Listening Step 6

Listening: The receiving, retaining and processing of information or ideas.

Step 6: I show I am listening by how I use eye contact and body language

Outcomes

To achieve Step 6, learners will demonstrate that they are listening by using eye contact with whoever is speaking and other positive, encouraging body language.

To build the listening skill, learners will start to demonstrate effective listening to others.

Learners need to be able to:

Use eye contact as a sign of engagement
Use appropriate body language to show engagement

Introduction

Eye contact is a helpful part of showing that you are listening to someone, and to show that you are not being distracted by other things.
Seeing someone’s face and their expressions also gives you extra information about how they feel. It also helps you see what they think is important.
Maintaining eye contact does not mean that you should be staring in someone’s face.

Skill Starter

Expressive Emotions

Individuals should talk to another learner about a sport they enjoy and why they like it. This should be repeated twice (in the same pairs).

The first time they talk about it their partner should fidget, not look at them, scowl, cross their arms. The second time they should keep eye-contact and show positive body language.

The speaker then explains how they felt each time and which response made them feel listened to and understood.

The pairs should then swap roles.

10 mins

Paired activity

Discussion

Teach & Apply

To be a good listener you should try to ensure that your body is showing that you are interested in what you are hearing and that you want to hear more.
Some of the ways that you can do this are:
- Face the speaker
- Not fidget
- Leaning forwards
- Showing an engaged face

This can be modelled by the coach or, where possible, with video clips.

Optional Activity

Dancing Directions

In pairs, students come up with a short dance to a piece of music. They then teach their dance to another pair to perform together.

Learners need to show that they are actively listening through their eye contact and body language. After performing the dance pairs should talk about what body language they used and why.

20 mins

Paired activity

Active

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

Before paired work, learners can be reminded how to do their best work together – starting by how they show that they are ready to listen and to learn from one another.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

This step is best assessed through observation in day-to-day learning, although a particular scenario or role-play could also be created. For example, the coach could create a checklist, based on the reminders above, and assess whether individual learners are demonstrating those.
Ask these reflective questions:
- Why do you think eye contact is important to show you are listening?
- What does positive body language look like?
- What is the effect of positive body language?