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LISTENING SKILLS

INTRODUCTION TO LISTENING:
Communication has two dimensions:
1. Speaking (Expression)
2. Listening (reception)
In most of the Western civilization, speaking has been the form of
communication regarded as most important. The first books on
communication were about how to an effective speaker. Listeners were
recognized, but only as they were important to the purpose of the speakers.
Speakers are given honour for been a great speaker but no one has been
recognized for their talent of being a good listener.
Here, we will discuss that how much power listening can provide in interacting
with others. But listening that has the power must be a conscious listening. We
all eventually learn to listen but listening with conscious takes a little effort.
Becoming a conscious listener will make one more sensitive to the needs of
listener and hence improve their competence of being a good speaker.
As Paul Tournier, a Swiss Psychiatrist, has expressed:
“It is impossible to over emphasize the immense need human have to be really
listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood. Listen to all the
conversation of our world, between nations as well as those in couples.
(Powell p.5)
Now a day the importance of listening has been recognized by many. Coakley
and Wolven cite no less than 12 major studies by organizations which found
listening to be the most important skill.

Listening is not merely talking," said poet Alice Duer Miller. "You can listen like a blank wall or like a
splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer."

Definition of Listening:
Nichol and Lewis:
“To listen is to attach meaning to the aural symbols perceived”.

Michael Purdy:
“Listening is the active and dynamic process of attending, perceiving
interpreting, remembering and responding to the expressed (verbal/ non-
verbal) needs, concerns and information offered by other human beings”.
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LISTENING IN CLASSROOMS:
Informal measures of listening abilities have been in existence for several
centuries in the class room setting. After listening to various types of
information, students have been expected to perform well on both oral and
written examination. Yet not until the mid 1950’s did theorist began to
differentiate between intelligence, reading and listening abilities.
The first formal listening studies were concerned with listening comprehension
at elementary school level. Most listening tests were designed to understand
the relationship between listening and verbal ability. In 1937, Durrell and
Sullivan developed a test to measure how well children understood “spoken
language” or “Auditory comprehension”. Very few people recognized that it is
a listening test as it was named Durrell-Sullivan Reading Capacity Test. Later in
1941 Miller examined the relationship between listening and reading
comprehension.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEARING AND LISTENING:

The process of listening is often contrasted with hearing. Lundsteen considered
hearing a physical act and listening a mental act. Hearing, she said, had to do
with our physiological capacity to receive and perceive sound (1979 p. xv).
Problems with our ability to hear could hinder our ability to listen.
In contrast to hearing, listening has to do with assigning the meaning to the
stimuli received by the brain. To listen, according to Nichol and Lewis, is to
attach meaning the aural symbols perceived.
For example, in our daily life we say, “I don’t hear you”. But we did hear. We
were just not fully attentive to what was said and hence we were not listening

Hearing is simply the Listening requires

concentration so that
act of perceiving sound
your brain processes
by the ear meaning from words
and sentences.
Listening leads to
learning.

not able to hear well Not able to perceive

or perceive sound by main idea of sentences
ear
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AUDITORY TRAINING: Auditory training is an intervention method used in

rehabilitative audiology that aims to help individuals with hearing loss use their
residual hearing maximally. It emphasizes the development of listening skills to
improve the recognition and interpretation of speech sounds despite limited
hearing ability. In the field of audiology, auditory training refers to the process
involved in improving the auditory skills of individuals with hearing loss
through structured and repetitive listening exercises. In a nutshell, auditory
training consists of exercises, also known as listening trials, where the person
(1) listens to a large number of presentations of speech sounds or other kinds
of sounds,
(2) Makes a judgement after listening to each presentation such as identifying
the sound heard, and
(3) Receives feedback after each attempt about whether the judgment was
correct or incorrect.
A basic premise to this type of intervention is the notion that hearing is a sense
but listening is a skill that can be improved with practice. Many people with
hearing loss can be helped adequately with hearing aids or cochlear implants
alone, others require more intensive hearing rehabilitation, including auditory
training, for optimal speech perception with their hearing devices. Auditory
training does not improve hearing levels; rather it helps individuals with
hearing loss listen more effectively so that their ability to recognize speech
sounds may be improved.

COMPONENTS OF LISTENING:
Listening comprises of some key components, they are:
• Discriminating between sounds.
• Recognizing words and understanding their meaning.
• Identifying grammatical groupings of words.
• Identifying expressions and sets of utterances that act to create meaning.
• Connecting linguistic cues to non-linguistic and paralinguistic cues.
• Using background knowledge to predict and to confirm meaning.
• Recalling important words and ideas.
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Process of listening
The process of listening occurs in five stages. They are hearing, understanding,
remembering, evaluating, and responding.

Step 1
Receiving
(Hearing)

Step 5 Step 2
Responding Understanding
(Answering) (Learning)

Step 4 Step 3
Evaluating Remebering
(Judging) (Recalling)

HEARING – It is referred to the 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). Brain screens stimuli
and permits only a select few to come into focus- these selective perception is
known as attention, an important requirement for effective listening.

UNDERSTANDING- This step helps to understand symbols we have seen and

heard, we must analyze the meaning of the stimuli we have perceived;
symbolic stimuli are not only words but also sounds like applause… and sights
like blue uniform…that have symbolic meanings as well; the meanings attached
to these symbols are a function of our past associations and of the context in
which the symbols occur. For successful interpersonal communication, the
listener must understand the intended meaning and the context assumed by
the sender.
REMEMBERING- Remembering is important listening process because it means
that an individual has not only received and interpreted a message but has also
added it to the minds storage bank. In Listening our attention is selective, so
too is our memory- what is remembered may be quite different from what was
originally seen or heard.
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EVALUATING- Only active listeners participate at this stage in the process of

Listening. At this point the active listener weighs evidence, sorts fact from
opinion, and determines the presence or absence of bias or prejudice in a
message; the effective listener makes sure that he or she doesn’t begin this
activity too soon; beginning this stage of the process before a message is
completed requires that we no longer hear and attend to the incoming
message-as a result, the listening process ceases.
RESPONDING- 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, this stage becomes the only
overt means by which the sender may determine the degree of success in
transmitting the message.

