Page 374 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

362 | Model Question Papers

ii. Avoid emotional involvement: Do not be readily affected with or stirred by emotion.
If you are emotionally involved, then you tend to become selectively receptive. You listen
to what you want to but not what is being said.
iii. Maintain eye contact: You will, of course, have to look into your books, but eye contact
keeps you focused on the subject at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture.
iv. Expel distraction: Do not let you mind wander and be distracted by any noise around you.
Try to find a solution for any kind of discomfort due to a bad seat or bad weather etc.

v. Consider listening to be a stimulating mental task: Listening to an academic lecure is
not a passive act. You need to concentrate on what is said so that you can comprehend
and process the information.
You can ask yourself some questions as you listen: ‘What key point is the professor
making?’, ‘How does this fit with what I know from previous lectures?’, etc.

vi. Be focused: All the above suggestions will help you keep your mind occupied and focused
on what is being said. You can actually begin to anticipate what the professor is going to
say as a way to keep your mind from straying. Your mind does have the capacity to listen,
think, write and ponder at the same time, but it does take practice.

Some listening strategies for the teacher

A teacher must concentrate on what the student is saying, and have an open mind to receive and
listen to information. The teacher needs to understand the students’ background and let them
know that he/she understands how they feel strongly about the issues being discussed. Their
intense emotions must be acknowledged and affirmed before serious solutions can be discussed.
The teacher should encourage the students to ‘let off steam’ and explain their concerns by
using certain phrases such as, ‘I see’, ‘I understand’, ‘Yes, I know’.
Some listening strategies that can be followed by me teachers are:

i. Demonstrate that they are listening by
• body language
• making eye contact
• echoing words
• nods of the head
• leaning toward the speaker.
ii. Some students need an invitation to talking. The teacher needs to elicit patiently and
gradually draw the student into a conversation.
iii. Students can tell whether they have a teacher’s interest and attention by the way the
teacher replies or does not reply. Avoid cutting students off before they have finished
speaking. It is easy to form an opinion or reject student’s views before they finish what
they have to say. It may be difficult to listen respectfully and not correct misconcep-
tions, but respect their right to have and express their opinions.

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