KATIE ALFORD

Explicitly Teaching Focusing on three

essential skill sets, the

Listening in the author developed a

range of instructional

ELA Curriculum: activities to promote

good listening.

Why and How

W inston Churchill once said, “Courage is what

it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also
what it takes to sit down and listen.” Listen-
ing has, unfortunately, become the “new dem-
ocratic deficit” (Dobson). In today’s world we so
often as listeners focus on formulating our responses
that we forget to listen to understand what a person
listening. Third, there are not enough resources to
support teaching listening as a discrete skill. At the
2019 NCTE Annual Convention in Baltimore, I
browsed the publishers’ booths and found only two
books among the hundreds I perused that addressed
teaching listening specifically. Go online and you
can find more lesson ideas about teaching reading
has to say. We favor, even celebrate, rash and curt and writing than you could use in a single year, but
responses, not deep consideration of what we have search for lessons on listening and you will find only
heard. We are trained to react and quickly respond a handful. If we hope to prepare students to tackle
without taking the time to absorb ideas and consider the vexing problems of our world, we must take up
an opposing position. Perhaps we can blame this Churchill’s charge to help students find the courage
tendency on social media or our political landscape, to sit and listen and to listen well.
but as an English teacher and teacher educator, I
find myself asking: Have I prepared my students to HISTORY OF TEACHING LISTENING
listen well? Do we, as ELA teachers, teach students In 1964, NCTE, in a joint statement with several
the intricate skills of being good listeners? What other organizations such as the International Read-
resources exist to support the teaching of listening? ing Association, made a call to educators to take
As I have become more conscious of the need to speaking and listening as seriously as they did read-
address listening explicitly, I have found several ideas ing and writing instruction. They proclaimed,
to be true. First, teaching the act of listening has been We share with all educators the concern about writ-
an ignored area of research and, in effect, teaching ten communication and the recognition that reading
for decades (Rice and Burbules). Because we do skills are basic to all learning. But we have voiced the
not know enough about listening and its impact on need for equal concern about educating all children
learning, we tend to avoid it in our teaching prac- to be effective speakers and listeners . . . . [T]he abil-
ity to speak and listen effectively is probably the most
tices. English methods courses and the popular text-
important asset that can be acquired and maintained
books for these courses spend little time addressing throughout a lifetime. (Mackintosh 36)
listening. Second, standards tend to favor reading
and writing over oral language. The Common Core Again, in the 1980s, NCTE, the National Com-
State Standards boast ten reading and ten writing mission on Excellence in Education, and the Col-
standards, but only three for speaking and three for lege Entrance Examination Board pushed for oral

22 ENGLISHJOURNAL 109.5 (2020): 22–29

Copyright © 2020 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.
 KATIE ALFORD

