Listening Skills

Listening Skills	1

Que-1: Define the term “Listening”. Explain various types of Listening.

OR

Que-1: What is the difference between “Listening” and “Hearing”?

“God gives us two ears but only one mouth because listening is twice as hard as talking."

Listening is a process of receiving, interpreting and reacting to the messages received from the communication sender. Effective listening is an art of communication, which is often taken for granted and ignored. In other words, Listening is the ability to understand the encoded message. Listening requires conscious efforts of interpreting the sounds, grasping the meanings of the words and reacting to the message. No communication process is complete without listening

Hearing and listening are not the same People may often use these words

Interchangeably. In fact, hearing solely depends on the ears, it is a physical act. Everyone can hear without deliberate effort. The hearing is merely a vibration of sounds on the eardrum followed by electrochemical response On the other hand listening requires voluntary attention and then making sense of what is being said.

In a biology class teacher asked the students to refer to a book titled “Origin of Species” One of the students sincerely went to library searched through the catalog of the library, looking for a book named “Orange and Peaches” but to his utter dismay, he could not find it. When he approached the teacher he found that the book was entitled Origin of Species. This is what happens when there is lack of concentration in listening 

  

TYPES OF LISTENING

Different situation requires different types of listening. We may listen to obtain information, improve a relationship, gain an appreciation for something, make discriminations or engage in a critical evaluation. Listening can be categorized mainly into the following types.

[1]   Discriminative listening :

As the name itself suggests, discriminative listening is the most basic type of listening, whereby the difference between the sounds is identified. If you cannot hear differences, then you cannot grasp the meaning that is expressed by such differences. By being sensitive to changes in the speaker’s tone, volume, force, pitch and emphasis, the informative listener can detect even minute and minor meaning of difference in meaning.

[2]  Comprehensive listening :

When the listener comprehends the message in order to understand the full meaning, it falls into the category of comprehensive or evaluative listening. This type of listening results into the selection of the needed information out of the total information. Students should involve themselves in this type of listening. Comprehension listening is also known as content listening, informative listening, and full listening. There are two other types of listening which are similar to Comprehensive listening.

(A)  Evaluative / Critical listening:

Evaluative listening is also called “critical listening‟ because we make judgments about what the other person is saying. We seek to assess the truth of what is being said, we also judge what they say about our values, assessing them as good or bad, worthy or unworthy.

(B) Biased listening

Biased listening happens when the person hears only what they want to hear, typically misinterpreting what the other person says based on the stereotypes and other biases that they have. Such biased listening is often very evaluative in nature.

[3]   Superficial/Casual Listening :

When the listener pays no attention to the content of the message, it becomes superficial listening. The uninterested listener can concentrate on the theme of the conveyed message.

[4]  Appreciative Listening :

When the listener listens to something for enjoyment and pleasure such as songs, jokes, anecdotes, stories, it becomes appreciative listening.

[5]  Focused Listening :

When the listener listens to something in the form of information, it becomes focused listening as the listener pays full attention to the content. Railway announcement, Reading of notices in school and college are examples of focused listening

[6]  Attentive Listening :

In this type of listening, the listener's complete attention is must especially in situations such as interview, meeting, group discussion etc. Here the listener is expected to pay attention to not only central idea but also on supporting examples and illustrations.

[7]   Empathetic Listening and  Sympathetic Listening

This type of listening leads the listener not only to understand the physical message but also to peep into the listener’s state of mind, feelings and emotions. Here the listener has to understand the speaker's implied meaning and intention. Psychiatrists listening to their patients fall into the category of empathetic listening. In sympathetic listening, we care about the other person and show this concern in the way we pay close attention and express our sorrow for their ills and happiness at their joys.

[8]  Therapeutic listening :

In therapeutic listening, the listener has a purpose of not only empathizing with the speaker but also to use this deep connection in order to help the speaker understand, change or develop in some way.

[9]   Dialogic listening :

The word “dialogue‟ stems from the Greek words “dia‟, meaning “through‟ and “logos‟ meaning “words‟. Thus dialogic listening means learning through conversation. Dialogic listening is also known as “relational listening‟ because with the help of exchange of ideas while listening, we also indirectly create a relation.

[10]  Relationship listening :

Sometimes the most important factor in listening is in order to develop or sustain a relationship. This is why lovers talk for hours and attend closely to what each other has to say when the same words from someone else would seem to be rather boring. Relationship listening is also important in areas such as negotiation and sales, where it is helpful if the other person likes you and trusts you.

Apart from these types, there are two basic types of listening. All these types directly /indirectly fall into this category. (a) Active Listening (b) Passive Listening. Active listening is reacting or doing something that demonstrates you are listening and have understood. In Active listening, Giving non-verbal cues to demonstrate you are paying attention (nodding, making eye contact, making facial expressions appropriate to what is being said) is the main part. A listener encourages the speaker to talk about the topic. Passive Listening is listening without reacting or any interest or any involvement. Passive listener expresses boredom on his face.

Que-2: Differentiate between “Active Listening” and “Passive Listening”.

