Psycholinguistics
LISTENING SKILL
Listening• "Listening is “interpreting and reacting to a message
received from the speaker”.
• Listening is the most important communication skill. It is a skill that few people ever learn.
• Experts say that the average person has 25% listening efficiency.
• Like other skills, listening takes more than just sitting back and letting words flow into your ears.
• It is an active skill that is at least as hard as talking, maybe harder.
• It is an active skill that is at least as hard as talking, maybe harder.
• It requires attention.
• There is no real communication unless the listener understands, accepts and takes action based on what was said.
• We spend almost 45% of our daily time in listening and the person who develops a good listening skill has a head start on providing the best solutions or responses based on information obtained during conversation.
Importance of listening
• Listening is the first and the foremost communication skill that we learn in our lives. It has great importance in our everyday life such as:
1) It helps in learning.
2) It increases one's understanding.
3) It builds stronger relationships by creating a desire to
co-operate among people because they feel acceptance
and acknowledged. It creates acceptance and openness.
4) It reduces stress and tension
5) It resolves conflicts.
6) It relieves boredom (i.e. listening to music)
7) It can improve work quality on job because it is the most
frequent type of on-the job communication.
Difference between hearing and
listening• Listening is often confused with hearing. While hearing is a
process that can be scientifically explained, listening is a
neurological cognitive regarding the processing of auditory
system.
• Roland Barthes, a linguist, said that;
"Hearing is physiological phenomenon; listening is a psychological act".
• Hearing is passive but listening is active process.
• Hearing is always occurring, most of the time sub consciously,
but listening is not always occuring.
• Listening is the interpretative action taken by the listener in
order to understand and potentially make meaning out of the sound waves.
Basic modes of listening
• There are three basic modes of
listening.
1)Competitive listening
2)Passive listening
3)Active listening
Competitive listening
• Competitive or combating listening happens when
we are more interested in promoting our own
point of view than in understanding or exploring
someone else, s view.
• A person either listens for an opening to take the
floor, or for flaws and weak points he can attack.
• As he pretends to listen, he waits for an opening
or a point that will destroy the argument and make
him the victor.
Passive listening
• In passive or attentive listening we
are genuinely interested hearing and
understanding the other person's
point of view.
• We assume that we heard and
understand correctly, but stay passive
and do not verify it.
Active listening• Active or reflective is the single most useful and
important listening skill.
• We are genuinely interested in understanding what the other person is thinking, feeling, wanting or what the message means and we are active in checking and understanding before we respond with our own new message.
• We restate or paraphrase our understanding of their massage and reflect it back to the sender for verification.
• This verification or feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it better.
Types of listening
• Some important types of listening are as following:
1. Superficial listening
2. Focused listening
3. Evaluating listening
4. Attentive listening
5. Critical listening
6. Empathetic listening
7. Appreciative listening
8. Content listening
Superficial listening: In this type of listening the
listener has little awareness of the content, what is
being said. The output in this type of listening is
zero because the listener tends to ignore the
message, and is not able to concentrate on the
theme, main points supporting details of the
message.
Focused listening: It involves listening for
specific information. This is the most common
type of listening that we practice in non-formal
and communicative situations.
Evaluating listening: It involves evaluation of oral
message and developing a line of thought. The
listener interprets and analysis what he or she listens
to in order to understand both the explicit as well as
implicit mean of the oral message.
Attentive listening: It demands the complete
attention of the listener. It is basically active and
intelligent listening is situations such as group
discussions, meetings, job interviews and so on. The
listener pays attention to all parts of the message,
that is, the central theme, main points, supporting
details, examples and illustrations.
Critical listening: It is to understand and
evaluate the meaning of the speaker's on
several levels. It is done when the purpose
is to accept or reject the message and to
evaluate it critically.
Empathetic listening: When we listen to a
distressed friend who wants to share his
feelings, we provide emotional and moral
support in the form of empathetic listening.
Appreciative listening: The main purpose
of appreciative listening is to get enjoyment
and pleasure. The output may be taking part
in the entertainment process.
