Listening to Lectures
In our blog posts, we are going to look at how to listen to lectures. We’ll develop some steps and strategies to listening to lectures.
First, let’s look at what’s referred to as Metacognitive Awareness.
What does that mean? It is how much we are aware of how we think about listening.
A lot of students don’t think about how they are listening; they just listen. They don’t think of strategies of how they are listening and so they don’t improve their listening. Research shows that even if a student just started thinking about how they were listening they would improve their listening comprehension. They wouldn’t even need to listen to improve their listening. Simply starting to think about how they were listening could improve their listening.
So what about you? Have you ever thought about how you listen?
Let’s look at some strategies that many have found helpful when listening.
1.I have a plan on how I will take notes before I even begin to listen.
2.I preview the material before I listen.
3. I know exactly what to preview.
4.I know the ways in which speakers begin lectures.
5.I know vocabulary or signal words that begin a thesis statement.
6. I have thought about the different ways that speakers begin topic sentences.
7.I use coherence and cohesion to help me understand what I listen to.
8.I understand the different types of support.
9.I know the differences between an example and explanation.
10. I spend time think thinking about how to improve my listening.
How many of you follow any strategies in how you think about your listening? How much do you think about your listening? Do you have any other strategies that work for you?