ESL School

...we need to give the other person our full attention. I was trying to ask questions about a product in a shop recently and the shop assistant was much more interested in her conversation with a colleague than in listening to me. I left the item on the counter and walked out. I’m sure we have all had experiences of this kind. So the first step is to have the courtesy to focus on the speaker when you are listening.

The next skill is to listen to the end without interruption. This requires patience because not everybody is equally articulate and some people take time to formulate their ideas in a coherent way. However, if you constantly interrupt or try to put words in their mouth, you will never get to hear the real message.

Then it is important to check that you have understood the meaning. I suggest three ways of doing this. The first is simply to echo a couple of words from the speaker’s last sentence. This has the effect of a prompt encouraging them to enlarge on the topic. So is the speakers ends by saying, “I’m not sure what to do next,” the listener echoes “what to do next?” The speaker will get the message that you need more information, in this case, perhaps to find out if the speaker has already some ideas about the next steps or whether your suggestions are being sought.

A second way is to reformulate the speaker’s sentence in words of your own. This allows the speaker to correct you if your interpretation is wrong. In the example given, you could reformulate: “so you have more than one course of action available?” If, however, the speaker really meant: “I have no idea what to do,” s/he can correct you. You see my point: the original sentence was ambiguous.

A third way is to ask some questions that help the speaker to clarify ideas. The questions should not be designed to put words in the speaker’s mouth but to help them explore their ideas more fully. If you ask closed, yes/no questions you will be leading the speaker but if you ask open-ended questions, the speaker can explore his or her thoughts. Questions such as: “what would happen if…?” Where could you get further information…? Who could help you…?

If we assume that our students need English in order to interact with others rather to be no more than passive receivers, then we should, I believe, train them in active listening skills in order to minimize misunderstandings and be able to interact effectively.

Please let me know what you think.

Bye for now.
Brenda.