Aim: to promote insight into

effective listening skills

Objectives:
• To identify the feelings associated with
poor listening techniques
• To analyse elements of effective listening
• To practice and evaluate participants’
personal skill sets
I know you believe you understand
what you think I said ACTIVE
but
LISTENING
I am not sure you realise
that what you heard
is not what I meant
Qualities of Active Listeners Skills for Active Listening

ATTENDING Examples:
Desire to be No desire to
“other-directed” protect yourself Sitting forward
Eye contact
Explanation:
Nodding head
Providing verbal
Desire to imagine Desire to Open gestures
and non-verbal
the experience of understand, awareness Mirroring
the other not critique
 Skills for Active Listening Skills for Active Listening

PARAPHRASING Examples: REFLECTING Examples:

FEELINGS
So what I hear you You’re feeling ___.
saying is . . .
It makes you
Explanation: Explanation: (feeling) that . . .
Restating the Reflecting feelings
person’s basic that have been
verbal message. heard or perceived
through cues.
 Skills for Active Listening Skills for Active Listening

PROBING Examples: CHECKING Examples:

PERCEPTIONS
What happened It seems to me like
after that? you’re pretty ____.
Explanation: Explanation:
Who was there? So, you were taking
Questioning in a some risks when
What did they do? Finding out if
supportive way. you . . .
interpretations are
Ask for more info How did that work?
accurate.
or clarification
Open-ended
 Skills for Active Listening Skills for Active Listening

BEING QUIET Examples: SUMMARIZING Examples:

Count to yourself. You told off the
teacher and now
Don’t try to fill
you’re scared . . .
Explanation: every silence. Explanation:
You’re feeling on
Giving the other Bringing together
top of the world
time to think as well in some way
because you got an
as to talk experiences and
A!
feelings.
 Trying It Out Trying It Out
Tell about some success What is the biggest challenge
SPEAKER you’ve had recently.
SPEAKER of working in education?

LISTENER Practice skills LISTENER Practice skills

Make note of active listening Make note of active listening

OBSERVER skills being used. Feedback.
OBSERVER skills being used. Feedback.
Qualities of Active Listeners

Desire to be No desire to
“other-directed” protect yourself

Desire to imagine Desire to

the experience of understand,
the other not critique
 What is Listening
 Communication begins with listening
 It is a deliberate effort
 While listening we must discriminate,
Business Communication evaluate, appreciate and react.
“The most basic of all human needs is the
need to understand and be understood.
The best way to understand people is to
LISTENING listen to them.”
The Process of Listening Features
 Paying attention:
One has to resist distractions and tune out noise.

Evaluating Remembering  Focus on the other speaker in a generous way:

Sometimes people listen looking for flaws. They focus on matters
other than the substance of the talk. This must be avoided

 Avoid making assumptions:

Many listening errors come from faulty assumptions. We should never
Interpreting Responding ignore instructions thinking it is unnecessary.

 Listen for ‘feelings’ as well as ‘facts’:

-- We must consciously listen for feelings
Sensing -- We must pay attention to tone of voice, facial expression
and body language
--We must never assume silence means consent.
Importance
• Listening is vital to any organization. It
can improve quality, boost productivity • Listening to prospective customers can help you in selecting the best
and save money. product or system you have for their individual needs.

• Listening skills can help in learning
important information such as how a
contract should be drawn up, how the
management expects to make up for a
bad sales year etc
• Listening to prospective customers lets them know you are interested in
their needs-not just making a sale.
• Carefully listening to subordinates or so-workers suggestions lets them
know that they are important to you and that you value their
suggestions.

• The information you gather from • Careful listening aids an organization in carrying out its mission
listening can also help you present your
own ideas and needs more successfully
and make advancement in your career.
 Pre-requisites of listening  Listening to the message-
We have to learn to concentrate on the message and
 Positive interest-
refuse to be distracted by the speaker’s voice,
An active listener must have the positive attitude that
idiosyncrasies or clumsy use of visual aid.
something of interest or value is likely to reward his
attention to even a least promising topic
 Allow the person to finish-
We generally don’t hear the speaker talking, because
 Preparation-
we are already planning our replies.
Any background information helps in making a person a
better listener.
 Avoid prejudice-
Having a prior opinion about what is being said can
 Silence-
close our minds to the speaker’s arguments
It is necessary to maintain silence while listening to
someone
 Types
 Time and place-
Planned interview time makes for better listening, and
Informational listening
the planning should include appropriate surroundings Evaluative listening
and also removal of interruptions
Emphatic listening
 Integrity-
A good listener is one who respects confidence and
helps maintain the trust which is very essential.
 Informational listening
This is the most common type of listening. We use informational Look for the main and supporting points-
listening to accurately understand a wide variety of message. For
e.g.-a caller’s phone number, a supervisor’s instruction, a Your ability to listen will improve if you can identify the
customer’s need etc. reason behind the speaker’s thesis.
Strategies to improve informational listening:
With hold judgment- Ask questions and paraphrase-
A common mistake we all make is to confuse informational Questions are one of the best ways of building
listening with evaluative listening, forgetting that your original
goal was to learn not to criticize. understanding. Paraphrasing is a valuable tool too. You can
paraphrase by periodically describing in our own words what
 Be opportunistic- you understand the speaker to be saying.
Sometimes the ideas of the speaker are highly boring or irrelevant,
in a situation like this we must use our ability of being able to
think 3 times faster than the speaker talks to ask questions.

