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Jaiden Byram

Heidi McGrew

COM 2206.509

26 March 2021

Listening Styles

Listening is key to all effective communication. If someone does not have the ability to

listen effectively, messages can easily be misunderstood. Learning how to listen well is an

important tool for understanding situations and others. Listeners should try and improve there

listening skills as this will enhance effective communication and lower the chances of

misunderstanding someone.

Listen and hearing have often been looked at as similar things, but they are actually far

different from one another. Listening is described as, “the process of receiving and responding

to others’ messages.”(197) Whereas hearing is defined as, “ the process in which sound waves

strike the eardrum and cause vibrations that are transmitted to the brain.”(198) Someone could

hear something but it does not mean they were listening. With listening you are paying attention

to the sound and giving it considerations. For example, if someone asked you to do something

and you say, “yes”, but then go “what did they say?”, this means you were hearing the person

talk but were not actually engaged and listening. Also, a lot of times when people are trying to

talk to you while you are busy you often find yourself just going along with it, without actually

trying to understand what the person is saying. When listening you are fully engaged and

voluntary trying to understand what a person is saying intentionally. You purposefully

concentrate your attention of the speaker to understand the meanings they are expressing. It can

be difficult to listen to others which is why there are strategies for becoming a better listener.
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Trying to improve one’s listening styles is a good way to start and to also be sure you are being

mindful.

One listening style is relational listening. This is described as being “most concerned

with building emotional closeness with others.”(199) The purpose of this style is to help you

better understand how the speaker feels. This type of listening does not want the speaker to feel

judges and often refrains from being judgmental. The listener wants to be understanding of the

person and to be supportive towards them. I scored a 26 in this area. I personally really like to

try and understand one’s feelings and I like having the connection with the person.

Another listening style is analytical listening. This type of listening “emphasizes

attending to the full message before coming to judgement.”(201). This is where the listener

listens to evaluate a message to judge it. You make judgements based on the evaluation of the

speakers’ arguments. People who use this style want to look at an issue in multiple, different

perspectives. I scored a 22 in this area. If I were wanting to improve this style, I would try to

hear the speaker out more before coming to any conclusions. I need to practice on considering

all sides and listening fully before saying any judgements.

Task-oriented listening is another type of listening style. This style of listening is ‘mostly

concerned with efficiency and accomplishing the job at hand.” (199) People who use this type of

listening are looking for a clear message about what needs to be done. This listener wants the

speaker to get straight to the point. They are most interested in getting the job done as fast and

efficient as possible. This type of listener does not like when the speaker gets off topic or

rambles on and on. They find it irritating when the speaker takes too much time to get there point

across. The problem with this, is it may seem you are ignoring the speakers feelings and this can

result in a negative communication. For this area I scored a 28 in. I personally find it irritating
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when being ramble on and do not get there point across, but at the same time I really care about

people’s feelings and would not want someone to assume I was ignoring their personal feelings.

The last type of listening style is critical listening. People who use this style, “have a

strong desire to evaluate messages.”(201) The person wants to understand the message but also

make sure what is being said is true and accurate. The goal is to understand but also evaluate the

logic of the argument. You want to understand the speakers’ motives and their intentions. Also,

interpret how consistent the speaker is with what they are saying. You have to be able to

separate facts from personal opinion. As the listener you want to decide for yourself if what the

speaker is saying is valid. For me, this is what I scored the lowest in with a score of 18.

Critical listening is my lowest score, but there are many ways and tools that I can use to

improve this. First the reason I think I scored so low in this category is because I struggle to

notice errors in what others say. To improve this, I really need to listen to the information a

speaker is saying. I need to listen for inconsistencies and catch errors in the speaker’s logic. I

need to understand the person which I feel I am good at, but also listen to understand what is true

or not. One thing I could do to try and figure out if what is being credible is to ask questions.

By asking questions it can help me get a better understanding of what is being said and to clear

up any confusion between the speaker and me. I also could try the approach of silent listening

which “allows you to stay attentive and nonverbally responsive without offering any verbal

feedback.”(208) This could help me because it could help me catch if what a speaker is saying is

true. If I were to interrupt them and explain why I was confused about something that was not

adding up, it could possibly make them change what they were saying. I would not use this the

whole time, just until they were completely finished with what they were saying.
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When listening to someone you are also wanting to use nonverbal skills. One Thing I

feel is super important when listening to someone is eye contact. If I were to look down or away

when someone is speaking to me, it may make the speaker feel they are not getting paid attention

too. You want to make sure your speaker knows you are listening to them by making eye

contact. It makes you appear you are focusing on what the person is saying and no other things.

This is something I need to really work on to improve my listening. I also need to make sure I

use appropriate responses to a speaker. Every person is different, and I need to be careful in

what I am saying when a person is wanting feedback. One last thing I feel I should work on is

making sure the persons feelings are valued. I personally have noticed when trying to listen to

someone is that I am very vague when responding to them and I have realized this makes the

person feel they no longer want to try and talk to me. These are things I hope to try and work on

when communicating and listening to others.

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Works Cited

Adler, Ronald B, Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Russell F. Proctor. Interplay: The Process

of Interpersonal Communication. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.