1.

1 Partial Listening

Partial - the word itself suggest that this type of listening is one sided or incomplete, i.e. when partial
listening takes place people do not listen to the full content, or do not show interest in the message.
This type of listening is further divided into selective listening, passive listening & discriminative
listening.

1.1.1 Selective Listening: This is the way where the listening is done partially. People listen to that part
of communication which they really want to listen. They listen primarily for those things with which
they agree or feel are important while filtering out those points which don’t echo. The mind of the
listener is wandering and is not attentive to the message. Selective listening takes place when receiver
is not in a position to concentrate or some other reason which hinders in proper listening.

1.1.2 Passive Listening: Silent and patient listening without interfering or participating in a talk is
known as passive listening. The listener is physically present but not participating in the
communication process. The message is not absorbed and the passive listener will not be able to recall
the message in future. This type of listening takes place due to many constraints like tiredness, ill
health, lack of interest etc. Passive listening is merely hearing the words and not the message. It leads
to misunderstanding as the sender would be under the impression that the receiver has grasped the
message as intended.

1.1.3 Discriminative Listening: It is an attempt by the listeners to listen to a particular sound which is
important for them and ignores other sounds. For Example while the teacher in the class is taking
attendance at the same time students are talking to each other, despite of so many sounds in the class
room, each student waits for his/her name to be announced for attendance as they are required to
respond for their presence.

1.2 Analytical Listening:

The word “analytical” is defined as “using or skilled in using analysis”. Analytical listening offers fast
and simple way to feedback. People use this listening skill when they want to critically evaluate the
message, or need to extract some information, or required to highlight the content. These uses of
analytical listening are discussed below:

1.2.1 Critical Listening: When a listener requires specific information from the entire speech or an
external speaker is invited to share the message, one has to critically analyse the content in order to
make best use of it. Therefore, the task is to actively scrutinize the reliability, clarity and accuracy of
that particular information only. For example when a sales person describes about his company’s
product and only discusses its benefits, or might deliver positive feelings of that product and at the
same time try to associate negative feelings with what the competitor has to offer. At this point the
listener should be cautious and need not to take decisions on the basis of immediate feelings, but
rather take time before concluding or before taking any actions. One needs to analyze and evaluate
the message in order to determine whether to accept or reject it

1.2.2 Comprehensive Listening: This involves understanding of the complete substance conveyed by
the speaker. The problem is that many people often interpret the same conversation in different ways,
depending on their individual and social backgrounds. The value of this type of listening is that the
listener needs to remember the matter. It is useful when the purpose is to extract information from
the speaker. Mostly this skill is used in classrooms by students and even at the workplace, when we
listen to understand new practices or procedures for better performance. In order to properly use
comprehensive listening and to gain understanding the listener first needs suitable vocabulary and
language proficiency. Using overly difficult language or technical terminology, therefore, can be a
barrier to comprehensive listening. The ultimate goal of comprehensive listening is to understand the
message the speaker is communicating.

1.2.3 Content Listening: It describes a situation when one has to pay attention to the content for
receiving some information like highlights of your organization or learning some technical or creative
aspects. While getting information it would not be good on the listener’s part to challenge the speaker.
The focus in this type of listening should be on gathering information, rather than making
judgement. Taking notes and asking questions is important to make the listening interactive.

1.3 Full Body Listening:

It is to listen not only with your ears but by keeping full body in a listening mode. Full body listening is
very important and is required to adapt in day to day activities. This type of listening can be done by
keeping mind & heart open, by openly using the five senses of body, and even by building an open
posture while interacting. The components of full body listening are active listening, attentive
listening, visual listening & empathetic listening.

1.3.1 Active Listening: Complete involvement of the listener in speaker. He/ She make the conscious
efforts to listen attentively, decode the message and use it through properly participating. “Active
listening is a process in which a listener receives messages, processes them, and responds so as to
encourage further communication”(Alessandra, Wexler & Barrara , 1987). Here the listener not only
listens to the words but also understands the body language too, even shows regard for the speaker,
concentrates on what is being conveyed and in a way helps speaker to meaningfully deliver the
message. It also includes suggestions by the listener, and speaker is provided by the space to agree or
disagree with the suggestions. This type of listening is required at the time of discussions & interview
process when it is important to recall comprehend and response to the message.

1.3.2 Attentive Listening: It means, being fully aware of speakers; what they are saying; how they are
saying it, i.e. the tone, pitch of voice, what they are doing, i.e. gestures, movements, postures, etc., and
receiving and interpreting the message they are sending (Bentley, 1993). Attentive listeners have
relational goals like giving a positive impression, advancing the relationship, or demonstrating care. It is
difficult and very tiring to maintain a state of attentive listening.

1.3.3 Visual listening: This kind of listening is used when words are strange. It generally happens when
we do not understand the language, as it may be a foreign language. Visual listening also takes place
when the message is unspoken, here the messages are understood through body movement, facial
expressions, gestures, and especially with eye contacts. Visual listening may also be the next step in
online reputation management. Visual listening is the practice of observing and tracking images and
attracting customers by using creative logos with perfect colour combinations. Visual listening opens
up a world of image-centric conversation, and, with it, a world of possibilities for engaging customers
more perfectly and efficiently.

1.3.4 Empathetic listening: Empathy means to ‘Put your foot in another’s shoe’, i.e. to keep yourself
at other persons place to understand and realize the feeling of the speaker. Raman & Singh(2006)
said, “Empathic listener is able to go into the world of another- to see as others sees, hear as other
hears, and feel as the other feels”. The purpose is to give a patient listening to a friend or an
acquaintance and allow him to talk through a problem. It involves comprehending what kind of mental
state the speaker is at the time of conversation. There may be some personal issues, or overloading at
workplace or something else, an empathetic listener will analyze the situation and respond
accordingly. Brownell (1990) have considered it to be an antecedent, in that empathetic people tend to
be good listeners.