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Jason Lilly

Teacher - English, West Virginia Department of Education

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Why should listening be taught as a skill in school?

Julian Treasure proposed an excellent problem in his video about listening. Why isn't listening taught in school? Young adults are surrounded by noise and distraction. Could this be an obstacle to problem-solving and mediation in our world? What do you think?

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  • C Kirby

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    Aug 27 2011: Julian showed a list of seven filters which impact our ability to really hear what another says: culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations, and intentions. I think that when I respect a person, I value them, and I want to understand what they are saying, and so I engage in active listening. When I want to be understood, then I wait, with varying degrees of impatience, for them to finish so I can have my say. In this case I rarely really understand them because I have already judged their comments to be less valuable than mine. It seems to me that listening is dependent on our respect for the other person, on how we perceive our relationship with the other person.

    As Linda mentioned in an earlier comment, children seem to listen better to a teacher if they sense the teacher cares about them. The listening positions Julian mentioned in his Step 4 includes being critical or empathetic listening. Empathy is the element we emphasize when we address bullying, it is something children are very weak in, but is difficult to teach in school, and I think is most effectively taught at home. How does someone else feel, why do they think the way they do? I think we have to care about that before we are willing to invest the time in trying to listen to them so we can understand what they are saying.

  • Toontje Kunnen

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    Aug 25 2011: A little paradox occured to me.
    How are you going to teach students to listen if they aren't listening?

  • Timar Catalin

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    Aug 24 2011: First of all my english is not that great.

    It .sounds nice and is definately is a corner-stone that stands at the base of connection and beeing human with each other. But before it was explained, it was viewed as a quality and if we look a litlle bit around us we see that it remained the same in the context presented in the video We need that ability to be taught to our children but not in an institution for children, because if it is to function that way as a positive it must be taught along with a few other cornerstones that build up such a humanly view of life.

    There are many variables and going into talks about efficient lecturing from the teachers and their capacities to do so( or other ones) would seem as a lack of courage, before careful consideration, so i won`t go into them.

    We see traits in different cultures that were nursered by generations before they became a specific/common tipe of behaviour. Aplly the project onto educating that class of age that it is most likely to be open-minded and, hopefuly, the next in line to procreate. That would be good start.

  • Cheyenne Lin

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    Aug 24 2011: Listening classes should be provided but not during school. After or before would be better. Only the people who are serious about learning would attend. Responsibility.
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    Nino Dundua

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    Aug 24 2011: “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”

    A powerful listener is someone who is able to focus on what another person is saying without getting distracted. A powerful listener has intense focus. A powerful listener is present in the moment of the conversation. Perhaps our reason for overlooking this skill is that it sounds so easy to achieve but in practice it is very difficult. It requires putting our own needs aside to listen to another.

    To achieve this requires ensuring that you are feeling confident about yourself and fully aware of your needs at that moment. It is far better to say that you are not able to listen to someone when you can’t than to fake it. This type of deception is picked-up immediately and any attempt at creating a trusting relationship may fail.
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      Frans Kellner 100+

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      TED Translator
      Aug 24 2011: Very well said Nino. Yet one needs to give energy to listen active what is too much to ask from a lot of people. It takes less energy as one is trained to listen what can be done simply by storytelling and singing or music classes. And foremost this has to start at an early age.

    • Ryan Persaud

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      Aug 24 2011: Inspiring Nino. but i was one of those bad listeners well because of the noise in our world today. My question is how to break a bad listening habit and develop a good one?

  • Alan Ros

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    Aug 23 2011: Its a sad day when we need to teach young people to listen but its so true. Do you know what kids attention spans are like these days? Between texting, video games, sports, and everything else they can't pay attention to one thing for more than 5 seconds.
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    Jessica Yonaka

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    Aug 22 2011: LIstening is considered as one of the most important quality of human's behavior. People with good listening skills often understand more and therefore might be more aware to the things around them. But the truth is, as what Julian has said, we only obtain 25% from what we have heard. So, it is very essential that critical listening is being taught since early education begins, so that one has the capability to develop a habit as a good listener in the future which might make him a person with a good quality of understanding too. Good listener in my context is not such as eavesdropping into other people's conversations and gossiping. But it is more about critical listening in order to pinpoint the important features from what the others have said, therefore contributing the best solution through comprehending from your listening. If most of people have developed this kind of standard as early as juvenile years, it would be beneficial for them when they reach their adolescent years and later on. They might be more competent in problem-solving.

    Hope that sparks some thoughts on this topic. Cheers!

