LISTENING SKILL

Why is listening the most important to communication skills? In your experience what are the problems that prevent you from listening efficiently in the classroom? What do you do to overcome them?

To communicate in any language we require basic communication skills these are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening plays a very important role in communication. Listening works as an input device in the communication. It is also called a receptive skill. The importance of listening in communication is enormous. People often focus on their speaking ability believing that good speaking equals good communication. The ability to speak well is a necessary component to successful communication. The ability to listen is equally as important.

What is listening?

Listening is following and understanding the sound---it is hearing with a purpose. Good listening is built on three basic skills: attitude, attention, and adjustment. These skills are known collectively as triple-A listening.

Listening is the absorption of the meanings of words and sentences by the brain. Listening leads to the understanding of facts and ideas. But listening takes attention, or sticking to the task at hand in spite of distractions. It requires concentration, which is the focusing of your thoughts upon one particular problem. A person who incorporates listening with concentration is actively listening. Active listening is a method of responding to another that encourages communication.
Well according to Harold Janis “Listening ……is not merely hearing. It is a state of receptivity that permits understanding of what is heard and grants the listener full partnership in the communication skills.” However according to Ross(1970) “It is also defined as a conscious cognitive effort evolving primarily the sense of hearing (reinforced by the other senses) and leading to interpretation and understanding.” On the other hand Cortright and Hindus(1959) are of the opinion that the listening process involves accurate perception and orientation direction of attention toward digestion of the speaker’s views, and integration of meaning in to objective concepts. so listening is a difficult process of thinking by which what is heard is weighted , analyzed, sorted, related, classified, evaluated and judged.

Importance of listening in communication skills

Though listening is a passive process we can make listening more effectively and efficiently by responding to speaker in a ways like nodding head or asking questions or just simply using fillers like ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and saying ‘uhh…..’ however poor listening is the failure to understand the complexity of listening process, so it is very important to keep in mind ‘what to listen’ and ‘how to listen’.

Listening is the most used of the communication skills, and good listening is an integral part of the communication process. As a student it is very essential to be a good listener so here some of qualities of good listener are mentioned.

Ø A good listener knows the importance of listening and he is motivated to listen. As far as listening is concerned motivation does play a very important role specifically in terms of interest, emotional appeals and attitudes, and ‘mind set’ determines one’s level of aural competence.

Ø The second quality of good listener is mental as well as physical alertness. A good listener shows readiness. He shuts out all distractions.

Ø A good listener should determine the reason for listening whatever he/she listens.

Ø The fourth quality of good listener is that he gives full hearing to speaker. It means complete hearing he is not supposed to make prejudgments before listen to a speaker.

Ø A good listener should be a meaning centered rather than message centered. He keeps asking himself ‘what does this message mean to the speaker’? He does not catch the words but tries to understand the meaning of these words as visualized by the speaker not as visualized or even thought by his own imagination.

Ø The sixth quality of good listener is to distinguish observation from inferences. He keeps asking himself ‘what is he inferring from the speaker’s message?’ There is a lot of difference between what we observe and what we infer.

Ø A good listener should restate the thoughts to the satisfaction of the speaker. It demands concentration and wit. Also it requires courage to paraphrase speaker’s thoughts in a balanced way without coloring them.

Ø A good listener is aware of ‘signal words’ that trigger emotional reactions in him. He avoids striking out at a speaker from his own symbolic world.

Ø The ninth quality of good listener is that he does not fake attention and tries to create a supportive atmosphere.

Ø The last and topmost quality of a good listener is to respond to the feeling as well content of a message. Listener should also know the importance of non-verbal communication in verbal communication.

My experience of listening lectures in the classroom

As a student I have to attend lectures on various topics which are taken by different speakers, so as far as my experience is concerned I found some problems which are really obstacles in listening effectively and efficiently in the classroom.

A. Daydreaming is probably the most common listening problem because it affects everyone. Frequently a teacher will mention some person or thing that triggers an association in our minds, and off we go. When we return to reality and start listening again, we may find that the third point is being discussed, and we have no recollection of points one and two. This distract one’s mind so daydreaming losses ones concentration power in listening effectively

B. False attention is a protection technique that everyone uses from time to time to fake out the teacher. When we're not really interested in what speaker is saying, we pretend to listen. We nod our heads and make occasional meaningless comments and eye contact to give the impression that we are listening. Usually our minds are a million miles away. Sometimes the fake-listener has no choice; a boring person may be talking, and the listener can't escape. Conveniently, this listener can go through the motions of listening, even make an occasional comment, while giving real attention to something of a higher priority. This habit of false listening can become a problem for you if it becomes a routine procedure, a technique to use whenever something not very interesting comes your way. Remember that boredom is a state of mind.

