Listening

 Might be defined as the art of hearing and understanding what someone is

saying.

L ook : One’s understanding from listening will improve if one can see the
order and consistency in the speech/talk and anticipate the next topics or words.
Speakers should generally be consistent in their order of presentation as well as

what they present.

 Identify: What, why the instructor is saying is important to you. You need a reason
for wanting to listen or you will not be motivated during the lecture. Do you want to
learn the content? What part of it? To be interested in the talk and to understand its
content are your responsibilities. It is up to you to get what you want.
Listening

 Set up: Set up your position to maximize the possibility of listening and staying in
touch with the lecture. Your eyes, ears and brain are parts of your listening apparatus;
ensure that they are all in functioning order. Take adequate amount of rest. Maintain
eye contact to facilitate listening. Block out the noise and distractions by sitting where
you will be least bothered most likely the front row. If you can not hear what is being
said, by all means move away from the problem- human or mechanical.

 Tune in: Learn to increase your attention span by timing just how long you can
concentrate before you think of something else. Always remember that the brain works
approximately four times faster than one can talk, so there is time for the mind to
roam if you do not have a plan. Knowing how the speaker stresses important content
will help you to keep tuned in.
 Source: Ibid
Listening

E xamine: the context to determine the main points. Action verbs and content
nouns will help to focus. Not all the content given during a talk is essential. Check the
agenda or ask the speaker about the topics that are going to be covered each day. By
skimming the topics in advance one can get a general idea about the facts and ideas to
be covered each day and this will keep your ears tuned to hear the important rather
than trivial topics.

 N ote: Taking notes while listening will improve concentration. The very act of taking
notes may help you stay alert. Even if the material sounds familiar, write down a word
or two to remind you that the topic was covered and also to keep you listening. Once
you start listening, think about how to write down the content you want.
Poor Listening Vs Effective Listening

Poor Listener Effective Listener

 1. Either tries to blame the  1. Thinks and mentally
speaker or considers the subject to summarizes, weighs the evidence,
be too dry. listens between the lines to the
 tone of voice and evidence.
2. Gets distracted easily
 2. Fights against distractions and
 3. Finds it difficult to listen to
knows how to concentrate.
complex material and has the
tendency to read light and  3. Keeps listening on a regular
recreational materials. basis and not averse to listening to
 matter which requires critical
3. Tends to enter into unnecessary
listening.
arguments
Process of Listening

© Oxford University Press 2011

Types of listening

 Informative Listening: refers to a situation where a listener’s primary

concern is to understand the message. Listeners are successful in so far as the
meaning they assign to a message is as close as possible to the meaning that
the sender intended. Informative listening or listening to understand is found
in all areas of our lives.
 The 3 key variables related to informative listening is as follows:
 Vocabulary: The precise relationship between vocabulary and listening has
never been determined but it is clear that increasing one’s vocabulary will
increase your potential for better understanding.
Types Cont’d …..

 Concentration: There are many reasons why people do not concentrate while
listening. Sometimes they divide their attention between two competing
stimuli. At other times listeners are preoccupied with something other than
the speaker of the moment. Concentration requires discipline, motivation and
acceptance of responsibility.
 Memory: is an especially crucial variable for informative listening as one can
not process information without bringing memory into play. It allows one to
recall experience's and information necessary to function in the world around
you as without memory one has no knowledge bank.
Types cont’d

 Attentive Listening: When people listen attentively their goal is to

understand and remember what they are hearing. In addition, attentive
listeners have relational goals like giving a positive impression, advancing the
relationship or demonstrating care.
 Relationship Listening: The purpose of relationship listening is either to help
an individual or improve the relationship between two people. Therapeutic
listening is a special type of relationship listening and brings to mind
situations where counsellors, medical personnel or other professionals allow a
troubled person to talk through a problem. The three attitudes are key to
effective relationship listening – attending, supporting and
empathizing.
Types cont’d

 Appreciative Listening: includes listening to music for enjoyment, to

speakers because you like their style to your choices in theater, television,
radio or film. The quality of appreciative listening depends on three factors
namely:

Appreciative Listening

Previous
Presentation Perception
experiences
Types cont’d

 Critical Listening: Politicians, the media, salesmen, advocates of policies and

procedures and our own financial, emotional, intellectual, physical and
spiritual needs require us to place a premium on critical listening and the
thinking that accompanies it. There are three things to keep in mind and they
were outlined by Aristotle, the classical Greek rhetorician more than 2000
years ago in his treatise, The Rhetoric and they are Ethos or speaker
credibility, logos or logical argument and pathos or psychological
appeals.
Types cont’d

 Discriminative Listening: may be the most important type of listening for it

is the basic to the other types of listening. By being sensitive to the changes
in the speaker’s rate, volume, pitch force and emphasis the informative
listener can detect even the slightest shift in nuances. There are three things
to consider about this type of listening. Hearing ability, Awareness of
sound structure, Integration of non verbal cues.
Barriers to Effective Listening
•Forged attention
•Premature evaluation of the subject matter and
speaker
•Hard listening
•Poor interpersonal relations
•Over excitement
•Different language variety and accent
•Distractions
•Evade the difficult types
•Different levels of perception

© Oxford University Press 2011

Techniques for Effective Listening
1. To improve your listening skills, you should have an open
mind.
You should sit alert and look at the speaker with a view to
establish your interest in
him/her.
2. The effectiveness of listening generally depends on the intensity
of the interest taken. So, take interest in the discussion or talk.
3. Do not prejudge the speaker, or his/her message, until you
have listened to it completely.
4. Employ your critical thinking while you are listening.

© Oxford University Press 2011

Techniques for Effective Listening
5. Stop talking and do not interrupt the speaker unnecessarily.
6. Observe the non-verbal clues of the speaker, as this will enable
you to grasp the message completely.
7. Take advantage of the lag time that we get in terms of small
pauses between two different ideas.
8. Ask relevant questions to yourself, so that you keep on track
with the ideas presented by the speaker.
9. Take down notes or paraphrase the message in simple words.
This will certainly enable you to grasp it quicker.

© Oxford University Press 2011