Types of Listening, Effective Listening Skills & Barriers to effective listening, Characteristics of a good listener

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Types of Listening IITE BED Sem-II LPC 2 : English Language                                   Unit 3: Listening and Speaking Skills 3.1          Types of Listening, Effective Listening Skills & Barriers to effective listening, Characteristics of a good listener

 

 Preface

      A wise person said” Listening is the hardest thing in the world”

      "One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears - by listening to them." :Dean Rusk

      I have learned a great deal by Listening Carefully BUT, MOST PEOPLE NEVER LISTEN : Ernest Hemmingway

      “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of the prayer” : Mother Teresa

      “Give thy ear to all but your tongue to a few”: The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1.3.71)

Listening is the most vital part of communication. If there is no listener there is hardly any point in speaking. Listening is the very basic and important skill of all language skills. We say, LSRW skills when we refer language skills. The order in the LSRW is not randomly fixed, but scientifically proved. Any language that is learnt in this order, that language is learnt properly. We are good in our mother tongue, because we start learning our mother tongue the scientific order of learning. In the case of learning English as a second language most of our even degree holders miserably fail, because our approach to learning English is not the one that is tried and tested, that is LSRW. In lower classes our teachers introduce English straightaway from writing. Thus, following reverse method of learning a language. So, it is necessary for the learners to start learning English primarily through listening.

Importance of Listening

Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others. Why do we listen?

For instance:

• We listen to obtain information.
• We listen to understand.
• We listen for enjoyment.
• We listen to learn.

Listening is very important part of everyone’s life, as through listening we can comprehend the language; understand the people around us it may be interacting to customers or with subordinates or even to the whole world at large. Whether in business or personal life, listening is extremely important.

The time spent on listening is always substantial. In fact, listening is an important everyday means of gathering information and acquiring knowledge, it is even vital for socializing, for relaxation, for inspiration, and even for gaining new ideas officially or by listening to friends and peers.

As a student one has to listen to lectures, seminars, presentations, discussions & instructions. Similarly, as a professional listening takes place with boss, colleagues, subordinates within the organization. Likewise, a judge, a psychiatrist, and a physician must possess special competence in listening.

Stephen Covey identifies listening as one of the seven habits of effective people, therefore if one wishes to become a successful manager, it is essential to adopt and improve listening skills.

According to Adler, R. et al. 2001) Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing.

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

 

What is Listening skill?

 

Listening is receiver’s ability to listen to the sender properly and decode the message to have clear understanding of ideas, thoughts or information, which sender wants to share.

Listening is the ability to comprehend verbally communicated information and providing appropriate feedback. It can be described also as the ability to pay attention to sound.

To listen is to give attention to sound or action. When listening, one is hearing what others are saying, and trying to understand what it means

            Some definitions:

Listening: the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or non-verbal messages. – International Listening Association.     Listening: the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or non-verbal messages.   – International Listening Association.

Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences.

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

 

When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us. Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people need to work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus.

Difference between hearing and listening

We are always hearing, most of the time subconsciously. Though it seems a simple natural activity, it is a skill that has not been mastered by many. Everyone, except deaf people, hears but it is listening that makes the difference.  Hearing is the effect of vibrations in the eardrums caused by sound waves, but listening goes beyond this process.

Hearing is natural and reflexive whereas listening is a deliberate effort to comprehend sound that is heard. The stages in the listening process are: receiving hearing), understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding.

Listening is done by choice. Correct hearing is an essential step. Listening is with the Mind, Hearing with the senses. Language is learnt by imitation; that is true of both the baby learning its mother tongue and the student learning a foreign language. Before a learner can understand the meaning of the word or a construction, before he can speak it, he must be allowed to hear it. The training to hear accurately and understand when it is spoken as a second language in one’s country or as an international language, involves the ability to

i) recognize English speech sounds both in isolation and in combination readily and quickly;

ii) differentiate the speech sounds of English;

iii) distinguish between English speech sounds and almost similar speech sounds in the mother tongue;

iv) understand the vocabulary and sentence patterns used in speech;

v) derive meaning from stress, pitch and intonation of English language;

vi) understand English speech sounds at normal speed as in conversation or movies.

Types of Listening

   Partial Listening

Partial - the word itself suggest that this type of listening is one sided or incomplete, i.e. when partial listening takes place people do not listen to the full content, or do not show interest in the message. This type of listening is further divided into selective listening, passive listening & discriminative listening.

