The document discusses the process of listening and its importance. It describes the key steps in listening as sensing/hearing the message, decoding/interpreting it, and evaluating the information. Effective listening is important for communication, learning, problem-solving, and building relationships. The document also differentiates between hearing and listening, outlines different types of listening like informative, critical, and empathetic listening. It discusses barriers to listening like physiological, psychological, physical and linguistic factors. Finally, it provides tips to improve listening skills for both listeners and speakers.

1. UNIT-3
LISTENING

2. THE LISTENING PROCESS
Steps of Listening:
1. Sensing / Hearing : At this stage , the listener simply attends to the
speaker to focus on the message
2. Decoding / Interpretation : the listener decodes or interprets the message
. If the listener fails to misinterpret the words correctly the message is
misunderstood
3. Evaluation: At this stage the listener decides what to do with the received
information. The judgments you make at the stage of evaluation are
crucial to the listening process
4. Response: The listener’s respond

3. Importance of Listening
• Communication is not complete without effective listening
• Listening helps finding out more information-For decision making or problem
solving
• Listening helps in learning about people and how their minds work
• It helps in improving relations with people
• the necessary art of listening :
• Professional people spend their 65% of their time listening
in learning new ideas or concepts so that one can understand people better

4. Purpose/importance of
listening
To get an introductory idea of an oral message
To understand the main points of lecture
To discover the speaker’s idea during a conversation
To understand different viewpoint in order to
contribute a discussion
Aim a broad understanding of the subject matter of a
seminar
It facilitates good relationship with people

5. Continued..
To obtain specific information
to understand new changes& development in a particular
field
To broaden one’s outlook & understanding or seek evidence
for one’s own point of view
It helps in in learning about people & how their minds work
It helps in understanding the problem clearly & solving the
same
Listening builds trusts, we trust people who listen to us, and
we are more open to their influence, guidance & persuasion

6. Importance of skills
 to lectures
Instructions
Conversations
Views in G.D
Various communication
activities
 to customers
Boss
 peer group
Subordinates
 seminar presentations
 various forums
As a student as a professional

7. Difference b/w hearing and listening
• Hearing
a mechanical process
• unconcerned
/listener plays a
passive part
indifferent to message
• Involuntary
• Happens
automatically
• Passive process
• A one way process
• Listening
• A dynamic activity &
involves
interpretation
• Listener plays active
part
• Voluntary
• Involves conscious
effort
• active process
• two way process{s+l}

8. Types of Listening..
Informative Listening
 Vocabulary
 Concentration
 Memory
• Goal is to accurately receive information from
another person
• Does not involve criticizing or judging, only
learning

9. Critical Listening
• Goal is to consider ideas heard from
a speaker to decide if they make
sense
• Helps with making decisions based
on logic and evidence, rather than on
emotion

10. Emphatic listening
understand what the speaker is saying and
feeling
an effort to look at the world through
someone else’s view
irate client, helping a friend with an emotional
situation

11. Appreciative Listening
Goal is to listen for enjoyment or
entertainment
Does not involve analyzing or evaluating
information
Sample scenarios include attending a rock
concert, listening to music at home, or going
to a Broadway show

12. CONTINUED..
Discriminative Listening
 Identifying the difference between various
sounds
 Enables you to differentiate between
familiar and unfamiliar language
 The subtlety of accent and pronunciation,
typical of a language , can be identified by
this type of listening

13. Attentive/Active Listening
 It is the most desirable type of listening
 It involves making a conscious effort to listen
attentively and decode the message
 listening to administrative instructions,
suggestions, requests, imp. telephone calls

14. Passive/pretence/superficial listening
This involves more hearing than listening
It means pretending through a facial
expression
There is no effort to process the message
The message is not absorbed
Passive listening takes place when the receiver
is constrained by various physiological and
psychological barriers

15. Selective/Focused listening
Here the listening is for specific information
It involves selecting the desired part of the message
and ignoring the undesired part of the message
The attention of the listener is not focused
The listener lets the mind wander
 listening to TV programmes,Railway & airport
announcements

16. Intuitive Listening
It is a higher form of listening
It means listening through the intuitive mind
The listener has to be alert to the speaker’s
implied meaning, intention and attitude

17. Listening Barriers
[A] Physiological Barriers Include
 1] State of health of the listener and speaker:
- any form of bodily discomfort makes it difficult to listen attentively
- Poor health conditions of speaker reduce his ability to speak well
 2] Disability:
- Hearing deficiencies may lead to poor listening
- Speech disorders of the speaker
- Speaking rapidly or speaking in accent, leads to unclear message
 3] Wandering Attention:
- Human mind can process 500 words per minute , whereas a speaker speaks at a
rate of 150 words per minute,
- Concentrating and analyzing would improve listening

18. Listening Barriers
[B] Psychological Barriers relate to behavioral aspects.
1] Being unsure about the speakers ability:
the listener may have a preconceived notion of the speaker’s ability
2] Attitude:
The listener may with a “know it all” attitude and may not listen
because he feels he already knows what the speaker has to say
the listener assumes it can be done without much concentration
and effort
An over critical attitude may shift --- to notice faults and errors.
3] Impatience: The listener may not have patience
4] Emotional blocks: deep-seated beliefs in certain ideas

19. PART [C] - BARRIERS
Listening is a complex process
Smooth flow of oral communication
[II] physical barrier: noise, person talking on phone, several distractions in
the surroundings. All channels should be free from noise during
the time of communication
[III] linguistic barrier: speaker should use the language that the listener
understands
IV] cultural barrier: speaker & listener belong to diff. cultures , share diff.
values
----- interpretation of the meaning can create misunderstanding

20. Improving Listening Skills
Efforts by listener:
1. Concentration : Pay attention to the speaker and
disallow your mind to wander
2. Preparation : Gather information on perceived difficult
topics and remove distractions in the environment
3. Show Interest : Look attentive and use non verbal cues
such as eye contact , nods, smile etc

21. Continued..
4. Listen for the whole message: Comprehend both
verbal and non verbal communication such as voice
intensity , body movements etc
5. Empathy : Put yourself in the speaker’s shoes , this
will help you to better understand what speaker is
trying to say
6. Listening before evaluating: Listen first and then
evaluate ,as premature judgment hampers effective
listening

22. Improving Listening Skills
Efforts by listener:
7. Note Taking: Taking notes enhances the
efficacy of the listening process
8. Paraphrasing: It is simple restating what
another person has said in your own words
9. Body Language : Maintain positive body
language , an upright posture , eye contact with
speaker reflects listener’s interest in what is
being said

23. Improving Listening Skills
Efforts by speaker:
• The speaker needs to have clarity of thought and purpose , he
should be clear about what is he conveying to the audience
• The speaker needs to communicate the message in a lively ,
stimulating manner which will capture the attention of the
listener
• The speaker should try to empathize with the listeners
• He speaker should modulate his delivery to retain the
attention of the audience