Listening

ListeningIntroduction to Speech

Listening • This skill begins with a decision.• Hearing comes naturally, but listening

is a learned social skill.• You have to decide to do it!

5 Steps to Listening Process:

Step 1• Hearing – You hear sounds.

• Barriers to hearing: noise, hearing impairment, fatigue, distraction and sender deficiency.

Step 2• Interpreting – Decoding the signals and

understanding the sensory input. You relate what you hear to what you already know.

Step 3• Evaluating – Distinguishing facts from

opinions and identifying possible biases. You figure out the speakers’ intent after you fully understand his or her point of view.

Step 4• Remembering – You remember what

you understand of what you said. You consciously commit some things to memory because you need the information or because the experience is important to you.

Step 5• Responding – Reacting to a speaker by

sending cues. • Example: nodding and saying “I see” or

smiling at a speaker.

What to listen for:• Information – This is what you do most of

the time in school.• Emotion – The speaker sets out to establish

a relationship. Sometimes people talk due to insecurity or nervousness.

• Attitude – Distinguish fact from opinion. Speakers may talk about something they’ve observed. How they say it will convey how they feel about it.

Continued…• Goals and Hidden Agendas –

Sometimes a listener can pick up on a strong theme that may not be expressed directly.

• Thoughts, Ideas, Opinions – Pay attention to what the speaker leaves out. People talk about things that interest them and omit things that don’t.

4 Barriers to Listening

• As a listener, your job is to duplicate in your mind the speaker’s exact message and intent.

Barrier 1• External Barriers: begin outside the

speaker and listener, usually in the surrounding environment.• Examples- Noise, Physical Distraction,

Information Overload

Barrier 2• Listener Barriers: internal or

psychological. They begin with the listener.• Examples – Boredom, Laziness, Waiting

to Speak, “Opinionatedness”, Prejudice, Lack of Interest

Barrier 3• Speaker Barriers: They begin with the

speaker.• Five Examples –

• Appearance (clothes, age, sex, etc.)• Manner (how he/she behaves, moves,

talks)• Power (too much or lack of)• Credibility (degree to which people can

believe the speaker)• Message (Awe or Yawn)

Barrier 4• Cultural Barriers: Prejudice, Speaking

Styles, Source Credibility, Nonverbal Communication, Accents

3 Types of Listening

Type 1• Active Listening – You engage your

mind and listen for the speaker’s meaning.• Empathetic Listening – When you use

the steps of active listening to seek emotional rather than intellectual understanding of the speaker. (Sharing the speaker’s mood)

• Creative Listening – When you listen and use your imagination simultaneously. This is useful in generating ideas in a brainstorm session.

Type 2• Informational Listening – You listen

mainly for content, attempting to identify the speaker’s purpose, main ideas and supporting details.

Type 3• Critical Listening – You analyze,

evaluate, and draw conclusions about the speaker’s ideas. Used in formal situations, especially when listening for persuasive messages.

Propaganda• This is a form of persuasion that

discourages listeners from making an independent choice. Propagandists state their positions or opinions as though these are accepted truths, without evidence to back their claims.• Examples: jumping on the bandwagon,

name-calling, emotional appeals, stereotypes, and creating drama.