TUTORIAL: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING SKILLS

williams-owb (58)in #steemiteducation • 8 years ago

`INTRODUCTION`

In this post, I shall provide a breakdown of the following:

What is listening?
The importance of listening
Types of listening
Conditions for effective listening

WHAT IS LISTENING?

Listening is the ability to capture,receive and understand important parts of pieces of information, a message or a lecture delivered especially through the spoken medium. There is a lot of difference between hearing and listening. Listening is an advanced from of hearing. Hearing is innate, as it is expected that all normal human beings should have the ability to hear but listening is a skill that must be developed and practiced. A good listener is one who practices 'active listening' - this is when a listener makes a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying, but to try and comprehend the message in its totality.

Listening is a skill that needs a lot of concentration and determination to achieve. You may not be a good listener if you get distracted easily. Most people think they are good listeners without taking time to differentiate between hearing and listening. Listening is simply the ability to pay attention and make a conscious effort to process what you hear.

It is so sad that we often take our ability to listen for granted, not considering that it is an integral part of communication.

Students listening in a class session

IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

Listening enhances learning.
Listening is the best method for processing and understanding what a speaker says.
It is for obtaining detailed information and facts.
It reflects a healthy relationship and respect for the speaker.
It could afford enjoyment because all distractions must be jettisoned.

TYPES OF LISTENING

There are three basic types of listening.

(1.) COMPETITIVE OR COMBATIVE LISTENING

This type of listening usually happens in debates or during arguments as we are more interested in promoting our own views rather than understanding or exploring someone else's view. In this type of listening, we look for every available opportunity to interrupt the speaker or perhaps internally formulating our rebuttal and planning a comeback to flaw the speaker's point or views. Combative listening may be counter-productive if not well managed.

This listener seems to pay no attention to the speaker

(2.) PASSIVE OR ATTENTIVE LISTENING

In passive listening, we listen with interest and understand the speakers point of view without making attempts to verify the validity of what the speaker said or even try to share our own opinion - we take the speaker's claims hook, line and sinker. What the speaker delivers is taken without any critical reasoning or questioning, this could be as a result of our nonchalant attitude to the topic that is being discussed or hatred for the speaker. Lazy students, participants of conferences or seminars etc fall into this category of passive listening because all they do is to reproduce the content that the speaker provide without making efforts to make researches or read wide.

(3.) ACTIVE OR REFLECTIVE LISTENING

Active listening is similar to passive listening in the sense that we are genuinely interested in understanding and comprehending what the message of the speaker means. The only difference is that in active listening, we are willing to verify the speakers message and also respond with our new message. The verification process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it the best and most effective form of listening.The feedback could be in the form of a question and answer session in a seminar, for instance. It may be difficult to ask creatively constructed questions if you are not an active listener.

CONDITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Effective listening entails paying attention to the speaker and the message being delivered. It requires the following:

Maintain eye contact with the speaker. Ensure you look ate the speaker directly and take notes as you do this so as to get some major key points in the lecture.
Put away anything that can distract you such as the person coughing and sneezing beside you, sounds of chewing gum or even the person shuffling pages beside you. You may miss some cogent point when you are distracted.
Try as much as possible to be open-minded and avoid preparing an attack or rebuttal ahead of delivery. Nothing good will come out of this.
Body language of the speaker is very important for effective listening. Facial expressions for instance is a very vital component of communication. Some meanings are hidden in body language of the speaker.
Focus on contents, that is, the main points that is being communicated and not digressions, such as the speaker relaying a personal experience.

Students Listening Carefully During a Lecture

Listening is a very crucial element of communication and it is as important as reading, writing, and speaking but its quite sad that little focus is on listening. Some hours are dedicated to reading, writing and speaking skills in school but it is not the case for listening. Listening is not innate, but it has to be mastered. The best form of listening is active listening because it makes you have some moment to reflect on what is being said.