language instruction as an essential skill that must require listening but also because they have sev-
be taught. So what went wrong? Why did these calls eral key attributes important for learning to listen.
not urge educators to begin an ongoing conversation First, schools offer diverse peers who are not family
about how to teach listening better? members or close friends, with potentially different
After the call in the late 1980s, a divide formed perspectives on the world (Parker 2829; Rice and
between two groups: those who saw oral literacy as Burbules 2737). Also, schools inherently discuss
merely a tool for learning, in which students learn to problems, both academic challenges and social dis-
speak and to listen naturally while in the act of learn- agreements (Parker 2816; Rice and Burbules 2737).
ing other content (MacLure et al.), and those who Schools can mobilize these assets to build new listen-
advocated for a deliberate approach in which speak- ing skills and habits that not only enhance students’
ing and listening are explicitly taught (Rubin). Oral opportunities to learn
language as simply a tool for learning won, and it but also demonstrate Standards today
had many positive effects such as increasing student how listening can build do not adequately
talk time in instruction and literacy skills filtering equity and trust among address listening, and
into other content areas such as history and science. people holding diverse there continue to be
But it limited the explicit teaching of speaking and perspectives, as well as limited instructional
listening. Perhaps the most prolonged effect was that demonstrate how lis- materials to support
speaking and listening did not garner enough sup- tening looks different the teaching of
port when the modern standards movement began. in various contexts. listening.
Subsequently, standards today do not adequately Schools are crucial to
address listening, and there continue to be limited the formation of democratic citizenship, and in our
instructional materials to support the teaching of lis- world, that increasingly means being an apt, critical,
tening. Listening remains a low priority, as a result, and careful listener. “Listening is not a passive act”
in the ELA classroom (Devine; Mackintosh). and, therefore, an act of agency (Dobson 853); it
offers students the possibility of participating more
REASONS TO HIGHLIGHT consciously in our democratic society.
LISTENING Listening is the foundation of the other language
We may assume that listening comes naturally arts and is fundamental to all learning. Early studies
from the process of learning other things. However, on listening in education reported students listening
research suggests that “the better one can listen, the around 50 percent of their school day, predominantly
more educated one can become, and the more edu- to teachers (Mackintosh; Rankin; Wilt). A more
cated one becomes, the better one can listen . . . . recent study found students were listening with
Listening leads to education, and education leads to only 25 percent efficiency (Anderson and Brent),
listening” (Rice and Burbules 2740). Unfortunately, yet teachers report devoting little time to explicitly
we have not focused enough attention on listening as teaching listening (Campbell). The broader impact
a distinct skill to be taught, learned, practiced, and on learning is that vital reading comprehension and
assessed (Parker 2816). This skill develops and grows overall school success trend downward when we do
more complex as our thinking and learning become not teach listening (Lundsteen; Mackintosh; Rubin).
more complex—that is, we do not stop developing If we fail to teach concrete listening skills to students,
as listeners just as we never stop growing as writ- they are more likely to struggle not just in our class-
ers or as readers. Instruction must be ongoing and rooms but in school as a whole and, ultimately, in
develop more complexity as students’ skills in this their lives.
area increase. Listening is challenging partially because humans
Furthermore, schools are an excellent setting for think quicker than they can speak. When we listen to
teaching listening, not just because they regularly someone talk, our brains are moving three times as

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fast as the speaker can speak, and that leaves time for listening. They need practice honing their listening
our minds to wander (Barbara 6). What listeners do to help them focus on the salient points in conver-
with the additional time often dictates how well they sations and discussions. I use the following strate-
pay attention. Poor listeners quickly become impa- gies to assist my students as they become better at
tient, and their minds move to other thoughts and summarizing.
then zip back to attend to the speaker. Occasionally,
the shifting back and forth from attention to distrac- Back Outlines. A back outline asks the listener to
tion prevents complete comprehension, and regularly create a framework based on what they heard. Many
their minds wander and fail to return to the speaker of us do this intuitively, but students can use back
(Barbara 6). If listeners fall too far behind, they tend outlining to organize what they’ve listened to into a
to give up and, perhaps, pretend to listen by nodding concrete and familiar structure. Completing a back
and maintaining eye contact. In reality, they have outline based on their listening forces students to
mentally left the conversation. Explicit lessons on narrow their notes from listening to only the signifi-
what good listeners do in the lag time between speak- cant points. I scaffold this learning by first providing
ing and listening help students understand more spe- a blank outline, so they know how many key con-
cifically how to listen well. cepts to include. By the time I ask students to create
More practically, if teachers establish better lis- their own, they have become more confident in cre-
tening skills from the beginning of the school year, ating back outlines.
they are likely to save time because they will not have
to repeat explanations and instructions (Campbell Abstracts. Writing a one-page or one-paragraph
68). Good student listeners also appear to teachers abstract or summary takes the back outline and
to be more engaged in learning, and research suggests puts it into prose form. Abstracts are short but
they do become more successful in school in general detailed narratives that denote the main idea and
(Barbara; Opitz and Zbaracki). Teaching listening is several key points made in a speech. This activity
good for both students and teachers. occurs after the listening but helps students rehash
what they have heard and conveys what they found
SKILLS OF GOOD LISTENERS to be most relevant. It provides a quick synopsis
Good listeners use three essential skills that effec- they can use to remember what they listened to, a
tively coax their minds into the complicated work helpful study tool.
of listening well and occupies the lag time between
speaking and listening: (1) the ability to summarize Headlines. Writing a concise headline for listen-
content they have heard and to decipher the most ing encourages students to narrow their listening
relevant information; (2) the ability to connect what even further to one key idea that stood out to them.
they have heard to themselves, their prior learning, I implement this strategy frequently to hold stu-
and other texts and concepts; and (3) the ability to dents accountable for listening to their peers present.
visualize, which deepens their listening in a multi- When each student stands to present, the audience
modal way (Barbara 6; Opitz and Zbaracki). Below records the student’s name, and then during or after
I provide examples from my classroom of how I have the speech, students create a clever headline derived
created opportunities for students to practice each of from their listening.
these essential listening skills and how they’ve been Taking the time to practice summarization pro-
useful in my teaching practice. vides students with active listening strategies to help
them maintain a focus on the meaning of the content
SummARIZATIOn they are hearing. In my classroom, offering summari-
Students often have limited skills in summarization, zation training early in the year makes lecturing faster
particularly summarizing information derived from as the students take fewer yet more specific notes, and

