Defining the listening skills

Among the four language skills : speaking, listening, writing, and reading, listening is

the vital competance of learning a language. Despite it’s importance and it’s

significant role in our every day life ; it is the least understood and ’’has not gained

legitimacy’’ as a part of the learning environement.

When dealing with this skill, it is remarked that there are many definitions, but there

is no agreement about which is the most convenient

Listening skills are essential for effective communication,it is the way through which

we understand what the speaker is saying. As it was noted :

“Listening is not merely not talking…it means taking a

vigorous human interest in what is being told us. You can

listen like blank mall or like a splendid auditorium where

every sounds comes back fuller and richer”

( Miller, Goodith, 2001, 48 )

In other words, it is the capability to reformulate and identify the meaning of what

was said, throught understanding the speaker’s accent, pronunciation, grammar, and

vocabulary.

Characteristics of effective listening

 Listening is a crucial communication competence that comprises the complex

cognitive processes like grasping and analysing messages, affective processes like

being motivated to concentrate, and behavioral processes like responding with both

verbal and nonverbal feedback. This implies that, to be an effective listener, the

listener has to take into account his or her thinking and feeling about the

communication being received.

These characteristics thus range across these cognitive, affective, and behavioral

frames.

Cognitive characteristics of effective listening

 Probing

 Paraphrasing

 Summarizing

Asking inquiries to follow up or for clarification, paraphrasing the individual

communications, and summarizing the conversation are all activities that demonstrate

the participation of the speaker within the conversation, indicating his or her clear

understanding of the messages.

Affective characteristics of effective listening

 Focusing of attention

 Acceptance

 Empathy

The effective listener may also signal his or her affective engagement in the

conversation by making it the sole focus of attention, and by receiving

communication with acceptance and empathy requires that the listener try to avoid
projecting his or her own opinions, feelings and prejudices onto the speaker, and that

the listener accept the speaker’s communication without simultaneously trying to craft

a response.

Behavioral characteristics of effective listening

 Non-verbal behavior

 Advice

Action is also part of effective listening. The listener should communicate his or her

attention through non-verbal means like eye contact, erect posture, nodding, and other

positive body language.The listener may also demonstrate engagement by broadening

the range of the conversation, such by inquiring about or suggesting altenatives to the

subject or conclusion at hand.

Levels of listening
 Levels of listening explore the importance of listening in developing the

communication skills, because ’’most of our efforts to develop communication

skills deals with reading, writing and speaking.  But very little effort is placed on

developing our ability to really hear the other person's perspective’’.

 There Are five levels of listening : Ignoring the speaker, pretend listening,

selective listening, attentive listening, empathic listening.

Levels Explanation
Level1 : Ignoring the  The listeners are not giving any attention to what the

speaker speaker is saying, they are waiting for their turn to speak.

Level2 : Pretend listening  The listeners give the impression they hear the message,

but they may hear just few words. they may nodd their

heads or offers other gestures.

Level3 : Selective listening  The listeners choose the interested parts of the message,

they have the tendency to finish the other person’s

sentences.
Level4 : Attentive listening  The listeners concentrate on what the speaker says, and

they offer their time and attention.

Level5 : Empathic listening  The persons who develop this skill listen not only to the

other person's words, they listen for what the other person

means.

Introduction

Language is paramount to every aspect and interaction in our everyday lives, it is a

way to help people communicate effectively. In this regard, listening is considered as

the most critical communication skill and it provides the foundation for learning

foreign language also it is the first step to achieve oral fluency and accuracy.

In this chapter we will attempt to shed the light on the definitions of listening ;

explaing whether listening is a skill or a set of skills, and figure out the differences

between hearing and listening. In addition to that we will highlight the process, the

stages, the types and levels of the listening skills. Taking into account the major

characteristics of effective listening.