Lesson 2:
Listening Process
What is listening?
Listening involves taking the words and sounds
we hear and converting them into something that makes sense to us.
Listening is an active
process that constructs meaning from both verbal and nonverbal messages.
Why
Do We Listen?
1.
We
listen to gather information about something.
2.
We
listen to understand.
3.
We
listen for enjoyment.
4.
We
listen to socialize.
5.
We
listen to give others chance to reason out.
6.
Learning
new things requires that we listen.
Stages in the Listening Process
There
are many factors that can interfere with listening, so you need to be able to
manage a number of mental tasks at the same time in order to be a successful
listener.
Listening process was divided into five stages.
A. The Receiving Stage
- The first stage of the listening process,
which involves hearing and attending.
Hearing is the physiological process of registering sound waves as
they hit the eardrum.
As obvious as it may seem, in order
to effectively gather information
through listening, we must first be able to physically hear what we're
listening to. The clearer the sound, the easier the listening process becomes.
Listeners
are often bombarded with a variety of auditory stimuli all at once, so they
must differentiate which of those stimuli are speech sounds and which are not.
Effective listening involves being able to focus in on speech sounds while
disregarding other noise.
Paired
with hearing, attending is the other half of the receiving stage in the
listening process. Attending is the process of accurately identifying and interpreting particular
sounds we hear as words. The sounds we hear have no meaning
until we give them their meaning in context.
Attending
also involves being able to discern human speech, also known as "speech
segmentation. " Identifying auditory stimuli as speech but not
being able to break those speech sounds down into sentences and words would be
a failure of the listening process. Discerning speech segmentation can be a
more difficult activity when the listener is faced with an unfamiliar language.
Listening at the Receiving Stage
The first stage in the process of
listening is receiving the message. At this stage you listen not only to what
is said (verbally and nonverbally) but also to what is omitted.
Remember:
1. Focus your attention on the speaker’s
verbal and nonverbal messages, on what is said and on what isn’t said.
Avoid focusing your attention on what you’ll say next; if you begin to rehearse
your responses, you’re going to miss what the speaker says next.
2. Avoid distractions in the environment;
if necessary, shut off the stereo or and turn off your cell phone. Put down the
newspaper or magazine; close your laptop.
3. Maintain your role as listener and avoid
interrupting. Avoid interrupting as much as possible. It will only prevent
you from hearing what the speaker is saying. This is not to imply that you
should give feedback cues—minimal verbal or nonverbal responses (“I see,”
“you’re right,” head nodding, widening of your eyes)—that say, “I’m listening.”
B. The Understanding Stage - The stage of listening during which
the listener determines the context and meanings of the words that are heard.
comprehension - The totality of intentions that are
pertinent to the context of a given discussion.
Understanding
or comprehension
is "shared meaning between parties in a communication transaction"
and constitutes the first step in the listening process. Determining the
context and meaning of individual words, as well as assigning meaning in language, is essential to understanding
sentences. This, in turn, is essential to understanding a speaker's message.
Once
the listeners understand the speaker's main point, they can begin to sort out
the rest of the information they are hearing and decide where
it belongs in their mental outline. Understanding what we hear is a huge part of
our everyday lives, particularly in terms of gathering basic information, but without
understanding what we hear, none of these listening would relay any practical
information to us.
One tactic for better
understanding a speaker's meaning is to ask questions. Asking questions allows
the listener to fill in any holes he or she may have in the mental
reconstruction of the speaker's message.
Listening
at the Understanding Stage
After receiving the message, you process it; you extract the meaning from the
message. You can improve your listening understanding in a variety of ways:
1. Avoid assuming you understand what the speaker is going to say before
he or she actually says it. If you do make assumptions, these will likely
prevent you from accurately listening to what the speaker wants to say.
2. See the speaker’s messages from the speaker’s point of view. Avoid
judging the message until you fully understand it as the speaker intended it.
3. Ask questions for clarification, if necessary; ask for additional
details or examples if they’re needed. This shows not only that you’re
listening—which the speaker will appreciate—but also that you want to learn
more. Material that is not clearly understood is likely to be easily forgotten.
