Angelica Abalos November 16, 2021

Section 26 (T/F; 12:00-13:30) Speech Communication

Formative Assessment #5:

Listening as a Skill

How important do you think communication skills are? Do you know that to be a good
communicator, you must also be a good listener? I didn't realize the value of listening as I grew up
since I assumed communication was all about talking and conveying the message. But when I got
to senior high school, my perspective altered. That is when we were introduced to and taught about
the communication cycle. And as I studied more about the subject, I realized that listening to and
comprehending the message is just as essential as communicating it. Come to think of it this way
if people listen to music and that those people grasp and understand the lyrics. That is one reason
we should listen and understand because imagine playing a joyful song in a place where the
atmosphere is lonely, such as a funeral. In the given situation, you would induce confusion among
the people. People can perceive it as though you were pleased with the person's death.

Listening is a skill that we have honed over time. From a young age, we were taught how
to listen. It all started when we were babies and tried to imitate the sounds around us. Imitating
what we hear is a reaction to our surroundings. And as we grew older, our listening skills improved
much more. Thus, according to DeVito (1999), there are five stages of listening: receiving,
understanding, remembering, assessing, and providing feedback. The stages, as you can see, are
comparable to the phases of communication. First, the receiving stage, which occurs when we
filter out other sources. This is done to separate the message from the distracting mix of different
inputs. We utilize our ears largely to focus on hearing a speaker's message in this situation.
Understanding the sender's message is the second category, and it is one of the most challenging.
Because people have varied interpretations of the message that has been provided to us at this time.
Furthermore, Hollingsworth (2021) noted that our perceptions and experiences influence how we
understand others. As a result, when listening for understanding, we should be on the lookout for
instances where our views vary from the speaker's. The next step is remembering, which allows
you to determine whether you paid attention. You must have listened if you remember what you
heard; if not, you did not listen effectively. According to the study, applying information
immediately as practicable after receiving it improves retention. (Stages of Listening | Boundless
Communications, n.d.) After remembering the message, the next step is to evaluate it. This is when
the listener assesses the quality and amount of the information they have received. While assessing,
the listener might also provide their opinions. They can also construct a response to the message
as they develop their views. This is the last and most important step of listening; it's where you
show your interest. At this point, almost anything you do can be perceived as feedback. However,
not all responses are obtained at the end of the statement. Formative feedback is a normal part of
a speaker's and listener's ongoing discussion. Summative feedback, on the other hand, is provided
after the conversation has occurred. (Hollingsworth, 2021) Consider how listening and
communicating are similar. They are a skill that we learn in our daily lives. And going through
these stages can help us improve our listening abilities even further. This is why we should value
listening as much as we do speaking.
Angelica Abalos November 16, 2021
Section 26 (T/F; 12:00-13:30) Speech Communication

REFERENCES:
DeVito, J. A. (1999). The Elements of Public Speaking (7th Edition) (7th ed.). Addison-Wesley.

Hollingsworth, S. E. (2021, August 15). 11.5 Stages of Listening – Introduction to Speech

Communication. Pressbooks. https://open.library.okstate.edu/speech2713/chapter/4-4-
stages-of-listening/

Stages of Listening | Boundless Communications. (n.d.). Lumen Learning.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-communications/chapter/stages-of-
listening/