ENGLISH COMMUNICATION-2 (UNIT

2)
FACULTY-MRS.KIRTI DUBEY
UNIT 2 CONTENTS
 LISTENING SKILLS
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND HEARING
 PROCESS OF LISTENING
 TYPES OF LISTENING
 IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING
 BARRIERS TO LISTENING
LISTENING SKILLS
 Do you think there is a difference between hearing and listening?
 You are right, there is!
 Merriam-Webster defines hearing as the “process, function, or power of
perceiving sound; specifically: the special sense by which noises and
tones are received as stimuli.”
 Listening, on the other hand, means “to pay attention to sound; to hear
something with thoughtful attention; and to give consideration.”
 listening is so important that many top employers provide listening skills
training for their employees. This is not surprising when you consider
that good listening skills can lead to better customer satisfaction, greater
productivity with fewer mistakes, and increased sharing of information
that in turn can lead to more creative and innovative work
The Purpose of Listening
Listening serves a number of possible purposes, and the purpose of
listening will depend on the situation and the nature of the
communication.
 To specifically focus on the messages being communicated, avoiding distractions
and preconceptions.
 To gain a full and accurate understanding into the speakers point of view and
ideas.
 To critically assess what is being said
 To observe the non-verbal signals accompanying what is being said to
enhance understanding.
 To show interest, concern and concentration.
 To encourage the speaker to communicate fully, openly and honestly.
 To develop an selflessness approach, putting the speaker first.
 To arrive at a shared and agreed understanding and acceptance of both sides
views.
What Makes a Good Listener
 Good listeners always strive to fully understand what others want to
communicate, particularly when the statement lacks clarity. Listening
demands the attempt to decode and interpret verbal messages
and nonverbal cues, like tone of voice, facial expressions, and physical
posture.
 Active listeners also show their curiosity by asking questions. Do this,
and you will make a great impression.
 Through body language and other cues, good listeners subtly
communicate to the speaker that they're listening. Additionally, they
encourage and welcome the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of others.
 One way to demonstrate active listening is to allow the interviewer to
complete each question and statement before responding. Do not
interrupt and be sure that your response genuinely answers the
question.
What Makes a Bad Listener
 Interrupting indicates that your listening skills are
underdeveloped. Likewise, responding in a way that fails to answer
the question will reflect poorly on your listening skills, especially
in a job interview.
 Talking too much is also problematic, as proper conversations
should be well balanced, with every party involved getting equal
time to speak. Monopolizing a conversation prevents you from
listening and the other party from fully expressing what they want
to say. In the end, this will lead to you making a poor impression.
 Looking distracted is also a quality of a poor listener. This could
involve anything from avoiding eye contact to checking your
phone or watch while someone else is talking.
TYPES OF LISTENING#1
Biased Listening
 This type of listening does what it says on the tin – we hear things that confirm
our preconceived biases, opinions, or expectations.
 We hear what we want to hear… what we think we should be hearing.
 And we do this subconsciously, without even realizing it.
 This is due to a wide variety of factors and often happens in the workplace or
personal relationships where stress and emotions are involved.
 For example, we think we hear our bosses say something because we’re almost
expecting them to say it, be it a deadline or praise.
 And there are plenty of things that can influence what we think is being said.
 Our initial judgement of a person or situation can really affect how we
hear and interpret things.
 The way someone looks, their tone of voice, and other factors can impact what
we think they’re going to say, and we pre-empt their actual speech with our
expectations
TYPES OF LISTENING#2
Sympathetic Listening
 Again, this is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s also a very
important form of listening!
 Sympathetic listening is our way of showing that we
understand what a person is saying and how it is affecting
them.
 It shows that we care about them.
 This kind of listening is common among close friends,
partners, and family members.
 It links very closely to body language, so you’re likely to see
head tilts, sighing, and nodding.
TYPES OF LISTENING#3
 Empathetic Listening
 This is really similar to sympathetic listening, but takes things
to a new level.
 Rather than looking on as an observer and feeling for the
person (be it sadness, anger, or joy!), empathetic listeners
essentially experience the feelings for themselves.
 This is a sign of a really close friendship or relationship – to
feel someone’s pain or happiness is to love them and care
deeply for them.
 It can be quite intense at times and can really weigh deeply
on the listener if they are not careful.
TYPES OF LISTENING#4
 Critical Listening
 Critical listening involves just that – being critical about what
is being said, taking the important bits and making a
judgment as needed.
 Essentially, this type of listening is great in the business world
– it helps listeners get to the point quickly and keeps things
streamlined and efficient.
 By using critical listening as a skill, we can make
decisions sooner as well as coming up with solutions to
problems and analysis of situations much quicker.
TYPES OF LISTENING#5
 Informational Listening
 This is all about paying attention to the information being
conveyed by the speaker.
 It’s similar to critical listening in that we retain the parts that
are most important, but it differs in that we’re doing so in
order to learn rather than to streamline a process.
 Informational listening is our way of being educated through
speech – we listen to the news or attend classes to learn
things; to gain new information and insights.
 This type of listening often involves practical or technical
content.
TYPES OF LISTENING#6
 Appreciative Listening
 This type of listening can be done on your own or with
others who have a mutual appreciation for whatever it is you
enjoy.
 This is normally done outside of work hours,
TYPES OF LISTENING#7
 Selective Listening
 This must be something we’ve all been accused of in the past,
but it’s not always our fault.
 Selective listening essentially means that we only hear what
we want to hear and often tune out to other things because
we find them irrelevant or boring!
 Out of all the types of listening, this is probably the only one
that can
TYPES OF LISTENING#8
 Rapport Listening
 This type of listening is the one we use when we’re trying to
build a relationship.
 We really want to engage with what’s being said. To show a
keen interest and be ready to respond with something
appropriate.
 Our responses need to be tailored to whoever is speaking and
match the tone of the conversation.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEARING AND
LISTENING
IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING
 Listening plays an integral part of communicating and the
differences from actively listening can be seen in multiple
facets of our lives and development. Active listening helps to:
 Learn and understand things better in a social and
professional environment
 Become better at socialising
 Better sympathise with friends and family
 Build stronger relationships by making people feel valued
 Improve problem solving skills
 Absorb information better
Common Barriers to Listening
There are many things that get in the way of listening and you should be aware of these barriers, many of which are bad habits, in order to
become a more effective listener. Barriers and bad habits to effective listening can include:
 Trying to listen to more than one conversation at a time
 You find the communicator attractive/unattractive

