Listening

Why Is Listening So Important?

college students spend an average of 14% writing, 16% speaking, 17% reading and 53% listening

on average only about 15% of our time is spent talking otherwise it is mostly listening

listening has been identified by employers as the most critical skill for working effectively in teams

in family and social setting listening was ranked the most important communication skill

Listening~you are now assigned to read chapter seven: Listening Effectively

before we can talk about what listening is,

we must talk about what listening is not

Listening is NOT...

the same as hearing hearing: sound waves

striking the eardrum and

cause vibrations that are

transmitted to the brain

a natural process ppl are not born listeners, it is not automatic

listening is a skill○ Ever misunderstood what someone said?

Listening is NOT...

effortless

leads to faulty listening behaviors

going to have all listeners receive the same

message

“Because I could not stop for death…”

○ listen to the poem and write a ½ page interpretation

of what it means to you

Faulty Listening Behaviors 1-2

1: Pseudo-listening pretend/fake listening

look like paying attention, but not○ Ex: your mom or dad tries to talk to you in the middle

of your favorite show

2: Selective Listening only listen to the things you find interesting and tune

everything else out○ Ex: someone it telling of their vacation in Florida and

the only part you care about is the TWINS training games

Faulty Listening Behaviors 3-4

3: Defensive Listening

take innocent comments as personal attacks

○ Ex: when I come home from work on a day that my husband had off, I might ask, “So, what did you do today?” I may be doing this to show interest in his day, but he thinks I am mad at him for being lazy.

4: Ambushing

listen carefully, but only to gather info. to attack that speaker back

○ Ex: arguments; one person will listen for keywords and then go off about those things

Faulty Listening Behaviors 5-6

5: Insulated Listening listening for something specific to avoid talking about it

○ Ex: parents remind you of a missing assignment or a dirty room that needs to be cleaned; you might listen to comments leading towards these topics and when it gets close, interrupt and leave

6: Insensitive Listening taking a message at face value

taking everything said literally○ Ex: a friend talks about a fight they had with their parents,

and says everything is okay when it clearly is not, but you decide everything is okay and never ask about it

Faulty Listening Behavior 7

7: Stage Hogging

turning the topic back to you

don’t allow others to talk; dominate the

conversation

○ Ex: interrupting a friends story to talk about your latest love

interest

You Do!

get into seven even groups

Each group will draw a different faulty

listening behavior and create a real

situation to model it in

These will be presented in front of the

class, and the class will guess which

behavior is being modeled

Reasons for poor listening

effort: it takes energy to actively listen

message overload: if listen to everything all

the time would be overloaded

rapid thought: humans are capable of taking

in 600wrds per minute, people only talk

100wrds per minute, which leaves a lot of

open listening time

More reasons for poor

listening

psychological noise: personal concerns take

more importance in your mind than current

speaker

physical noise: physical distractions around

you

hearing problems: hearing loss

faulty assumptions: think you know what is

going to be said, so do not listen

More reasons for poor listening

talking has more apparent advantages:

speaking well is the key to success

cultural differences: listening is valued

differently in each culture

media influences: media info. is becoming

more graphic and less text based; stories are

brief and pertinent

For tomorrow: bring in some type of object

that makes a noise

Listening is...

a five step process

listening: accurately perceiving communication

How we listen:

1. hearing: receiving the message

2. interpreting: attending to the message and decoding it

3. evaluating: understanding message and deciding if it is new or prior information

4. remembering: log the message away for recall purposes later

5. responding: giving the sender feedback

Why Listen?

Listening can reduce tension!

Listening aids learning!

Listening can win friends!

Listening can stimulate the speaker!

Listening can give you confidence!

Listening can increase your enjoyment!

Listening can help you do a better job!

Listening gives you time to think!

Listening Personality

1: content-oriented

2: people-oriented

3: action-oriented

4: time-oriented

Take Listening Personality Test

Content-Oriented

prefers intellectually challenging

messages

interested in quality of info.

seeks details; analytic

explore ideas in-depth

valued: when goal is to evaluate quality or range of ideas

problems: annoys those who are not analytic; takes time; challenging ideas seems hostile/ critical

People-Oriented

see listening as a means to establishing commonalties between them and the speaker

concerned with having positive relationships ; tune into others moods; less judgmental

responds to feelings and ideas; more interested in supporting and understanding others

problems: overly involved in others’ feelings; lose their detachment; overly expressive and intrusive

Action-Oriented

want brief, pertinent, and accurate info;

concerned with task at hand; mentally

organizes messages

keeps focused; will take care of business

problems: seems to minimize

emotional issues and

concerns

Time-Oriented

prefers brief and concise messages; concerned with efficiency

views time as scarce and valuable; gets impatient with wasting time

valued: great with deadlines and pressure

problems: excessive focus on time can damage work; seeks to disregard feelings

Purpose to Listen

1: Listening to ComprehendInformational Listening: listening to understand

2: Listening to SupportEmpathic Listening: listening to build a

relationship; solve a personal problem

3: Listening to AnalyzeCritical Listening: listening to judge the quality of

the message

4: Listening to Appreciate

5: Listening to Discern (mood)

Listening Activity

Get into groups of four two against two

○ each side, right now, pick agree or disagree

as a set of four, pick four topics to create an argument about○ Work with your partner to create your argument for

your side

each partner will argue two times, so decide who will argue what topic

while argument is happening, other two should be observing and recording what they notice happening in terms or vocals, body language, faulty listening behaviors, etc…

Agree/Disagree

1. Abortion is the best form of birth control.

2. The drinking age should be raised to 25.

3. People should have to pass a test to get married.

4. Women belong in the home.

5. Hunting should be illegal.

6. Tech should have mandatory uniforms.

7. Tech should have open-campus for lunch.

8. Everyone should lose their license after age 75.

“Life with the Wright Family”

stand in a circle

each time you hear “left,” pass the

object to the left one person

each time you hear “right,” pass the

object to the right one person

you should have no more than one

object in your hands at any time

may not throw one on the floor if have too

many

Listening to Comprehend

Who was left behind?

Who got sick?

Who went to watch the sick one throw-

up?

What was forgotten at home?

Who picked up the trash can?

Speaker-Listener Responsibility

Speaker

it is the speaker’s responsibility to present a

clear message and interpret nonverbals of

audience

Listener

it is the listener’s responsibility to pay

attention, give nonverbals, listen to the

whole message, and realize that a message

can be important even if the delivery is weak

Are you a good listener survey

Bad vs. Good

Listening Habits Bad

calling info. not interesting

criticizing speaker’s appearance, delivery, body language, etc…

getting too excited/verbal about the presentation

listening only for facts, not the main idea

trying to take notes on everything you hear instead of choosing the important ideas

faking attention; distracting others

Good Tuning in to the speaker to see if anything you can use

Getting the speaker’s message

Not over-reacting to the speaker

Listen for main idea and details, and for a while before taking notes

Use active listening skills and be alert

Stop distraction

Work Cited

Adler, Ronald B. and George Rodman. “Understanding

Human Communication.” Ed. 8 Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2003

Ferguson, Sherry Devereaux. “Public Speaking: Building

Competency in Stages.” Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 2008.

McCornack, Steven. “Reflect and Relate.” New York: R.R.

Donnelley & Sons Company, 2007.