Research shows that a lot of times when a person is talking the listener isn’t actually listening, or if the listener is listening then he is not retaining 100% information of what is being said but only 25%-50% of the spoken information. Active listening is used to focus the attention of the speaker. It is difficult to master but can be acquired through practice and patience. It involves listening with all the senses and giving complete attention to the speaker. An active listener should also show signs of listening like different gestures and verbal, non-verbal messages.
Listening is an art, a skill, and a discipline that is considered to be an integral aspect in the success of the therapeutic alliance. Listening is not a passive technique, it is an active process in which the therapist listens to what is said, and how it is said, as well as listening to the whole person and the context of their social setting. Aspects of listening encompass linguistic, paralinguistic, and non-verbal aspects in order to tune in both mentally and visibly. Egan (2014) explains full listening as listening actively, listening accurately, and listening for meaning. According to Egan (2014) listening does not just occur; it requires effort on the part of the counsellor in order to avoid engaging in inadequate listening.
The assumption of listening as a fundamental language skill which the process of learn listening is similar between English as a Second Language (ESL) student and English as a First Language (EFL). Listening is receptive skill that the product is put on the other skill such speaking or writing so it is a process of human language accepting. As receptive skill listening is relatively similar with first language listening in learning language because there are several processes in acquisition as it is stated by John Flowerdew and Linsday that listening as part of communication consist of some processes such hearing, attending, remembering, responding, and interpreting which is occurred both in first and second language. It can be accomplished
We may even practise attentive listening, paying attention to focusing energy on the words that are being said. But few actually practice empathic listening which is the fifth level of listening. Empathic listening is listening with intent to understand and really understand. It is about getting inside another person 's frame of reference. It is seeing the world through the lens of the other person, the same way they see they see the world and understanding how they feel.
Students fear of being ridiculed for giving wrong answers by their classmates in the classroom is also another reason for language anxiety. Many learners feel stressed and anxious in such situation. Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) pointed out that anxiety may lead to a reduction in motivation (as cited in Cheng, H. Y., 1997, p.114). Such negative relation was also found between anxiety and attitude (Cheng, H. Y., 1997, p.114). Besides, anxiety influences students’ strategy used to compensate their weakness” (as cited in Cheng, M. H. Y., 1997, p.114).
Language Anxiety Introduction Language anxiety affects the academic achievement and it becomes the fundamental issue that teachers and students needs to overcome. However, people often feel anxious and scared when facing or learning the language, without realizing the existence of language anxiety, especially when students approaching the foreign language. Anxiety experienced in the intimacy of foreign language learning is specific and unique (Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre and Gardner, 1989), which is a heterogeneous, multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991). Students in language classes may encounter in negative self-criticism, contemplating a poor performance,
One of the most important factors that influence in learning language is attitude which belongs to internal factor (Fakeye, 2010). Attitude is characterized by a large proportion of emotional involvement such as feelings, self, and relationships in the community (Brown, 2001). In short, attitude is how people see and perceive the world. Attitude is also related to learners’ difficulties in learning a language. There is a relationship between attitudes and learners’ difficulties in learning a language (Rifai, 2009).
The psychological barriers become one of the most important topics of research since they affect the learners negatively in the academic setting. Many researchers have been affirmed that for gaining a better achievement in the learning process, the affective factors should be taken into account. In this chapter we shed the light on the foreign language anxiety as one of these affective factors. We give some background to the study of FL anxiety, such as its types and sources. In addition, we mention how it impacts the learning process and finally we give some strategies that help in reducing anxiety.
2.3 The improvement of listening skills In every situation, people have to listen to others, when they are talking to their friends or when they are shopping, even when they have a family gathering, while watching TV or when listening to the radio. However, learners do not lay great emphasis on the development of listening skills in a foreign language, and usually they do not especially like listening exercises at all. In the following section, Chastain’s (1988) theory of listening comprehension and two other research projects, one from Miller (2003) and on from Woottipong (2014), will be explored. According to Chastain (1988), word and language knowledge are needed in order to understand a text. When learners listen, they have a purpose and definite expectations, so it can be helpful if there are visual or contextual clues to discover the meaning of the given text.
The speakers must consider the person they are talking to as listeners. The activity that the person does is based on the particular goal. So, it is important that everything that the speaker wants to say is conveyed in an effective way because speaking is not only producing sounds but also a process