24 JULY 2020
 KATIE ALFORD

ask students to predict what will happen in a novel

based on their viewing of the book trailer.

Charting Emotions. Asking students to track their

emotional reactions as they listen brings to light the
effect listening has on our mental state. While teach-
ing poetry, I ask students to chart their emotional
responses as two or three different speakers read a
poem. Doing this demonstrates how much the tone,
inflection, pauses, speed, and even the body move-
ment of the speaker can influence our listening and
our reactions to what we hear (see Figure 2).

Venn Diagram. Mapping connections on a Venn

diagram can support students’ comparative skills.
Frequently, I ask students to compare two varying
narrative perspectives on a single event or to compare
and contrast their viewing of the movie with their
reading of the text. This comparison work extends
both their reading and listening by citing connec-
FIGURE 1. tions between two modalities, which they may fail
While watching their peers present on to notice.
community service projects, students created
one-sentence headlines for each presentation. I have found that providing opportunities for
students to connect their listening to prior knowl-
edge or experiences makes listening relevant and
it ensures they listen carefully to peers’ presentations. enhances retention. By writing down those connec-
It sets a clear purpose for their listening and helps tions, students begin to see how their listening relates
them zero in on the salient points and structure the
speakers’ ideas in their minds (see Figure 1).

COnnECTIng
Finding personal connections and links to prior
learning helps students build on what they already
know and helps them retain the new information
gained from listening. Activities that require them
to make connections can take time, but they engage
students more acutely. Having a connection to the
listening gives purpose to listening and can extend
understanding of the topic.

predictions. Making predictions about future

events based on what they hear encourages students FIGURE 2.
As they listened to three different readings of
to connect prior knowledge to their listening and
“Because I Could not Stop for Death” by Emily
guess at what, from their experience, might poten- Dickinson, students tracked their emotional responses
tially happen next. I use this strategy, for example, to to each reading.

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to other forms of learning, such as reading and their

own emotions.

VISuALIZIng
When students add clear, vivid, and detailed visuals,
listening becomes more than auditory. It engages
their minds in multisensory learning, which enriches
learning by demanding they think in multiple ways
about the same idea. Visualization stimulates our
creative minds to create images to depict our under-
standing of what we’ve heard.

Visual notetaking/Sketchnoting. As a participant

in the National Writing Project, I became familiar
with visual notetaking, also called sketchnoting. My
teacher peers in this professional development sum-
mer institute setting were using their writer’s note-
books in fun and creative ways. They utilized con-
nectors, images, bubbles, colors, and unique fonts to
take quick but informative notes. I became hooked
and started implementing this unique notetaking
strategy in my classroom with students. Visual note-
taking allows students to use their creativity, which
FIGURE 3.
can enhance their engagement with the topic. Notes Sketchnoting allowed a student who took notes
from a lecture demand concision, and sketchnot- on maslow’s Hierarchy of needs during a lecture
ing focuses the notes and brings in visuals to refine to use color, bullets, symbols, and flagging.
understanding. My students have also found it to be
better when studying because the images and head-
the traditional outline, timeline, or plot diagram.
ings help them recall the information without having
Creating images through a comic strip solidifies a
to read the entire page of notes (see Figure 3).
story and brings it to life for the listener. It can be
especially important when the story is oral. I’ve used
Setting the Scene. Drawing as we listen can alter comic strips after students listen to oral tellings of
our listening to become more attuned to the minute Native American origin myths.
details and nuances we hear. When I read “The Fall When students used visualization in my class-
of the House of Usher” aloud to students, I ask them room, it narrowed their listening and helped keep
to draw the deteriorating mansion in the swampy their minds engaged in the specific listening task.
landscape Poe describes. This narrows students’ lis- Students broadened their notion of what “taking
tening and turns their attention to how the setting notes” means, and it excited their creativity and
affects the story, a critical element in many of Poe’s made their notes an expression of themselves.
short stories. Creating a visual representation of lis- Teaching summarization, connection building,
tening gives the mind something to do while listen- and visualization demonstrates for students that lis-
ing, so it doesn’t get lost or distracted. tening is an art form, and “to be well performed, it
requires more than just letting sound waves enter
Comic Strips. Tracking the main events of a narra- passively in the ear. Good listening is an alive pro-
tive visually can be more engaging for students than cess demanding alert and active participation”

