Listening Skills

The average college student spends about 14 hours per week in class listening (or perhaps I should say "hearing"--there is a difference!) to lectures. See if you can improve your listening skills by following some of the strategies below: Maintain eye contact with the instructor. Of course you will need to look at your notebook to write your notes, but eye contact keeps you focused on the job at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture. Focus on content, not delivery. Have you ever counted the number of times a teacher clears his/her throat in a fifteen minute period? If so, you weren't focusing on content. Avoid emotional involvement. When you are too emotionally involved in listening, you tend to hear what you want to hear--not what is actually being said. Try to remain objective and open-minded. Avoid distractions. Don't let your mind wander or be distracted by the person shuffling papers near you. If the classroom is too hot or too cold try to remedy that situation if you can. The solution may require that you dress more appropriately to the room temperature. Treat listening as a challenging mental task. Listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act--at least it shouldn't be. You need to concentrate on what is said so that you can process the information into your notes. Stay active by asking mental questions. Active listening keeps you on your toes. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you listen. What key point is the professor making? How does this fit with what I know from previous lectures? How is this lecture organized?

Tips for being a good listener

Give your full attention on the person who is speaking. Don't look out the window or at what else is going on in the room. Make sure your mind is focused, too. It can be easy to let your mind wander if you think you know what the person is going to say next, but you might be wrong! If you feel your mind wandering, change the position of your body and try to concentrate on the speaker's words. Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk. Speakers appreciate having the chance to say everything they would like to say without being interrupted. When you interrupt, it looks like you aren't listening, even if you really are. Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak! You can't really listen if you are busy thinking about what you want say next. Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are the most important points the speaker wants to get across. They may be mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and

repeated a number of times. Pay special attention to statements that begin with phrases such as "My point is..." or "The thing to remember is..." Ask questions. If you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said, just ask. It is a good idea to repeat in your own words what the speaker said so that you can be sure your understanding is correct. For example, you might say, "When you said that no two zebras are alike, did you mean that the stripes are different on each one?" Give feedback. Sit up straight and look directly at the speaker. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. At appropriate points you may also smile, frown, laugh, or be silent. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your face as well as your ears!

How to Listen Well

The following tips will help you listen well. Doing these things will also demonstrate to the speaker that you are paying attention. While you may in fact be able to listen while looking down at the floor, doing so may imply that you are not.

maintain eye contact; don't interrupt the speaker; sit still; nod your head; lean toward the speaker; repeat instructions and ask appropriate questions when the speaker has finished.

A good listener knows that being attentive to what the speaker doesn't say is as important as being attentive to what he does say. Look for non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and posture to get the full gist of what the speaker is telling you. While the ideas are largely intuitive, it might take some practice to develop (or re-develop) the skills. Heres what good listeners know and you should, too: 1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language. 2. Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all remain comfortable. 3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the TV. Put down your book or magazine, and ask the speaker and other listeners to do the same. 4. Respond appropriately to show that you understand. Murmur (uh-huh and umhmm) and nod. Raise your eyebrows. Say words such as Really, Interesting, as well as more direct prompts: What did you do then? and What did she say? 5. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point.

6. Minimize internal distractions. If your own thoughts keep horning in, simply let them go and continuously re-focus your attention on the speaker, much as you would during meditation. 7. Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree. Try not to make assumptions about what the speaker is thinking. 8. Avoid letting the speaker know how you handled a similar situation. Unless they specifically ask for advice, assume they just need to talk it out. 9. Even if the speaker is launching a complaint against you, wait until they finish to defend yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had been made. They wont feel the need to repeat it, and youll know the whole argument before you respond. Research shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than we can talk, so we have the ability to sort ideas as they come inand be ready for more. 10. Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but, once again, wait until the speaker has finished. That way, you wont interrupt their train of thought. After you ask questions, paraphrase their point to make sure you didnt misunderstand. Start with: So youre saying

Types of Listening Skills

The listening becomes better when one takes conscious efforts to improve his/her listening skills. Both verbal and non verbal communication skills play equal role when it comes to effective listening skills. The listening especially important for public speakers, corporate trainers and managers. 1. Judgmental 2. Active and passive 3. Detective 4. Empathetic 5. Selective 6. Pseudo 7. Inactive 8. Defensive 9. Evaluative 10. Reflective 11. Sympathetic

Judgmental listening
During judgmental listening Opinions and critics are made on the counter part rather than concentrating on the issue. Example of judgmental listening is when a person says, "I was hurt" and the other person thinks, "You deserve it". One of the traits of Good listening skills is to have a neutral attitude and outlook towards the issue.

Active listening is one of the Most Effective Listening Techniques

Listening to feeling, emotions, beliefs, attitude, and action "non verbal cues is active listening. Active listening involves both heart and brain. Active listeners encourage the other person to talk, show keen interest to understand and identify the issue.

