Listening Skills to Succeed at University (FutureLearn)

Understand the process of active listening

You’ll explore listening as a conscious, active and mentally engaging process and understand its value in an academic setting.

Learn how to improve listening skills in an academic setting

Being a university student provides a variety of listening situations from lectures, seminars and tutorials to a drink on campus. On this course, you will explore a model of academic listening, identify which listening skills are required for each academic situation, and learn about the main challenges of effective listening and how to tackle them.

Reflect on the value of intercultural awareness at the university

The campus is a place where people from many cultural and linguistic backgrounds come into contact with each other and interact. This course will make you aware of the importance of intercultural awareness during your academic life and its impact on being a critical listener.

Learn strategies for effective listening in lectures

You’ll then focus on what effective listening is and how to practise it during university lectures. You will understand what listening skills are required for different types of lectures, and what lecturers from a range of disciplines expect students to do.

By the end of the course, you’ll have explored and practised different strategies that support effective listening so you’ll be more prepared to listen successfully whilst at university and later in life.

What topics will you cover?

- What is listening?

- A model for academic listening.

- Listening as an interactive process.

- Intercultural awareness.

- Effective academic listening in university lectures

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Identify what is involved in effective academic listening.

- Identify the intercultural aspects of listening and explain the impact of culture on communication.

- Apply critical listening skills at university and other contexts.