Take notes-
Taking notes is a valuable tool to remember all the
important details that were discussed.
Repeat what you heard-
When taking notes is not possible, repeating what is
said is affective
Evaluative listening
A good listener does not jump to conclusions based on a bias
or incomplete information. A careful listener will weigh and
analyze the evidence before reaching a decision.
Pointers for effective evaluative listening—
Seek information before evaluating-
As obvious as this seems, it is tempting to begin judging an
idea before we know enough.

Examine the speaker’s supporting data—
As an evaluative listener, you need to ask yourself several
questions about the evidence a speaker gives you to support
his or her statements. You must make sure that the evidence
given is valid.
Consider the speaker's motives—
An argument carries more weight when the speaker doesn’t
have a personal stake in the outcome of our decision.
Consider the speaker’s credentials—
A statement when made by a qualified person has more
value than the statement made by someone else..
Competence is not universal: a person can be an expert in
one area and less qualified in others.
Examine emotional appeals—
Sometimes emotional reactions are a valid basis for action.
In some cases though, emotional appeals can obscure
important logical considerations that might dissuade you
from accepting a proposal.
 Emphatic listening
Analyzing—
The primary goal of emphatic listening is to help the speaker Analysis is especially helpful when you have more
in some way or another. Sometimes the help is personal and
experience or insight than the listener.
at other times, the help meets organizational goals.

Various categories of emphatic listening are—

Questioning—
Advising— The right questions can help you analyze a problem and offer
Sometimes advice is appropriate, especially on good advice and help the other person recognize important
technical matters. facts that were previously buried.
 Reasons for Poor Listening
Supporting—
Support can sometimes provide a moral boost, giving
someone added strength to face a tough situation.

• Message overload—
It is hard to listen carefully when the phone rings every few
Paraphrasing— minutes, people keep dropping in to give you quick
messages, and you’re trying to organize your notes for a
Paraphrasing is restating the speaker’s message in your own quick presentation. Coping with a deluge of information is
words. Here, however, the restatement should include both like juggling, you can only keep a few things going at one
the speaker’s thoughts and the listener’s feelings. time.

• Preoccupation—
Business and personal concerns make it difficult to keep
your mind on the subject at hand.
 • Hearing problems—
• Rapid thought— Some people suffer from hearing deficiencies and the
biggest problems come up when a hearing problem goes
Listeners can process information at a much faster rate than undetected.
the speaker delivers. This difference leaves a great deal of
mental spare time which often led the mind to wander.
• Faulty assumptions—
• Physical distractions— One common, though mistaken, belief is that the
responsibility for successful communication lists with the
A stuffy room, noisy machinery, the cold you feel coming on sender. Even the most thoughtful, well expressed idea is
are only a few of the distractions that can make listening wasted if the intended receiver fails to listen thus both the
difficult. speaker and the listener share the burden of reaching and
understanding
 Barriers
• Faking attention—
• Avoiding difficult listening situations—
We have learned to fake attention as our educational
Many of us watch television process has conditioned us to look as if we are listening.
programmes that take no effort to
absorb, rather than watching debates,
documentaries etc.
• Criticizing speaking style—
Everybody has a different speaking style. We cant afford to
• Tolerating distractions— let mannerisms keep us from getting important points from
We often this practice this habit the message. We must focus on listening
unaware that distractions for most
speakers and listeners alike, decrease
the quality of our communication.
• Majoring in minors—
At times we make an effort to remember only those facts
that stand out and miss out on the speaker's main point.
Thus we may fall into the habit of picking and choosing only
selected tidbits to process.
QUALITY OF YOUR
• Wasting the thinking-speaking time differential.— COMMUNICATION IS
Most speakers can use upto 150 words in a minute but we
can listen at a much faster rate. If a person speaks too slowly
then we may get into the habit of daydreaming, thus
QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE
wasting precious time.
 Basic Communication Skills Profile

