Introduction to

Listening and Speaking Skills

Processes involved in Listening
Processes involved in Listening
• Hearing vs listening
• Top-down processing
• Bottom-up processing
• Listening is an active process
Hearing vs listening
• Have you ever heard someone say: “You might be hearing me, but
you’re not listening to me”?
• If you’re familiar with that expression, there’s a good chance you
know a thing or two about the difference between hearing and
listening.
• While hearing and listening may seem like they serve the same
purpose, the difference between the two is fairly significant.
Hearing vs listening – cont.
• The definition of hearing has more to do with the physiological act of
hearing sounds than it does with making sense and connecting with the
person who’s talking to you.
• Merriam-Webster defines hearing as the “process, function, or power
of perceiving sound; specifically: the special sense by which noises
and tones are received as stimuli.”
• Listening on the other hand, means “to pay attention to sound; to hear
something with thoughtful attention; and to give consideration.”
Hearing vs listening – cont.
• Clinical psychologist Kevin Gilliland, PsyD, says the difference
between the two is night and day.
• “Hearing is like collecting data,” he explains.
• The act of hearing is rather simple and basic. Listening, on the other
hand, is three-dimensional. “People that excel at work, or in marriage
or friendships, are ones that have honed their ability to listen,” says
Gilliland.
Hearing vs listening – cont.
• When it comes to the definition of listening, we can break it down one
step further. In the communication world, there are two terms experts
often use: active and passive listening.
• Active listening can be summed up in one word: curious. The United
States Institutes of Peace defines active listening as “a way of listening
and responding to another person that improves mutual
understanding.”
• In other words, this is the way you want to listen if you’re seeking to
understand another person or you’re looking for a solution.
Hearing vs listening – cont.
• On the opposite end of the listening spectrum is passive listening.
• A passive listener, according to Gilliland, is a listener who isn’t trying
to contribute to the conversation — especially at work or in school.
It’s not a great way to communicate with people. That’s why Gilliland
says not to use it with your spouse or kids since they’ll notice it pretty
quickly.
Top-down processing
• Top-Down processing refers to the use of schemata or
knowledge of learners to understand the information received.
• Top-down listening means making as much use as you can of
your knowledge and the situation. From your knowledge of
situations, contexts, texts, conversations, phrases and
sentences, you can understand what you hear.
• Top down listening involves activating prior knowledge about a
particular topic or theme, and using this prior knowledge to help
us make sense of the new story or information we are hearing.
Top-down processing – cont.
• Top down listening happens when we use background
knowledge to make sense of what we are listening to. We
already know a fair amount about the topic, and the story or
information we are getting fits into a previously established
schema.
Bottom-up processing
• Bottom-Up processing refers to the process of understanding
the information through the analysis of sound, sense of the
word, and grammar.
• This means making as much use as you can of the low level
clues. You start by listening for the individual sounds and then
join these sounds together to make syllables and words. These
words are then combined together to form phrases, clauses and
sentences. Finally the sentences combine together to form texts
or conversations.
Bottom-up processing – cont.
• The bottom-up approach involves listening exercises which
develop bottom-up processing helping learners to recognize
individual words, sentences, and clause divisions, recognize
key linguistic features of the words and sentences. Such
approach is effective when the L2 perception skills are not
developed enough.
• Bottom up listening happens when we understand language
sound by sound or word by word, with less use of background
knowledge.
Listening is an active process
• Active listening means, as its name suggests, actively listening.
That is fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just
passively ‘hearing’ the message of the speaker.
• Active listening is a skill that can be acquired and developed
with practice. However, active listening can be difficult to master
and will, therefore, take time and patience to develop.
• Active listening involves listening with all senses. As well as
giving full attention to the speaker, it is important that the ‘active
listener’ is also ‘seen’ to be listening - otherwise the speaker
may conclude that what they are talking about is uninteresting
to the listener.
Listening is an active process – cont.
• Interest can be conveyed to the speaker by using both verbal
and non-verbal messages such as maintaining eye contact,
nodding your head and smiling, agreeing by saying ‘Yes’ or
simply ‘Mmm hmm’ to encourage them to continue. By
providing this 'feedback' the person speaking will usually feel
more at ease and therefore communicate more easily, openly
and honestly.
• This is a generic list of non-verbal signs of listening, in other
words people who are listening are more likely to display at
least some of these signs. However these signs may not be
appropriate in all situations and across all cultures.
Listening is an active process – cont.
• Non-Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
• Smile - Combined with nods of the head, smiles can be
powerful in affirming that messages are being listened to and
understood.
• Eye contact - can however be intimidating, especially for
more shy speakers – gauge how much eye contact is
appropriate for any given situation.
• Posture - the attentive listener tends to lean slightly forward
or sideways whilst sitting, may also a slight slant of the head
or resting the head on one hand.
Listening is an active process – cont.
• Mirroring - automatic reflection/mirroring of any facial
expressions used by the speaker can be a sign of attentive
listening and can help to show sympathy and empathy in
more emotional situations.
• Distraction - The active listener will not be distracted and
therefore will refrain from fidgeting, looking at a clock or
watch, doodling, playing with their hair or picking their
fingernails.
Listening is an active process – cont.
• Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
• Positive Reinforcement - although some positive words may
be beneficial to the speaker, the listener should use them
sparingly so as not to distract
• Remembering - help to reinforce that the messages sent
have been received and understood – i.e. listening has been
successful.
• Questioning - demonstrate that the listener have been paying
attention and have an interest in what the speaker has been
saying.
Listening is an active process – cont.
• Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
• Reflection - repeating or paraphrasing what the speaker has
said in order to show comprehension and demonstrate
understanding.
• Clarification - asking questions of the speaker to ensure that
the correct message has been received.
References
• Gilliland K. (2018). Personal interview.
• https://www.healthline.com/health/hearing-vs-listening
• https://www.usip.org/public-education-new/what-active-listening
Thank you