chapter 2

Chapter Two Listening Skills

"We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking."

Listeners must first hear what is said. Listening skills involve identifying and selecting relevant points recognised as having meaning; that are understood and held in short-term memory. These can be related to what has gone before and to what comes after. Any information considered important is selected and stored for future reference in the long term memory.

Decoding (understanding) a message is generally easier for the listener if a person is speaking rather than reading something out loud. In addition the speaker's facial expressions, and the stress placed on words help the listener to understand the message.

Developing effective listening skills involves two specific steps (Hartley & Bruckman, 2002). These are:

1.  To develop the ability to recognize and deal with barriers that prevents you listening with full attention.

2.  To develop and use behaviors which help you to listen. Such behaviors can also serve to let the other person know that you are giving them your full attention.

Listening is the absorption of the meanings of words and sentences by the brain. Listening leads to the understanding of facts and ideas. To listen is to pay attention, or sticking to the task at hand in spite of distractions. It requires concentration, which is the focusing of your thoughts upon one particular problem.

A person who incorporates listening with concentration is actively listening. Active listening is a method of responding to another that encourages communication.

Active listening is composed of six distinct components

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

Barriers to Listening

The following list identifies just some possible barriers to effective listening;

1.     sources of noise

2.    Forming a judgment or evaluation before we understand what is being said, or ‘jumping to conclusions’.

3.    Hearing what we want to hear.

4.    Tuning out a point of view that differs from our own.

5.    Formulating and rehearsing our response.

6.    Being inattentive - thinking about something else entirely.

7.    Having a closed mind- you do not want to hear what the person has to say.

8.    Feeling anxious or self-conscious.

9.    Judging the person, either positively or negatively.

10. Subjective biases based on ignorance or prejudice.

11.  Cultural issues, e.g. listening to the differences in pronunciation of different accent, rather than the content of the message.

12. Excessive and incessant talking or interrupting.

It is important that such barriers to listening are recognized and dealt with. With developing awareness, we can have more control over those barriers that are internal to ourselves, and can adopt and use more helpful listening behaviors.

LISTENING EFFECTIVELY TIPS

Listening effectively is hearing and understanding what a speaker is saying and how it applies to you, and then remembering it for future use and evaluation. There are ways to improve your listening skills for lectures. The following is a list of some basic techniques:

1.  Recognize how ideas are organized. Lectures usually begin with some type of introduction, followed by a thesis statement which is supported by additional information. Most professors bring closure to their lecture by summarizing what they have covered. Learn to identify the lecture style that is used by your professor.

2.  Become involved in what is being said. Be an avid listener. Constantly analyze what is being said.

3.  Cut through (or screen out) distractions.

•      background noise

•      unusual accents, dialects, and language mistakes

•      speaker disorganization, emotion, or habits

•      unrelated material

•      your own inner voice

4.  Organize statements into main points and supporting reasons. Using an outline form may be helpful.

5.  Discriminate between relevancies and irrelevancies. Remember that not all information is important.

6.  Maintain an active body state. Keeping alert and having eye-contact with the speaker will help you listen more effectively.

In order to improve your listening skills, you will need to practice using the suggested techniques until they become automatic