The paper looks at the aspect of Listening skills. It first gives the various categories of learning and ways through which people can learn. The various listening methods are then discussed at length with the advantages that each method has. There after the advantages of effective listening are give otherwise referred to as listening with all the senses.
Listening Skills
Why is listening with all your Senses is important
There are various means and ways through which learners acquire knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge depends much on the methods or the learning styles that the learners are subjected to or trained through. VARK which is an acronym for Visual, Auditory, Read/write, Kinesthetic, as a learning style is one of the mostly used in institutions that learners are taken through or used to ensure that the learners imbibe the concepts that are being taught to them. It is the combination of all these modes of learning that make up the listening with all the sense in an academic environment as will be discussed below from by Matt Baker (2011).
The Auditory group is assumed to learn best by hearing the source of the learning. This group ca generally be at an advantage in lectures and talks but could fare poorly in handling assignments since there is a wide scale of reading that is involved in that yet they are used to auditory engagement. In such situations, the teachers can help this lot by encouraging assignments that are based on discussions such that they can verbalize the key issues and internalize them better.
The Visuals part assumes that the learner best gets the concepts being taught to them through sight or seeing. This group therefore benefits most and in a more comfortable manner when the teacher writes the points on the board as compared to if the teacher just speaks out the points loudly, they will also be noted to like writing quite a lot during the class session (Carol Kanar, 1990). The teacher will therefore strive to involve visual things within his lessons like the study charts as well as diagrams. In the contemporary classroom setting, the teacher can also use PowerPoint presentation to aid such learners that are assumed to be under this category as well as ensuring that the class or the learning environment has a lot of visual learning aids.
Those learners that are characterized under the Read-write learners are seen to be enjoying the highest advantage as these are the predominant modes that are used in the daily class settings especially at the higher grades of an individual's learning. This category of learners will always strive to take down notes during lectures so as to be able to read them later on.
The Kinesthetic kind of learners are those who learn best by doing the things that they learn as well as using to the maximum possible their senses of touch. This is a method that is applied especially at the lower grades with younger learners. The teachers at these grades are therefore encouraged to involve hands on activities in all the learning endeavors of the learners is they are to get anything at all, the students can be encouraged to move around, get up all the time and even touch things here and there with an aim to learn (Carol Kanar, 1990).
Strategies that will enhance a person's ability to become a better listener
Listening is a skill that is quite challenging to effectively master hence needs quite a lot of training and attention just like the art of being a good speaker. Larry Alan Nadig (2011) looks at some of the most salient aspects that one should put into active practice in order to be a good listener, below;
As a good listener, paraphrase the message in your own words so that you are sure that you as the listener have understood it well.
A good listener may also reflect back the speaker's account of the facts, thought and beliefs, feelings and emotions, wants needs or motivation, hope and expectations so as to be able to effectively embody the message in totality.
When responding to the speaker, look for the feelings or intent beyond the words because the surface meaning of the words used by the sender may not be the message intended.
A good listener will request for a clarification on a repeat of the question where they did not understand well or are confused. One may also use their best guess and stand for correction if the person realizes you did not understand him or her well.
Active listening may also be used as the first response if the person gets angry, hurt or expressing hostile feelings towards you.
Use eye contact and avoid distractions, watch for body languages so that whatever has auditory message has slipped off your ears, you may get the clue from the body language and also to be able to grasp the emphasis through the body language.
Benefits of effective listening / listening with all your Senses
It makes it easier for a person to listen to the other party and make a consideration of his or her views if he or she knows that he is being listened to and considered too. For instance in the academic setting, active listening that engages all the senses will allow the listener to comprehend all that the instructor is saying and imbibe them for future application and remembrance.
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