Listening skill is key to receiving messages effectively.

It is a combination of hearing what

another person says and psychological involvement with the person who is talking.
Listening is a skill of Language. It requires a desire to understand another human being, an
attitude of respect and acceptance, and a willingness to open one's mind to try and see
things from another's point of view. It requires a high level of concentration and energy. It
demands that we set aside our own thoughts and agendas, put ourselves in another's shoes
and try to see the world through that person's eyes
Listening is a language modality. It is one of the four skills of a language i.e., listening,
speaking, reading and writing. It involves an active involvement of an individual. Listening
involves a sender, a message and a receiver. It is the psychological process of receiving,
attending to constructing meaning from and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal
messages. 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 and
• recalling important words and ideas.
Listening differs from hearing in sense that:
Hearing implies just perceiving the sounds while listening means listening with
understanding whatever you are listening. Both the body as well as mind is involved in
listening process. Listening is an active process while hearing is a passive activity.
Hearing is an effortless activity while listening is an act requiring conscious efforts,
concentration and interest. Listening involves both physical and psychological efforts.
Process of listening
The process of listening occurs in five stages. They are hearing, understanding,
remembering, evaluating, and responding.
1.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- this
selective perception is known as attention, an important requirement for effective
listening.
2. 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.
3. 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
mind's 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.
4.EVALUATING- Only active listeners participate at this stage in 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
5.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.
TYPES 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
paraphrase our understanding of the message and reflect it back to the sender for
verification. This verification or feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and
makes it effective.
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. Listener does not respond to the speaker and the feedback is
completely missing.
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 listen for openings to take the floor, or for flaws or weak points.
4.Pretending Listening – Is a way where listener is not concentrating and will not
remember anything because he is actually daydreaming or being distracted by something
else even though he will occasionally nod or agree using ‘stock’ safe replies.
5.Selective Listening – It means selecting the “desired” part & ignoring the “undesired” part
of the message.
6.Intuitive Listening – It means listening through intuitive mind by silencing the internal
dialogues going simultaneously.
7.Empathic Listening – It is listening intently & intensively to understand the person fully,
deeply both emotionally as well as intellectually. The listener pays special attention to the
speaker to provide emotional moral or medical advice. Eg psychologist listening to a
patient.
8.Discriminative listening Discriminative Listening first develop at a very early age (even
before birth). This is the most basic form of listening. This type of listening is not about
understanding the meaning of words or phrases. Here, in this case, the different sounds
that are produced are recognized by the child. Example – Even in early childhood child
knows that the voice of the father sounds different from that of the mother. D.L. develops
throughout a person’s childhood and keeps on developing until the person reaches
adulthood. As we grow older, we gain more life experience and our ability to distinguish
between different sounds is improved. Being able to distinguish the subtleties of sound
made by somebody who is I happy or sad, angry of stress, for example, ultimately adds to
what is actually being said and it does and comprehension.
9.Comprehensive Listening It involves understanding the message that is being
communicated. In order to use comprehensive listening and gain understanding, the
listener must possess appropriate vocabulary and language skills. CL may be complicated as
two different people listening to the same thing may understand the message is to be
different ways. So, in many listening situations, it is vital to see clarification and use skills
such as reflection and comprehension.
10.Informational Listening Whenever you are listening to learn something, you are
involved in Informational Listening IL is less active than many other types of listening. In this
type of listening, we are talking about new information and facts. Here we are not
criticizing or analyzing. Informational Listening in case of work setting or in education is
often accompanied by note-taking.Note-taking- Way of recording key information so that it
can be received later.
11. Critical Listening A person is said to be involved in critical listening if he is evaluating
what is being said. Critical listening is much more active in behavior than informational
listening. It usually involves some sort of problem-solving or decision making. It involves the
analysis of the information being received and alignment with what we already know.
Listening to some messages critically does not mean that the information is flawed. It is
rather engaging in what you are listening to.
12. Appreciative listening
Listening for deriving aesthetic pleasure as we do when we listen to a comedian
13. Casual listening
When we listen to someone without paying much attention and focus leading to a
purposeless process is called casual listening
14. Intentional listening
When we listen to someone with proper intention and full focus in a disciplined way leading
to a purposeful process
Importance of Listening Skill
The child starts listening just after birth. These inscribed sounds form the basis of the child’s
language knowledge. Because of listening well, the child can listen to sounds and can
understand subtle differences.
It develops the ability to recognize the subtle differences in sounds.
Listening skills form the main basics for developing other language skills.
It develops reading skills.
Objectives of Listening Skill
To develop the ability to receive meaning by listening.
To inculcate interest in language and literature among the students.
Motivating students to listen and participate in literary activities.
To develop the ability to summarize the source material.
Listen patiently, and follow the etiquette of listening.
Maintaining a state of mind of receptivity. Understanding the context and meaning of
words, phrases, and expressions.
To provide motivation to listen carefully to any source material.
Ways to improve Listening skill Hearing and Listening are two different activity. Hearing is
passive whereas Listening is active. Listening is a psychological process. It can therefore be
improved by regular practice. Listening is a very helpful skill. Active listening is really an
extension of the Golden Rule.
1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness
through body language.
2. Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all remain comfortable.
3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the TV. Put down your book or magazine, and ask
the speaker and other listeners to do the same.
4. Respond appropriately to show that you understand. Murmur (“uh-huh” and “um-hmm”)
and nod. Raise your eyebrows. Say words such as “Really,” “Interesting,” as well as more
direct prompts: “What did you do then?” and “What did she say?”
5. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to
say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point.
6. Minimize internal distractions. If your own thoughts keep horning in, simply let them go
and continuously re-focus your attention on the speaker, much as you would during
meditation.
7. Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree.
Try not to make assumptions about what the speaker is thinking.
8. Avoid letting the speaker know how you handled a similar situation. Unless they
specifically ask for advice, assume they just need to talk it out.
9. Even if the speaker is launching a complaint against you, wait until they finish to defend
yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had been made. They won’t feel the
need to repeat it, and you’ll know the whole argument before you respond. Research
shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than we can talk, so we have the
ability to sort ideas as they come in…and be ready for more.
10. Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but, once again, wait until the speaker
has finished. That way, you won’t interrupt their train of thought. After you ask questions,
paraphrase their point to make sure you didn’t misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re
saying…”
Characteristics of Good and Effective Listener
Good and effective listener tries to give maximum amount of thought to the speaker’s ideas
being communicated, leaving a minimum amount of time for mental exercises to go off
track. A good listener:
Is attentive- Good listener must pay attention to the key points. He should be alert. He
should avoid any kind of distraction.
Do not assume- Good listener does not ignore the information he considers is unnecessary.
He should always summarize the speaker’s ideas so that there is no misunderstanding of
thoughts of speakers. He avoids premature judgements about the speakers message.
Listen for feelings and facts- Good listener deliberately listens for the feelings of the
speaker. He concentrates totally on the facts. He evaluates the facts objectively. His
listening is sympathetic, active and alert. He keenly observes the gestures, facial expression
and body language of the speaker. In short, a good listener should be projective (i.e. one
who tries to understand the views of the speaker) and empathic (i.e. one who concentrates
not only on the surface meaning of the message but tries to probe the feelings and
emotions of the speaker).
Concentrate on the other speakers kindly and generously- A good listener makes
deliberate efforts to give a chance to other speakers also to express their thoughts and
views. He tries to learn from every speaker. He evaluates the speaker’s ideas in spare time.
He focuses on the content of the speaker’s message and not on the speaker’s personality
and looks.
Opportunists- A good listener tries to take benefit from the opportunities arising. He asks
“What’s in it for me?”