Listening is a fundamental aspect of our everyday interactions. Each day, people listen for various reasons, such as obtaining necessary information, academic purposes, and entertainment. According to Saraswaty (2018), writing takes approximately nine percent while reading takes eleven to sixteen percent and listening takes fifty percent of the total duration spent communicating. By all accounts, listening takes the most significant share of communication in our communication. It entails the aptitude to recognize as well as grasp what other people are saying. In academic settings, effective listening skills play a central role as grasping content depends on a learner's ability to listen. Sadly, the comportment of some of us in lectures raises a lot of concern about the effectiveness of our listening skills. Therefore, this paper offers an insight into the effects of ineffective listening among college students, the different factors that inhibit effective listening, and the specific techniques essential in improving listening skills.
Effects of Ineffective Listening
It is apparent that as students, we have developed poor listening habits and gross inattentiveness during lectures and discussion groups. Often, we find ourselves faking attentiveness, dozing off during lectures, our mind wandering off from lectures, playing with our phone, gazing at moving vehicles, asking irrelevant questions, and downplaying other people's ideas because they are complex. These poor listening habits negatively affect our academic performances, capacity to solve problems, build relationships with fellow students, and wastage of time as we repeat some of the lectures.
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Factors that Promote Ineffective Listening
Several factors, both external and internal, contribute to ineffective listening skills. For instance, physical obstruction, such as noisy surroundings, is one of the external barriers that cause ineffective listening. Noise in the environment produced by rustling papers, coughing, and vehicles moving on nearby roads lead to distraction and eventual ineffectiveness in our listening skills. Research by Okwuchukwu (2016) affirms that passersby on sidewalks and corridors can impede effective listening. Likewise, noise from nearby industries, ports, and religious institutions also contribute to ineffective listening during lectures.
Another factor that hinders effective listening is an unfavorable learning atmosphere.
For instance, low lighting and irregular power supply make us tired and often drift to slumber, whereas too bright lighting hurts our eyes. The periodic drifting between scorching and cold weather contributes to distractions and poor listening habits. According to Okwuchukwu (2016), atmospheric conditions and malfunctioning appliances such as ceiling fans contributes to poor listening habits as sweating or shivering distracts students from listening. Besides, the lecture room arrangement and overcrowding are critical factors that promote ineffective listening. Learners who cannot make eye contact with the lecturers due to their sitting positions tend to wander off and chat instead of listening to the lecture.
Moreover, poor acoustics prevent effective listening, as listening to something inaudible is quite a challenge. Sometimes, lecturers utilize recorded materials whose quality is dismal (Saraswaty, 2018). According to Bingol, Celik, Yildiz, and Mart (2014) , the quality of a sound system directly influences the listening comprehension of students. Also, the use of unfamiliar vocabulary by teachers leads to poor listening habits as the mind wanders off the class. Essentially, the unknown words subdue the interest and motivation to listen.
Furthermore, the length of lectures and the speed of the teacher contributes to ineffective listening skills. Listening to lectures, text, or tasks for a long time overwhelms the mind and leads to exhaustion (Bingol, Celik, Yildiz & Mart, 2014) . Long lectures often make it difficult to assimilate all the information and promote tiredness for most of us. Similarly, if the speakers are too fast, we often find it challenging to comprehend what they say. According to Saraswaty (2018), since students can't control the speakers' speed and the words they choose to repeat, it remains solely the power of the teacher to decide when to repeat listening texts.
Building Effective Listening Skills
Though several factors contribute to ineffective listening, it is possible to reverse the effects of these poor habits. One way one can develop powerful listening skills is through notes taking and summarizing. Through note-taking, a learner is able to consolidate, translate, and interpret lecture content easily (Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm & Canpolat, 2015). In addition, students take notes of content they deem significant in their wording. Besides, note-taking serves as more permanent storage of lecture content from where the learner can easily retrieve it (Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm & Canpolat, 2015). In the end, taking notes while listening is a common tactic that leads to effective listening and permanent learning.
Another strategy of "fixing" ineffective listening is through making associations and analogies. According to Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm, and Canpolat (2015), providing examples and establishing connections between topics learned in the recent past can assist learners in improving their listening skills. Moreover, by actively participating in class, sharing my thoughts, and enquiring for clarification on arguments that are quite hard, it is possible to improve my listening skills. Additionally, using the strategy of asking questions fosters both the understanding as well as listening to the lecture without distraction by external factors such as moving vehicles and passersby.
Furthermore, maintaining eye contact with instructors is another pivotal technique that can assist in improving my listening. According to Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm, and Canpolat (2015), eye contact is the foundation of communication that affirms the instructor that they are being listened to. Therefore, maintaining eye contact with the lecturers is an essential listening tool. It helps us perceive the instructor's facial expressions as well as gestures as we listen. This way, we can interpret the instructors' body language effectively and provide feedback. Feedback can be in the form of nodding the head, body language, gestures, and even facial expressions (Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm & Canpolat, 2015). As such, it improves my listening and creates a rapport and streamlined communication with the instructor.
Another tactic to employ to improve listening skills is attending the lesson on time and sitting close to the board in the front row and enjoying the lesson. Canpolat, Kuzu, Yildinm, and Canpola (2015), elucidates that attending lessons on time helps students feel comfortable and concentrate. In addition, sitting close to the instructor helps avert too much external or internal noise. This way, there is no obstruction to my listening and makes me calm as well as motivated.
Conclusion
Ineffective listening can lead to faking attentiveness, asking irrelevant questions, dozing off in lectures, mind wandering off, playing with our phones, and gazing on passersby and vehicles. This can directly lead to poor academic performance, inadequate problem-solving capacity, and wastage of time and resources. Several factors contribute to ineffective listening. Some of the factors are physical obstruction such as noisy surroundings, unfavorable learning environments such as low lighting, hot and cold weather, overcrowded lecture room, poor acoustics, use of unfamiliar vocabulary, and length of lectures and speed of the teacher. However, it is possible to reverse the effects of these factors. Some of the essential strategies to improve listening skills are note-taking, asking questions, making associations and analogies, generating feedback, attending the lesson on time, and sitting close to the instructors, are essential strategies. Also, maintaining eye contact and paying attention to facial expressions, body language, and gestures can improve listening skills.
References
Bingol, M., Celik, B., Yildiz, N., & Mart, C. (2014). Listening Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by Students in Second language Learning Class. Journal Of Educational And Instructional Studies In The World , 4 (4), 1-6. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cagri_Mart/publication/339377409_listening_comprehension_difficulties_encountered_by_students_in_second_language_learning_class/links/5e4e745ca6fdccd965b40e95/listening-comprehension-difficulties-encountered-by-students-in-second-language-learning-class.pdf
Canpolat, M., Kuzu, S., Yıldırım, B., and Canpolat, S., 2015. Active Listening Strategies of Academically Successful University Students. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research , 15(60), pp.163-180.
Okwuchukwu, C. L. (2016). Listening for effective communication: A study of undergraduates of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies , 6 (1)
Saraswaty, D. (2018). Learners' Difficulties & Strategies In Listening Comprehension. English Community Journal , 2 (1), 139. doi: 10.32502/ecj.v2i1.1003
