Listening and Communication Concepts (Video)

Hearing vs Listening

• Hearing is the physiological ability to recognize sound; it is what you’re born with. It is a passive, biological function.
• Listening is a cognitive process that occurs when you receive information, attend to it, and construct meaning while also preparing to provide feedback.
• Effective listening involves attention, understanding, memory, evaluation, and response, not just hearing the sound.

Key Concepts in Listening

• Listening is a cognitive process of receiving information, attending to it, constructing meaning, and providing feedback.
• Three core branches that shape how we digest information:
  • Affective processing: motivation and reward behind paying attention (e.g., listening because there is a desired outcome, like getting an A).
  • Cognitive processing: neurological/brain-based interpretation to extract meaning.
  • Behavioral processing: interpreting nonverbal and verbal cues and adjusting feedback accordingly.
• Effective listening is highly valued by employers because it:
  • Builds interpersonal connection and trust.
  • Increases understanding across topics.
  • Helps identify and solve problems.
• Three major tasks of effective listening:
  • Build interpersonal connection and trust.
  • Increase understanding of various topics.
  • Identify and solve problems.

Types of Listening

• Appreciative listening: listening for enjoyment or personal satisfaction.
• Discriminative listening: focusing on nuances to interpret a message beyond its surface.
• Comprehensive listening: understanding and processing the content; common in medical diagnoses or lectures.
• Active listening: deliberate, conscious process with five steps; aims to fully understand, remember, evaluate, and respond.
• Listening apprehension: the anxiety or nervousness before listening to new information; a normal, human reaction.

Passive vs Active Listening

• Passive listening: listening while multitasking or when uninterested; information intake is habitual and unconscious.
• Active listening: deliberate and conscious; involves attending, understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding.

Five Steps of Active Listening (A U R E R)

• The mnemonic A U R E R represents the five steps:
  1. Attending (A): intentionally perceiving new information; 100% focus on what is being said.
  • Important note: technology can reduce attention span even as it aids brainstorming; attention is a key resource for effective listening.
  1. Understanding (U): accurately interpreting the message.
  • Three strategies for understanding:
    • Ask questions to clarify meaning.
    • Paraphrase what you heard to confirm interpretation.
    • Empathize to connect with the speaker’s perspective.
  1. Remembering (R): retaining information for later use.
  • Three strategies for remembering:
    • Repeating information to yourself or aloud.
    • Constructing mnemonics to encode the steps or concepts.
    • Taking notes to consolidate memory.
  1. Evaluating (E): critically analyzing the message to assess its trustworthiness, accuracy, and utility.
  • Evaluate credibility of sources (e.g., credible resources such as library databases, Google Scholar, and official domains like .edu, .org, .gov).
  • Distinguish facts from misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation; separate people from the facts.
  • Real-world practice: assess whether information would stand up to scrutiny with credible evidence.
  1. Responding (R): providing feedback based on the attended, understood, remembered, and evaluated information.
  • Two broad forms of feedback:
    • Emotional support response: reassure, encourage, soothe, consult, or cheer up.
    • Respectful disagreement: say no politely and provide one-line logical feedback.
  • Also includes formal constructive critique: acknowledge what the speaker did well, then offer suggestions; use “I” statements to convey personal perspective and relevance.

Why the Five Steps Matter in Practice

• You cannot skip steps; effective listening requires moving sequentially through Attending → Understanding → Remembering → Evaluating → Responding.
• The order ensures you have full context before providing feedback, which enhances accuracy and usefulness of your response.

Three Ways to Remember and Understand Information (In Class Context)

• Remembering:
  • Repetition: repeatedly expose yourself to the information.
  • Mnemonics: use coded shortcuts like the A U R E R steps themselves as a mnemonic aid.
  • Note-taking: recording information physically helps retention.
• Understanding:
  • Ask questions to clarify meaning.
  • Paraphrase to confirm interpretation.
  • Empathize to connect with speaker’s perspective.

Understanding Across Topics and Building Credibility

• Evaluating information involves considering credibility and relevance across topics (science, business, arts, etc.).
• The speaker emphasized credible sources (library databases, Google Scholar, .org/.edu/.gov domains) as key to trustworthy information.
• The phrase “separate people from facts” highlights the importance of critiquing information without attacking the person delivering it.

Active Listening in Context: Practical Examples from the Lecture

• Attending example: aiming for 100% focus when listening to a TEDx talk or lecture.
• Understanding example: asking questions like “What does this term mean?” or “Why is this important?”
• Remembering example: using the A U R E R mnemonic to recall steps during a class discussion.
• Evaluating example: checking whether a claim can be supported by credible sources; weighing evidence before accepting it.
• Responding example: providing constructive feedback or supportive responses after listening.

Challenges in Listening

• Listening apprehension: anxiety before listening or learning new information is normal and manageable.
• Distractions from technology can reduce attention span, underscoring the need for deliberate attending.

Course-Related Context mentioned in the Transcript

• Speech assignment:
  • There is a requirement for a speech with an audience; if fewer audiences are available, you can use at least four to five people to acknowledge your speech; the instructor will cut the target from eight down to six or four.
  • The class will have two speeches presented in front of an audience.
• Midterm information:
  • Chapters 1 through 6 constitute Unit 1; this is the midterm theoretics.
  • Revision materials for chapters 1–6 were uploaded to the module; studying these revision materials guarantees full points on the midterm (open-book format).
  • A quiz on chapter 6 will be open-book and open-notes after the lecture; students are encouraged to study together.
• Speech assignment on chapter 6:
  • 80% of the speech will focus on listening theory (lecture/listening). Students will act as the evaluator by listening to a TEDx talk and recording their feedback.
  • Students must select one friend, family member, coworker, or significant other to be part of the assignment.

Quick Reference: Key Numerical and Formula-Like Details

• Typical speaking rate: around 120 to 200 words per minute.
• Brain processing rate: between 400 and 800 words per minute, which creates room for mind wandering if attention is not managed.
• Assignment and exam timing: midterm is based on Chapters 1–6; revision material provided; open-book quiz on Chapter 6; speeches include an 80% focus on Chapter 6 content.
• Audience requirement adjustment: eight audiences originally; reduced to at least four to five audiences for feasibility; in-class presentations will be conducted in front of an audience.

Summary of Practical Takeaways

• Hearing and listening are different: hearing is passive, listening is active and cognitive.
• Effective listening involves five sequential steps (A U R E R) and leads to better interpersonal relationships, broader understanding, and problem solving.
• Distinguish and practice different listening types depending on context (appreciative, discriminative, comprehensive, active).
• Manage listening challenges like apprehension by acknowledging the difficulty and applying the five-step process.
• Use credible sources and separate the facts from personal opinions when evaluating information.
• For assessments, leverage revision materials and collaborative learning to maximize outcomes.
• When giving feedback or disagreement, use respectful, constructive language and support it with evidence.