C. Intellectual dejection means giving up before we even get started. Listening can be hard to do sometimes. In college we have to sit through many lectures that are hard to understand. Expect it; that's why we are going to college- to learn what we do not understand. Occasionally, we may feel the urge to give up. We may say to our self, "No matter how hard I will try, I do not get it. I just cannot learn this stuff." With this type of thinking, it is easy to stop trying. This listening despair is a self-defeating behavior and may lead to a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. Obviously, we will never understand it if we give up.

D. Criticize the speaker's voice, clothes, or looks is the hurdles in effective listening generally students tend to do so rather to pay attention in the lecture.

E. Memorizing is a problem that happens when listeners try to memorize every word the speaker says. These are usually done by students who are stressed, and in their goal to listen well, they commit this listening fault because of their anxiety and come away from class remembering less. There is no way to remember everything a speaker says. When we try, we miss the overall sense of the class, and we are worse off than ever. A student who has this listening problem does not seem to know any other way and may never have been taught techniques for effective listening.

F. Finding fault with the speaker, it becomes so involved in disagreeing with something the speaker states that we stop listening to the important part of the lecture.

G. Calling a subject boring sometimes we decide that a lecture is going to be dull boring and useless and "turn out" the speaker. It creates a problem and it is a sign of poor listener.
H. The Loss of Concentration Barrier sometimes we can’t concentrate about what speaker says because of his fast delivery of speech or an accent or sometimes change in cultural context. So it absents listener’s mind from the lecture.

The above mentioned barriers are occasionally faced by me in listening in the classroom beside that there are a few things which are also affect the listening in the classroom and become barriers like noise, class structure, number of students in the class etc.
Solutions to overcome the listening barriers

Here are some positive steps to overcome the listening barriers in the classroom. These steps would be helpful to any listener for effective and efficient listening in the classroom. These should make your listening more active and productive.

A. Prepare to listen. Your attitude in attending class is important. If you feel that a particular class is generally a waste of your time, you obviously won't be in a good mood to listen. Use some positive self-talk by deciding before class that this time will be well spent. Commit yourself to this learning experience. Some students consider lectures supplementary to the textbook studying they do at home. With an attitude like this, listening becomes an unpleasant task. Learn to study while listening in a class.

B. Listen creatively. You should not be listening and thinking about other things at the same time, but you should be evaluating and organizing the speaker's words by taking notes. If you sit passively, like a sponge, expecting to soak up knowledge, you are really only half listening. To listen totally, you have to react by putting your mind to work. Like a computer, start to process the data coming in. This causes you to think ahead and anticipate what is coming up. Listening is a prime source of information in college. No matter what your learning style, you will discover that much of the information you are given in college is auditory and visual. How well you listen in class is vital to your success as a student. Practice good listening skills as tools for academic success!

C. React to the message, not the person, delivery or emotion this again a very important solution for empathic listening means give your responses according to speaker’s point of view not give your furious reaction to a speaker or his emotions. More importantly you should be patient while listening to others

D. Note questions. If you listen with a questioning attitude, learning will be easier for you. When the speaker asks a question, pay close attention. This is usually a signal that the speaker thinks this is important information. You have to realize that the speaker knows the answer, so there is nothing he or she can learn from the answer. S/he is asking it so you will learn. S/he wants you to understand and remember the answer. Speakers' questions are designed to help you listen and learn.

E. Watch the speaker. Don't take your eyes off the speaker! Eye contact is a very important part of the active listening process. Of course, taking notes is recommended to help you maintain your focus; however, when you look away, you will be aware of visual distractions that compete with the speaker for your attention. You have to listen with your eyes and your ears! Try to develop an awareness of your instructor's mannerisms. Gestures, tone of voice, and other body language usually emphasize a speaker's remarks. Some experts say that tone of voice and body languages are 95% of the listening communication process. All speakers communicate physically as well as orally, so you must watch as you listen.

To sum up, these are the possible solutions for the problems faced by the students in a classroom apart from that there are so many strategies for listening. This strategy varies from context to context. So listening is not merely hearing it is attending, understanding, concentrating, remembering, continually grasping and processing information.