Detective Listening Techniques

This type of listeners listen to get hidden information and details. Detective listening usually happens when the listener suspects a lie or dishonesty from the counter part. Imagine a situation where a manager, who sanctioned a sick leave to his subordinate, spots him in the supermarket. The next day, the manager would listen to the subordinate's excuses of being sick in a detective listening manner. To catch the lie about being sick yesterday. The conversation goes something like this:

Empathetic Listening is Similar to Active Listening

In a conversation, the person puts himself/herself in the place of other person is empathetic listening. Common phrase used during empathetic listening include, "I understand", "I know how you feel", and "How can I help you". Empathetic listening is one the most effective listening skills, which is prominent among successful sales professionals, corporate trainers, and winning leaders and managers.

Selective Listening
Only a part of information is absorbed during selective listening. This could be due to various reasons such as noisy place, to many interruptions like phone calls, or low volume by the speaker, or disinterest from the listener. However, selective listening, sometimes, is also effective. For instance, when a manager is blasting, the subordinate selectively listen the issue rather than focusing on the harsh words.

Psuedolistening
Listeners of this type seem to be listening but they are not. Nodding head, looking interested, or uttering words such as ahn..ok.. are some verbal cues that are contradicting to the fact that they are actually thinking about something else rather than listening.

Inactive or Passive Listening is Hearing

The information just goes to one ear and comes out from another with entering the brain or heart. Passive listeners may not be listening at all.

Defensive listening styles should be avoided often

Anything said is taken personally by the defensive listener. One of the examples of defensive listening is when a manager asks, "Why the task is incomplete", a defensive listener would say, "It is not my fault". Though the manager was talking about the task, the

subordinate took it personally. Often, defensive listening should be consciously avoided. A good listener would listen to issues rather than taking things personally.

Evaluative Listening
Analyzing the issue, getting deep in the challenge to understand and to find the solution are some of the characteristics of evaluative listening. Though critics are made to see whether the issue is good or bad, right or wrong, finding the solution is the focus during evaluative listening.

Reflective listening
Reflective listeners are waiting for the other person to stop talking so that the listeners can proceed talking. In fact, sometimes they are not actually listening but mentally preparing the content and waiting for an opportunity, such as a pause from the other person, to continue with their issues. Sypathetic is helpless listening

Common Listening Problems

Thinking of something else: preoccupied, tuning out, daydreaming Non verbal: distractions, poor eye contact, face, posture, space, fidgeting Interruptions Finishing sentences Changing the subject Anxious to rebut arguments Jump to conclusions Dismiss the information Prefer to talk rather than listen We are in a hurry The information is irrelevant, uninteresting, or too technical They talk too slowWe think too fast

Speaking Skill

Oral communication is most interactive form of communication. Its importance in business and normal daily life of a person is obvious. Speaking and Listening are two essentials of oral communication. Speaking and listening are not taught in school as everyone believe that its not something that should be taught in school. But speaking and listening are very much demanding and skills to improve them should be learned if you want to become successful in your competitive business world. Through out each day, in business and personal life we orally communicate with customers, colleagues, supervisors, employers and others. These handouts teach you strategies that make you effective in oral communication:

First, Improving oral presentation Second, reducing performance anxiety and stagefright Third, effective listing

To become successful orator you must strictly follow the above strategies. Lets Understand all these one by one. Improving oral presentation: Through out your career in business world, you will give various kinds of oral presentations which will rate your success and create your image for others. Your performance will be measured with words. I outline few tips;

Prepare effective oral message Learn about various types of Oral presentations Learn strategies to deliver oral message Use non-verbal communication skills.

Reducing performance anxiety and stage fright: Many surveys revealed that speaking before people and large audience is most fearful thing for many people. In such situations you automatically get anxious and unable to reduce panic or you can not give expression of ease. Giving expression of ease is also a difficult for new oral communicator. Such situations demands experience and skills. You need strategy to deal with such situations. Discomforts during oral communication are universal. Your heartbeat rate increases, blood pressure and body temperature rise, mouth goes dry, trembling voice are all signs of discomfort. Take measures to deal with such panics. Remove all fears that are attached while speaking to big audience, be confident on what you say, what you know others may not know. It is common for someone experiencing speech anxiety to have physical reaction before, during, and after a speech. Public speaking, from the mere possibility all the way through the speech itself, can trigger one or all of the following reactions:

increased breathing flushing dry mouth excessive perspiration rapid heartbeat trembling upset stomach dizziness voice fluctuation excessive nervous energy

Steps to reduce stagefright are;

Prepare your subject matter well. Practice/rehearse your talks minimum 3 times. Check your equipments in advance Keep a pen and small notebook with you. Take slow and deep breathes before you start speaking and create sense of ease within you. Take some movements during your speech which release pressure and tension.

Effective Listening: Listening is overlooked aspect of oral communication. Good listening skills offer great advantages and help greatly while you speak. Guidelines for effective listening;

Show positive attitude to the listener. If you have to do, do with positive attitude is the centerpiece of life Listen to understand the point of view of others. Always repect the other viewpoint. Focus attention and concentrate on content. Do not interrupt others before they complete their statement. 2 to 3 minutes is sufficient time for a person to talk during debate. Give useful signals while you listen and encourage audience to speak by asking questions.

