EFFECTIVE LISTENING

SRI SUNDARI

WHAT IS LISTENING?

Absorption of the meanings of words and

sentences by brain.
An active process receive, construct &respond
(Emmert, 1994)
A trained skill.
Hearing with purpose

Listening is composed of six distinct components

Hearing: The physiological process of receiving sound and/or other
stimuli.
Attending: The conscious and unconscious process of focusing attention
on external stimuli.
Interpreting: The process of decoding the symbols or behavior attended
to.
Evaluating: The process of deciding the value of the information to
the receiver.
Remembering: The process of placing the appropriate information into
short-term or long-term storage.
Responding: The process of giving feedback to the source and/or other
receivers.

EFFECTIVE AND ACTIVE

LISTENING
Effective listening is listening to the words
of the speaker and the meaning of the
words
Active listening is a process in which the
listener takes active responsibility to
understand the content and feeling of what
is being said and then checks with the
speaker to see if he/she heard what the
speaker intended to communicate

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE

Content

Feelings

Process

Clarification

& ACTIVE LISTENING

ACTIVE LISTENING SKILLS

Check attitude and atmosphere
Keep the channel open and avoid short
circuits
Listening requires response from the
listener
Keep the door open

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

REFLECTING
FEELINGS

Explanation:
Reflecting feelings
that have been
heard or perceived
through cues.

Examples:
Youre feeling ___.
It makes you
(feeling) that . . .

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

PROBING

Examples:
What happened
after that?

Explanation:

Who was there?

Questioning in a
supportive way.
Ask for more info or
clarification

What did they do?

Open-ended

How did that work?

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

SELF DISCLOSURE

Examples:
I had a similar
experience . . .

Explanation:
Sharing relevant
personal
information

Ive been through

something like
that . . .
That happened to
me once too . . .

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

CHECKING
PERCEPTIONS

Explanation:
Finding out if
interpretations are
accurate.

Examples:
It seems to me like
youre pretty ____.
So, you were taking
some risks when
you . . .

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

BEING QUIET

Examples:
Count to yourself.

Explanation:
Giving the other
time to think as well
as to talk

SKILLS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

SUMMARIZING

Explanation:
Bringing together in
some way
experiences and
feelings.

Examples:
You told off the
teacher and now
youre scared . . .
Youre feeling on
top of the world
because you got an
A!

METHODS TO TEST UNDERSTANDING

Parroting
Paraphrasing
Clarifying

TEN KEYS FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING (LYMAN STEIL)

Find areas of interest.
The Poor Listener: Tunes out dry topics.
The Good Listener: Seizes opportunities: "What's in it for
me?"
Judge content, not delivery.
The Poor Listener: Tunes out if delivery is poor.
The Good Listener: Judges content, skips over delivery
errors.
Hold your fire.
The Poor Listener: Tends to enter into argument.
The Good Listener: Doesn't judge until comprehension is
complete.
Listen for ideas.
The Poor Listener: Listens for facts.
The Good Listener: Listens for central theme.
Be a flexible note taker.
The Poor Listener: Is busy with form, misses content.
The Good Listener: Adjusts to topic and organizational
pattern.

 Work at listening.

The Poor Listener: Shows no energy output, fakes attention

The Good Listener: Works hard; exhibits alertness.

Resist distractions.

The Poor Listener: Is distracted easily.

The Good Listener: Fights or avoids distractions; tolerates bad
habits in others; knows how to
concentrate.

Exercise your mind.

The Poor Listener: Resists difficult material; seeks light,

recreational material.
The Good Listener: Uses heavier material as exercise for the
mind.

Keep your mind open.

The Poor Listener: Reacts to emotional words.

The Good Listener: Interprets emotional words; does not get
hung up on them.

Thought is faster than speech; use it.

The Poor Listener: Tends to daydream with slow speakers.

The Good Listener: Challenges, anticipates, mentally
summarizes, weights the evidence, listens
between the lines to tone and voice.