Listening as the process of receiving, constructing meaning from,

and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages”.

- The International Listening Association

The word “Listen” derives its roots in the Germanic

language from the word “Hlysnan” which means to
pay attention. The first communication skill we
engage in the moment we are born is listening. It is
how we learn and acquire language.
 HEARING
THE SENSORY PERCEPTION OF SOUND
ATTENDING
A MENTAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
EFFORT WHICH INVOLVES
CATEGORISATION &
PRIORITISATION OF MESSAGES.
 COMPREHENDING  EVALUATING
ANALYSING THE INFORMATION
REMEMBERING,
AND DRAWING THE
UNDERSTANDING,
INTERPRETING AND GRASPING CONCLUSIONS.
THE
MESSAGE.
 RESPONDING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, REACTION, FEEDBACK THROUGH
GESTURES, SMILES, NODDING ETC.,
TYPES OF LISTENING
It is the first and foremost type of
listening in which we learn to
discern the difference in sound.
The best example of
discrimnative listening as a
phenomenon is the way a child
learns to speak.
For example:
- Singling out a single noise from
a noisy crowd.
Listeners primary concern is to
understand the message.
Listeners are successful when the
meaning they assign to messages
is as close as possible to that
which the sender intended.
E.g; Listening to lectures
APPRECIATIVE
LISTENING
When the listener gains
pleasure/satisfaction from
listening to a certain type of
music, poetry or even the stirring
words of a great leader.
Appreciative sources might also
include:
 Particular charismatic
speakers or Entertainers
COMREHENSIVE
LISTENING
Comprehensive listening is what
the message means to the
listeners and how they
understand it in different ways.
Listening comprehension involves:
 Speech decoding (sound, word,
accent recognition)
 Comprehending (identify central
theme, concentrate and
understand, deduce incomplete
information, decode unfamiliar
words).
 Oral discourse(critical skills,
attitude analysis, inferential
skills).
 Critical listening is that type of  It focuses on spoken message
listening where listeners have to and the emotions of the
evaluate the message. individual.

 Listeners have to critically  It includes understanding the

respond to the message and non-verbal cues.
give their opinions.
 Involves listening to other
 This form of listening involves person by putting oneself in the
analysis, critical thinking as well physiological position of that
judgment other person .
 A way of listening and responding to another
person that improves mutual understanding.

 A way of paying attention to other people that can

make them feel that you are listening them.
 OBSERVE • NON VERBAL BEHAVIOR

• NOT DOING ANY OTHER ACTIVITY

FOCUS
WHILE LISTENING

• RESPONDING THROUGH GESTURES &

ACKNOWLEDGE
FEEDBACK.

RESPECT • LET THE SPEAKER FINISH

 Listening without responding.

 Interest in understanding what

the other person is saying.

 The speaker is not interrupted in

any way..
PRINCIPLES OF
LISTENING
STOP TALKING PREPARE
 Don't talk, listen. YOURSELF TO
 When somebody else is talking
listen to what they are saying, do
LISTEN
not interrupt, talk over them or  Relax.
finish their sentences for them.
 Stop, just listen  Focus on the speaker.

 Put other things out of mind

Put the speaker at ease Remove distractions
• Focus on what is being said.
• Help the speaker to feel free to
speak
• Avoid unnecessary interruptions
• Nod or use other gestures
• or words to encourage them to
continue
• Maintain eye contact but don’t
stare
Empathize.. Be Patient
 Try to understand the  A pause, even a long pause,
other person’s point of does not necessarily mean
view. that the speaker has
 Let go of pre-conceived finished.
ideas.  Be patient and let the
 By having an open mind speaker continue in their
we can more fully own time, sometimes it
empathise with the takes time to formulate what
speaker. to say and how to say it.

•Try to be impartial.
•Don't become irritated.
•Focus on what is being said and
try to ignore styles of delivery
Listen to the toneA
good speaker will use both
volume and tone to their
advantage to keep an audience
attentive
It helps you to understand the
emphasis of what is being
said.
 Wait and watch for
•Listen for ideas-not non verbal
words communication
•The most difficult aspects of
listening is the ability to link
together pieces of information to
reveal the ideas of others.
•You need to get the whole picture
not just isolated pieces and bits.
 Determine the concepts
and central ideas of the
message
 The best gauge to know
whether you are listening or just
hearing is whether or not you
are actively looking for the
central idea of what is being
said.
 Learn to adapt to the
speakers Appearance,
Personality and
Delivery
 Don’t judge a book by its cover.
 Not every one is blessed with
dashing looks
 Beyond appearance ,we should
also spend some time coming to
peace with the fact that there
are different personalities, styles
and levels of abilities.
 Curb and overcome Show the speaker you are
distractions listening .
 It takes very little to jerk our  Head nods
attention away from the work of
listening…
 Leaning forward
 Obstacles…
 External noises.  Making eye contact
 Psychological activity (worry, 
self consciousness,
preoccupation)  Stop trying to Jump in and Talk
 Physical conditions (
temperature ,odour ,light , visual
distractions etc)
 Semantic distractions ( dialects ,
accents , vocabulary)
 Technological distractions
Listening
is the most powerful form
of acknowledgment

