Learn by Talking When speaking we organize cognitively what we know

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Learn by talking: We learn when we talk.

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You might think that you don’t learn when talking but learn when listening. It is not as simple as that.

When we have a conversation, we not only learn from others by listening to them but paradoxically, we learn from ourselves through the very act of talking. More often than not, we may learn more from talking than listening.

In these meetings individuals exchange their data, conclusions, reasoning and questions with others.

Although the cognitive benefits to the receiver of such an exchange are apparent, there is evidence that it is the speaker who makes the greatest cognitive gains from the exchange.

Individuals organize information differently if they are going to present it to others than if they are trying to understand it solely for their own use.

It is in the act of speaking that people tend to organize cognitively what they know.

Credit: David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson

Next time you are researching and writing an article, a blog post, a paper, or a book and struggling to pull your ideas together and coherently structure them, find or make an opportunity to have a series of conversations on the subject with different people to get feedback. Not only will you get feedback, but it will help you organize your thoughts.

Resources

• Blog Post: We Learn (When We Listen) When We Talk by Nancy Dixon
• Blog Post: We Learn When We Talk by Nancy Dixon

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