Active listening and radical listening

Overview

Is it seen as the highest and most effective form of listening.  The reason why active listening is key in mentoring relationships is that by actively trying to understand the speaker’s perspectives and point of view, the listener can help identify hidden assumptions the speaker may have. Then by asking questions, or pointing out such assumptions the mentor can help the mentee develop and understand themselves better.  An extension of active listening which is key in intercultural conversation is the skill of radical listening, which also requires the speaker to remove their own personal biases and filters.

Theoretical perspectives

Listening is more than just the physical process of hearing. It is a deeply intellectual and emotional process that requires the listener to be present, engaged and responsive to the speaker (Jones & Pfieffe, 1998).  First described by Rogers in his discussions of what are necessary and sufficient conditions in facilitating change in counselling practice (1957), an active listener is characterised by complete attention to the listener; paying attention to what they are saying, while showing interest and not interrupting (Weger, Castle, & Emmett, 2010).  The listener is not only interested in the surface level of the words, but rather listens for content and intent of the speaker, while paying close attention to their emotional state.   An active listener will show their interest and attention through verbal and non-verbal cues, such as questions and back-channelling (noise, gesture, or words to indicate listening, e.g. ‘uh-huh’,‘hmm’ or nodding; Bravelas, Coates, & Johnson, 2000).  Jahromi et al. (2016) identified three principal factors of active listening when they reviewed the literature; listening attitude, listening skill, and conversation opportunity.  Active listening, therefore, requires both the time (it is hard to listen well in a hurried conversation), as well as the focus of the listener.  The listener can be conscious of their attitude (e.g., choose to listen for intent and withhold judgement), and they can train their skills.  There are many skills that a practised active listener uses, such as appropriate body movement (align your body with the speaker, and match the energy and speed of movement with the speaker), facial expressions, eye contact, minimum verbal encouragement, being attentive in silence, while reflecting back feelings and content through questions and meaningful summarisation of the speaker’s words and their purpose (Robertson, 2005). The mentoring relationship is a key space for using active listening.  Furthermore, by being conscious and purposeful about when and where conversations are held, the interactions between a mentor and their mentee provides the conversational opportunity.  However, it should be clear that it is not a given that conversations between mentor and mentee automatically creates a space where the both mentor and mentee feels comfortable, open, and able to listen; rather it is something that should be fostered and created by developing the relationship and by choosing appropriate time and places for conversations.

Radical Listening

An extension of active listening is radical listening. Radical listening grew out of critical pedagogy and was first coined by Kincheloe (2008).  It holds within it a deeply held desire to understand the speaker’s standpoints and axiological positions (Tobin, 2009).  That is, when listening, the speaker must try to not only hear intent, but hear the underlying assumptions, life experiences and values. It repositions the listener as learner, as being a radical listener re-theorises teaching-learning spaces as multidimensional and heterogenous spaces with a possibility of transformation.  That is, even in cases where there is seemingly little to no shared experience or even a possible confrontation, the conversation is reframed as a field of listening and learning (Winchell et al, 2016), where both the speaker and listener try to learn about the other’s point of view and work together toward new understandings.  While radical listening might sound complex, it is an approach that people can choose to take to conversations by listening for intent and remaining non-judgemental and humble.  This will create a space where both people are learning and developing together. 

Context for mentoring African International Students

Active listening is a skill that is important in any mentoring relationship.  When we share a lot of experiences and perspectives with the people we are listening to, often our biases and ways of doing things will align quite closely with theirs.  This means in cases where we might not fully understand or listen, our best guesses will be quite accurate.  In contrast, when working with people who are different from us, such as African students who likely come from a different culture, and also likely from a different ethnicity, our biases and the things we take for granted are less likely to be productive, and in many cases hinder our interactions and relationships.  This is why active listening and in particular radical listening is important in intercultural work.  Radical listening is described as an antiracist act (AU, Antiracist Praxis, n.d., also see ‘Being antiracist’ LINK) , as it allows minorities to be fully heard.  When working with African International Students it is therefore key to be aware of our own biases and taken-for-granted assumptions.  When we understand these, we can more easily listen to mentees and see the ways we are influenced by our preconceptions to understand things a certain way.  Rather than understanding something through our own filters, we can then aspire to hear things within the context of the person who is speaking and who deserves to be heard.