Active Listening

Language Trainer: Ms. Fatima Manzar

Why Listening is Important?
It occupies about 45 % of the time adults spend in communication.
This is significantly more than speaking, which accounts for 30 %, and
reading and writing, which make up 16 % and 9 % respectively.
 Challenges in Active Listening

Contributing factors may include:

• speaker talking quickly
• background noise
• a lack of visual clues (such as on the telephone)
• the listener’s limited vocabulary
• a lack of knowledge of the topic
• inability to distinguish individual sounds
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 1: Stop Talking

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two
tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain

• do not interrupt
• talk over them
OR
• finish their sentences for them to impose forced ‘solutions’
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 2: Prepare Yourself to Listen

Be Attentive, but Relaxed

Be attentive. Put other things out of mind.  The human mind is

easily distracted by other thoughts – what’s for lunch, what time do I
need to leave to catch my bus, is it a holiday tomorrow – try to put
other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are
being communicated.
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 3: Put the Speaker at Ease

Face the speaker and maintain eye contact to help the speaker to feel free to
speak.

• Remember their needs and concerns.

• Give the speaker a regular feedback through appropriate facial expressions
and occasional well timed ‘hmmm’ or ‘uh huh’.
• Nod or use other gestures or words to encourage them to continue. 
• Maintain eye contact but don’t stare – show you are listening and
understanding what is being said.
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 4: Remove Distractions
Focus on what is being said.

• Don’t whisper, shuffle papers, look out the window, use your phone or
similar.
• Avoid unnecessary interruptions. 
• These behaviors disrupt the listening process and send messages to the
speaker that you are bored or distracted.
Principles of Active Listening

Rule 5: Empathise

Try to understand the other person’s (speaker’s) point of view.

Empathy is the heart and soul of good listening.

• Look at issues from their perspective.  

• Let go of preconceived notions.  
• Keep an open mind to accept varying point of views
• If there is something that you disagree with, wait and think to
construct a valid and meaningful argument to counter what is said 
• Listen without jumping to conclusions and making judgements
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 6: Be Patient

A pause, even a long pause, does not necessarily mean that the speaker
has finished.

• Be patient and let the speaker continue in their own time,

sometimes it takes time to formulate what to say and how to say it.
• Never interrupt or finish a sentence for someone.
• Wait for a pause to ask a clarifying question
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 7: Avoid Personal Prejudice
Try to be impartial.
• Don't become irritated and don't let the person’s habits or mannerisms
distract you from what the speaker is really saying.
• Everybody has a different way of speaking - some people are for
example more nervous or shy than others, some have regional accents
or make excessive arm movements, some people like to pace whilst
talking - others like to sit still. Focus on what is being said (content)
and try to ignore styles of delivery.
• Ask questions just to understand not to criticise.
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 8: Listen to the Tone

Volume and tone both add to what someone is saying.

• A good speaker will use both volume and tone to their advantage to
keep an audience attentive; everybody will use pitch, tone and
volume of voice in certain situations – let these help you to
understand the emphasis of what is being said.
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 9: Listen for Ideas – The Bigger Picture

Listen to words and try to picture what the speaker is saying not just
isolated bits and pieces.

• Allow your mind to develop a mental model of the information

being given
• In long stretches of speech try to remember key words or phrases to
allow you to refocus if you lose interest
• With proper concentration, avoiding distractions, and focusing on the
speaker this becomes easier.
Principles of Active Listening
Rule 10: Wait and Observe Non-Verbal Communication/Body
Language

Gestures, facial expressions, and eye-movements can all be important.

• We don’t just listen with our ears but also with our eyes – watch and
pick up the additional information being transmitted via non-verbal
communication (body language).
 Video
on
5 Ways to Listen Better | Julian
Treasure | English Sub
5 Essential Listening Skills

1. Predicting Content

• Depending on the context – a news report, a university lecture, an

exchange in a supermarket – you can often predict the kind of words
and style of language the speaker will use.

• Our knowledge of the world (prior knowledge) helps us anticipate the

kind of information we are likely to hear.

• When we predict the topic of a talk or a conversation, all the related

vocabulary stored in our brains is 'activated' to help us better
understand what we're listening to.
Activity
Listen carefully and then answer the questions on the following slide.

• This is CNN and I'm Martha Pierce. We couldn't ask for a better day
for the first day of Spring. Right now it's fifteen degrees and clear.
We're expecting blue skies throughout the day. Though there is only a
ten percent chance of showers, this good weather can't last forever.
It's raining cats and dogs up north, so we should see rain by morning.
Don't forget your umbrella tomorrow. Now, stay tuned for local news.
Activity

• 1. Which season does this weather report take place in?

• 2. What kind of day is it?
• 3. What is the temperature?
• 4. Tomorrow it will probably ______________.
• 5. What does the weather reporter suggest using?
5 Essential Listening Skills
2. Listening for Gist
• This is when we listen to something to get a general idea of what it’s
about, of what’s being said. We don’t want or need to understand every
word.
• Gist is the ‘whole picture’. While listening to information in a sequence
you tend to develop a mental picture. And in that sequence of
information, there are content words  that can help you form that picture. 
• For example, the words 'food', 'friends', 'fun', 'park' and 'sunny day' have
their own meanings, but when you hear the words in sequence, they help
form the context of a picnic.
• When you learn new words, try to group them with other words used in a
similar context. Mind maps are good for this.
 Activity
On
Listening for the Gist
5 Essential Listening Skills
4. Listening for Details
• When listening for details, you listen very closely for specific kind of
information – perhaps a number, name or object. You pay attention to
all the words and try to understand and retain as much information as
you can. Irrelevant details are ignored and you are able to narrow
down your search and get the detail you need.

• Example: a member of a jury listening to a statement from a witness.

 Activity
on
Listening for Details
5 Essential Listening Skills

5. Detecting signposts
•  'Signpost language' is the words and phrases that people use to tell the
listener what has just happened, and what is going to happen next. 
• In language there are words or phrases that act as signposts which link
ideas, help us to understand what the speaker is talking about and where
they are taking us. They're particularly important in presentations and
lectures.
• For example, if a university lecturer says: 'I am going to talk about three
factors affecting global warming…' then later on you might hear the
phrases 'first of all', 'moving on to' and 'in summary' to indicate the
next part of the talk.
• Other words and phrases can function in a similar way. For instance, to
clarify ('in other words', 'to put it another way'); to give examples ('to
illustrate this', 'for example'), and so on.
 Activity
On
Listening Sub-Skills