…a way of saying,
“You are important.”
Listening builds Listening creates
stronger relationships.. acceptance and openness

Creates a desire to cooperate Conveys the message that

among people because they feel “I am not judging you.”
accepted and acknowledged.
Listening is critical in
conflict resolution

Much conflict comes from the

need to be heard. Successful
resolution depends on being a
non- anxious presence.
 Listening is a far more complex
process that most people think
{THILL and BOVEE }

Most of us listen at or below a 25%

efficiency rate, remember only about half of
what is said during a 10 minute conversation,
and forget half of that within 48 hours.
”.

Resisting Distractions
 Distractions at physical or
mental level.
 We have a pace of thinking
faster than speaking, our
attention begins to wander
while we listen to someone.
 Make conscious effort to
bring our mind back.
 Be alert to the speakers
message that is to be
transmitted.
Focus More On the Manner Of
Listening than on the Matter Of
Listening
 Skilled listeners focus on
listening more to the message
than to the matter of listening.
 Each speech contains a limited
number of points.
 Our adapting to a right manner
of listening makes us identify
these points which, together
convey the main message.

 Don’t be distracted by
physical appearance and
mannerisms of the speaker.
 Concentrate on the message
that the speaker tries to
convey.
 DELAYING
EVALUATION
 Give speaker adequate time to say.
 Do not jump to conclusions.
 Premature judgment hampers
effective listening.
 Remember a good listener keeps
his/her mind open for ideas or
information and his/her eyes keen
to
how they are uttered
TAKING NOTES
 Learn how to record what we listen.
 Learning to take notes to keep a
track of the speaker’s message should
be the main thrust of the listener.
 How a listener drives the main
thrust of the speakers message home
is also very important
 Note taking technique is to acquire
main points by writing the key words
used by he speaker.
Be alert to your Body
Language
What you do with your hands,
eyes, face and postures sends
out signals as to whether you
are or aren’t listening to and
understanding what the other
person is saying.
These include…
Yawning, sighing ,Frowning
Crossing arms at chest etc
In conversations
consider the following
mannerisms
Smiling frequently, looking into
your eyes, keeping eyes wide
open indicates that the person
shows interest in you and what
you are saying.
Acknowledging the Listen to someone by
Speaker paying attention…..is
In addition, the active listeners
the greatest compliment
usually acknowledge the speaker we can give to another
verbally by comments such as
‘Umm’,
person.
‘I see’,
‘Really?’
Noise: Information
 Interior, overload
 Semantic
.
 Situational
All this information can weigh on
our ability to take in or receive
and adequately process and
evaluate what we take in through
our sensory channels.
 Speaker Perception
Sometimes we label the speaker
as uninteresting, not a good
speaker, boring or we can look
beyond the perceptions we
may have of the speaker.
Self Perceptions and
Personal Biases
Self perceptions and personal
biases can include:
Egocentrism
Ethnocentrism
Personal biases
Know-it-all attitude
HEARING VS
LISTENING
Difference between Hearing and
Listening
HEARING LISTENING
• Hearing is the process of • Listening is the process of deriving
meaning from organized sounds.
perceiving sound • Listening is more complex than
produced by any source merely hearing as it consists of
four stages
in the environment. • Sensing, Attending,
Understanding Interpreting,
• Hearing is merely the Remembering and Responding
ability of ear to sense • Listening is more of conscious
effort to interpret the sounds
sound around one requiring concentration of the
mind.
 When you are quiet, people will think you are
listening. But in order to hear what the other person is
saying, you have to stop thinking about anything else
and focus your attention on what is being said.
 You can actually listen without hearing. There are
several reasons for this. If you are planning your
response while the other person is talking, there is no
way you will hear what they are saying.

 Or you may daydream while another person is

talking. This happens when you are not that interested
in what someone is talking about. Again, you won't be
able to hear what is being said while your mind is
preoccupied

Another issue is when you don't want to hear what is

being said. In this case your hearing actually shuts down
so you don't have to listen to something you don't want
to. This can also happen when you don't agree with the
Effective
communication
Effective communication can
only occur when each person
is interested in hearing what
the other
is saying. Both people have
to make the effort to be
good listeners. This requires
patience, respect, and
courtesy. Productive
interaction takes int
ention and effort on the part
of everyone involved.
There are two distinct processes involved
in listening comprehension.

1.Top-down:
In this process prior knowledge is employed to
understand the meaning of a message.

2.Bottom-up:
In this process linguistic
Knowledge is used to understand the
meaning of a message.