Listening Skills

The Steps of good listening are:

i. Listening
ii. Focusing
iii. Interpreting
iv. Understanding
v. Storing
Sender
(encode
r)

Messag
es

Feedbac
k

Channel

Receive
r
(decode
r)

Listening:
Listening has been defined as,
A complex and selective process of
receiving, focusing, interpreting, accepting and storing
whatever one hears.

How to make listening

effective ?
Good listening skills mean that the listener remain
attentive to whatever is going around him. Good listening
results in good feedback. Listening does not depend on
verbal expression of the speaker. We must try to
understand the gestures and paralanguage of the
speaker. It is important to keep certain points in mind if
we want to improve listening abilities.
God has given us two ears and one tongue, it means
that we have to listen more and speak less
- Leartius

Difference between hearing

and listening
Hearing
Hearing is just receiving a
sound.
Hearing is a physical act.

Listening
Listening is understanding
or interpreting that
particular voice or sound.
Listening process involves
your brain.

Hearing is done
automatically.

Listening is performed
intentionally.

Hearing requires no
response.

Listening demands for a

feedback.

Hearing is a passive
activity.

Listening is an active
process.

How to improve your

listening

A good listener must know the purpose of speech.

He should collect necessary information about the
speaker and the audience around him.
He should respond positively to the speaker.
He should not only hear but listen and understand.
The listener should respect the view point of the
speaker. He should pay attention to the speaker and
must avoid all the distractions around him.
The listener should concentrate on the idea of the
speaker.
He should curb the urge to speak in front of the
speaker until it is very important.
The listener must not unduly criticize the speaker.
The listener must not indulge himself in any kind of
useless physical activity when someone is speaking.
While listening to the speaker, you have to note
down all the important points.

Results of good
listening
A good listening bears good fruits. It can bring you a lot of
advantages in business and social life. Here are some
points regarding the process of good listening:-

 It leads to a healthy and positive attitude.

It removes the barrier between the speaker and the
listener.
It helps to improve the process of communication.
It indicates the feedback from the listener.
It helps the listener to collect information about a
certain topic.
It develops an atmosphere of understanding between
listener and speaker.

Active Listening
One of the most valuable things we can
do to heal one another is listen to
each other stories
-Rebecca Fals
Active listening could be defined as Proper and
attractive listening. The discrepancy in the process of
listening comes from when there is a gap between the
speed of speaker and the understanding of the listener.
On an average, we can speak around 120-150 words
in a minute whereas our brain can interpret 400-600
words in a minute. Most of the time when we are
listening, our brain is idle. In order to keep our mind
focused, we have to made tremendous efforts. When a
listener is successful in controlling his mind and focusing
the points of speaker, we may say that active listening is
taking place.

Kinds of listening
There are four kinds of listening:

i.

Ignoring:
This is the most negative and damaging
kind of listening. During this you pretend that you
are listening but actually you pay no attention to
him at all. Your mind is somewhere else. This type
of listening generates no feedback. It not only
destroys the process of communication, but also
results in complete breakdown of communication.

ii. Selective listening:

This type of listening mostly takes
place in our daily life, when we avoid certain details that
are continuously repeated on T.V and radio. It also
happens in class room, when students focus in certain
parts of lecture and ignore the rest. A person indulging in
selective listening may be identified very easily because
of his paralanguage.

iii. Attentive listening:

This type of listening takes place
when one person pays full attention to the speaker. This
type of listening is normally observed in meeting and
discussion, where an immediate feedback is required.

iv. Emphatic listening:

When you are listening to
somebody, completely attentively, then you are not only
listening to the words but also the feeling of what is being
conveyed to the whole of it.

This definition clearly defines the

process of emphatic listening. In this type of listening,
you not only listen to their words but also imagine
yourself to be at his place. You look at the words through
their eyes and point of views. This type of listening has
got therapeutic values as well.

Barriers to listening
Noise:
If there is a lot of noise around the place where
listening process is going on, your listening may not
happen in a good way.

Age:
The difference between the age of the listener and
the speaker may also affect the process of listening.

Distance:
The distance between the speaker and the
listener may also effect the receptive abilities of listener.

Premature Evaluation :
When a person tries to understand the
speaker before his views is delivered completely, it may
affect the process of listening and communication.

Prejudice:

Prejudice against the culture, language and

social background of the speaker may also affect the
process of listening.

Sematic Stereotype:
It is the use of same word pattern again and
again. The variety of words and their pattern must be
introduced in the language.

Thinking Speed:
Difference between the speed of thinking
and speaking may effect listening. The gap that
constantly occurs between the speaker and listener must
be overcome.

Monotonous Delivery:
It is important for speaker to use variety of
tones for speaking, if he wants to impress the listeners. If
the speech is delivered on the same pitch then it will lose
its effectiveness.