The document discusses listening and effective listening skills. It defines listening as receiving sounds through the ears and processing them into meaningful words and messages. It notes that adults spend around 45% of their communication time listening, compared to 30% speaking. There are five levels of listening: ignoring, pretending, selective, attentive, and empathic. Some effective listening skills include maintaining eye contact, not interrupting the speaker, avoiding distractions, asking questions, paraphrasing, being attentive yet relaxed, making smooth transitions, and avoiding interrupting the speaker.

2. What is listening
 Listening" is receiving language through the
ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds
of speech and processing them into words and
sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to
receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm
and pauses) and we use our brain to convert
these into messages

3. We Spend a lot of Time in
Listening
 Adults spend an average of 70% of their time
engaged in some sort of communication, of
this an average of 45% is spent listening
compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and
9% writing.

4. There 5 level of listening
1. Hearing but ignoring (no idea what you just
said)
2. Pretending (yes, oh, I see)
3. Selective listening ( I hear part of what
you’re saying )
4. Attentive listening (no evaluation, e.g.
taking notes at a lecture)
5. Empathic listening (I fully understand &
feel what you’re saying

5. Always remember…
 "we were given two ears but only one
mouth, because listening is twice as hard
as talking.”

6. Effective listening skills

7. 1.Eye contact
 In most Western cultures, eye contact is
considered a basic ingredient of effective
communication.

8. 2.Stop Talking
 “If we were supposed to talk more than we
listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.”
Mark Twain.
 When somebody else is talking listen to what
they are saying, do not interrupt, talk over them
or finish their sentences for them. Stop, just
listen. When the other person has finished
talking you may need to clarify to ensure you
have received their message accurately.

9. 3.Remove Distractions
 Focus on what is being said: don’t doodle,
shuffle papers, look out the window, pick your
fingernails or similar. Avoid unnecessary
interruptions. These behaviors disrupt the
listening process and send messages to the
speaker that you are bored or distracted.

10. 4.Ask Question
 When you notice that your question has led the
speaker astray, take responsibility for getting the
conversation back on track by saying something
like, “It was great to hear about …”
 By frequently asking questions, you display an
open mind
 It shows that you are listening

11. 5.Paraphrase
 What I hear you saying is......
 Do you mean...?
 I understand from what you saying that.....

12. 6.Be attentive, But relaxed
 Mentally screen out distractions, like
background activity and noise. In addition, try
not to focus on the speaker’s accent or speech
mannerisms to the point.
 don’t be distracted by your own thoughts,
feelings, or biases.

13. 7.Make smooth transitions
 In most situations, you are continually shifting
back and forth between the roles of speaker and
listener.
 The active listener makes transitions smoothly
from speaker to listener and back to speaker.
 From a listening perspective, this means
concentrating on what a speaker has to say, and
avoiding thoughts about what you are going to
say as soon you get a chance.

14. 8.Avoid interrupting the speaker
 Let the speaker complete their thought before
you try to respond.
 Do not try to second-guess where the speaker’s
thoughts are going.
 When the speaker is finished, you will know it!

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