It has been calculated that most people speak anywhere between 100 and 175 words per minute. We are capable of listening, however, to nearly three hundred words per minute. Listening is anything but basically a passive, neural activity. But many active processes are taking place within the listener so we can say that Listening is not a passive activity

	Active Listening				Passive Listening
(i) It is the process of converting an idea or				(i) It is the process of just absorbing the
thought into a message  with the complete				message without any involvement.
involvement.
(ii)  Listener encourages the speaker to				(ii) The listener discourages the speaker by
express his ideas enthusiastically by showing				expressing boredom on his face.
interest in the speech.
(iii) It is a two-way process where listener				(iii) It is a	one-way process where the
plays an active role.				listener plays no role.
(iv)  Active	listener	never	neglects  the	(iv) Passive listener has nothing to do with
physical aspects of the speaker such as
				these physical aspects as he wants to bring
appearance,	expressions,		and bodily	out no meaning from the spoken words.
movements as they are very helpful to
convey meaning to spoken words.
(v) To encourage the speaker active listener				(v) Passive listener also responds non-
responds non-verbally by rolling eyes,				verbally by yawning and showing boredom
changing facial expressions,			showing a smile	on face and discourages the speaker.
and in this way shows		his keenness to listen.
				(vi)   No   scope   for   listener-speaker
(vi) Active listening leads to effective and				relationship and in fact, the speaker wants to
sound listener-speaker relationship.				avoid such listeners.
(vii) Active listener shows his thirst for				(vii) Passive listener wants the speaker to
knowledge  and  information  by  asking				to conclude as early as possible and thus no
relevant questions frequently				chance  of  building  up  rapport  between
				them.

  

Advantages of Active Listening :

Active listening gives positive results. It allows the speaker to improve communication because one side is aware of other’s viewpoint. Speaker tries to give his best presentation. It helps in acquiring useful information.

                    Que-3: Explain Empathetic listening in detail.

`Empathetic' is an adjective of empathy which means an ability to imagine and share another person's feelings, experience, problems etc. These feelings are nothing but a state of mind and one can be an empathetic listener only when he/she listens to someone very actively. This type of listening leads the listener not only to understand the message in the physical form but also to peep into the listener's state of mind, feelings, and emotions. Here the listener has to understand the speaker's implied meaning and intention. Psychiatrists' listening to their patients falls into the category of empathetic listening. Empathetic listening is paying attention to another person with empathy. [Emotional identification of compassion, feeling, insight]. An excellent technique to help one do this is called “active listening‟. Another technique is to ask how the person feels about the situation or perhaps feels. Empathy is not sympathy. Sympathy means “feeling for someone‟, empathy is “feeling as someone.” The most important issue about empathetic listening in a classroom setting is when to use it. The general rule is that teachers have a right to teach and students have a right to learn. When the teacher and student can engage in a dialogue that does not violate their individual rights or the rights of others, then empathy is certainly appropriate. However when either a student or another person is attempting to engage in a dialogue that is disruptive and violates the rights of the teacher and or/students, then the teacher needs to be assertive and bring the class back to order.

  

Important Elements/ Guideline of Empathetic Listening

·    Build the trust

·    Be attentive while listening

·    Do not hurt the speaker’s feeling.

·    Allow disputants to express their emotions

·    Reduce tension

·    Provide problem solving environment

·    Understand emotion and feeling of speaker

·    Show interest in listening

·    Use body language while listening

·    Use words like “I understand you‟ or “I see‟

·    Do not interrupt/interrogate/teach/give advice/rehearse n your own head.

·    Use open-ended question

·    Be sensitive to emotions

Que-4: Explain traits of Good Listener  OR

Que-4: Explain techniques/tips to improve good listening.

Being non-evaluative:

·    If you are an active listener your verbal and non-verbal behavior should suggest the speaker that he is being properly heard and understood. It should not indicate what you think about a person. The purpose is to communicate overlooking the qualities of the speaker. The behavior of the listener should convey the impression that you accept the person without making a judgment of right or wrong, good or bad, suitable or unsuitable.

Paraphrasing (summarize)

·    If you wish to clarify the point, you can simply summarize what the speaker has said and enquire the speaker whether you have heard it accurately or not.

 reflecting Implications (suggestions)

In order to per sue the speaker ( to motivate the speaker) to extend his ideas, the listener has to reflect eagerness and willingness to learn more by using expressions like nodding or through verbal means, thereby giving positive feedback. This technique can be used by the listener to get more information from the speaker in the area of interest of the listener. i.e. to divert the speaker from his main topic.

Reflecting Hidden Feelings

Sometimes the listener has to go beyond the general feeling and contents of what is being said to unravel the underlying feeling, intentions, beliefs that may influence the speaker’s words.This would make the speaker evaluated. Acceptance is conveyed more by listener’s manner and tone than by the words.

