User:Sharri McGarry/Encouraging listening in children

Encouraging listening skills in children

Are children really becoming less attentive? Many professionals who work with children believe so. There are increasing concerns over the numbers of young children entering education with poorly developed language skills. It is a fact that 21st century children are being brought up with instant entertainment – television and computer games. And while these must be acknowledged as amazing forms of entertainment that we never dreamed possible when we were growing up; we must also acknowledge that if used to excess these rapid-pace activities are likely to decrease attention span and damage listening skills. It’s all about keeping a healthy balance - off-setting these forms of entertainment with others that encourage attentiveness and listening skills is just plain common-sense.

Why encourage listening skills? Listening is about being able to concentrate. Many children are poor listeners and research has shown that there is a direct relationship between listening ability and learning (Lundsteen,1979; Strother, 1987). Good listening skills improve concentration and are essential for effective learning in all areas of the curriculum. An estimated 80% of what we learn is acquired through listening (Hunsaker, 1990).

What can I do to encourage these skills? Children have the highest rates of learning in the early years, and habits formed at a young age will stay with them for a lifetime. It’s a perfect time to introduce children to books. Young children naturally enjoy stories and should be read to each and every day.

The use of storytelling with young children clearly supports early literacy development. Research shows that young children who have been exposed to a variety of stories not only have good listening skills and vocabulary development (Roney, 1989; Phillips, 2000), but also good attention span, accuracy of recall, sequencing ability and fluency in writing (Reed, 1987; Davis, 1982). Using audio books - While I have always read to my children, audio books have also played an important complementary role. My children loved listening to audio books and used them especially at bedtime and while travelling in the car. While they were having fun listening to stories, they were also improving their reading skills, their vocabulary and their comprehension, which in turn encouraged them to learn how to read.

Substitute audio books for hand-held computer games or DVDs. Watching a story on screen is a passive experience, where you accept someone else's visualisation. Listening to a story is different in that it

A good audio story will introduce new situations outside of their experience and new vocabulary outside of everyday conversational language.

Who am I? I am lucky. I have studied education for twenty years and I have been lucky enough to educate my own children at home, following my beliefs. Being a mother has influenced me to seek balance – balance between the benefits of 21st century technology and the benefits of traditional activities. I am lucky to be doing what I love best – freelance writer for BBC radio and active storyteller - and lucky to have my own company, (www.dancingleaf.co.uk), writing and producing my own audio stories.

Lucky? Or did this all stem from a father who loved reading me stories when I was young….

References Barclay, Benelli, & Curtis, 1995; Gottschall, 1995, “Thirteen Core Understandings About Learning to Read”, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (Language & Literacy Team)

Baskin, B., & Harris, K, 1995, “Heard any good books lately? The case for audiobooks in the secondary classroom”. Journal of Reading, 38(5), 372-376.

Davis, D, 1982, “Storytelling and comprehension skills: A classroom experiment”, The Yarnspinner. 6 (12), 2-4.

Hunsaker, R.A, 1990, “Understanding and developing the skills of oral communication: Speaking and listening”, 2nd ed, Englewood, CO: Morton Press

L'Engle, M, 1972, “A Quiet Circle”, San Francisco: Harper & Row.

Lundsteen, Sara W. “Listening: Its Impact at All Levels on Reading and Other Language Arts “(Revised ed.). Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills; National Council of Teachers of English, 1979. 179pp. [ED 169 537]

McGarry Sharri, dancingleaf.co.uk accessed 7/5/2010

Pearson JC, 1984, “Reaching Beyond Magical Child”

Phillips, L, 2000, “The seeds of children's creativity”, Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 25 (3), 1-6.

Reed B, 1987, “Storytelling: What it can teach”, School Library Journal. 35-39.

Roney R, 1989, “Back to the basics with storytelling”, The Reading Teacher, 42, 520-523

Strother, D, 1987, "Practical applications of research: on listening," Phi Delta Kappan, 68 (8), pp. 625-628.