Activities On Listening Skills
1.Listening Skills
Technical Communication involves all the four skills of language: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Listening is an important communicative process and is crucial to effective communication. The four stages of listening are sensing, interpretation, evaluation and response. Listening can be both active and passive. Active listening is a dynamic and interactive communicative process. It demands concentration, involvement and responsibility. Passive listening is the process of just absorbing the message encoded in the spoken word without any involvement.
Why do we listen
To get an introductory idea of an oral message
To understand the main points of a lecture
To discover the speaker’s ideas during a conversation
To understand differing viewpoints in order to contribute to a discussion
To aim a broad understanding of the subject matter of a seminar
To obtain specific information
To understand new changes and developments in a particular field
To broaden one’s outlook and understanding
To seek evidence for one’s own points of view
Types of listening
Focused listening – listening for specific information.
Example: Listening to railway announcements.
Superficial listening – the listener has little awareness of the content of the verbal message.
Example: Listening to a radio program while reading a newspaper
Appreciative listening – to get enjoyment and pleasure.
Example: Listening to music
Evaluative listening – to evaluate the content of the oral message, commentary and develop a line of thought.
Example: Listening to lectures, seminars.
Attentive listening – demands the complete attention of the listener.
Example: Listening to administrative instructions, important telephone calls.
Empathetic listening – involves listening to the speaker’s feelings, emotions and state of mind.
Example: Listening to a frustrated colleague.
Barriers to listening
Physical barriers – distance, noise, physical discomfort, physical distractions.
Psychological barriers – feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, anxiety or fear
Linguistic barriers – improper message decoding, ambiguous language and jargon.
Cultural barriers – cultural differences, different values and different social norms.
Effective listening strategies
Do not talk while listening
Stop thinking while listening
Avoid all kinds of distractions
Do not let your mind wander
Put the speaker at ease
Do not pre-judge
Patience is the key to good listening
The listener should control his/her temper
Empathize with the speaker
The listener should take notes to keep a record
Listening – purposes
Listening for repetition – to imitate the sound
Listening for recognition – to recognize the word and then identify the subject
Listening for recall – to remember the subject
Listening for discrimination – to distinguish between short and long vowel sounds
Listening for general understanding – to get the main theme and tone of the text
Listening for specific information – to get the facts and figures of the text
Listening for prediction – to guess what might happen next and attribute qualities to the character
Listening for inference – to analyze and guess what the author is referring to
Listening for pleasure – social conversation, poem recitation and speeches
Listening for improvement – assorted activities to improve language skills