26 JULY 2020
 KATIE ALFORD

(Barbara 5). It gives students myriad listening strate- n Do not restate what students say. Encourage
gies to use not just in our English classrooms but also students to listen to their peers without
in all of their other subjects. Opportunities to prac- deciphering for them. When we step in to
tice these three skills are essential to building better translate, we are the ones being good
listeners. listeners, not allowing students to practice
the skills we are teaching them.
PRACTICES THAT n Encourage students to respond to one another’s
SUPPORT LISTENING ideas. Ask students to react, rephrase, or
Classrooms that value listening do more than teach question what they have just heard a peer
lessons about what good listeners do. Teachers cre- say. By encouraging students to dialogue
ate spaces and communities that regularly engage in without your intervention, they begin to see
listening and provide models of what this looks like. the nature of a positive communicative
Below I offer several key ways teachers can modify relationship.
their practice to embed active listening into their class-
n Establish listening guidelines early in the year
rooms and build communities that value listening.
and practice them frequently. This can
n Teach, assign, assess, and provide feedback on include expectations such as maintaining
listening explicitly. Do not take for granted eye contact, not interrupting, and avoiding
that students know how to listen. Begin by distractions. SLANT (sit up, lean forward,
teaching the three skills good listeners have ask and answer questions, nod your head,
and then modify sample assignments to and track the speaker) is a common
assess listening. Most importantly, give acronym used in classrooms that sets clear
meaningful feedback on how students can expectations for what good listening looks
improve their listening skills. like. Provide feedback frequently and early
n Make listening an active process. Too often, to help students pick up productive
students sit and listen and do nothing with listening habits from the onset.
the information. If we hold them n Model good listening. Be an exemplar to
accountable for producing something as a students by demonstrating how to follow,
result of their listening, they are more likely genuinely listen, and take a moment before
to engage in the act of listening actively. you respond. Model how contemplation is
Use a variety of listening strategies such as an integral part of meaningful dialogue.
sketchnoting, charting emotions, and Have an open conversation with a colleague
headlines to help maintain interest and to in front of your class, then have students
provide examples of what active listening analyze what you both do as listeners and
can look like. speakers.
n Value teacher wait time. Sometimes pausing n Teach notetaking. Explicit instruction on
and allowing students to contemplate what how to listen to a speaker, determine the
you have asked garners greater insights. salient points, and then quickly rephrase
Allowing for ten seconds to lapse before those ideas can benefit students, especially
calling on anyone provides the space for as they approach college and higher-level
students to consider their responses before courses in high school. College students
sharing them aloud. Creating space for have shared on YouTube their notetaking
thinking before reacting can combat the processes, tips, and tricks, and students
notion that immediacy is more valuable might be more receptive to advice from a
than thoughtful contemplation. slightly older, more experienced peer.