Selective listening

 

Biased listening or selective listening) is a type of listening behavior demonstrated when someone is just listening for information that they want to hear. Biased listening is different from critical listening because the listener is not honestly evaluating the validity of the speaker’s opinions, but rather is looking to confirm previously-held biases. People are often unaware that they are using a biased listening process. Biased listening can lead to a distortion of facts in the mind of a listener who is not tuned in to what a speaker intends to communicate. This is the way where the listening is done partially. People listen to that part of communication which they really want to listen. They listen primarily for those things with which they agree or feel are important while filtering out those points which don’t echo. The mind of the listener is wandering and is not attentive to the message. Selective listening takes place when receiver is not in a position to concentrate or some other reason which hinders in proper listening.

Passive listening

Silent and patient listening without interfering or participating in a talk is known as passive listening. The listener is physically present but not participating in the communication process. The message is not absorbed and the passive listener will not be able to recall the message in future. This type of listening takes place due to many constraints like tiredness, ill health, lack of interest etc.

Passive listening is merely hearing the words and not the message. It leads to misunderstanding as the sender would be under the impression that the receiver has grasped the message as intended.

 

Discriminative listening

Discriminative listening is the first form of listening humans develop as babies. Discriminative listening is first developed at a very early age – perhaps even before birth, in the womb.  This is the most basic form of listening and does not involve the understanding of the meaning of words or phrases but merely the different sounds that are produced.  In early childhood, for example, a distinction is made between the sounds of the voices of the parents – the voice of the father sounds different to that of the mother.  Discriminative listening develops through childhood and into adulthood.  As we grow older and develop and gain more life experience, our ability to distinguish between different sounds is improved. Not only can we recognise different voices, but we also develop the ability to recognise subtle differences in the way that sounds are made – this is fundamental to ultimately understanding what these sounds mean. It is an attempt by the listeners to listen to a particular sound which is important for them and ignores other sounds. For Example, while the teacher in the class is taking attendance at the same time students are talking to each other, despite of so many sounds in the class room, each student waits for his/her name to be announced for attendance as they are required to respond for their presence.

Discriminative listening may also be “identifying sounds/ voices, and making distinctions within those sounds, such as distinguishing emotionally loaded words, or hearing fear or pain in the voice” Bentley, S., 1998) and responding accordingly. As words do not always communicate true feelings, the way they are said, or the way the speaker acts may be the key to understand the true or intended meaning.

Analytical Listening:

The word “analytical” is defined as “using or skilled in using analysis”. Analytical listening offers fast and simple way to feedback. People use this listening skill when they want to critically evaluate the message, or need to extract some information, or required to highlight the content. These uses of analytical listening are discussed below:

Critical Listening:

Critical listening is listening in order to evaluate and judge, forming opinion about what is being said. Judgment includes assessing strengths and weaknesses, agreement and approval. When a listener requires specific information from the entire speech or an external speaker is invited to share the message, one has to critically analyse the content in order to make best use of it. Therefore, the task is to actively scrutinize the reliability, clarity and accuracy of that particular information only.

For example, when a sales person describes about his company’s product and only discusses its benefits, or might deliver positive feelings of that product and at the same time try to associate negative feelings with what the competitor has to offer. At this point the listener should be cautious and need not to take decisions on the basis of immediate feelings, but rather take time before concluding or before taking any actions. One needs to analyze and evaluate the message in order to determine whether to accept or reject it.

When the word ‘critical’ is used to describe listening, reading or thinking it does not necessarily mean that you are claiming that the information you are listening to is somehow faulty or flawed.   Rather, critical listening means engaging in what you are listening to by asking yourself questions such as, ‘what is the speaker trying to say?’ or ‘what is the main argument being presented?’, ‘how does what I’m hearing differ from my beliefs, knowledge or opinion?’.  Critical listening is, therefore, fundamental to true learning.

Comprehensive Listening:

Comprehensive listening where the focus is on ‘understanding the message’. To comprehend the meaning requires first having a lexicon of words at our fingertips and also all rules of grammar and syntax by which we can understand what others are saying. The problem is that many people often interpret the same conversation in different ways, depending on their individual and social backgrounds. The value of this type of listening is that the listener needs to remember the matter. It is useful when the purpose is to extract information from the speaker. Mostly this skill is used in classrooms by students and even at the workplace, when we listen to understand new practices or procedures for better performance.  In order to be able use comprehensive listening and therefore gain understanding the listener first needs appropriate vocabulary and language skills.

