Listening Effectively at School
Submitted by Zackary Wixom
Salt Lake Community College
Communications 1010
April 24, 2014
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Overview: No matter what you are always listening. I know that I am constantly listening
to the world around me, and I have learned that it is in situations such as education, that
listening is extremely important in order for success. I found myself struggling with being
focused in class and learning. I have realized that developing this seemingly easy skill can
be very challenging. Understanding how to effectively listen and get rid of any barriers of
listening was, and still is, key in order for me to succeed in schooling and in the workplace
after. I will address the various barriers that come with listening and how to overcome
them and become an effective listener.
Description of Problem: At the beginning of my senior year, I was excited to be on the
home stretch of my high school education. I was taking a combination of hard and fun
classes, but was not worried about the teachers or the work load they would be giving out.
However as the quarters past, I realized that everything was not going so smoothly. My
grades were faltering in ways they had not in previous years of school. In particular about
one certain class and teacher, which shall remain anonymous due to respect, I started
judging the way they taught and assigned work. Such judging made me bitter towards
them and my performance level, and grade, fell.
I could see that something had gone wrong. Little did I know that I was putting up listening
barriers. Barriers that made it impossible to be motivated to do anything they would tell
me to do. For example, I put up an ‘Environmental Barrier’ called message overload. As
described by Alder and Elmhorst, “Coping with a deluge of information is like juggling—
you can keep only a few things going at one time” (74). I would use my phone and other
distractions that kept me from paying attention to what was being said. For example, when
class would start I would put my phone on my desk, and once I was so preoccupied that I
missed an entire discussion on the material being used for a test the next in class, which I
ended up barely scraping by with a C on. Therefore with the environmental barrier of my
phone, I didn’t know when other things were said, such as due dates for assignments and
having to scramble at the last second with very poorly done work because I was not
committed to it.
Another barrier I frequently put up was an ‘Attitudinal Barrier’, specifically, “assuming that
effective communication is the sender’s responsibility” (Alder and Elmhorst). Sometimes I
would not get the message about how to structure a certain project because I assumed that
they were the ones responsible for telling me exactly how to do it even when I either
missed the instructions or didn’t want to listen. For example, I assumed that we would get
reminded to get started on a research paper that would be due in the future, but by
assuming that I put it out of mind until it was almost too late and again I was scrambling.
All these things happening made me start to resent class to the point where I didn’t want to
deal it.
Resources and Constraints: To fix these types of barriers and become an effective
listener, I have to put in effort. Resources can be used to solve this problem, such as the
textbook and other articles on effective communication. In the textbook, Alder and
Elmhorst explain, “Analyze and improve your listening and tailor messages for others by
understanding” (86). Each situation is different and knowing how to listen in each is
essential to succeed.
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Michael Rega, author of the article “Developing Listen Skills,” gives further advice on the
different mistakes used in communication and an easy five step process for being effective.
Seeking advice from experts in this skill is one of the best ways to learn exactly how to
improve upon it. They are very knowledgeable about the topic and therefore know what
they are talking about. Also reading is an easy thing to do on your own and with today’s
technology can happen anywhere. Even other people can be an example of effective
listeners. My mom can be really touchy about certain things and can get pretty upset very
fast if things go wrong. I don’t know how, but my dad can always just listen to her and
everything ends up alright. So I am glad that I have a close relationship with someone with
a skill that I need to develop.
However, there are always restrictions when learning. For example, at first I did not have
any desire to change what I was doing until I realized how it affected my grade. Having the
desire to change is the first step in actually changing, which can be really hard when it’s
been a habit for a long period of time. Another constraint that I struggle with is physical.
The class is the first period of the day and I tend to stay up late, so I end up showing up late
to class and too tired to focus. For example, once I showed up about ten minutes late and
ended up missing a pop quiz.
Recommendations: In order to develop better skills in listening I need to listen to Michael
Rega. He gives his five step process; “CLEAR” (Rega). The CLEAR process consists of five
things. C- Commit to listening. Commitment is very important, because if you don’t care
about what is being said then you won’t know what is being said. L- Listen carefully to
what said. Tone of voice is important to know the intentions and importance of the
message. E- Evaluate what is said. This goes along with listening carefully for the
‘meaning’ of the words. A- Acknowledge and paraphrase. Rega says how this step is left out
the most. After listening putting it into your own words can be the best way to understand
it. R- Respond and test. After listening, responding back to make sure you heard correctly
is always a good way to understand the meaning. However, in a school setting this can
sometimes not be achieved unless you take the initiative to go after school to test what you
know. It is said, “Communication may not take place until the entire cycle (CLEAR) has
taken place” (Rega). So by applying these steps I know that I can pay attention better and
listen with intent of doing good, and in effect, do better in the class. This also helps break
the attitudinal barriers I had towards my teacher.
Alder and Elmhorst talk about ‘mindless’ and ‘mindful’ listening (81). Mindless listening is
when you automatically respond to certain messages. This does allow you to have a lowlevel processing, but the challenge comes when required to pay attention and decide what
messages are more important. Mindful listening is about careful and thoughtful attention.
This seems to be an easy thing to think about but I’ve struggled with this and got into habits
of saying things automatically and end up missing what I needed to hear. Hence, when I
paid attention and broke the environmental barrier of my phone as a distraction, I did
better and learned more.
I have been trying to implement this skills and knowledge, especially with classes in school.
For example, when in class I have tried strategies such as SLANT so I can use the CLEAR
process. Listening to the lectures and taking notes helped, but also paraphrasing and
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reassuring that I understand what is going on. Also I started watching myself whenever I
would respond automatically and mindlessly thinking about it, and would think about what
I said after listening carefully to what I needed to respond to. These skills have been
helping me achieve greater in my education. I’ve found that I care more about what is said
and don’t let those barriers get in the way
Summary: Since I am constantly listening and realized that I needed help to improve on it
in order to succeed at school. I found myself putting up barriers that hindered my ability to
care and learn in my classes. I needed to learn how to effectively listen and apply the
process of CLEAR (Rega), and think mindfully and not mindlessly (Alder and Elmhorst).
These strategies given by experts are key for communication in not only school, but later in
the workplace. I am glad that I was able to learn what I was lacking in these skills and can
improve upon. Also now that I am going to college in the coming fall, I can use listening
skills to exceed what I think I can achieve, and succeed, in the difficult classes I am planning
on taking.
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Works Cited
Adler, Ronald B. and Jeanne Elmhorst. Communicating at Work, 9th Ed. New York: McGraw
Hill. 2008. Print.
Rega, Michael E. Developing Listening Skills. American Salesman: Vol. 45 Issue 5, page 3.
May 2000. Web.