Listening skills

In the name of Allah Almighty

who is most beneficent

and merciful

Presentation of communication

and professional development

Prepared by:

Noor-ul-ain Amjad

K1F14MCOM0017

Listening skills

Contents:

• What is listening?

• Difference between hearing and listening

• Types of listening

• Problems of listening

• Ways to improve listening skills

“The art of conversation lies in listening”

(Malcolm S. Forbes)

What is listening?

The process of receiving, constructing

meaning from and responding to

spoken or non-verbal messages to

hear something with soulful attention.

Difference between hearing and listening

When we hear: When we listen:

The main difference between listening and hearing

is “to pay attention” and “not to pay attention.”

There's a lot of difference between listening

and hearing.”

(G.K Chesterton)

“

Types of listening

pretending listening

selective listening

Attentive listening

Emphatic listening

Evaluative listening

Sympathetic listening

•Pretending Listening:The listener pretends through his facial

expressions that the message is being listened to.

•Selective listening:Listener selects the desired part that he wishes

to understand and ignores the undesired part that he does not want to

listen to.

•Attentive listening:Listener pays attention to each word of

speaker and tries his best to understand what is being told.

•Evaluative listening:In evaluative listening, or critical

listening, we make judgments about what the other person is

saying. We seek to assess the truth of what is being said.

•Emphatic listening:It means listening intently and

intensively to understand the speaker fully both emotionally

and intellectually.

•Sympathetic listening:

In sympathetic listening we care

about the other person and show this concern in the way we pay

close attention.

Problems of listening

“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more

listening than talking.

(Bernard M. Baurich)

Listening is as important as reading, writing and speaking. Good

listening skills can

be hampered because of:

•Prejudice

•External distraction

•Pre-thinking

•Semantic barrier

•Information rate

•Information overload

•Prejudice:We do not focus on what is being spoken,

instead we concentrate who is speaking.

•External distractions:External distractions also

become cause of misunderstanding speaker’s real words.

E.g. noise

•Pre-thinking:Pre-thinking is the major fault of

listening. The listeners should not jump at the conclusion

before the completion of speech.

•Semantic barrier:This happens when the listener willingly

attaches some negative meaning to the words of speaker.

•Information overload:If the listener is not interested or the

information is not wanted, boredom can occur.

•Information rate:The average speaking rate is about 125

words per minute while the brain has the capacity to

understand 400 words or more. This means that only 25% of

our brain capacity is being used. The other 75% of our brain

has nothing to do.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they

listen with the intent to reply.”

(Stephen R.covey)

Ways to improve listening skills

“It takes a great man to be a good listener.”

(Calvin Coolidge)

Following steps can be helpful in improving listening skills:

Listen carefully with patience and concentration.

Always show positive attitude.

While listening try to make notes.

Speak less, listen more.

Ask open ended questions.

Pay close attention to a speaker’s body language – posture, eye

movement and facial expressions.

Focus on content, not delivery.

Stop doing other things — texting, reading, etc.,

Ask questions or request examples for clarification.

Encourage the speaker with nods and affirmative words.

Avoid thinking about what you’re going to say next.

Maintain eye contact – eye contact keeps you focused.

Ending quote

“We have two ears and one mouth, so

we should listen more than we say.”

(Zeno of Citium)