In order to properly use comprehensive listening and to gain understanding the listener first needs suitable vocabulary and language proficiency. Using overly difficult language or technical terminology, therefore, can be a barrier to comprehensive listening. The ultimate goal of comprehensive listening is to understand the message the speaker is communicating. Comprehension listening is also known as content listening, informative listening and full listening

Content Listening:

It describes a situation when one has to pay attention to the content for receiving some information like highlights of your organization or learning some technical or creative aspects. While getting information it would not be good on the listener’s part to challenge the speaker. The focus in this type of listening should be on gathering information, rather than making judgement. Taking notes and asking questions is important to make the listening interactive. It is also called Informational Listening.

Whenever you listen to learn something, you are engaged in informational listening.  This is true in many day-to-day situations, in education and at work, when you listen to the news, watch a documentary, when a friend tells you a recipe or when you are talked-through a technical problem with a computer – there are many other examples of informational listening too. When we’re listening to learn or be instructed we are taking in new information and facts, we are not criticising or analysing.  Informational listening, especially in formal settings like in work meetings or while in education, is often accompanied by note taking – a way of recording key information so that it can be reviewed later.

 

Full Body Listening:

It is to listen not only with your ears but by keeping full body in a listening mode. Full body listening is very important and is required to adapt in day to day activities. This type of listening can be done by keeping mind & heart open, by openly using the five senses of body, and even by building an open posture while interacting. The components of full body listening are active listening, attentive listening, visual listening & empathetic listening.

Active Listening

Complete involvement of the listener in speaker. He/ She make the conscious efforts to listen attentively, decode the message and use it through properly participating. “Active listening is a process in which a listener receives messages, processes them, and responds so as to encourage further communication” Alessandra, Wexler & Barrara , 1987).

Here the listener not only listens to the words but also understands the body language too, even shows regard for the speaker, concentrates on what is being conveyed and, in a way, helps speaker to meaningfully deliver the message. It also includes suggestions by the listener, and speaker is provided by the space to agree or disagree with the suggestions. This type of listening is required at the time of discussions & interview process when it is important to recall comprehend and response to the message. Colombo 2004) said, “Active listening is like a willingness to dig even deeper when only a small silver of treasure is visible and the rest is buried under a pile of trash”.

 

Attentive Listening:

It means, being fully aware of speakers; what they are saying; how they are saying it, i.e. the tone, pitch of voice, what they are doing, i.e. gestures, movements, postures, etc., and receiving and interpreting the message they are sending Bentley, 1993). Attentive listeners have relational goals like giving a positive impression, advancing the relationship, or demonstrating care. It is difficult and very tiring to maintain a state of attentive listening.

 

 

Visual listening:

This kind of listening is used when words are strange. It generally happens when we do not understand the language, as it may be a foreign language. Visual listening also takes place when the message is unspoken, here the messages are understood through body movement, facial expressions, gestures, and especially with eye contacts. Visual listening may also be the next step in online reputation management. Visual listening is the practice of observing and tracking images and attracting customers by using creative logos with perfect colour combinations.

Visual listening opens up a world of image-centric conversation, and, with it, a world of possibilities for engaging customers more perfectly and efficiently.

Empathetic listening:

Therapeutic or empathetic listening is a listening process wherein a listener tries to understand the point of view of a speaker and imagines themselves directly in the speaker’s position. Empathy means to ‘Put your foot in another’s shoe’, i.e. to keep yourself at other persons place to understand and realize the feeling of the speaker. When we are being truly empathetic, we actually feel what they are feeling. Raman & Singh2006) said, “Empathic listener is able to go into the world of another- to see as others sees, hear as other hears, and feel as the other feels”. The purpose is to give a patient listening to a friend or an acquaintance and allow him to talk through a problem. It involves comprehending what kind of mental state the speaker is at the time of conversation. There may be some personal issues, or overloading at workplace or something else, an empathetic listener will analyze the situation and respond accordingly. Brownell 1990) have considered it to be an antecedent, in that empathetic people tend to be good listeners.  It is also called Therapeutic listening.  Counsellors, therapists and some other professionals use therapeutic or empathic listening to understand and ultimately help their clients.  This type of listening does not involve making judgements or offering advice but gently encouraging the speaker to explain and elaborate on their feelings and emotions. Showing empathy is a desirable trait in many interpersonal relationships – you may well feel more comfortable talking about your own feelings and emotions with a particular person.  They are likely to be better at listening empathetically to you than others, this is often based on similar perspectives, experiences, beliefs and values – a good friend, your spouse, a parent or sibling for example.

Appreciative listening

Appreciative listening is a type of listening behavior where the listener seeks certain information which they will appreciate, and meet his/her needs and goals. For example, one uses appreciative listening when listening to good music, meditation seminars, poetry, audiobooks or a speech from a person with an excellent reputation. When you listen for appreciation you are listening for enjoyment. Think about the music you listen to. You usually listen to music because you enjoy it. The same can be said for appreciative listening when someone is speaking. Some common types of appreciative listening can be found in sermons from places of worship, from a motivational speech by people we respect or hold in high regard, or even from a standup comedian who makes us laugh.