4. Rephrase (paraphrase) the speaker’s ideas into your own words. This
can be done silently or aloud. If done silently, it will help you rehearse and
learn the material; if done aloud, it also helps you confirm your understanding
of what the speaker is saying and gives the speaker an opportunity to clarify
any misunderstandings.
C. The Evaluating Stage - Once we understand what we hear, we
can focus in on the relevant information.
The stage of the listening process during which the
listener critically assesses the information she's received (both qualitatively and quantitatively) from
the speaker. Evaluating allows the listener to form an opinion of what she's
heard and, if necessary, to begin developing a response.
·
assess - To determine, estimate or judge the
value of; to evaluate
During
the evaluating stage, the listener determines whether or not the information
she's heard and understood from the speaker is well constructed or
disorganized, biased or unbiased, true or false, significant or insignificant.
She also ascertains how and why the speaker has come up with and conveyed the message that she's delivered. This may
involve considerations of a speaker's personal or professional motivations and goals.
The
evaluating stage occurs most effectively once the listener fully understands
what the speaker is trying to say. While we can, and sometimes do, form
opinions of information and ideas that we don't fully understand--or even that
we misunderstand--doing so is not often ideal in the long run. Having a clear understanding of a
speaker's message allows a listener to evaluate that message without getting
bogged down in ambiguities or spending unnecessary time and energy addressing
points that may be tangential or
otherwise nonessential. This stage of critical analysis is important for a listener in
terms of how what she's heard will affect her own ideas, decisions, actions,
and/or beliefs.
Listening
at the Evaluating Stage.
Once you’ve received, understood, and have the message in
memory, you need to evaluate it. After all, not all messages are equal—some are
lies, some are truths; some are significant, some are trivial; some are
constructive, some are destructive.
Remember:
1. Resist evaluation until you fully understand the speaker’s point of
view. This is not always easy, but it’s always essential. If you put a
label on what the speaker is saying (ultraconservative, bleeding-heart
liberal), you’ll hear the remainder of the messages through these labels.
2. Distinguish facts from
opinions and personal interpretations by the speaker. And, most important,
fix these labels in mind with the information.
3. Identify any biases, self-interests, or prejudices that may lead the
speaker to slant unfairly what is said. It’s often wise to ask if the
material is being presented fairly or if this person is slanting it in some
way.
4. Recognize fallacious forms of “reasoning” speakers may use. Some of
the more popular ones.
D. The Responding Stage - The
responding stage is when the listener provides verbal and/or nonverbal
reactions to what she hears.
There are many ways, both verbal and nonverbal, to
respond to what you hear.
The
responding stage is the stage of the listening process wherein the
listener provides verbal and/or nonverbal reactions based on short- or
long-term memory.
A listener can respond to what she hears either verbally or
non-verbally. Nonverbal signals can include gestures such as nodding,
making eye contact, tapping her pen, fidgeting, scratching or cocking her head,
smiling, rolling her eyes, grimacing, or any other body language.
These kinds of responses can be displayed purposefully or involuntarily. Nonverbal
responses like nodding or eye contact allow the listener to communicate her
level of interest without
interrupting the speaker, thereby preserving the speaker/listener roles. When a
listener responds verbally to what she hears and remembers—for example, with a
question or a comment—the speaker/listener roles are reversed, at least
momentarily.
Responding
verbally might involve asking a question, requesting additional information,
redirecting or changing the focus of a conversation,
cutting off a speaker, or repeating what a speaker has said back to her in
order to verify that the received message matches the intended message.
Responding
adds action to the listening process, which would otherwise be an outwardly
passive process. Oftentimes, the speaker looks for verbal and nonverbal
responses from the listener to determine if and how her message is being
understood and/or considered. Based on the listener's responses, the speaker
can choose to either adjust or continue with the delivery of her message.
Listening
at the Responding Stage
After you evaluate the message, you’re likely to respond
in some way. And, of course, a speaker expects a response.