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n Create more opportunities for group and essential to their academic success. Explicitly learn-
partner work. Listening to their peers is even ing to listen well can be a powerful tool to support
more important, but it is too often learning both in the classroom and beyond.
undervalued in schools. Providing activities
where students work collaboratively and CONCLUSION
then share their findings helps them be So if Winston Churchill is right, then we must teach
responsible for the work and fosters positive our students to have the courage to sit down and listen
relationships. I regularly ask students to as well as stand up and speak. Listening is a skill to be
brag about what their partners shared in explicitly taught, practiced, and assessed. It is a polit-
their discussions. ical act that, if done well, can foster a sense of agency
in our students. When they know how to listen well,
n Talk about what they see good listeners doing.
they can engage more richly in public debate, and it
We often learn from watching others being
builds a conscious awareness of all they hear and see
successful, so ask students to tell you what
in our world. We have focused too narrowly on giving
they see good listeners doing. You can have
voice to our students, and we have forgotten to pro-
them talk in groups and then stop midway
vide them with a listening ear (Campbell).
to discuss what they saw active listeners
doing. When they return to the
WORKS CITED
conversation, they will be more conscious of
Anderson, Patricia, and Rebecca Brent. “Teaching Kids How to
their own listening since they have just Listen.” Education Digest, vol. 59, no. 5, 1994, pp. 67–71.
reviewed what good listeners do. Barbara, Dominick. “The Art of Listening.” Communication
Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 1, 1959, pp. 5–7.
n Provide models for what positive discussions Campbell, Robyn. “The Power of the Listening Ear.” English
look like. There are a plethora of videos Journal, vol. 100, no. 5, 2011, pp. 66–70.
online that demonstrate positive classroom Devine, Thomas. “Listening: What Do We Know after Fifty Years
of Research and Theorizing?” Journal of Reading, vol. 21,
examples of classroom conversations and
no. 4, 1978, pp. 296–304.
debates. Watch and analyze with students Dobson, Andrew. “Listening: The New Democratic Deficit.”
what works in these discussions and create a Political Studies, vol. 60, no. 4, 2012, pp. 843–59.
list of what good speakers and listeners do. Lundsteen, Sara. Listening: Its Impact at All Levels on Reading and
the Other Language Arts. NCTE, 1979.
Then provide an opportunity to have an Mackintosh, Helen Katherine, ed. Children and Oral Language:
open discussion and focus on the A Joint Statement of the Association for Childhood Education,
implementation of appropriate listening International Association for Supervision and Curriculum
strategies. Development, International of Reading Association, National
Council of Teachers of English. ACEI, 1964.
n Change how you check for understanding. If MacLure, Margaret, et al., eds. Oracy Matters: The Development of
Talking and Listening in Education. Open UP, 1988.
you often ask, “Does that make sense?,”
Opitz, Michael, and Matthew Zbaracki. Listen Hear! 25 Listening
switch to asking, “Can you rephrase what I Comprehension Strategies. Heinemann, 2004.
have said?” If you do this often enough, Parker, Walter. “Listening to Strangers: Classroom Discussion in
students will become more conscious of Democratic Education.” Teachers College Record, vol. 112,
no. 11, 2010, pp. 2815–32.
their listening because they know you are Rankin, Paul. “The Importance of Listening Ability.” English
going to ask them to rephrase what you Journal, vol. 17, 1928, pp. 623–30.
have said instead of just nodding yes or no. Rice, Suzanne, and Nicholas Burbules. “Listening: A Virtue
Account.” Teachers College Record, vol. 112, no. 11, 2010,
Implementing these changes in my classroom pp. 2728–42.
has allowed students to take up the charge to listen Rubin, Dorothy. Teaching Elementary Language Arts: A Balanced
Approach. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
carefully and demonstrates to students that listening
Wilt, Miriam. “A Study of Teacher Awareness of Listening as a
takes effort. Students also report feeling more confi- Factor in Elementary Education.” Journal of Educational
dent, especially in other classrooms where listening is Research, vol. 43, no. 8, 1958, pp. 626–36.

28 JULY 2020
 KATIE ALFORD

KATIE ALFORD is an assistant professor of education at McKendree University, a small

liberal arts college in southern Illinois. She taught high school English, ESL, and reading in
Tempe, Arizona, for ten years before pursuing a career in higher education. She has been a
member of NCTE since 2005 and can be contacted at [email protected].

READWRITETHINKCONNECTION Lisa Storm Fink, RWT

The lesson plan “Varying Views of America” invites students to

work in small groups to read and summarize Walt Whitman’s
“I Hear America Singing,” Langston Hughes’s “I, Too, Sing America,”
and maya Angelou’s “On the pulse of the morning.” They identify
the tone and point of view of each poem, citing specific text
references. Finally, students compare the three poems using
a Venn diagram, synthesize the similarities and differences
they identified, and then discuss their findings with the class.
http://bit.ly/2euqdzB

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