Abstract:
An understanding attitude of the Counselor is communicated to the Client through verbal, para-verbal, and non-verbal communication, which helps in information gathering in the counseling encounter. When the client perceives that the counselor listens to and responds appropriately, it makes the client open up deeply because he feels understood, free, and thus wants to talk more. The focus of this paper is to sensitize counselors to be aware of the need to listen in order to discover, understand, interpret, and respond appropriately to the client's message using verbal, non-verbal, vocal, auditory, or para-verbal communication.
An experimental study design of pre-test and post-test was used to collect data from diploma two students studying different courses at the Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. From a population of 1175 students in the 2013/2014 academic session, a sample size of 30 students was randomly selected to take part in the study. An instrument titled "Couples Communication Skills" on Improving Listening communication was administered as a pre-test and post-test to the students on the first and last week of the experiment. A four-point Likert scale was used for rating the responses by the respondents. A t-test technique was used to analyze the data collected.
The result of the study revealed that the participants had learned about non-verbal, para-verbal, and vocal auditory communication components, which helps in listening to and understanding client's messages, thereby responding appropriately. Recommendations were outlined that will help counselors listen, discover, interpret, and understand client messages during counseling interactions.
