Listening (1)

Listening Skills - Dr. M. Upender

Contact: upendermaloth@ifheindia.org

Pre-Listening

  • Daily Sounds Heard:

    • Chirping of birds

    • Sounds of television

    • Honking sounds of vehicles

    • Sounds of operating lifts

  • Differentiating Hearing from Listening:

    • Hearing: A biological process

    • Listening: A combination of physical and psychological processes

  • Importance of Listening:

    • Listening is deemed the most important skill, as it underpins the effectiveness of speaking, reading, and writing.

  • Passive Listening:

    • Occurs when the listener engages in another task while being exposed to sound, such as music or television.

    • Little to no attention is paid to the auditory message.

Listening Defined

  • Listening as a Skill:

    • Involves the processes of receiving, interpreting, and responding to messages.

    • Essential for effective communication and requires learning and development.

  • Consequences of Poor Listening:

    • Can lead to loss of messages, misunderstandings, and misperceptions.

Difference Between Listening and Hearing

  • Listening:

    • Voluntary action requiring conscious effort.

    • Active engagement with sounds, especially words, and context comprehension.

    • Involves interpretation and understanding.

  • Hearing:

    • Involuntary and passive reception of sounds.

    • No effort to decipher meaning or context.

Hearing and Listening

  • Hearing:

    • Primarily a physical act without special effort.

  • Listening:

    • Involves conscious participation and requires analysis, judgment, and conclusion.

    • Active engagement in the communication process.

Phonetic Features of Listening

  • Homophones:

    • Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.

      • Examples:

        • know-no

        • seize-cease

        • knead-need

        • knight-night

        • be-bee

Homographs

  • Definition:

    • Words that share the same spelling but have different pronunciations and meanings.

  • Examples:

    • bow (to bend) vs. bow (weapon)

    • advocate (to support) vs. advocate (lawyer)

    • live (verb) vs. live (adjective)

Homonyms

  • Definition:

    • Words that have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings.

  • Examples:

    • left (to leave) vs. left (direction)

    • bank (a financial institution) vs. bank (land alongside a river)

Listening Process

  1. Receiving:

    • Focus on hearing the speaker’s message, filtering out distractions.

  2. Understanding:

    • Learning the message’s meaning through clarity in articulation.

  3. Remembering:

    • Retaining what was heard, linked to effective listening.

  4. Evaluating:

    • Judging the message’s value through biases and experiences.

  5. Responding:

    • Providing feedback indicating involvement in the communication.

Importance of Listening

  • Communication and Business:

    • Vital for human resources, sales, interviews, and adapting to market needs.

  • Personal and Professional Relationships:

    • Improved communicative abilities enhance connections.

  • Social Development:

    • Regular interactions foster confidence in various social settings.

Types of Listening

  1. Content Listening:

    • Focused on understanding and retaining information.

  2. Critical Listening:

    • Involves evaluating and judging the validity of a message.

  3. Appreciative Listening:

    • Enjoying aesthetics and understanding the speaker’s emotions.

  4. Empathetic Listening:

    • A deep understanding of the speaker’s perspective and emotional state.

Barriers to Listening

  • Physical and Psychological Factors:

  • Language Barriers:

  • Careless and Pseudo Listening:

  • Semantic Barriers and Cognitive Biases:

Guidelines for Improving Listening Skills

  • Prepare Mentally:

  • Focus On the Speaker:

  • Resist Distractions:

  • Concentration and Open-Mindedness:

  • Effective Note-Taking:

  • Anticipate Speaker's Points:

  • Evaluate Content, Not the Speaker:

Review Questions

  • Discuss the significance of listening in communication.

  • Identify benefits of effective listening skills.

  • Explore psychological aspects of listening.

  • Analyze the impact of accent on listening comprehension.

  • Examine purposes and barriers of listening.