Some pictures…

UNIT 4: LISTENING MATTERS

• Why is listening important?

• What is the difference between 'hearing'
and 'listening'? Is one a part of the other;
or, how are these processes related?
• Are men better at ‘listening’ than women?
• What are effective listening strategies?
• average student spends 53% of his/her
waking hours listening (Barker et al., 1981)
 Unit Objectives

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• 1. explain the difference between 'hearing'
and 'listening';
• 2. define the five stages in the listening
process;
• 3. distinguish between the various types of
listening within the context of effective
listening practice; and
• 4. apply appropriate strategies for listening
for a variety of purposes.
 'Hearing' versus 'listening'

• Hearing is the first step in the listening

process.
• It is a physiological process of receiving
sound signals via vibrations on the
eardrum.
• Interference is caused by distracting
noise, speaker’s voice, listener’s illness,
etc. often affect it
 Listening is…

• the psycholinguistic process of attaching

meaning to incoming aural signals
• composed of the act of hearing and the
interpretation of sound signals by the brain
• involves speech comprehension
• involves receiving the sound signals and
purposefully attending to them to make
sense of them
 A Task…

1. In marital communication, wives

generally choose one of the two
following patterns as the preferred set of
communication skills:
A Being self-confident, articulate, logical,
persuasive, and accurate.
B Being attentive, empathic, and caring
 A Task (cont’d…)

2.In supervisory communication, workers

value:
• A Being goal oriented.
• B Being supportive.
 A Task (cont’d…)

3.In the field of sales, customers prefer:

• A Learning what the customers needs
are.
• B Knowing a lot about the product or
service.
 A Task (cont’d…)

4.In the context of negotiation to solve

common problems, the communication
behaviour more likely to be successful is:
• A Talking.
• B Listening.
 A Task (cont’d…)

5. In the field of counselling, the pattern of

behaviour more likely to be effective is:
• A Offering the person good, logical
alternatives to think about.
• B Allowing the person to come to his/her
own conclusions.
 Listening: The Process

1. Receiving
-basically hearing and receiving verbal and
non-verbal stimuli
2. Understanding
-listener learns what the speaker means
(thoughts which have been expressed and their
emotional tone)
3. Remembering
-retaining messages for certain period of time;
not really what was actually said but what you
think was said
 Listening:
The Process (cont’d…)
4. Evaluating
-judging the message in some way i.e.
attaching some value to it in terms of how the
message relates to you
5. Responding
-occurs in two phases, namely, responses
made by the listener while the speaker is
talking, and responses made after the speaker
has stopped talking (two types of feedback)
 Listening:
Cultural Differences
• Language: different speech codes
• Non-verbal behavioural differences: e.g.
gestures and body language
• Direct and indirect styles: some cultures are
more direct
• Balance of story versus the evidence: value of
the story vs. evidence or facts
• Credibility
• Feedback: variable ways of responding and/or
giving feedback
 Types of Listening

Listening for different reasons and for different

purposes
• Participatory vs. passive listening
- participatory listening: act physically and
mentally like one who is participating in the act
of communicating
- passive listening: listening without talking and
without directing the speaker in any non-verbal
way to indicate total acceptance of ideas and
to provide a supportive atmosphere
 Types of Listening

• Empathic and objective listening

- empathic listening: listening to feel what
the speaker is feeling
- objective listening: listening to
understand what the speaker means
both literally and non-literally
 Types of Listening

• Non-judgemental and critical listening

- non-judgemental listening: listening
with an open mind and a view towards
understanding
- critical listening: listening with an aim to
make some kind of evaluation or
judgement i.e. listen and then evaluate
 Types of Listening

• Surface and depth listening

- surface listening: looking for obvious
and literal meanings of words
- depth listening: appreciation of other
words meanings and distinguishing
between different levels of meaning
and/or nuances
 Problems in Listening

• Passive listening
• Drifting thoughts
• Non-attention
• Intrusion of the past
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
 Problems in listening

• Passive listening – also known as ‘lazy’ listening

because it involves very little message retention

• Drifting thoughts – efficient listening can occur at

about 400 words per minute but most speakers speak
at a rate of about 125 to 175 wpm. - time lag caused
by the difference in rate can lead to listeners entering
their internal perceptual field i.e. ‘their own world’.

• Non-attention can also occur as a result of listeners

withdrawing into their external perceptual field
(interference from the physical environment – noise,
smell, visual distractions etc.)
 Listening problems…
• Intrusion of the past – past memories triggered
by the words or the actions of the speaker. The
listener debates mentally with the speaker about
points made earlier by the latter or about
previous encounters with the speaker
• Self-fulfilling prophecy – interference caused
by preconceived ideas about the speaker and/or
the topic of conversation E.g. preset ideas about
the speaker being a dull person may lead to
boredom even if the topic itself is an
interesting/sensational one.
 Critical Listening
Techniques
• Appreciative listening
• Discriminative listening
• Therapeutic listening
• Listening for comprehension
• Critical listening
 Critical Listening
Techniques
• Appreciative listening – focus on aspects other than
the message e.g. personality of speaker, speech style

• Discriminative listening – drawing inferences and

conclusions based on the way the message is
presented rather than what the conversation was about
e.g. emotional overtones of the transaction, intellectual
appeal

• Therapeutic listening – lending a sympathetic ear to

the speaker by way of providing emotional support e.g.
listening to personal problems and confessions
 Critical listening…
• Listening for comprehension – to gain
information and insights from the speaker e.g.
talks, academic lectures, television news
broadcasts, briefings, etc.
• Critical listening – interpretation and evaluation
of the message, i.e. assessing its strengths
and/or weaknesses, and assigning a value
(“interesting”, “useful”, “insightful” etc) e.g.
classroom listening, sales pitch, political speech.
Decisions are made whether to accept or reject
ideas, and whether to act on the advice given
 Critical Listening:
Process
• Do I understand the ideas?
• What is the main thrust of what was said?
• Does the speaker’s message relate to other
things I know about the topic?
• Does the speaker provide supporting material
and acceptable explanations?
• Are the speaker’s conclusions defensible?
 Critical Message
Comprehension
In formal contexts:
• ideas;
• structure of message; and
• support materials.
 Self-check Questions
• What are the main ideas? i.e. the central idea(s) of
the transaction and the statements supporting it/them
• How are the ideas arranged? Identify the structure i.e.
problem-solution, cause-effect, general-specific,
spatial, temporal, or chronological order?
• What kind of materials support does the speaker
provide for the main idea(s)?
• Quality of the content (facts or mere opinions used to
support speaker’s stand; how recent?);
• Use of statistics and generalisation acceptable?
 Assessing the speech
transaction
• The speech situation: How is the physical
situation affecting the transaction and my
understanding of it?
• The speaker: What do I know about the
speaker? How believable is he or she? Is the
speaker adequately prepared? What is his/her
attitude towards the listener/audience?
• The message: How solid are the ideas
presented? Are the ideas well structured? Is
there sufficient evidence to support the ideas?
 Note-taking…

• Notes complement good listening

techniques.
• Develop an efficient note-taking system
(files, books, cards etc.)
• Content of notes must include central
claim/thesis, main ideas, supporting ideas,
issues and comment, listeners’ questions
etc.
 For Self-reflection…

“There is no such thing as a worthless

conversation, provided you know what
to listen for.”
(James Nathan Miller