ListeningIntroduction to Speech

Listening

• This skill begins with a decision.

• Hearing comes naturally, but listening is a learned social skill.

• You have to decide to do it!

5 Steps to Listening Process:

Step 1

• Hearing – You hear sounds.• Barriers to hearing: noise, hearing

impairment, fatigue, distraction and sender deficiency.

Step 2

• Interpreting – Decoding the signals and understanding the sensory input. You relate what you hear to what you already know.

Step 3

• Evaluating – Distinguishing facts from opinions and identifying possible biases. You figure out the speakers’ intent after you fully understand his or her point of view.

Step 4

• Remembering – You remember what you understand of what you said. You consciously commit some things to memory because you need the information or because the experience is important to you.

Step 5

• Responding – Reacting to a speaker by sending cues. • Example: nodding and saying “I see” or

smiling at a speaker.

What to listen for:

• Information – This is what you do most of the time in school.

• Emotion – The speaker sets out to establish a relationship. Sometimes people talk due to insecurity or nervousness.

• Attitude – Distinguish fact from opinion. Speakers may talk about something they’ve observed. How they say it will convey how they feel about it.

Continued…

• Goals and Hidden Agendas – Sometimes a listener can pick up on a strong theme that may not be expressed directly.

• Thoughts, Ideas, Opinions – Pay attention to what the speaker leaves out. People talk about things that interest them and omit things that don’t.

4 Barriers to Listening

• As a listener, your job is to duplicate in your mind the speaker’s exact message and intent.

Barrier 1

• External Barriers: begin outside the speaker and listener, usually in the surrounding environment.• Examples- Noise, Physical Distraction,

Information Overload

Barrier 2

• Listener Barriers: internal or psychological. They begin with the listener.• Examples – Boredom, Laziness, Waiting

to Speak, “Opinionatedness”, Prejudice, Lack of Interest

Barrier 3

• Speaker Barriers: They begin with the speaker.• Five Examples –

• Appearance (clothes, age, sex, etc.)• Manner (how he/she behaves, moves,

talks)• Power (too much or lack of)• Credibility (degree to which people can

believe the speaker)• Message (Awe or Yawn)

Barrier 4

• Cultural Barriers: Prejudice, Speaking Styles, Source Credibility, Nonverbal Communication, Accents

3 Types of Listening

Type 1

• Active Listening – You engage your mind and listen for the speaker’s meaning.• Empathetic Listening – When you use

the steps of active listening to seek emotional rather than intellectual understanding of the speaker. (Sharing the speaker’s mood)

• Creative Listening – When you listen and use your imagination simultaneously. This is useful in generating ideas in a brainstorm session.

Type 2

• Informational Listening – You listen mainly for content, attempting to identify the speaker’s purpose, main ideas and supporting details.

Type 3

• Critical Listening – You analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions about the speaker’s ideas. Used in formal situations, especially when listening for persuasive messages.

Propaganda

• This is a form of persuasion that discourages listeners from making an independent choice. Propagandists state their positions or opinions as though these are accepted truths, without evidence to back their claims.• Examples: jumping on the bandwagon,

name-calling, emotional appeals, stereotypes, and creating drama.