While poor explanation is a likely culprit in many cases, I think there is something more to this.
I think a lot people (especially males, could be linked with men lower performance in education) subconsciously don't want to listen.
This happens a lot to me, people ignore my warnings and believe giving me some long explanation will be helpful just for me to flat out ignore them and read the source material.
This happens a lot to me. People ignore my warnings. They believe that giving me a long explanation will be helpful. However, I just ignore what they say, and then I go read the source material.
When someone explains something to me, and I go blank, what I have gotten in the habit of doing is to just produce what I think they want without worrying much at all if I have it correct, and then ask them to point at the first thing wrong with it.
Typically, with a report, I just say "give me one example, one row, that isn't right".
Once I have the boundary of my understanding pinpointed, it's fairly easy to infer a lot of complex details about what they want that are hard for them to articulate and for me to understand when described.
This may not be ideal, but it's more practical for me to build my own mental model with help than try to translate someone else's.
Source material, I dunno. It tends not to be up to date or relevant and I don't know where to focus.
I think a lot people (especially males, could be linked with men lower performance in education) subconsciously don't want to listen.
This happens a lot to me, people ignore my warnings and believe giving me some long explanation will be helpful just for me to flat out ignore them and read the source material.