Listening Skills

Fall 2015
EE Communication Skills
SS 123

Zulfiqar Ali
Assistant Professor
Social Sciences & Humanities Department
FAST-NU, Lahore

Hearing
To perceive sound via the ear. It is a physiological process.

Listening
To concentrate on hearing something; heed or pay
attention to
Collins English Dictionary

Hearing is through ears (physiological

process)
Listening is through mind (cognitive process)

Listening is the most Important

Communication Skill
More time is spent on listening than any

other kind of skill

Takes practice
An active process
Requires attention

Listening Skills
Difference between Listening and

Hearing
Hearing is a natural ability to detect sound
Listening is a skill, which is developed to

understand, interpret the message

accurately.
It does not require much of an effort to hear,
whereas Listening to be effective, takes much
of an effort and time on the part of a listener.

Listening Skills
Steps involved in Effective Listening:
Hearing. Hearing just means detecting sound without

have complete awareness of what has been said.

Understanding. The next part of listening is when you

comprehend what is being said.

Judging. After you are sure you understand what the

speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense.
Do you believe what you have heard? Your own
interpretation of the message and then see how
accurate the understanding is.

Listening Skills
Listening Ability Concepts
Concentration
Questioning
Objectivity
Note Taking
Feedback

Listening Skills
1.Concentration
I. Motivation and Demotivation
II. Anticipate what the speaker will say next
III. Focus on the message
Iv. Avoid interruption, let the speaker finish first.
2.Questioning
Use of questioning is an effective listening strategy. It
serves two purposes:
I. message gets clarified
II. Speaker gets a positive feedback that a listener is
involved.

Listening Skills
3. Objectivity
I. Minimize the impact of emotion-laden words
II. Judge content, not delivery
III. React fairly and sensibly
IV. Overcome distraction; internal as well as

external
4. Note Taking
The usefulness of note taking depends on the
situation.
5. Feedback
Feed is important in the listening process to that
a speaker knows that his/her message is
understood.

Listening Skills
General Barriers
Faking attention
Avoid difficult listening & dismissing the

topic as uninteresting
Listening only for facts
Criticizing physical appearance and
delivery
Yielding easily to distractions.

Listening Skills
Types of Listening
Appreciative Listening
Discriminative Listening
Comprehensive Listening
Empathic Listening
Critical Listening

Listening Skills
Listening ability vary according to:

Interest in topic
the delivery of the message
importance of the info
length of the message
complexity of the message
the delivery of the message
personal problems, external distraction.

Listening Skills
Good Listeners
Attending

Bad Listeners
Not So Attending

Attend to important

May not hear what a

information
Ready themselves
mentally and
physically
Listen objectively
regardless of
emotional involvement
Listen differently
depending o situations

person is saying
Fidget in chairs/tables,
look out the windows,
and let their minds
wander
Visibly react to
emotional language
Listen the same way
regardless of the type
of material

Listening Skills
Good Listeners
Understanding
Assigned appropriate
meaning to what is said
Seek out apparent
purpose, main points and
supporting information
Ask mental questions to
anticipate information
Silently paraphrase to
solidify understanding
Seek out subtle
meanings based on nonverbal cues

Bad Listeners
Not Understanding
Hear what is said but are
unable to understand or
assign different meaning
to the type of words
Ignore the way
information is organized
Fail to anticipate coming
information
Seldom or never
mentally review the
information
Ignore non-verbal cues

Listening Skills
Good Listeners
Remembering
Retain information
Repeat key information
Take notes
Evaluating
Listen critically
Evaluate inferences
Responding
empathically
Provide supportive
comforting statements

Bad Listeners
Interpret message
accurately but forget it
Assume they will
remember
Rely on memory alone
Understand but unable to
weigh or consider it
Accept information at
face value
Pass of joy or hurt,
change the subject

Why listening skills are important?

Improve relationships
Improve our knowledge
Improve our understanding
Prevent problems escalating
Save time and energy
Can save money
Lead to better results

Barriers to effective listening

Physical, Physiological, Psychological
Interrupting knowing the answer beforehand
Trying to be helpful
Seeing discussion as competition
Distraction - red flag words emotional triggers
Gap searching
Pre-knowledge
Bias
Cultural influences

Simple listening technique

1.

Listen
Dont interrupt
Let the speaker finish
Concentrate on what is being said and how it is being said
Make notes if this helps
Show the speaker that you are listening

2.

Question
Check understanding
Develop critical thinking

3.

Summarise
Paraphrase what the speaker has just told you
Keep good listening; avoid the bad one!

References
1. S. Pfeiffer, William George. (2007) Technical Writing: A
Practical Approach (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall)
2. Bovee & Thill. (2008) Business Communication Today
(Prentice-Hall)
3. Communicate (13th Edition)