Monthly Archives: July 2014

Listening & Speaking: Top Skills for College & Career Readiness

What skills are at the top of the list that employers look for in prospective candidates? According to the National Association of College & Employers, the ability to “verbally communicate with persons inside and outside the organization” is at the top of the list (naceweb.org, 2012). Think about that: the ability to speak and listen well are more important in the eyes of employers than technological abilities, organization, or even written skills. These skills are finally getting the recognition that they deserve as essential for students to demonstrate that they are college and career ready. In elementary schools, we must be offering opportunities for students to converse with others—partners, small groups, and the entire class in structured and non-structured settings.

Listening and Speaking skills are unique because students begin learning and using from birth. Students spend between 50-75% of their time in class listening to teachers, classmates, and media. Yet, we spend very little time teaching students how to effectively listen and speak. We expect these to happen, but don’t teach them specifically. The Common Core State Standards are requiring us to revisit Listening and Speaking and include them in our daily instruction.

Oral Language from Birth

The authors of the Common Core State Standards recognize the “special role of speaking and listening in K-5 literacy.” Children’s oral language development is predictive of how well they learn to read and write. There is strong research, such as that by Hart and Risley (1995) that indicates students’ oral vocabulary is critical in predicting academic success and comprehension. The larger the number of words that young children hear, the greater their reading comprehension in elementary school. In short, the ability to listen strengthens the ability to read and the ability to speak strengthens the ability to write.

Two Parts: Listening AND Speaking

It is sad but true: what is tested often equals what is taught. Since most states did not have a Listening & Speaking assessment required, these were often pushed to the side in elementary classrooms. We expected students to demonstrate these skills, but we didn’t necessarily teach it adequately. With Listening & Speaking being key components in the Standards, teachers are realizing their importance and these skills are being included in curricula.

Your state may or may not have purchased the Speaking & Listening portion of the assessments. However, even if you aren’t administering a specific Speaking & Listening test, listening skills figure prominently in the English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments. Students will be asked to view videos, podcasts, and other media and respond to it, so it is essential to ensure that they have the skills necessary to hear and comprehend the material.

To be capable listeners, students should demonstrate positive body language (face the speaker, look at the speaker, sit up straight, etc.) Eye contact is a great way to demonstrate strong listening skills. Beyond body language, asking questions of the speaker and paraphrasing things that have been said show effective listening.

Oral language development doesn’t stop at listening; speaking is important. To demonstrate competent speaking, students should speak loudly and clearly so that the audience (of one person or a hundred) can hear them. They should use proper grammar and usage of words. Body language is even more important for the speaker. Students should use their bodies appropriately—stand straight, avoid fidgeting, gesture properly, etc. Finally, effective speakers can talk about a topic with poise and confidence in words that the audience can understand.

Fostering Speaking and Listening Skills

Try these ideas to foster speaking and listening skills with your students:

  • Turn and Talk. I have mentioned this technique many times before in this article, and I will keep mentioning it. Ask a question, then have students turn and talk about the answer. If you really want to encourage speaking and listening, here is a tip: when you ask students to share, have them share their partner’s answer. This forces students to really listen to their partners. It also increases their comprehension by having them paraphrase or summarize what their partner stated.
  • Structured discussion with feedback. Allow students to have discussions in small groups, but make sure you tell them how they are doing. One way I like to do this is to circulate while students are working with their groups and jotting notes about who is doing a great job with participating. At the end of the group time, I tell the class things like, “Jamal was doing an excellent job leaning in and looking at the speaker.” “Emily was speaking clearly and answering questions from the others in her group.” Students love this positive feedback, and it makes the rest of the class want to receive this recognition too. So, the next time they work in groups, they try hard to be the one who is praised.
  • Blabberize! Blabberize is a website and app that allows you to upload a picture and make it “blabber” or move the mouth and make it talk by recording sound—like a book report. Blabberize your biography book reports. Make characters come alive. The possibilities are endless!

    Daisy the dog "blabberizes" about her favorite toy!

    Daisy the dog “blabberizes” about her favorite toy!

  • Comic Books Rule. There are many ways to create comic books or graphic novels. Have students create one based on a novel they have read or topic they have studied in a content area. Comic Book Creator is an interactive tool on the ReadWriteThink.com website. Comic Touch 2 is an app in the iTunes store that works on apple devices.
  • Find an App for that. There are scores of apps to create trading cards, magazine covers, video recordings, and much more! Explore and create!