Remember:
1. Support the speaker throughout the
speaker’s conversation by using (and varying) listening cues, such as head
nods and minimal responses such as “I see” or “mm-hmm.” Using the “like” icon,
poking back, reposting, and commenting on another’s photos or posts will also
prove supportive.
2. Own your responses. Take responsibility for what you say. Instead
of saying, “Nobody will want to do that” say something like “I don’t want to do
that.” Use the anonymity that most social networks allow with discretion.
3. Resist “responding to another’s feelings” with “solving the person’s
problems” (as men are often accused of doing) unless, of course, you’re
asked for advice. Oftentimes, people simply want to vent and just want you to
hear what they have to say.
4. Focus on the other person. Avoid multitasking when you’re
listening. Show the speaker that he or she is your primary focus. You can’t be
a supportive listener, if you’re also listening to a CD, so take off the
headphones; shut down the iPhone and the television; turn away from the
computer screen. And, instead of looking around the room, look at the speaker;
the speaker’s eyes should be your main focus.
5. Avoid being a thought-completing listener who listens a little and
then finishes the speaker’s thought. This is especially inappropriate when
listening to someone who might stutter or have word-finding difficulties.
Instead, express respect (and a real willingness to listen) by giving the
speaker time to complete his or her thoughts. Completing someone’s thoughts
often communicates the message that nothing important is going to be said (“I
already know it”).
E. The Remembering Stage
- The
remembering stage occurs as the listener categorizes and retains the
information she's gathering from the speaker.
Remembering what you hear is key to effective listening.
·
recall - Memory; the ability to remember.
·
memory - The ability of an organism to record
information about things or events with the facility of recalling them later at
will.
The
result--memory--allows the person to record information about people, objects and events for later recall. This happens both during and after
the speaker's delivery.Memory
is essential throughout the listening process. We depend on our memory to fill
in the blanks when we're listening and to let us place what we're hearing at the moment in the context of
what we've heard before.
Remembering
previous information is critical to moving forward. Similarly, making
associations to past remembered information can help a listener understand what
she is currently hearing in a wider context. In listening to a lecture about
the symptoms of depression, for example, a listener might make a connection to the description of a character in a novel that she read years
before.
Using
information immediately after receiving it enhances information retention and
lessens the forgetting curve, or the rate at which we no longer retain
information in our memory. Conversely, retention is lessened when we engage in mindless listening, and little
effort is made to understand a speaker's messages.
Because
everyone has different memories, the speaker and the listener may attach
different meanings to the
same statement. In this sense, establishing common ground in terms of context
is extremely important, both for listeners and speakers.
Listening
at the Remembering Stage
It would help little if you received and understood the message but didn’t
remember it. If you want to remember what someone says or the names of various
people, this information needs to pass from your short-term memory (the memory
you use, say, to remember a phone number just long enough to write it down)
into long-term memory (or relatively permanent memory). Short-term memory is
limited in capacity—you can hold only a small amount of information there.
Long-term memory is unlimited. To facilitate the passage of information from
short- to long-term memory, here are FOUR suggestions:
1. Focus your attention on the central
ideas. Even in the most casual of conversations, there are central ideas.
Fix these in your mind. Repeat these ideas to yourself as you continue to
listen. Avoid focusing on minor details that often lead to detours in listening
and in conversation.
2. Organize what you hear; summarize the message in a more easily
retained form, but take care not to ignore crucial details or qualifications.
If you chunk the material into categories, you’ll be able to remember more
information. For example, if you want to remember 15 or 20 items to buy in the
supermarket, you’ll remember more of them if you group them into chunks—say,
produce, canned goods, and meats.
3. Unite the new with the old; relate new information to what you
already know. Avoid treating new information as totally apart from all else you
know. There’s probably some relationship and if you identify it, you’re more
like to remember the new material.
4. Repeat names and key concepts to yourself or, if appropriate,
aloud. By repeating the names or key concepts, you in effect rehearse these
names and concepts, and as a result you’ll find them easier to learn and
remember. If you’re introduced to Alice, you’ll stand a better chance of
remembering her name if you say, “Hi, Alice” than if you say just “Hi.”
Source: Boundless Communications.
Jul. 2014. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/communications
