LISTENING AND ALL THE COMPONENTS SURROUNDING IT.

Definition

It is an active, complex process that includes being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing information, interpreting communication, responding and remembering.

A person may receive and understand instruction but choose not to comply with it. This is said to have listened even though the result is not what the speaker expected.

Semiotican Roland Barthes distinct it: hearing is a physiological phenomenon that occurs when sound waves hit our ear drums. Hearing is passive; we don’t have to invest any energy to hear. On the other hand, listening is an active psychological act.

IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

McCutchen and Schatter(1994) puts it that there are plentiful importance that even go beyond just acquiring information. Good listeners encourage speakers to do their best. Good listeners also enhances their own ability to speak by improving their concentration – best of all, they learn to think better. Good listening skills are especially important in a society that grants freedom of speech to all people whether their views or causes. Listening will rarely get you in trouble.

EFFECTIVE LISTENING STRATEGIES       

-          Take the advantage that you will provide the energy and make the effort to become a better listener.

-          Adopt the right posture for listening: face the speaker and establish eye contact, lean forward and nod occasionally.

-          Good listening requires all of our senses and plenty of mental energy.

                LEVELS OF LISTENING

(a)Alerting

This level does nothing to distinguish human from animal. One merely picks up certain environment sounds cues. Barthes mentions the idea of territory being demarcated by sounds.

(b)Deciphering

This is basically the ‘digestion’ or interpretation of sound heard. e.g. a car starting may signify that one’s parent is leaving home. Sound cues are used to predict result. A knock at the door may mean there is a visitor.

(c)Understanding

This shows how what one says will affect another. This sort of listening is import in psychoanalysis. Barthes states that the psychoanalyst must turn off their judgement while listening to the analysis in order to communicate with their patient’s unconscious in unbiased fashion.

These listening levels however, function within the same plane, sometimes all at once especially the second and third levels which constantly overlap as obtaining, understanding and deriving meaning are part of the same process. Listening is a skill of language learnt.

MESSAGE RECEIVED

MESSAGE SENT

NOISE

Listening is usually intensive or extensive. In intensive listening, listeners attempt to listen with maximum accuracy for a relatively brief sequence of speech and this is very effective in developing specific aspects of listening ability. However, in extensive listening one may listen to lengthy passages for general comprehension and is very effective in building fluency and maintaining learner motivation.

 

FORMS OF NON-LISTENING 

According to Wood Juliat(2006), the following are the forms of non-listening:

(1)   Pseudo listening

This is pretending to listen. When we pseudo listen, we appear to be active, but really our minds are elsewhere. For instance, whenever we are bored by a conversation but we have to appear interested.

(2)   Monopolizing.

Monopolizing involves focussing information on ourselves instead of on the person talking. There are two tactics involved in monopolizing:

(i)                 Conversational re-routing. The person shifts the topics of talk to himself/herself. This takes a person away from the speaker.

(ii)               Diversionary interrupting. Involves interrupting in ways that disrupts the speaker, such that a person interrupts then directs the conversation to a new topic.

(3)   Selective listening

This focuses only on particular parts of messages. We listen selectively when we screen out parts of a message that makes us uncomfortable, not interested or conflict with our views. We also listen carefully when we isolate for attention the parts of the communication that particularly interests us or with which we agree.

(4)   Defensive listening

It involves perceiving personal attacks, criticisms, or hostile undertones in communication when no offense is intended. We read unkind motives into whatever others say.

(5)   Ambushing

It involves listening carefully for the purpose of attacking. It involves very careful listening, but it isn’t motivated by interest in another. Instead, ambushers listen intently to gather ammunition, which they then use to attack the speaker. For instance, political candidates and organizations with competitive cultures feel that one must do the other.

(6)   Literal listening

It involves listening to only the content level of the meaning and ignoring relationship level of the meaning. All communications includes both content and literal meaning and relational meanings that pertains to the power, responsiveness, and liking between people.

When we listen literally, we attend only to the content meaning and overlook what’s being communicated about the other person or our relationship with that person.

MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

1)      It’s difficult to learn how to listen

The first misconception about listening is that the skills involved are difficult to learn. We all learn to listen from an early stage and spend a lot of our time listening and all this depends on the circumstances of communication and our motivation to listen and our personality. Skills needed for effective listening are not difficult to learn provided that one practices and consistently applies good listening skills.

2)      I’m a good listener

Generally people overestimate their own listening abilities and underestimate the listening abilities of others. This means that other people tend to think that they are better listeners than others. Effective listening can only be measured by the understanding that one gains. This inevitably varies for different situations and for different people.

3)      Intelligent people are better listeners

There is no link between traditional measures of cognitive ability, intelligence (IQ), and how well we listen. Although being bright and having good vocabulary may make it easier to process information and gain understanding, these qualities do not necessarily make clever people better listeners. People with higher emotional intelligence (IQ), on the other hand, are more likely to be better listeners. Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to access, identify and manage their emotions and the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is the measure of a person’s likelihood to consider the emotional needs of others. Assessment of such needs often comes about through good listening.

