Topic 1: The power of active listening in teachers-parents relationships with their students/children

Active listening skills can help both parents and educators get a better perception of their children/students feelings, impressions, needs, thoughts and personal expectations (Thompson, 2018). Students who receive empathic listening attention from their significant others, are more likely to develop cognitive strategies such as paying attention, keeping structured notes, making associations, asking strategic questions, gathering information and focusing on their main idea. In other words, these students can associate the right information with the right meaning and, make them cevaluators of meanings rather than passive receivers in listening (Canpolat, et al., 2015).

Regarding the building active listening skills procedure, the present work will be based on the analysis of the following four nonverbal and verbal suggestions (Castro, et al., 2013; McNaughton et al., 2010; Weger et al., 2010):

  • Listen carefully

  • Express what has been said/paraphrase

  • Reflect the partner’s feelings

  • Summarize the essence of what has been said