________________________________________________
Communication Order Learned Extent Used Extent Taught

LISTENING SKILLS ____________________________________________

Listening First First Fourth

Speaking Second Second Third
Reading Third Third Second
Writing Fourth Fourth First
 Meaning
• Listening Is With The Mind
• Hearing With The Senses
• Listening Is Conscious.
• An Active Process Of Eliciting Information
• Ideas, Attitudes And Emotions
• Interpersonal, Oral Exchange
Fallacies about Listening
• Listening is not my problem!
• Listening and hearing are the same
• Good readers are good listeners
• Smarter people are better listeners
• Listening improves with age
• Learning not to listen
• Thinking about what we are going to say rather than listening to a
speaker
• Talking when we should be listening
• Hearing what we expect to hear rather than what is actually said
• Not paying attention
( preoccupation, prejudice, self-centeredness, stero-type)
• Listening skills are difficult to learn
 Types of Listening
Stages of the Listening Process
 Informative Listening
• Vocabulary
• Concentration
• Hearing • Memory
• Focusing on the message
 Relationship Listening
• Comprehending and interpreting • Attending
• Supporting
• Analyzing and Evaluating • Empathizing
• Responding  Appreciative Listening
• Remembering • Presentation
• Perception
• Previous experience
 Types of Listening (Cont.)
 Critical Listening
• Ethos
• Logos
• Pathos
 Discriminative Listening
• Hearing Ability
• Awareness of Sound Structure
• Integration of non-verbal cues
Barriers to Active Listening
• Environmental barriers
• Physiological barriers
• Psychological barriers
• Selective Listening
• Negative Listening Attitudes
• Personal Reactions
• Poor Motivation

How to Be an Effective Listener
 What You Think about Listening ?
 Understand the complexities of listening
 Prepare to listen
 Adjust to the situation
 Focus on ideas or key points
 Capitalize on the speed differential
 Organize material for learning
How to Be an Effective Listener
(cont.)
 What You Feel about Listening ?
 Want to listen
 Delay judgment
 Admit your biases
 Don’t tune out “dry” subjects
 Accept responsibility for understanding
 Encourage others to talk
 How to Be an Effective Listener Improving Listening Comprehension
(cont.)
 What You Do about Listening ? • Listening comprehension is the act of understanding
an oral message
 Establish eye contact with the speaker
 Take notes effectively
 Be a physically involved listener
• It involves speech decoding, comprehending, and
 Avoid negative mannerisms
oral discourse analysis
 Exercise your listening muscles
 Follow the Golden Rule
 Speech Decoding Speech Decoding (Cont..)

• Sound Perception and Recognition • Word recognition

(Recognising sounds and sound patterns accurately, (Recognising words accurately, understanding the
recognising the way sounds combine to form definitions of the words being use, recognising the
syllables and utterances) way words are used un context, identifying
attention signals)
 Speech Decoding (Cont..) Comprehending
Comprehending a verbal message involves the
ability to:
• Accent recognition
• Identify the central theme, main ideas and
(recognise stress, identify pauses, hesitations ) supporting details;
• Concentrate and understand long speeches
• Identify the level of formality
• Deduce incomplete information
• Deduce unfamiliar vocabulary
 Oral Discourse Analysis Listening to structured talks

• Is the process of identifying relationships • Pre-listening analysis-determining the

among different units within the speech or purpose, knowing your speaker
oral message: • Predicting about the content of a verbal
• Critical skills message
• Attitude analysis • Using background knowledge
• Inferential skills
• Intensive listening
 Intensive Listening
1. Listening to the introduction?
• What is the position, knowledge, background,
experience of the speaker?
• What is his credibility?
• What is the overall purpose of the talk?
• What is the central idea or theme?
• What is the overall structure?
• What does the speaker intend to do?
• What are the main points of the talk?
Intensive listening (Cont…)
2. Listening to the Body
• Contains the main message-pay attention
• Concentrate on verbal signposts
• Recognise main supporting details of the oral
message
• Concentrate on visual aids
Intensive Listening ( Cont..)
3. Listening to the conclusion
• Understand the main themes of the verbal
message
• Recognise the speaker`s focus of the talk
• Concentrate on what the speaker wants the
listener`s to do, or remember
Signal Phrases
Purpose of the speaker
* Introduces a topic
* Develops an idea
* Emphasis's a point
* Contrasts several ideas
* Shows transition of ideas
* Concludes
Signal phrases
Today, I`d like to talk about…,
What I am going to discuss is…
If we critically examine the
situation.., The most significant
point is…
I am sure you will agree with me..,
I`d like to emphasise..
On the other hand., In contrast,…
My next point is…
Finally.., I`d like to sum up
 Logical Connectors and
Transitional Signals Effective Note Making
Purpose of the speaker Logical connectors
Adds a point Moreover, in addition
 Note making is essential in college:
compares Similarly, likewise
 For lectures, which are a highly condensed methods of passing on
contrasts In contrast, However, information
Shows segmentation Right, OK, And, Now, That`s all
 For reading, because what you don't write down, you don't
remember
Exemplifies In other words, For instance

Temporal Eventually, For the time being, Before

Explains Therefore, Thus

 Effective Note Making (Cont.) Effective Note Making (Cont.)