4)      Hearing is the same as listening

Having good hearing does not make you a good listener. It is perfectly possible to have good hearing but poor listening. Good hearing enables you to hear and interpret sound, but listening is a lot more than simply hearing. Effective listening means focussing on the meaning of the words that you hear putting them into context to gain an understanding. Good listeners also read the non – verbal signals sent from the speaker. Their tone of voice, gestures, and general body language. Effective listening is not wholly dependent on our ability to hear, but includes other senses together with the cognitive process.

5)      We listen better as we get older.

People  do not automatically become better listeners as they get older – without practise and consciously thinking about listening there is no reason why listening will improve, it may actually get worse. As we go through life, gaining experience and understanding of the world around us our capacity for listening is likely to improve. Whether we utilise this capacity and actually listen more effectively depends on our personalities, the particular situation and avoiding any bad habits we may have picked up on the way.

6)      Gender effects listening ability.

Generally, and without trying to stereotype men and women value communication differently. Women tend to place a high value on connection, cooperation and emotional messages whereas men are generally more concerned with facts and maybe uncomfortable talking about and listening to personal or emotional subjects. This doesn’t mean that women are better listeners than men, or vice versa, but that there may be differences in the way in which messages are interpreted.

                                  Types of listening

Although we spend most of the time we are communicating listening to what others are saying, the type of listening that is required of us depends on the situation. One must therefore consider his/ her purpose of listening. Scholars ( Wolving & Coakley 1996) have  identified five types of listening based on purpose.

(i)                 Appreciative Listening

In this situation, your goal is to simply enjoy the thoughts and experiences of others by listening to what they are saying. With appreciative listening, you do not have to focus closely or as careful on more specifics as you do in other listening situations. Most people listen to music in this way or even during a casual conversation as you watch a ball game.

(ii)               Discriminative listening.

In this situation your goal is to accurately understand the speaker’s meaning. At times, this involves listening ‘between the lines’. This situation requires to pay attention not only to the words but also to non - verbal cues such as rate, pitch, inflection, volume, quality and gestures. This can be applied in a doctor – patient situation. When a doctor is explaining a result of a test, a patient not only listens carefully to what the doctor is saying but also pays attention to the non – verbal cues that indicate whether these results are troubling or routine.

(iii)             Comprehensive listening.

In this situation, your goals is not only to understand the speaker’s message but also to learn, remember and be able to recall what has been said. We listen comprehensively to professors lecturing about key concepts, speakers at training seminars, and broadcast news reports that provide timely information about traffic conditions. I’m giving this presentation and you’re listening.

(iv)             Empathic listening.

When the situation calls for us to try and understand how someone else is feeling about what they have experienced, or are talking about, we use empathetic listening. Therapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists engage in empathetic listening with their clients as do those who answer telephone hotlines. Customer care

(v)               Critical listening.

In this situation, your ultimate goal is to evaluate the worth of a message. Because you need to hear, understand, evaluate and assign meaning to the message. It is the most demanding since it requires that you understand and remember both the verbal and non-verbal message, assess the speaker’s credibility, and effectively analyse the truthfulness of the message. When being solicited for a donation, one needs to apply critical listening.

GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

(1)   Positive reinforcement

Although some positive words of encouragement may be beneficial to the speaker, the listener should use them sparingly so as not to distract from what is being said or place unnecessary emphasis on parts of the message. One should elaborate and explain why they agree with a certain point.

(2)   Remembering

Remembering key points or even just the name of the speaker can help to reinforce that the message sent has been received and understood. Remembering details, ideas and concepts from previous conversations proves the attention was kept and is likely to encourage the speaker to continue.

(3)   Note – taking

During longer exchanges it may be appropriate to make very brief notes to act as a memory jog when questioning or clarifying later.

(4)   Questioning

The listener can demonstrate that they’ve been paying attention by asking relevant questions and/or making statements that build or help to clarify what the speaker has said. This also reinforces the speaker and demonstrates understanding.

(5)   Clarification

It involves asking questions of the speaker to ensure that the correct message has been received. Open questions are used to enable the speaker expand on certain points as necessary.

(6)   Summarisation

Repeating a summary of whatever has been said back to the speaker is a technique used by listeners to repeat what has been said in their own words..

                    OBSTACLES TO MINDFUL LISTENING

(i)                 Noise levels – one is not able to listen effectively when they are near noise sources.

(ii)               Information overload – one gets overloaded when a lot of information is pumped into them in a short while and they may get distracted.

(iii)             Improper dressing – one’s dressing may distract the audience. If one is not properly dressed, their audience may fail to fully comprehend whatever is being relayed.

(iv)             Negative feedback.

This may demoralize the speaker as well as the audience as murmuring maybe experienced and with the noise levels, listening is barred.