Listening is a skill that helps us communicate with others. Listening may be effective or ineffective. Effective listening skills demonstrate the ability to receive and comprehend the message of the speaker and vice versa.

 3- EFFECTIVE LISTENING SKILLS

The end goal of effective listening is the comprehension of content matter.  Hence, effective listening requires the listener to pay full attention to the intended message of the speaker. Generally, people opt to learn the following skills to make their listening effective.

 3.1- ACTIVE LISTENING

This skill says, ‘Turn on your listening mechanism’. This valuable efficiency demands the active participation of the listener in an effort to receive, chew and digest all verbal and nonverbal messages of the conversation. In turn, the listener makes the speaker realize of his full engagement and understanding of the information via such gestures as focused eyes and nodding etc. A three-step formula works wonder in enhancing the active listening.

3.1.1- COMPREHENSION

Comprehension is, in fact, a shared meaning between the listener and the speaker. Nevertheless, comprehension is the key to successful listening which can be acquired via competence in the target language, interest in the content matter and attentiveness to the emphasized words and repeated messages.

3.1.2- RETAINING

The role of memory is very much there in the process of active listening. A poor memory, the product of cramming, cannot retain information for a longer time which resultantly, retards the process of active listening. Therefore, it is desirable for the listener to deal with the collected data as information to retain it in his memory in order for it to recall or review.

3.1.3- RESPONDING

The end result of this step determines the effectiveness of active listening. Avery Viehmann (2021) concluded his study in that responding is the very step that ensures the listening effects. This step allows the listener to recall the main points and review the gist of the whole conversation.

 3.2- CRITICAL LISTENING

When listening and evaluation of received information go side by side, it is called critical listening. For example, when we decide to buy a new product e.g., a mobile phone, we listen a lot from our colleagues and shopkeepers about that particular brand. For the most often, we keep on comparing, in our brain, the specifications and prices of the product while listening. This is how we do critical listening.

 3.3- EMPATHETIC LISTENING

We do empathic listening when we get supportive of the exasperating information of the speaker. For example, if our boss apologizes for the cancellation of bonus at year end and we, instead of getting upset, understand the complexity of the situation and endorse with his views, we do empathic listening.

 3.4- APPRECIATIVE LISTENING

When we listen to something (music, sermon) or someone (motivational speaker) that appeals to our emotions or stirs up our inner feelings, we do appreciative listening.

4- INEFFECTIVE LISTENING/BARRIERS TO LISTENING

Our bad ways of listening are known as barriers to effective listening. Very often, these habits of ineffective listening create miscommunication that ultimately causes misunderstanding. John Stoker has identified the following categories of ineffective listening.

 4.1- EVALUATIVE LISTENING

Instead of listening carefully, such listeners tend to filter the content matter through their own bent of mind. Consequently, they keep on passing singles of agreement or disagreement by nodding or shooking respectively along with each set of information. Sometime, they get into counter argument with the speaker.

 4.2- ASSUMPTIVE LISTENING

In such cases, the listener pre-assumes the full meanings even when the speaker has not finished his statement. This habit of the listener always results in the production of misunderstanding and the speaker has to go back repeatedly in order for clearance.

 4.3- AFFIRMATIVE LISTENING

Affirmative listeners pay attention to only those messages with which they agree and pay deaf ear to the rest of conversation. They listen just to validate their own opinions. For example, a Muslim will listen to a Muslim scholar more attentively than his Hindu counterpart.

 4.4- DEFENSIVE LISTENING

A defensive listener always misunderstands that whatever is being said is all about him. In defense, he uses such phrases like ‘yes … but’. Instead of focusing on the content matter, he keeps his mind busy in finding out where he is being targeted.

 5- OBJECTIVES/PURPOSE OF LISTENING

Listening plays a role of vital significance in the drama of communication. Different studies have proved that the people who listen better can think better and make better decisions. The importance of this skill increases manifold when judged in the light of the following purposes it fulfills.

 5.1- IMPROVE COMMUNICATION

Much of our understanding comes when people around us communicate with us. Active listening habits can help us know what the other people think, how they feel about us and what they want to convey. If we don’t listen them, the resultant miscommunication can give birth to misunderstandings. So, listening is vital to shed communication barriers off.

 5.2- INCREASE LEARNING

Jalon (2010) concludes his findings in that listening skills improve our learning, reading comprehension and academic performance. Piaget says that college students learn more than 80% through lectures they receive. So, the role of listening cannot be denied in the proliferation of our learning.

 5.3- BUILD EMPATHY

Deep and attentive listening can be productive of the feelings of empathy for the speaker’s hard times. We can understand the complexity of situation through his pathetic diction, expressive tone and facial expressions and can build empathy towards him instead of getting upset.

 

5.4- INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

No one can deny the importance of speaking in the uplift of business. However, the significance of listening cannot be ignored in gathering information on the feedback of the consumers which is core to productivity. This skill has developed tightening roots in group projects and business meetings in the modern era.

 6- TRAITS OF A GOOD LISTENER

An efficient listener possesses the following traits which are enough to demonstrate that he is an active listener.

 6.1- EYE CONTACT

Eye contact makes communication effective and durable. The speaker can quit his conversation if the listener’s eyes are busy on phone, wandering around the room or peeping out through window. A listener is considered good at listening if he keeps his eye balls fixed at speaker’s face throughout.

6.2- ATTENTION TO NON-VERBAL SIGNS

A good speaker says a lot through gestures. Similarly, a good listening receives a lot from the speaker’s non-verbal signals such as body language, tone and pitch of voice. Hence, eye contact is fundamental to reading the faces. So, a good listener not only listens attentively but also keeps sharp eyes.

 6.3- EMPATHY

Empathy means to understand and share the feelings of others by putting oneself in other person’s shoes. An efficient listener listens deeply enough to be empathetic towards the speaker whenever the situation demands. Being empathetic, a good listener invariably gets glad, sad or fearful accordingly when the speaker expresses any of these emotions.

6.4- FEEDBACK

The feedback of the listener is necessary to show that he is understanding what the speaker is conveying. A good listener may nod or move his eye-brows up to show that the information is highly valuable for him.

To cut the matter short, listening is a very important skill which makes communication possible. A good speaker is he who is good at listening.