What Effective Listening Is

WHAT EFFECTIVE LISTENING IS 
Effective listening is actively absorbing the information given to you by a speaker, showing that you are listening and interested, and providing feedback to the speaker so that he or she knows the message was received.  Delivering verbal communication, like writing a newsletter, involves trying to choose the right words and nonverbal cues to convey a message thatwill be interpreted in the way that you intend.  Effective listeners show speakers that they have been heard and understood.
Listening and hearing are not the same.  Hearing is the first stage of listening.  Hearing occurs when your ears pick up sound waves which are then transported to your brain.  This stage is your sense of hearing.
Listening is a communication process and, to be successful,is an active process.  In other words, you must be an active participant in this communication process.  In active listening, meaning and evaluation of a message must take place before a listener can respond to a speaker.   Therefore, the listener is actively working while the speaker is talking.
How can this happen? It is simple.   Our thought speed is much faster than our speech speed.  But becareful!   Don't allow the thought speed to race into daydreaming.  This habit will defeat your attempt to become an active listener.
http://www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/LeaderLetter/listening.htm
http://www.elmhurst.edu/library/learningcenter/Listening/what_is_active_listening.htm

HOW IS LISTENING TAUGHT?
Listening skills are tied to speaking and pronunciation skills.  Most likely if astudent can correctly pronounce something and speak it in a natural and common way, she will understand it when she hears it spoken.
When/if you have the opportunity to teach pronunciation and listening together, you will see many similarities in the content that you are covering.  Ideally, the two areas should be taught together.
Once again, you will be teaching students about reductions,linking, stress and rhythm in natural speech.  But you will also, as in teaching reading, be teaching students to listen for main ideas and details.  Like pre-reading, you also set the stage with pre-listening activities to set the context for listening.
Teaching listening skills is rewarding as students can often make good gains rather quickly if taught with proper instruction.
Listening skills arevital for your learners. Of the 'four skills,' listening is by far the most frequently used. Listening and speaking are often taught together, but beginners, especially non-literate ones, should be given more listening than speaking practice. It's important to speak as close to natural speed as possible, although with beginners some slowing is usually necessary. Without reducing your speakingspeed, you can make your language easier to comprehend by simplifying your vocabulary, using shorter sentences, and increasing the number and length of pauses in your speech.
There are many types of listening activities. Those that don't require learners to produce language in response are easier than those that do. Learners can be asked to physically respond to a command (for example, "please openthe door"), select an appropriate picture or object, circle the correct letter or word on a worksheet, draw a route on a map, or fill in a chart as they listen. It's more difficult to repeat back what was heard, translate into the native language, take notes, make an outline, or answer comprehension questions. To add more challenge, learners can continue a story text, solve a problem, perform asimilar task with a classmate after listening to a model (for example, order a cake from a bakery), or participate in real-time conversation.
Good listening lessons go beyond the listening task itself with related activities before and after the listening. Here is the basic structure:
* Before Listening
Prepare your learners by introducing the topic and finding out what they already know about...