Inviting Further Contribution

In a situation, where the listener hasn’t heard or understood enough. The listener can respond with empathy and understanding, prompt the speaker to give more information. The idea here is to get a better understanding of the subject by asking questions. But the questions should be for seeking information not to interrogate or challenge the speaker

Responding Non-Verbally

The listener can portray his image as that of an active listener by adopting certain postures, and by sending the non-verbal signal which communicates the listener's interest in what the speaker is saying. This may include eye contact, leaning forward towards the listener, head nodding. The listener can also use some receptive utterances like “yes‟, “un-hum‟ to indicate that message of the speaker is being understood.

Motivate yourself to listen

Listeners should motivate their mind to listen to the speaker carefully. They should prepare themselves to listen to others willingly. Listening cannot be forced or imposed on the person. The individual should know the value and importance of listening.

Respect the speaker

Listeners should have respect for the speaker. They should not underestimate the speaker’s ideas and thoughts. Even if, the listener disagrees with some of the ideas of the speaker, they should show their disagreement positively

Remove Horn effect

Do not underestimate a person because he has a couple of flaws in his behavior. Many people are like rough diamonds. They need to be understood carefully. The speaker ideas can be rejected or doubted by the listeners. However, the listener should not insult or dislike the speaker.

Positive body language

The listener should maintain positive body language like nodding head, leaning forward; maintain erect postures, during communication. Moreover, the listener should not create any type of distractions by using unnecessary body language. Many listeners revolve pen, notebook, or any other object in their hand.

Do not Interrupt

Listeners should not interrupt the speaker unnecessarily. Many listeners have a tendency to make remarks or comments during the speech. Moreover, many listeners repeat the words and expression of the speaker loudly

Improve your listening span

Listeners should get training for enhancing their span of active listening. Many a time, we have to listen to speeches or lectures for the long duration.

Speaker’s use of appropriate body language

Speaker should use positive body language. Otherwise, Listeners will be observing these body movements and thereby neglect ideas and expressions of the speaker.

  

Voice modulation

The speaker should modulate his voice and use different tones while speaking. It creates an interesting atmosphere in the audience and they pay more attention to the speaker. It creates an environment for effective listening

Use Simple style

Speaker should use simple expressions that can be understood easily by the listeners. The speaker should keep one thing in mind that he should speak to “express‟ and not impress. Use of heavy technical words, may distract the listener and affect the process of listening.

Listening should be taught as a skill

The art of listening should be given importance in school and college curriculum. The skill should be taught to students just like, speaking, reading and writing skills. There should be sufficient practice and opportunity to enhance their listening ability.

Que-5: Explain benefits of effective listening.

Effective listening at all level is very important for the successful running of an organization. Good listening skills make workers more productive. The ability to listen carefully will allow you to:

• Better understand assignments and what is expected of you.

• Build rapport with co-workers, bosses, and clients.

• Show support.

• Work better in a team-based environment.

• Resolve problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses.

• Answer questions, and find underlying meanings in what others say.

Effective listening helps controlling rumors which helps in preventing damage to the reputation of the organization. Effective listening will improve the working condition and nurture harmony and unity among the workers and colleagues. 

Que-6: Explain Barriers to Effective Listening.

•  Environmental Condition :

Environmental condition like humidity, temperature, and atmosphere limits the listener’s span of listening. The cloudy atmosphere may cause the listener to sleep.

The distance between the speaker and the listener may affect the listening process if there is a lot of distance. If the speaker is speaking from the long distance, the listener may struggle to grasp what the speaker is speaking. Some of the words may be misunderstood by the listener.

•  The omniscient attitude of the listener :

Many people considered themselves “know-it-all‟ men.They think that they have perfect knowledge of everything in the world. According to them listening to others is a pure waste of time. They are not listening to the speakers because they think that they already know what speaker is going to say.

• Infrastructure:

Poor Infrastructure may affect the listening process. Lack of proper ventilation, light, acoustics can act as a barrier o listening

• The speed of the speaker :

The speed of the speaker can act as a barrier to listening. If the speaker is speaking too speedily, the listeners have no other alternative left than watching speaker. The Human brain receives sounds at the specific speed. If this speed is not maintained properly, the listener’s may get distracted.

  

•  Speakers' Non-verbal communication :

Speaker’s no use of facial expression, gestures, body language, eye contact and other factors can create barriers to listening. If the speaker relies only on verbal expressions, the listener will be tired of the constant bombardment of words and verbal expressions.

•  Voice and tone of the speaker :

The listener will feel bored and fade up to listen to monotones speech. If the speaker’s voice is not audible, the listener may not listen to it attentively. On the contrary, many speakers maintain a monotonous tone which irritates the listener.

•  Lack of Factual Information :

Many times listener does not listen attentively and carefully because he does not find any factual information in the speech.

•  The language of the speaker :

If the speaker is using high technical jargon and difficult words, the listener will be clueless about the meaning of those words. They will try to find meaning in those words instead of listening to the speaker.

• Horn Effect in the Listener :

The horn effect is the tendency of underestimating a person as bad in all the fields because he is bad in one of the fields. The listener rejects and nullifies the speaker’s chance to speak for more amount of time because listener dislikes the speaker.