"I Have Two Ears and One Mouth": Interpretations of Five Elementary Teachers' Listening Conceptions

• In Event: Teacher as Listener: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives on the Roles of Teacher-Listening in Supporting Democratic Learning Environments

Abstract

1. Objectives/Purposes: The absence of careful attention to the multifaceted dimensions of listening is a notable gap in current extant research related to classroom discussion (Parker, 2010). My research study investigates five elementary teachers’ conceptions of listening positioned across a complex and diverse state of classroom dialogue. I extend previous research and underscore that robust listening requires courage, deep commitment, and even detachment from oneself that involves a highly sophisticated set of cognitive skills and moral development (Beatty, 1999; Garrison, 1996).

2. Theoretical Framework: As a theoretical lens, I synthesized writing from various fields and categorized listening into two broad domains: thin and thick listening. Thin listening, widely conceptualized and practiced in schools, is further characterized as obedient and attentive listening. Deeper notions of thick listening fall into the subcategories of democratic, relational, and pedagogical listening. Educational philosopher, Lisbeth Lipari, frames thick listening in dire state of seeking a better society: “…what are the social, political, and cultural implications of our failure to listen for the other—that is, listening without stealing our interlocutor’s possibilities and horizons of meaning?” (2014, p. 203).
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3/4. Methods/Modes of Inquiry and Data Sources: My study sought to transfer listening’s state from its chiefly philosophical dimensions to a form that is observed, discussed, studied, and reinterpreted from many angles, while still preserving its conceptual core. Hermeneutic phenomenology was the research methodology guiding the methods and interpretative analyses undertaken in this study. Applying principles from phenomenologist Max van Manen, I interviewed 5 elementary teachers and framed interview questions for teachers to reflect on the nature of listening in their classroom and everyday experiences. I read and listened to the interview transcripts and recordings numerous times with openness and wonder.

5. Results: My research on classroom discussion and the experiences shared by teachers revealed a wide range of listening conceptions along a continuum of thin to thick. Findings revealed elementary teachers conceptualized listening under thicker terms when engaging in reflective analysis, although thin listening ideas remained present at times in their thinking about students, the classroom, and dialogue. This study arranged thick listening findings into four broad themes: a) listening to specific students activating new ideas about listening, b) the dynamic relationship between listening and being listened to, c) the connection between speaking, thinking, and listening (interlistening) (Lipari, 2014), and d) disturbed listening notions. The thickest conception of listening in dialogue validates what is possible when an inquisitive spirit, open mind, and reflective awareness to listening’s dimensions are embodied in teaching.

6. Scholarly Significance: My phenomenological inquiry has promise and possibilities for research extending from the conceptual analysis embodied in my work. The conceptions teachers disclosed are significant to elementary educators, researchers in social studies teacher education, and educational philosophers because thin notions of listening often prevail in practice and go unchallenged, thus rendering an unbalanced and incomplete view of classroom dialogue and how it contributes to democratic learning.

Author

• Brad Siegel, Northern Highlands Regional High School