Steps of effective listening:

Step 1: Face the speaker and maintain eye contact.

Eye contact is considered a basic ingredient of effective communication. While

talking, one should look each other in the eye. Do your conversational partners
the courtesy of turning to face them. Put aside papers, books, the phone and
other distractions. Look at them, even if they don't look at you. Shyness,
uncertainty, shame, guilt, or other emotions, along with cultural taboos, can
inhibit eye contact in some people under some circumstances

Step 2: Be attentive, but relaxed.

Now that you've made eye contact, relax. You don't have to stare fixedly at the
other person. You can look away now and then and carry on like a normal
person. The important thing is to be attentive. The dictionary says that to
"attend" another person means to:

 be present

 give attention

 apply or direct yourself

 pay attention

 remain ready to serve

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Step 3: Keep an open mind.

Listen without judging the other person or mentally criticizing the things she
tells you. If what she says alarms you, go ahead and feel alarmed, but don't
say to yourself, "Well, that was a stupid move." As soon as you indulge in
judgmental bemusements, you've compromised your effectiveness as a
listener.

Step 4: Listen to the words and try to picture what the speaker is saying.

Allow your mind to create a mental model of the information being

communicated. Whether a literal picture, or an arrangement of abstract
concepts, your brain will do the necessary work if you stay focused, with
senses fully alert. When listening for long stretches, concentrate on, and
remember, key words and phrases.

When it's your turn to listen, don’t spend the time planning what to say next.
You can't rehearse and listen at the same time. Think only about what the
other person is saying.

Finally, concentrate on what is being said, even if it bores you. If your thoughts
start to wander, immediately force yourself to refocus.

Step 5: Don't interrupt and don't impose your "solutions."

Children used to be taught that it's rude to interrupt. I'm not sure that message
is getting across anymore. Certainly the opposite is being modeled on the
majority of talk shows and reality programs, where loud, aggressive, in-your-
face behavior is condoned, if not encouraged.

Step 6: Wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions.

When you don't understand something, of course you should ask the speaker
to explain it to you. But rather than interrupt, wait until the speaker pauses.
Then say something like, "Back up a second. I didn't understand what you just
said about…"

Step 7: Ask questions only to ensure understanding.

Our questions lead people in directions that have nothing to do with

where they thought they were going. Sometimes we work our way back to the
original topic, but very often we don't.
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When you notice that your question has led the speaker astray, take
responsibility for getting the conversation back on track by saying something.

Step 8: Try to feel what the speaker is feeling.

If you feel sad when the person with whom you are talking expresses sadness,
joyful when she expresses joy, fearful when she describes her fears—and
convey those feelings through your facial expressions and words—then your
effectiveness as a listener is assured.

Step 9: Give the speaker regular feedback.

Show that you understand where the speaker is coming from by reflecting the
speaker's feelings. If the speaker's feelings are hidden or unclear, then
occasionally paraphrase the content of the message. Or just nod and show
your understanding through appropriate facial expressions and an occasional
well-timed "hmmm" or "uh huh."

Step 10: Pay attention to what isn't said—to nonverbal cues.

The majority of direct communication is probably nonverbal. We glean a great

deal of information about each other without saying a word. Even over the
telephone, you can learn almost as much about a person from the tone and
cadence of her voice than from anything she says.

Face to face with a person, you can detect enthusiasm, boredom, or irritation
very quickly in the expression around the eyes, the set of the mouth, the slope
of the shoulders. These are clues you can't ignore. When listening, remember
that words convey only a fraction of the message

Three Basic models of Listening

1. Active or Reflective Listening

It is the single most useful and important listening skill. In active listening, the
listener is genuinely interested in understanding what the other person is
thinking, feeling, wanting or what the message means. The person is active in
checking his understanding before he responds with his new message. The
listener restates or paraphrases understanding of the message and reflects it
back to the sender for verification. This verification or feedback process is what
distinguishes active listening and makes it effective.
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Essentials of Active Listening

1. Intensity
2. Empathy
3. Acceptance
4. Recognizing responsibility for completeness

2. Passive or Attentive Listening

The listener is genuinely interested in hearing and understanding the other
person’s point of view. He will be attentive and will passively listen. The
Listener assume that what he heard and understand is correct but stay passive
and do not verify it.

3. Competitive or Combative Listening

It happens when the Listener is more interested in promoting his own point of
view than in understanding or exploring someone else’s view. He either listens
for openings to take the floor, or for flaws or weak points.

Common Listening Mistakes

There are some common mistakes which are made by an individual while
listening. Some of them are:
1. Interrupting the speaker.
2. Completing the speakers sentences in advance.
3. Habit of topping another person's story with your own is demeaning and
relegates the speaker's story to something less important.
4. Dominating Conversations – A person who dominates conversations
probably commits all of the above mistakes and is not listening at all.
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Works Cited:
Babita Tyagi: Listening: an Important skill and its Various Aspects
Michael Purdy and Deborah Bisoff. (1997) Listening in Everyday Life
Rost M. (1990): Listening in language learning.
Heinle & Heinle Brooks, N. (1960). Language and language learning
Kittie W. Watson and Larry L. Barker p. 178