3 Effective active listening skills through understanding non-verbal and verbal cues
Active listening involves listening attentively to what a person is saying, while also noticing what verbal and non-verbal messages may be being conveyed and then providing appropriate feedback to the speaker. The concept was developed in the 1940s by American psychologist Carl Rogers as part of his client-centred therapy and continues to be utilised today in a range of caring and psychoanalytical settings and services (Rogers and Farson, 2015).
Effective active listening in an educational context requires the educator to be fully attentive to the learner’s conversation. It involves listening with a purpose, such as to find out more about the learner’s mental health needs. It promotes respect for, and consideration towards, the learner and aims to utilise both non-verbal and verbal cues to better understand the learner’s feelings. It is very different to the noteworthy observation that ‘most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply’ (Covey, 2017).