 Note making is a skill:  Note making is difficult because:

 Most people feel deficient  Spoken language is more diffuse than written

 It can be learned  Speaker's organization is not immediately apparent

 This takes understanding of what you're doing  Immediate feedback seldom occurs

 It takes practice, which involves effort  Spoken language is quickly gone

 This makes analysis difficult

Five purposes for note making: Sequence
• Provides a written record for review
• Listen and focus on meaning
• Provides a definite, limited learning task
• Evaluate what is being said
• Forces you to pay attention
• Is it relevant to your purpose? What are the high points?
• Requires organization, and active effort on the part of the
• Record the information
listener
• Make use of it
• Listener must condense and rephrase, which aids
understanding
 Physical factors
 Seating
 Near the front and center - easier to see and hear
 Avoid distractions - doorways, windows, glare; friends, foes
 Materials
 Loose leaf notebook: lies flat - organization and additions are
easier
 Two pens, wide-lined, easy-eye paper; use dividers
 Course, date, and topic clearly labeled
Before taking notes - PREVIEW
• Prepare yourself mentally - What do you need to get out of this?
• Review notes from last time and homework. Nail your attention
down tight.
• Review the outline from your reading assignment
• Think through what has happened in the class to date
• Generate enthusiasm and interest


Increased knowledge results in increased interest
A clear sense of purpose on your part will make the course content more relevant
 Acting as if you are interested can help
 Don't let the personality or mannerisms of a speaker put you off
• Be ready to understand and remember
• Anticipate the next step and compare what you've guessed with
what happens
 Get Involved!
• Tune-in, look, listen for clues:
 Tone or gesture of Professor
 Repetition; cue words: "remember!"
• Notice what conflicts with your current opinions
 They are harder to understand and remember
• Keep thinking...
 Look for emerging patterns
 Write questions in margins to be answered later
While taking notes
 Don't try for a verbatim transcript
 Get all of the main ideas
 Record some details. illustrations, implications, etc.
• Leave plenty of wide space for later additions -
underscore or star major points
• Note speaker's organization of material
 Organization aids memory
 Organization indicates gaps when they occur - you fill in later
• Be accurate
 Listen carefully to what is being said
 Pay attention to qualifying words like: sometimes, usually, rarely, etc.
 Notice signals that a change of direction is coming: but, however, on the
other hand

While taking notes (Cont.)
• Be an aggressive, not a passive, listener
 Jot questions in your notes
 Do you believe what you're hearing? What do you believe?
 Seek out meanings. Look for implications beyond what is being said.
 Relate the material to your other classes and your life outside of
school.
• Develop a shorthand of your own
 Jot down words or phrases; use contractions and abbreviations
 Leave out small service words, use symbols: +, =,&, ~)
• Try to get the hang of listening and writing at
the same time. It can be done
 You may practice listening to the news on TV and taking notes
POST VIEW: Don't move –
go over notes at once!
 Review and reword them as soon after class as
possible
 Build review time into your schedule
 Don't just recopy or type without thought
 "Reminiscing" may provide forgotten material later
 Rewrite incomplete or skimpy parts in greater detail
 Fill in gaps as you remember points heard but not recorded
 Arrange with another student to compare notes


Find answers to any questions remaining unanswered
Write a brief summary of the class session
 Formulate several generalized test questions based on the material
 POST VIEW: Don't move –
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS – KEITH DAVIS
go over notes at once! (Cont.)
• Stop Talking.
 Use your notes as a learning tool • Put The Talker At Ease.
 Review at spaced intervals it is more effective than the same effort spent • Show Him That You Want To Listen.
cramming
 We forget 50% of what we hear immediately, two days later, another • Remove Distractions.
25% is gone.
 But relearning is rapid if regular review is used. • Empathize With Him.
 Compare the information in your notes with your own experience - don't • Be Patient.
swallow everything uncritically
 Don't reject what seems strange or incorrect. Check it out. Be willing to • Hold Your Temper.
hold some seeming inconsistencies in your mind over a period of time.
 Build a good "thought map" of the ideas. Explain it to anyone who'll • Go Easy On Arguments And Criticism.
listen. • Ask Questions.
 Memorize that which must be memorized.
• Stop Talking!
Thank You