    Jessica

  • Wayne Thompson

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    Aug 22 2011: It is vital in the classroom to teach students to listen. However, Julian's mention of the importance of intent is something we may not always do it well. By is something that needs to be developed and you cannot teach a student anything if they do not know how to listen. Listening is not just being quiet but also understanding what has been said. If the student is unable to make sense of what you have said whether because they do not understand or were in another world you have wasted your time. Getting students to listen is not difficult but firstly you need to make them want to listen and research show that this can be achieve best by engaging the students in learning but also having a positive student-teacher relationship where the student makes a real connection to the teacher and subject and feels the teacher has a real interest in their lives and their success.
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      Linda Woodard

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      Aug 22 2011: Interesting as today was the first day of school for me (well actually my LAST first day of school as I am retiring in June ;-)) and I asked the students to write on a notecard three things a good teacher does to make them want to learn and feel safe; and then three things a student does to be successful and show respect to both teachers and other students. When they were done, I went around the room as asked students to share one from their card. In every class, it came up that both students and teachers need to "listen" to each other. And I used that for a short discussion. I asked first if listening and hearing are the same or different, and all said they were different. I then asked how they were different and each class said (but in different words) that listening is understanding what is said and usually the other person reacts in some way at to what he/she is listening to with the most obvious one being eye contact. They felt that many teachers really didn't listen to them, esp. when they had problems,,, not really excuses, but problems that they really needed help with. I think this is what helps to make a positive student-teacher relationship like you had mentioned above. Conversely, I told them that they need to do the same for me when I am talking as well as their peers. They need to respond by either shaking heads, raising hands, adding to the conversation or asking questions and of course LOOKING at me! Up until last year when cell phones were not banned in the classroom, it was so obvious that many of my students were not listening as they were engaged in texting, or worrying about a text ot FB status, or thinking about what to text next. They were NOT living in the moment of LISTENING!

      • Michael M 30+

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        Aug 24 2011: Good insights, thank you Linda. We need more teachers like you however.
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    Joseph Ulrich

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    Aug 22 2011: My mother runs a daycare out of our home, and probably the biggest challenge with the children is their listening skills. You can tell them something and they simply will not have any idea of what you had said a minute before. Perhaps they are just rude, but I doubt it, they most likely haven't acquired a good listening skill yet.
    Listening is a skill; an art. It is so valuable, that human life depends on it. Children should be taught proper listening skills in pre-school and kindergarten. Not only will this help them academically, but socially as well. Listening is clearly associated with problem solving and being able to retain knowledge.
    Everybody needs to know how to listen. In a world crisis, which is quite possible, people will need to be able to listen and understand simple commands like "quiet"! An 8 year old child should know to listen to adults, because one day, if their country is being invaded, or life is being threatened; when somebody puts their forefinger to their lips and says "shhhhhh" you need to listen or else you and everybody else is dead. Listening is a vital and effective defensive mechanism.
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      Linda Woodard

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      Aug 23 2011: I agree with your first two paragraphs. However, I think listening first needs to be learned AT HOME....but to be honest,parents often do not really listen to their children as they are too busy to stop what they are doing to look their child in the eye and listen to them'; or they are too busy multi-tasking and then really just hearing them. Howeverf, this "listening problem" has been around for decades and maybe even centuries, but now I think more and more parents (and any relatives in the family, really), are not always listening to each other due to technology. And to answer the OP's question, yes, we should teach listening or continue to teach it in school, but unless it it reinforced in the home, it iwould be for nothing.

      Now in regards to your last paragraph... isn't that a bit dramatic???? YIKES!!!!
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        Joseph Ulrich

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        Aug 23 2011: I agree that it does need to be taught at home as well; and it seems as though parents aren't facing that responsibility. As far as the last paragraph, it could be written into a screenplay :] however it is quite likely that something quite like that could happen. I mean, look at history. Had children not been strong enough or had the skills to survive, far more people would have died in the Holocaust, Israeli Conflict, Genocides in Sudan. Listening is a survival skill.
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    Triyambak Tripathy

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    Aug 18 2011: it can not be just listening that has to be understood what was it for it is more important than a sensory process

  • Luther Adams

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    Aug 18 2011: There is a traditional Chinese symbol for "listening" that translates into something like "one listens with one's eyes, one's ears, one's heart as if listening to a king."The "modernized" version of this symbol has been simplified to something that translates more like: one weighs what one hears, then rebukes/refutes with one's mouth."This shift is not a simplification or modernization; these two definitions are of completely different acts. Everyone should learn the difference.

    Confession: I was an English teacher in a past life. This discussion seems to back my belief that it is the most critical of the "core subjects" in spite of its often being treated as the least important.

