduced, we didn’t pay attention to the name. Understanding the communication heard is a necessary component of listening in addition to hearing it. While listening requires the mind, hearing is done with the ears.

Types of Listening

Following are the major types of listening as discussed in the article ‘Types of listening skills: Barriers and tips to overcome them’.

Comprehensive Listening

The next stage of critical listening, which humans typically master in early childhood, is comprehensive listening. To fully comprehend what is being said through a speaker’s words, one needs to have a foundational command of language and vocabulary. The majority of additional listening techniques used by critical listeners fall under the general category of comprehensive listening. People employ attentive listening along with verbal clues in the daily activities of their lives to comprehend the messages being conveyed to them.

Discriminative Listening

It entails interpreting simply the message’s sound rather than comprehending its meaning. People start learning discriminative hearing in their mother’s wombs since it is considered to be a fundamental sort of listening.

Informational Listening

People listen with an educational intent when they utilize informational listening. To learn new concepts and understand technical jargon, informational listening builds on fundamental comprehensive listening and necessitates a high degree of concentration and participation. Informational listening is more concerned with applying critical reasoning and maintaining a logical flow as it is delivered than it is with the emotional substance of what is being said.

Biased Listening

When someone just listens for the information they want to hear, they are exhibiting biased listening, also known as selective listening. Critical hearing differs from biased listening. Since the listener is attempting to confirm preexisting biases rather than objectively evaluate the speaker’s thoughts. Many times, individuals don’t realize that they are listening biasedly. When a listener is not focusing on what a speaker is trying to say, biased hearing can result in a distortion of the facts in that person’s thinking.

Critical Listening

When attempting to analyze and evaluate complex details that are being given to them, people listen with a critical mindset. If you’re problem-solving at work and trying to determine whether you concur with a suggestion being made by one of your coworkers, you might employ critical listening. However, in this context, the word “critical” just suggests that you are analyzing facts rather than necessarily casting judgment.

Sympathetic Listening

An emotionally-driven form of relationship listening called sympathetic listening involves processing the speaker’s sentiments and emotions while attempting to reciprocate with support and understanding. When a youngster confides in you about a problem they encountered at school, you may want to listen sympathetically. In this situation, you make the youngster feel heard and provide them assistance and comfort by using a sympathetic listening technique. When attempting to build a strong connection with people, particularly when that individual is going through hardship, sympathetic listening is indeed a crucial skill to have.

Empathetic Listening

Empathetic or therapeutic listening is a type of listening method in which the listener puts himself in the speaker’s shoes and strives to understand their point of view. In comparison to sympathetic listening, empathetic listening goes one step further since an empathic listener would identify with the speaker’s perspective like it were their own.

Examples of Differentiated Language Arts Activities

Differentiated instruction allows teachers to carefully plan in today’s very diverse classrooms so they can fulfill the unique requirements of each of their pupils.

Example 1: Telling Stories

The first differentiated instruction technique was storytelling. Students of all backgrounds and abilities can participate completely in the same tale. Personal comments and perceptions from each youngster are equally legitimate and significant. When hearing a myth or a folktale, students frequently need to draw on their preexisting understanding to make an understanding of the tale. It is frequently unexpected to learn how much prior knowledge students have about various topics, and it is impossible to foresee which details in a tale will elicit these reactions.

Example 2: A Choice Board

Students can select from a variety of ways to grasp knowledge about a specific idea using a choice board as a graphic organizer. A grid of nine squares is typically used to arrange choice boards. You have the option to add or remove activities. Additionally, you can specify how students must finish items within the choice board, such as by selecting three options consecutively, or you can let them choose at random. The activities’ degree of difficulty can change or remain constant.

Conclusion

One of the four components of language, along with reading, writing, and talking, is listening. The speaker as well as the listener both have significant responsibilities to play in communication. Between the two, listening is crucial, and we frequently take it for granted. In an era dominated by digital distractions and constant chatter, “Listening: A Neglected Art” emerges as a beacon of wisdom. The ability to listen well is essential for swiftly and successfully receiving messages. Being a good listener takes practice, but fortunately, this ability can be acquired.

Works Cited

Raju, Ch P. “Types of listening skills: Barriers and tips to overcome them.” International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR ISSN: 2581-4281) 1.2 (2018): 41-45.
Ralleigh, Arionna. Measuring the Effect of a Culturally Relevant Curriculum in Third Grade and Eighth Grade English Language Arts Classrooms. Diss. Missouri Baptist University, 2021.
Tompkins, Gail E. Language Arts: Pearson New International Edition PDF eBook: Patterns of Practice. Pearson Higher Ed, 2013.