Listening Skills

English for General Communication

 ❖Listening comes first
❖Difference Between Hearing & Listening
❖Definition of Listening & Listening Skills
❖Importance of Listening Skills
❖Types of Listening Skills
Introduction ❖Effective Listening
❖Features of Listening
❖Process of Listening
❖Techniques of Listening Skills…
❖Much more
 ▪ The First and the Foremost communication skill
that we learn in our lives is nothing but
“LISTENING”

LISTENING

Listening Comes SPEAKING

First READING

WRITING
 ▪ Hearing
o Hearing is simply the act of perceiving
sound by the ear.
o Hearing occurs with or without your
Difference consent
between Hearing ▪ Listening
and Listening o Listening is an action where you choose
to actively concentrate on what you hear.
o In listening your brain processes the
information into knowledge.
 ▪ The process of receiving,
constructing meaning from , and
responding to spoken and/or non-
What is verbal messages; to hear
listening? something with thoughtful
attention.
 ▪Listening Skills are the ways
What are to help you listen something
Listening skills? more effectively.
 o An attentive listener stimulates better
speaking by the speaker
o A good listener learns more than an
ordinary listener.
The importance
of listening skills o A good listener learns to detect
prejudices, assumptions and attitudes.
o Communication is not complete without
effective listening.
 oDiscriminative Listening

Types of oPretense Listening

Listening oSelective Listening
oAttentive/Active Listening
 DISCRIMINATIVE LISTENING
▪ It involves identifying the difference between various
sounds. It also enables one to differentiate between
familiar and unfamiliar language.

Discriminative
and Active ACTIVE LISTENING
▪ Active listening is a communication technique used
in counseling, training, and conflict resolution. It
requires that the listener fully concentrate,
understand, respond and then remember what is
being said.
 PRETENSE LISTENING

▪ It involves more hearing than listening. It

means pretending through facial
expressions that one is listening when
actually one is not.
Pretense dan
selective SELECTIVE LISTENING

▪ It involves selecting the desired part of

the message and ignoring the undesired
part of the message.
 Effective/Active Listening Is Actively
Absorbing The Information Given To
You By The Speaker, Showing That You
Are Interested.
Effective
Listening It Can Also Include Providing The
Speaker With The Feedback, By Asking
Relevant Questions So The Speaker
Knows The Message Is Received.
In active listening, it is important to learn, to summarize and
reflect smoothly, without appearing to mimic or repeat back
in a robotic fashion. Useful phrases are:
"As I understand it, what you are saying is
 Barriers and
benefits of
effective listening
 o Enhances Productivity
o Improves Relations
o Avoids Conflict
Benefits of
Effective o Improves Understanding
Listening o Improves Negation Skills
o Helps You Stand Out
o People Will Appreciate It
 o Physiological Barriers
1) Hearing Impairment
2) Speaking Thinking Rate
o Environment Barriers
1) Physical Distractions
Barriers to 2) Message Overload
Effective o Attitudinal Barriers
Listening 1) Prejudices

2) Preoccupation
3) A Casual Attitude
4) Egocentrism
 1)Faking Attention

Poor Listening 2)Listening Only for Facts

Habits 3)Avoiding Difficult &
Uninteresting Material
Traits of good
listener
 oListening is a mental activity.
oIt improves by consciousness and
concentration.
oIt is a skill as it can be improved by
experience.
Features of oNon-verbal communication also
Listening helps in listening.
oListening stimulates speaking.
oListening involves paying close
attention to the sounds that come in
way of communication.
Process of Listening
1. Receiving
2. Understanding
3. Remembering
4. Evaluating
5. Responding
 RECEIVING

It refers to the respond caused by sound

waves stimulating the sensory receptors of
the ear; it is physical response.

Receiving and
Understanding UNDERSTANDING

▪ It is the stage at which you learn

what the speaker means “The
thoughts and emotional tone.”
 REMEMBERING

▪ It is important listening process because

it means that as individual added
message to the minds storage bank.

Remembering
and evaluating EVALUATING

▪ It consists of judging the message

in some way.
 This stage requires that the receiver
complete the process through verbal
and/or nonverbal feedback; because the
speaker has no other way to determine if a
message has been received.
Responding
This stage becomes the only overt means
by which the sender may determine the
degree of success in transmitting the
message.
 o Focus on key-points.

o Being aware of both verbal and non-verbal

messages.

o Listen with an open mind.

Techniques of o Avoid false attention and pretending to
Listening Skills listen.

o Wait for the speaker to pause to ask

clarifying question.

o Be attentive, but relaxed.

 oAppearance and delivery
oSeparating ideas from facts
oInterrupting
Listening Pitfalls oPretending
oDistraction
oSarcasm
 oStop talking
oStop thinking
oRemove Distractions
Rules of Good oDo not let your Mind Wander
Listening oDo not Pre-judge
oBe Patient
oEmpathize with the speaker