  • Thomas Hunn

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    Aug 18 2011: Hello,
    Parents can begin the listening model for their children as early as the first sounds come out. Respectful listening teaches children that communication is like a graceful dance. Reflective listening lets our children know that we are trying to be sure we hear their thoughts or feelings. Our tendancy is to want to want to preach and solve problems.
    This is not what children need. Problem solving is an entirely different skill based on consultation.
    Thank You,
    Respectfully
    Tom

  • Thomas Brierley

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    Aug 14 2011: I'm not sure how or if listening should be taught in schools...

    But if it should, then to balance the equation i think teachers should also be far more proficient in speaking. In terms of how to best deliver information, rather than simply speak or regurgitate it. And how to best engage students with that information.

    I do not work with teachers or know how they are trained or recruited, and of course i'm sure this skill is already recognised to an extent. But from my past experience as a student in the UK (good and bad) i don't think it is given anywhere near the degree of emphasis that it aught to. A teachers expertise within a subject are near useless to a student without this skill, it should be explored and focused upon far more in teaching... and for that matter anyone with knowledge worth sharing.

  • Fatimah Ghanim

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    Aug 14 2011: Hi

    I suggest we teach listening at home before school. Listening skills should be incorporated within the family institution primarily and then practiced at school as secondary. Somehow we place emphasis on schools and less in home education and behavior.

    Rgds,
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    Leila Van der Mauten

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    Aug 13 2011: Great question, Jason!

    Let me keep it short; the reactions below pretty much said a great part of what I wanted to say. Teaching how to listen is one thing; it's teaching how to react to what someone has to say that really takes it to the next level.

    In my last year of my Bachelor Studies in Applied Linguistics, I had a class called 'Professional Communication'. I expected it to be on proper language use, etiquette and correct manners, but the entire class was built around listening and reacting to one another. I learned in a few hours per week how easy it is to avoid misunderstandings, and build a better relationship with someone, just by taking the time to take in what that person has to say, and respond to that correspondingly.

    What really helps is to use the 'interpersonal circumplex', or 'Leary's circumplex'. (Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_Circumplex)
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    Elizabeth Evelyn

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    Aug 13 2011: Too many are so busy thinking about what they will say next. Many interrupt the speaker frequently, which makes it very obvious that they are not listening.....
    Teaching how to listen would benefit everyone! Begin in early educational systems how to reflect what has been said so that a response can occur to the speaker....

  • Mark Meijer 100+

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    HostAssociate
    Aug 13 2011: (part 2 of 2):

    But don't stop there. Julian approaches things from his angle, which is sound, but as I indicated there are other important senses at play that could benefit from simlilar kinds of exercises, and in fact I would suggest that a broader approach will come with synergetic benefits that are not to be underestimated. And of course different aspects will work for different people, so a broader approach also has more points to connect with a wider range of kids.

  • Mark Meijer 100+

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    HostAssociate
    Aug 13 2011: (part 1 of 2):

    One key thing that Julian mentions, is that we become so desensitized to the vast majority of sounds that we literally do not hear most of it. There are of course also issues of attention and filtering. But even without those issues, there are many things we simply don't hear anymore. Not because our ears are incapable of picking up those sounds, but because we have literally and subconsciously taught ourselves to ignore them. Think of his example of the pink noise. Depending on the level of desensitization, just paying close attention will not bring all those missing sounds back into awareness, except with practice over time (re-sensitization, you could say). Which amounts to the unlearning of that subconscious ignoring.

    The same thing holds true for all our senses. Important ones are not only sound but also physical touch and other sensations in the body. And the same is also true for thoughts. We're mostly unaware of how sound affects us, how body sensations make up the juice of our (literally) visceral/emotional experience, nor of all the images, phrases and other mental impressions repeatedly zipping through our heads all the time.

    Now here's the rub: We may not be aware of most of it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't affect us. We can't in fact ignore those stimuli, we can only push them down into our subconscious, where it will continue to determine our day to day experience of life, but without us being consciously aware of how or why stuff happens as it does. It determines a huge part of our perspectives and patterns of behaviour, and yet we don't know it.

    You ask if this could be "an obstacle to problem-solving and mediation in our world?" and the answer is, most definately yes. Because we can't solve anything if we don't even know what the problem is, or if we have a mistaken idea about it. That's why I think teaching listening is a very good idea.

    (continued)
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    Mario El Khoury

    • +1
    Aug 12 2011: Life is a school. We are its students.
    The great greek philosopher, Epictetus once said that:
    “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
    And this is indeed a skill.
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    Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Caralt

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    Aug 11 2011: I see a positive side and a negative side.

