Listening Skill

Contents in Listening Skill

1. Difference between listening and hearing
2. Purposes of listening
3. Types of listening
4. Levels of Listening
5. Causes of poor listening
6. How to improve listening
7. Results of good listening
Difference Between Listening and Hearing
1. Hearing :
A physiological process of receiving which does not involve paying
attention is called hearing.
2. Listening :
A complicated process of receiving which involves paying attention is
called listening.
Purposes of Listening
• To get information : When we listen we certainly get some sort of
information.
• To be motivated : We listen to the speaker to get motivation. We can be
motivated through speeches ,advise etc.
• To analyze the message : It means to check the message whether it’s a fact ,
opinion or both. Fact is the part of a message which can’t be changed while
opinion varies from person to person. For example
“it is very hot( fact) I don’t want to take class(opinion).
• To improve communication: it is always said that ‘ a good listener is a good
communicator’. By having a good practice of listening one becomes a good
speaker/communicator.
Types of Listening
• There are four types of listening.
1. Comprehensive listening : Listening for understanding the message of the speaker is
called comprehensive listening.
for example lecture, presentation , seminar , conference etc.
2. Appreciative listening : Listening for getting pleasure or entertainment sp. For
example listening to music , poetry , jokes etc
3. Critical listening : Listening for comparison between two or more ideas or persons in
order to reject or accept them. For example listening of a judge to the lawyers in a court
etc.
4. Empathic(empathy = sympathy) listening : Listening to the speaker for giving
emotional support to the speaker is called empathic listening. For example listening of a
doctor to the patient.
Levels of listening
• There are seven levels of listening.
• 1. Not listening ( hear the call but do not listen to it)
• 2. Pretends listening (The listener only shows that he/she is listening )
• 3. Partial listening ( the listener only grasp a few words of the speaker or we
can say only half of the message is received)
( all the above three points are actually passive listening)
• 4. Focus listening (from this point the listener starts focusing or listening to
the speaker words)
• 5. Interpretive listening (at this point the listener try to understand or pick
the message of the speaker)(decoding is done)
• 6. Interactive listening (at this point the listener start interaction with
the speaker the session of question answers starts at this level)
• 7. Fully Engaged listening ( at this level the speaker and listener both
starts mutually successful conversation with each other)
( From level 4th to level 7th all are related to active listening)
 Note

The rest of the three topics are covered in power point lecture
slides which has been already shared through LMS.