Five strategies for delivering effective presentations

However if youve noticed that when you speak to clients they not only look at their watches but shake them during one of your presentations, its time to consider the following strategies for delivering effective presentations and engage their hearts and minds.

1. Consider your listener

Frame the presentation as though you were the one sitting in the audience. Effective presentations should be targeted to meet the specific needs, wants and emotions of your

audience. You risk losing their interest and focus after just two minutes if there is no relevance to their financial, emotional or physical well-being.

2. Ensure your audience knows what's in it for them

By all means, use your experiences to frame the presentation but whatever your expertise your audience need to get W.I.I.F.M. whats in it for me. And if the answer is not much, you may as well pack up and leave before you bore them to snores.

3. Begin with the end in mind

Let them know what to expect, how they can use the information and the direct benefits to them. People buy benefits and outcomes, not promises and generalities that bear no relevance to their lives. So begin with the end in mind and tailor your presentations to the needs of the audience or customer you are speaking to. Now your content is prepared you can look more closely at your delivery.

4. Speak as if to one individual

Deliver your speech as though each person was the only one in the room and you were speaking directly to them. Make the presentation personal and consistent with why they have come to listen to you in the first place. If you are an expert in the topic give them assurance that by the time they will leave the presentation they will have a greater understanding and knowledge and will be able to apply the information given.

5.Practise your presentation style

Be aware that your delivery will utilise three different styles namely audio, visual and kinesthetic (hands-on). How do you move between them? To know for sure, it pays to practise. One method is to organise a video recorder and tape your prepared presentation. Then show it to your partner, children and/ or trusted friends. Ask for their honest and constructive comments about style and delivery. Before one begins to think about delivering a speech, one must determine why he or she is giving the speech. Speeches serve a variety of purposes. The immediate audience helps determine the purposes of a speech. People assemble for a speech because they expect to hear or learn something they did not already know. A speaker must satisfy these expectations. Establishing one's purpose in giving a speech demands explicit attention. It is not enough to believe that the speech is expected or that speaking is somehow a routine act. Such assumptions will quickly be discerned by an audience; and if the audience suspects that the

speaker is there unwillingly or unenthusiastically, such an audience will be far less receptive. If a speaker does not have a clear reason to give the speech, then the speech should not be given.

Reading skills
You are expected to do much more reading at university than at school or college; it's not called reading for a degree' for nothing. Here are five tips to help you improve your reading: 1. Styles of reading 2. Active reading 3. A tip for speeding up your active reading 4. Spotting authors' navigation aids 5. Words and vocabulary

1. Styles of reading
There are three styles of reading which we use in different situations:

Scanning: for a specific focus

The technique you use when you're looking up a name in the phone book: you move your eye quickly over the page to find particular words or phrases that are relevant to the task you're doing. It's useful to scan parts of texts to see if they're going to be useful to you:

the introduction or preface of a book the first or last paragraphs of chapters the concluding chapter of a book.

Skimming: for getting the gist of something

The technique you use when you're going through a newspaper or magazine: you read quickly to get the main points, and skip over the detail. It's useful to skim:

to preview a passage before you read it in detail to refresh your understand of a passage after you've read it in detail.

Use skimming when you're trying to decide if a book in the library or bookshop is right for you.

Detailed reading: for extracting information accurately

Where you read every word, and work to learn from the text. In this careful reading, you may find it helpful to skim first, to get a general idea, but then go back to read in detail. Use a dictionary to make sure you understand all the words used.

2. Active reading
When you're reading for your course, you need to make sure you're actively involved with the text. It's a waste of your time to just passively read, the way you'd read a thriller on holiday. Always make notes to keep up your concentration and understanding. Here are four tips for active reading.

Underlining and highlighting

Pick out what you think are the most important parts of what you are reading. Do this with your own copy of texts or on photocopies, not with borrowed books. If you are a visual learner, you'll find it helpful to use different colours to highlight different aspects of what you're reading.

Here are four different kinds of reading.

Skimming - running the eyes over quickly, to get the gist Scanning - looking for a particular piece of information Extensive reading - longer texts for pleasure and needing global understanding Intensive reading - shorter texts, extracting specific information, accurate reading for detail.

Intensive and Extensive Reading Together

It is common for both approaches to reading to be used in the same class. For example, where extensive reading is encouraged, the teacher may have all the students read the same text so they can discuss the topic together or learn a specific skill such as as writing an outline. In a class where intensive reading is mostly used, students may be asked to read texts of their own choosing to report back on, in either an oral or written format.

Skimming and Scanning Together

Skimming and scanning are sometimes referred to as types of reading and at other times, as skills.

Skimming involves a thorough overview of a text and implies a reading competence. Scanning is more a limited activity, only retrieving information relevant to a purpose.