Effective Listening Skills

1.      Face the speaker and give them your attention, be mentally prepared to listen, Give full attention. Maintain eye contact and face the speaker to give them your attention, make sure your mind is focused. Concentrate on what the speaker is saying.

2.      Evaluate the speech not the speaker, avoid jumping to conclusions. Don't pre-judge. Avoid hasty judgment. React to ideas not to person.

3.       Be unbiased to the speaker by depersonalizing your feelings, Be objective. Don't antagonize the speaker. Leave your emotions behind. Avoid preconceptions and prejudices

4.       Fight distractions by closing off sound sources, Remove distractions. Not to get distracted by outside influences

5.       Ask questions to clarify and not to overshadow intelligence

6.      Paraphrase from time to time, paraphrasing back to the speaker what was said, to show understanding

7.       Not to pay undue emphasis on vocabulary as you can use the context to understand the meaning

8.       Not to pay too much attention to the accessories and clothing of the speaker

9.       Not to prepare your responses while the speaker is speaking

10.  Not to interrupt too often, don’t interrupt the speaker

11.  Not to show boredom, demonstrating concern and establishing rapport

12.  Finish listening before you begin to speak.

13.  Listen for main ideas.

14.  Listen more talk less.

15.  Don't let your mind wonder.

16.  Be patient.

17.  Empathize with the speaker.

18.  Take notes.

19.  Give accurate feedback. Nonverbal cues nodding, eye contact, etc.) Verbal affirmations “I understand,” “I know,” “Thank you,” etc.) Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage the speaker. Smile and nod appropriately.

20.   Practice listening.

21.  Keep an open mind Do not judge or mentally criticize what the speaker is telling you. You can evaluate what was said after the speaker is finished talking, but don’t do so while you are still listening to them. Let the speaker finish what they are saying and don’t be a sentence-grabber. Interrupting the speaker or prohibiting them from finishing what they are saying can indicate disrespect to the speaker. Often, interrupting the speaker mid-sentence interrupts their train of thought and can easily destroy a productive conversation.

22.  Be active listener: Employ Active listening techniques:

23.  Think about what the other person is saying and not what you should respond with

Examples of Effective Listening

• A job candidate shares her understanding of an unclear question during an interview and asks if she has it right.
• An interviewer notices that a candidate doesn't look her in the eye when asserting a key strength.
• A customer service worker repeats a patron’s problem or complaint back to her to reassure her that she has been heard.
• A counselor nods and says, "I hear you," to encourage a client to continue to talk about their traumatic experience.
• A meeting facilitator encourages a reticent group member to share her views about a proposal.
• An interviewer asks a follow-up question to gain further clarification on the ways in which a candidate has applied a critical skill in a past job.
• A manager summarizes what her team has said during a staff meeting and asks them if she has heard things correctly.
• At the end of a performance review, an employee restates the specific areas in which his supervisor asks he improve.
• At a client meeting, a salesperson asks an open-ended question like, "What can I do to serve you better?" and encourages his counterpart to express any concerns fully.
• A nurse informs a patient that she is aware of how scared they are about their upcoming surgery and says she is there for her.
• An employee pays careful attention to a speaker at a training session and asks clarifying questions on the information they are receiving.

Fallacies about Listening

·         Listening is not my problem.

·         Listening and hearing are same.

·         Smarter people are better listeners.

·         Good readers are good listeners.

·         Listening improves with age or experience

Barriers to effective listening

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 BARRIER

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 BARRIER

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.

 

LANGUAGE PROBLEM

For effective listening language is important. better to use simple words and avoid unfamiliar words Non-verbal distractions, thought speed Listeners thought speed is faster than the speakers expression speed,  faking attention

 

 

Characteristics of a good listener

In fact, listening is just as important as speaking. Being a good listener helps solve problems, resolve conflicts, and improve relationships. In the workplace, effective listening contributes to fewer errors, less wasted time, and improved accuracy. Effective listening helps build friendships and careers.

You do not listen with just your ears. You listen with your eyes and with your sense of touch. You listen with your mind, your heart, your imagination. Egan Gerard)

 

1. They’re fully present.

Being present means that you’re engaged in the current moment. Instead of harboring on the past whether your own or the speaker’s) or anticipating what they’ll say next, you’re processing information as it’s told to you. You avoid all distractions, including your phone and other people. This means you maintain good eye contact to emphasize and demonstrate your focus.

