Chapter-4

LISTENING

Venkatesh.NKoshys Institute of Management

Studies

Listening

• What is listening? Why is it important for us to learn listening skill? In this lesson, we will know how effective listening can bring benefit to our life and what are the steps to become effective listeners.

Listening Structure

The Steps of listening…..1.Look at the person, and suspend other things you are doing. (pay attention) 2. Listen not merely to the words, but the feeling content. (Speaker’s words, feelings)3. Be sincerely interested in what the other person is talking about. (the subject,matter,information) 4. Restate what the person said.(understand) 5. Ask clarification questions once in a while(confirm) 6. Be aware of your own feelings and strong opinions. 7. If you have to state your views, say them only after you have listened.(feedback to the sender)

The Process of Listening

• Sensing• Interpreting• Evaluating• Responding

Professor Venkatesh N

Hierarchy of Active Listening

Hierarchy of Active Listening1. SENSING• Begins by hearing, seeing and receiving the verbal and

nonverbal aspects of the message.• Concentration is required in this phase.• The receiver's positive body language help the sender deliver

the message properly.2. INTERPRETING• After receiving the message, receiver must interpret and

place it in meaningful context.• The speakers speech is linked to the verbal and non-verbal

elements of the message.• Interpreting helps insure that the receiver is understanding

corresponds to the sender's meaning.

Contud….3.EVALUATING• Active listening occurs at the evaluation phase after the

interpretation phase.• The receiver must sort fact from opinion.• The receiver needs to judge the message based on its

strengths and weaknesses and how well it is liked or disliked.• The evaluation phase consists of both logical and emotional

components.4. RESPONDING• Two-way communication requires the receiver to respond to

the sender. It provides feedback to the sender on how well the message has conveyed and encourages further interaction between the two parties.

• Responses can be both verbal and non-verbal.

Importance of Active Listening

• Respect• Trust• Productivity• Accuracy• Enhances Relationships• Conflict Resolution

Contund…..

• Learning• Confidence• Innovative solutions• Reduces negative assumptions

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

BARRIERS TO GOOD LISTENINGA barrier is anything that gets in the way of clear communication. Below is a list of barriers that are listed in three categories.

The three types of barriers are physical,

psychological and semantic.

BARRIERS TO GOOD LISTENING

• Physical Barriers consist of any sound that prevents a person from being heard. Physical noise interferes with a speaker’s ability to send messages and with an audience’s ability to receive them.

• Examples: whispers, (Speak very softly using one's breath rather than one's throat, esp. for the sake of secrecy.) cheers, passing cars or intercom interruptions

Barriers of listening..

BARRIERS TO GOOD LISTENING

• Psychological Barriers consist of thoughts and feelings that distract people from listening to what is said are called psychological. The noise interferes with the audience’s concentration and ability to hear a speaker’s presentation.

• Examples: people not paying attention because they are absorbed in their own thoughts, jumping to conclusions, faking attention, yielding to distractions, over-reacting to emotional words and tuning out topics that one considers to be dull.

BARRIERS TO GOOD LISTENING

• Semantic Barriers are interferences that are caused by words that trigger strong negative feelings against the speaker or the content of the speech is called semantic noise. Semantic noise leads to misunderstanding, as well as unpleasant and distracting nonverbal feedback from the audience.

Listen-Listen man……

How to Improve Listening Skills

• "We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking."

So what to do?

• Listen to something you enjoy• Listen for the main ideas• Listen for specific information• Identify stresses and reductions• Get meaning from context

Con’t• Most beginners get difficulty due to the lack of

vocabularies, pronunciation and grammar.

- Listen to the cassette without reading the text/ dialogue once or twice. When you find difficulty in grasping the meaning, listen again while scrutinizing the text/ dialogue.

- Pay attention carefully to the pronunciation and intonation. If you want to improve your pronunciation, listen and repeat the dialogue/ text by pausing each sentence.

How to improve listening skills in English

Con’t• After listening to the text/ dialogue, do the exercise

and check your answer with the answer-key or with your teacher.

- If you watch TV, select the English program/ film. Listen to the dialogue carefully without reading the translation (text).

- Listen to English songs and learn the words. If you like singing, memorize the words and sing them.

- Practice the above tips everyday although only half an hour. By practicing the listening exercises many times, your listening will improve faster.

Con’t• Mentally put yourself in other person’s shoes • Spend more time listening than talking • Listen unconsciously to radio, television, movie.• Ask questions• Don’t translate – create barrier between speaker and

listener• Encourage the speaker, provide feedback and

paraphrase to show you are listening• Don't need to know a lot about a subject to have a

conversation but a desire to learn, understand and make things interesting

• Take notes, analyze, paraphrase, summarize and ask for clarification

Con’t

• Judge content, not delivery, i.e. what they say, not how they say it

• Listen optimistically – don't lose interest straight away

• Do not jump to conclusions • Concentrate – don't start dreaming – and

keep eye contact • Do not think ahead of the speaker – you

will lose track

Con’t

• Work at listening – be alert and alive • Keep emotions under control when

listening • Open your mind – practice accepting new

information • Breathe slowly and deeply • Relax physically, get comfortable

My experience• Listen/sing English songs• Listen to radio, tapes, internet, movies, television. If fine, I

listen attentively; if not, I will just listen relaxingly• Listen to different fields• Talk to foreigners, friends. • Use resources available: internet, tapes, CDs, movies, movie.

Copy files to computers, ipods, mp3, mp4 to listen at home, on travel…

• Set a goal when listening or talking• Remember “Failure is mother of success”. Allow ourselves to

make mistakes. Don’t worry! The game is still long!

Listen to wide range of audio materials

• Listen to wide range of audio materialsSince the recorded texts in MUET may include dialogues, radio talk shows, etc, the more types of audio materials you have listened, the more prepared you are.

Listen to radio talk shows

• This is another effective way to boost your listening skill. Tune in to your favorite radio station and enjoy the talk shows.

Listen to conversation in the movies

• When watching movies, sitcoms or dramas, instead of reading the subtitles, you should listen to the conversation between the actors. If English is not your mother tongue, you may find it quite hard to start. Try to train yourself not to read the subtitles but listen carefully to what the actors are talking about in

Call Centers

• Strong communication skills are a must for growing of any organization or for achieving complete success of any individual. In a call center arena effective listening skills are a prerequisite for efficient performance. With excellent listening skills of call center staff the businesses can ensure that an accuracy and efficiency level of business processes can be attained and therefore, productive level can be maximized.

The End…..

Thank you

The end

Thank You

All the Best for your 1st

internals

With faith you believe and when you believe you achieve.

Thank you All

KI

M S