Communication Skills

Listening Skills

Dr. Mohamed Abdalla Khalil

Assistant Professor, Comp Science Dept, UofK
 What is Listening?

 Listening (ILA, 1996): the process of receiving,

constructing meaning from, and responding to
spoken and/or nonverbal messages; to hear
something with thoughtful attention.
 Effective communication is 2-way
 depends on speaking and listening

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 Listening vs. Hearing

 Hearing- physical process; natural; passive

 Listening- physical & mental process;

active; learned process; a skill

 Listening is hard!
You must choose to participate in the process of
listening.

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 Meaning
 Listening Is With The Mind
 Hearing With The Senses
 Listening Is Conscious.
 An Active Process Of Eliciting Information,
Ideas, Attitudes And Emotions

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 Fast Facts

 We listen at 125-250 wpm, think at 1000-3000

wpm.
 75% of the time we are distracted, preoccupied
or forgetful.
 20% of the time, we remember what we hear.
 More than 35% of businesses think listening is a
top skill for success.
 Less than 2% of people have had formal
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education with listening.
Percentage of Time We Spend on
Each Type of Communication

Mode of Formal Years Percentage of

Communication of Training Time Used
Writing 12 years 9%

Reading 6-8 years 16 %

Speaking 1-2 years 30%

Listening 0-few hours 45%

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 Listening is the most powerful
form of acknowledgment

…a way of saying to your

customer, “You are important.”

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Basic Communication Skills Profile
________________________________________________
Communication Order Learned Extent Used Extent Taught
____________________________________________

Listening First First Fourth

Speaking Second Second Third
Reading Third Third Second
Writing Fourth Fourth First

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Fallacies about Listening
▪ Listening and hearing are the same
▪ Good readers are good listeners
▪ Smarter people are better listeners
▪ Listening improves with age
▪ Thinking about what we are going to say
rather than listening to a speaker

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Fallacies about Listening
▪ Talking when we should be listening
▪ Hearing what we expect to hear rather
than what is actually said
▪ Listening skills are difficult to learn

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Barriers to Active Listening
 Environmental barriers
 Physiological barriers (hearing impairment,
tiredness, pain)
 Psychological barriers (Own anxiety, anger)
❖Result in:
❖ SelectiveListening
❖ Negative Listening Attitudes
❖ Personal Reactions

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❖ Poor Motivation
How to Be an Effective Listener
▪What You Think about Listening ?
❖Understand the complexities of listening
❖Prepare to listen
❖Adjust to the situation
❖Focus on ideas or key points
❖Capitalize on the speed differential

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 How to Be an Effective Listener (cont.)

▪What You Feel about Listening ?

❖Want to listen
❖Delay judgment
❖Admit your biases
❖Don’t tune out “dry” subjects
❖Accept responsibility for understanding

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 How to Be an Effective Listener (cont.)

▪What You Do about Listening ?

❖Establish eye contact with the speaker
❖Take notes effectively
❖Be a physically involved listener
❖Avoid negative mannerisms

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 BREAK

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Stages of the Listening Process
1. Hearing
2. Focusing on the message
3. Comprehending and interpreting
4. Analyzing and Evaluating
5. Responding
6. Remembering

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Improving Listening Comprehension
 Listening comprehension is the act of
understanding an oral message
 It involves speech decoding,
comprehending, and oral discourse
analysis

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1. Speech Decoding
 Sound Perception and Recognition
(Recognising sounds and sound patterns
accurately, recognising the way sounds
combine to form syllables and utterances)

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 1.Speech Decoding (Cont..)
 Word recognition
( Recognising words accurately,
understanding the definitions of the words
being use, recognising the way words are
used in context)
 Accent recognition
( recognise stress, identify pauses, hesitations)

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 2.Comprehending
 Comprehending a verbal message involves
the ability to:
• Identify the central theme, main ideas and
supporting details;
• Concentrate and understand long speeches
• Identify the level of formality
• Deduce incomplete information
• Deduce unfamiliar vocabulary
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3.Oral Discourse Analysis
 Is the process of identifying relationships
among different units within the speech or
oral message:
 Attitude analysis
 Inferential skills

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 Listening to Structured Talks
 Pre-listening analysis-determining the
purpose, knowing your speaker
 Predicting about the content of a
verbal message using
 Background knowledge
 Intensive listening

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 Intensive Listening
1. Listening to the introduction?
• What is the position, knowledge, background,
experience of the speaker?
• What is his credibility?
• What is the overall purpose of the talk?
• What is the central idea or theme?
• What is the overall structure?
• What does the speaker intend to do?
• What are the main points of the talk?
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Intensive listening (Cont…)

2. Listening to the Body

• Contains the main message-pay attention
• Concentrate on verbal signposts
• Recognise main supporting details of the oral
message
• Concentrate on visual aids

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Intensive Listening ( Cont..)
3. Listening to the conclusion
• Understand the main themes of the verbal message
• Recognise the speaker`s focus of the talk
• Concentrate on what the speaker wants the
listener`s to do, or remember

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Signal Phrases
Purpose of the speaker
* Introduces a topic
* Develops an idea
* Emphasizes a point
* Contrasts several ideas
* Shows transition of ideas
* Concludes
Signal phrases
Today, I`d like to talk about…,
What I am going to discuss is…
If we critically examine the
situation.., The most significant
point is…
I am sure you will agree with
me.., I`d like to emphasise..
On the other hand., In
contrast,…
My next point is…
Finally.., I`d like to sum up
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 Logical Connectors and
Transitional Signals
Purpose of the Logical connectors
speaker
Adds a point Moreover, in addition
compares Similarly, likewise
contrasts In contrast, However,
Shows segmentation Right, OK, And, Now, That`s all

Exemplifies In other words, For instance

Temporal Eventually, For the time being, Before
Explains Therefore, Thus
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 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Stop Talking.
2. Put The Talker At Ease.
3. Show Him That You Want To Listen.
4. Remove Distractions.
5. Empathize With Him/Her.
6. Be Patient.
7. Hold Your Temper.
8. Go Easy On Arguments And Criticism.
9. Ask Questions.
28 10. STOP TALKING!