2. They don’t listen to respond.

If you’re constantly thinking about how you’re supposed to react to what the speaker is saying, you’re not being a good listener. Good listeners don’t focus on what they’re going to contribute to the conversation next. Instead, they listen to process and understand. If you’re having trouble with this, try pretending you aren’t able to react or respond to the speaker. What would you do if you wanted to remember and understand the conversation without verbally engaging with it? You’d be listening to comprehend, not respond.

3. They react in the moment.

Like not listening to respond, good listeners use their focus in the present to react on the fly. While the planners among us might be made uneasy by this quality, these moment-to-moment responses will be great if they’re made with understanding. If you’re present, you’ll be able to focus and react with your gut, not with a critical and often wrong or harsh) mind. Your honest responses will produce an organic environment where you’re more likely to foster better connections with the speaker.

4. They don’t have an agenda.

Good listeners go into conversations without any expectations. They’re not attached to a certain outcome, so they’re not going to steer the conversation any way purposefully. Rather, they let the speaker guide the interaction and respond based on how they feel in the current moment. They don’t have a higher initiative, but rather let the conversation flow where it needs to go.

5. They don’t jump to give advice.

While good listeners shouldn’t stray from helping someone in need or giving their input, they don’t think their goal is to “fix” whatever the speaker needs. Sometimes, the best way to work through a problem is to talk through it—and that might mean no responses from a listener at all. Good listeners know when to offer their assistance and don’t rush to add in their thoughts and risk taking attention away from the speaker.

6. They never interrupt.

It’s frustrating to speak and constantly get interrupted. You might lose your argument or train of thought or even get your whole point derailed and forgotten. Good listeners understand this fury and simply listen until the speaker’s finished. If they’re confused, they follow up after the speaker has made their point. Often, initial confusion will be clarified later. If it’s not, good listeners aren’t afraid to politely ask — as long as it’s after they speaker’s finished. Good listeners interrupt intentionally and gently, rather than habitually and rashly.

7. They ask follow-up questions.

An important part of listening is engaging with the speaker. Good listeners encourage what the speaker has to say and make sure they understand what’s been communicated. They ask relevant questions or try to get more detail. If it’s an emotional conversation, they provide support and ask the speaker about their needs. If it’s more business-related, they may clarify and reiterate the agenda or ask anything they might not be sure about. Good listeners ask questions. Not to embarrass or attack, but to clarify and distill.

8. They listen as much or more than) they speak.

Good listeners aren’t worried about getting their say in. Instead, they’re focused on what the speaker’s saying and respond when necessary. Because they don’t interrupt or have expectations of what to say, they respond organically and appropriately. They don’t aim to dominate the conversation, but rather try to listen the same amount or even more than they verbally contribute.

9. They show that they’re listening.

Although they might not be speaking much during the conversation, good listeners show that they’re engaged by using active body language. This may include nodding or leaning in to show agreement or to encourage the speaker to continue. One of the best ways to show you’re listening is to keep eye contact with the speaker — even if they’re looking away, make sure to focus on them instead of letting your eyes constantly wander.

10. They’re patient.

While they might want to jump in with a response, good listeners don’t interrupt and wait until the speaker’s finished with that they have to say. Imagine all that someone has to say fills up an imaginary personal balloon. Listeners don’t wait until the speaker pauses but rather until they’ve emptied “their balloon.” This means they encourage them to say all that they have to rather than rushing to finish the conversation.

11. They listen to learn.

Good listeners believe they’ll learn something new from each conversation. They actively listen to understand new information or ask open-ended questions to allow the speaker to elaborate. Instead of having similar conversations again and again, they remain interested and invested and try to learn something from everyone. Good listeners are not lazy. They work hard to understand. They exert energy in listening

12. They’re interested in what the speaker is interested in.

This doesn’t mean that every good listener loves basketball and indie movies if their speaker does. Yet caring and supporting other people means being interested in what they have to say. Good listeners are genuinely curious and want to find out more about what the speaker has had to say. They aren’t asking questions to seem polite; they want answers, and they’re excited about how the speaker will provide them.

13. They summarize what they’ve heard.

While they don’t need to repeat what they’ve listened word for word, good listeners respond with a summary that clarifies and processes what the speakers just said. This typically comes closer to the end of the conversation to help highlight important moments or illuminate any outstanding issues.

14.  Good listeners understand that everyone has different communication styles,

Good listeners adjust their listening to correspond to the speaker’s communication style. For example, if the speaker is shy, they draw the person out more. If they are talkative, they interject more. Etc. They don’t take a “once size fits all” approach to listening.