 Audience is not interested

 easily distracted to environmental detterations

 Physical indisposition
 Identifying rather than empathising
 Sympathising rather than empathising

 prejudiced or biased mindset

 preconceived ideas or bias -
 Judgmental attitude,
 .Preoccupied mind
 Having a Closed Mind
Process of listening
Listening Process
 For listening to be effective and meaningful, the process of listening should involve the following steps.
Hearing
 Hearing is the first essential step in the listening process and relates to the sensory perception of sound. The listener further
processes the perceived sound. For learning to be effective, hearing needs to be done with attention and concentration.
Filtering
 The next step involves sensing and filtering of heard sounds. The heard message is categorized as wanted or unwanted, useful or
useless. The unwanted message is discarded. In this step, the sense of judgement of the individual comes into play, that is, the filtering
process is subjective and a person chooses to retain what makes sense to him.
Comprehending
 The next level of listening consists of comprehending or understanding. The listener understands or interprets what the speaker has
tried to convey. This activity can be described as absorbing, grasping or assimilating. In order to grasp the meaning of the message,
the listener uses his knowledge, experience, perception and cognitive power. The verbal and auditory message is coupled with non-
verbal communication to understand it.
Remembering
 Remembering relates to a process whereby the assimilated message is stored in memory to facilitate future recall. Remembering
assumes significance because many times messages received are meant not for immediate consideration but for future use.
Responding
 For listening to be complete, a response is important. Responding to a message may take place at the end of the communication,
immediately after or later. When it is stored for future use, the response may take place later. However, if there is a need to seek
clarification or to empathize with the listener, it may take place earlier. Responding may also take the form of prodding or prompting
in order to show that the message is being received and comprehended.
Thank you
 Keep studying and listen carefully