    If we only teach children to listen when they are too young and vulnerable they will have higher risks of getting wrong paradigms installed within their subconscious mind, paradigms that may be correct today but perhaps incorrect at some point in the future, paradigms that may block their full potential, paradigms that they may find hard to get rid of.

    I see the positive side of teaching listening skills in schools in an early age, that would be fine if the hypothesis that 'children will never receive wrong messages' was true. Unfortunately a lot of bad stuff could go into their minds, specially if we amplify their receptivity.

    When you are a child (and when you are not a child) there is some magic in not knowing and I think that the joy of discovering comes from that curiosity to know.

    I would suggest not only teaching children listening skills but also abilities to communicate disagreement and persuasion techniques as well as telling them that if they don't agree they have a right to open a debate. If we teach them critical thinking they will have higher chances to filter or stop the wrong messages, they will enjoy debating as a way to share the same curiosity with others and at the end they will have higher chances to construct a better future all together.
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    Mark Hill

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    Aug 11 2011: Why should listening be taught as a skill in school? That is a very interesting question.

    We all bring our own level of understanding to the party. Kids are no different, once they start interacting with their community.

    Each of us has been molded over time by our own personal experiences. My ability to listen to a person can be perceived as hearing by one, and if someone is in agreement, then that person may think that I am brilliant and truly listening, where as the other perceives me differently.

    As a collective body, what is listening – if we knew that answer, could we change the problems our countries are facing now, with war, financial ruin, and famine, as well as domination over another because of cultural beliefs or other reasons?

    I think that we all have the innate ability to listen, but it is biased by internal and external forces that teachers may or may not be equipped to deal with.

    If I made the comment “I see Red” one group of people may hear that I am angry, another may take the statement more literally as I am seeing the color red.

    The truth was that I saw a person named Red.

    Granted this is an over simplification, but we all have our own base line on what listening means to us. Again, will a school teacher have the skills to know the difference and the ability to transfer that knowledge effectively to a young mind?

    I think the 1st step in listening is an open mind and the ability to accept a difference of opinion, especially as to how we all “listen” as a skill. Then we need to accept that we all have our own set of filters, and actively communicate our own understanding and seek confirming data points.

    But, then again, did I hear the question correctly as I read it out loud? ;0)
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    Martin Courtney

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    Aug 11 2011: Hey,

    I think this is a good question and as a lecturer I feel I can relate a little.

    Too many people (and my students) perhaps assume that hearing and listening are one and the same, but they are different. However the challenge is to integrate this basic sense into a sense of engagement an communication. Furthermore, if someone doesn't won't to listen, they won't, sadly. Maybe if this skill was taught early on, it would make a difference.

    ...i think I know what i'm trying to say :- /

    Thanks,
    Martin

    • Michael M 30+

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      Aug 11 2011: I think we do Martin, thanks.
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    Erol Toksoy 10+

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    Aug 10 2011: I am not sure if it is strong enough to save the planet by itself but surely will help us. First of all high quality listening will increase the efficiency of information transfers. On the other hand as we learn to listen properly it would be easier for us to understand each other and lots of troubles that are caused by lost in translation will disappear.
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    Kyo young Chu 500+

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    TED AttendeeTED TranslatorTEDx Organizer
    Aug 10 2011: Simply, everyone knows how to listen, but only a few knows how to listen 'properly'. So, the speaker wants to teach people listen properly so that they can understand each others better. This is my opinion.
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    Gladys Co

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    Aug 10 2011: Listening should be taught at school since this is the basic way that we communicate in. I feel bad seeing families engrossed in entertaining themselves with visual tools like the TV, computers and other gadgets more than being entertained with a conversation they have with a friend, family member or a child.

    Everyone has seen what I am about to describe: a group of people arrive at a place together yet would withdraw into a bubble of personal space using gadgets or means of communication like the mobile phone. The beauty of sentences are being replaced with uh-huhs, totally! Yah... and hand signals like the 'L' for loser. Concise is to the Internet and the TED talk limit or the speech you have to give on graduation- but not to your family or the ones you love.

    When I was a child we were taught to speak our minds with respect and a cool head and with eye contact. THis was a sign that you are communicating and that you would do the same when it's their turn. Communication not only meant listening then, it was understanding and respect for the one speaking.

    Teaching listening is teaching the proper way of communicating and empowering children to share their thoughts without judgement to others around them. If a person looks into your eyes while you speak you have the confidence that the person is listening. Inattention and shutting kids up make them keep to themselves and cut-off their confidence.

    Listening is also a huge part in making a living, just imagine if you got instructions always wrong because you don't listen.

    Teaching listening will help kids a whole lot in their futures. I could go on and on...
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