Content listening: It is to understand and
retain the speaker message. You may ask
questions, but basically but basically
information flows from the speaker to you.
It doesn't matter that you agree or disagree,
approve or disapprove the information or
material.
Stages of the listening process
• : There are six basic stages of listening process:
1. Hearing
2. Understanding
3. Attending
4. Remembering
5. Evaluating
6. Responding
• These stages occur in sequence but are generally
performed with little awareness and often rapid
succession.
• Hearing: It refers response caused by sound waves
stimulating the sensory receptors of the ear; it is
physical response; hearing is perception of sound
waves; you must hear to listen, but you need not
listen to hear (perception necessary for listening
depends on attention).
• Attention: Brain screens stimuli and permits only a
select few to come into focus-this selective
perception is known as attention, an important
requirement for effective listening. In this stage the
desired and useful part of message comes into focus.
• Understanding: In this stage, our brain analyzes the
meaning of the stimuli we have perceived to
understand the symbols we have heard. The
meanings attached to these symbols are a function
of our past associations and of the context in which
these symbols occur. For successful
communications, the listener must understand the intended meaning of the speaker.
• Remembering: It is an important stage of listening
process because at this stage the listener has not
only received and interpreted a message but has also
added it to the mind's storage bank. In this stage useful information is stored in mind by the listener.
• Evaluating: It is a stage in which active
listeners participate. At this point the active
listener weighs evidence, sorts of fact from
opinion and determines the presence or
absence of bias or prejudice in a message.
• Response: In this stage the listener gives
verbal or non-verbal feedback to the
speaker’s message, which helps the speaker
to determine if the messages have been
conveyed effectively.
Barriers to listening
• A barrier is anything that gets in the
way of clear communications. There
are many barriers which come in the
way of effective listening. Some of
which are as following
Physical barriers: Physical barriers consist of any sound that prevents person from being heard. For example:
• -Whisper.
• -Cheers.
• -Passing cars.
• -Noise.
• -Message overload.
• Poor acoustics.
• -Uncomfortable environment.
• -Uncomfortable seating.
• -Defective mechanical devices.
• -Frequent interruptions.
Physiological barriers: These are related to
the listener's or the speaker's condition.
Such as:
• - Listener's bad health.
• - Fatigue.
• - Sleeplessness.
• - Hearing problem.
• Wrong accent or pronunciation of the
speaker.
Psychological barriers: These barriers
cover value system and the behavioral
aspects. These barriers include:
• - Personal anxiety.
• - Altitude.
• - Impatience.
• - Emotional blocks.
Bad habits: Bad habits major barriers in effective
listening. These habits include:
• - Lack of interest.
• - Prejudice or closed mind.
• - Criticizing the speaker.
• - Listening only for facts.
• - Creating distraction.
• - Faking attention.
• - Avoiding difficult and uninteresting material.
Ego: It is a major barrier in
listening. Thinking that my own
ideas are more important than
those of other persons is a major
stumbling block in the way of
listening.
Tips for being a good listener:
- Give full attention.
- Make sure your mind is focused.
- Finish listening before you begin to speak.
- Listen for main ideas.
- Concentrate on what the speaker is saying.
- Maintain eye contact.
- Smile and nod appropriately.
- Don't antagonize the speaker.
- Leave your emotions behind.
- React to ideas not to person.
- Avoid hasty judgment.
- Listen more talk less.
- Remove distractions.
- Don't let your mind wonder.
- Don't pre-judge.
- Be patient.
- Empathize with the speaker.
- Take notes.
- Ask questions.
- Avoid jumping to conclusions.
- Recognize your own prejudice.
- Give accurate feedback.
- Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage the speaker.
- Be objective.
- Practice listening.
Conclusion
• Most people spend at least half of their
communication time in listening. This most used
communication skill is not only crucial in
interpersonal communication, it also effects
organizational communication and helps determine
success in education and careers.
• As Kevin Murphy says,
''The better you listen, the luckier you will
get.''
• So take time to listen.
THANK YOU
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