LECTURE No.

10

LISTENING

LISTENING
DEFINITION
According to Dumont and Lannon, listening is
the complex and selective process of receiving,
focusing, deciphering, accepting, and storing
what we hear. Listening does not occur without
these five interrelated, yet distinct, processes.

LISTENING
Steps in Listening
Through their definition Dumont and Lannon suggest five steps in
listening.

Receiving
Getting ready and physically hearing the message

Focusing
Imparting due attention on the message, its contents, and the speaker with
eye-contact.

Deciphering
Decoding/analyzing the message in term of your experience, knowledge,
school of thought. Creed, personal back ground, hope, needs. The step
Includes evaluating the non-verbal communication of the speaker.

Accepting
Trying to understand the meaning, summarizing, and drawing conclusion.

Storing
Holding the message in memory. Talking notes facilities memory.

LISTENING
Ten Commandments for Good Listening
1. Stop Talking:
You isnt learning nothing when youre talking;
2. Put the talker at ease:
Make a him at home so that he is free to talk.

3. Show him that you what to listen:

Look and act interest. Do not read news paper or mail while he talks.
You lack of interest will discourage him.
4. Remove Distractions:
Dont Scrawl, tap of shuffle papers. It would be if you shut the door.
Privacy reassures the speaker.
5. Emphasize with the talker:
Patience make you sober and worth speaking to. Try to put yourself in
his place so that you can see point of view.

LISTENING
Ten Commandments for Good Listening
6. Be patient:
Do not interrupt (Stop / Cut-off) him.
Allow plenty of time. Dont cut it.
7. Hold your Temper:
If you loose your temper, you may get wrong meaning from the words. Losing
your temper is your defect.
8. Take it easy on argument and criticism:
He may calm up or angry. In both cases he will lose. Dont argue or you will lose.
It is the test of your temperamer.

9. Ask question:
It encourages the talker and shows you are talking interest. Putting questions
attracts the attention of the listener.
10. Stop talking:
1st and last principle for good listening. You learn only when you are not talking

LISTENING
Responsibilities of Good Listeners
(A). Preparation for listening:A listener should prepare himself to listen. This preparation includes following
points:
(i) No talking:A listener must not talk when he is going to listen otherwise, the idea may not be
received or it may be interrupted.
(ii) Avoiding distraction:The listener should not distract his attention from the speaker to some other
object. Shuffling papers or doing any other thing may disturb the person of
receiving ideas.
(iii) Good environmental condition:The listeners should arrange a suitable condition before listening. Noise of traffic,
Poor ventilation, extraordinary warmness or coldness and many other such things
cause problems in listening.

LISTENING
(B). Concentration on message:A listener is required to concentrate on verbal and non-verbal message.
For having good concentration, following points are to be considered:
(i). Controlling emotion and feelings:Sometimes it happens that speakers words hurt the feelings of listeners.
In this situation the listeners should control his/her emotion and feeling
because if he loses temperament, he cannot get the message.
(ii). Avoiding evaluation:The listener should concentrate only on listening and avoid jumping to
conclusion or evaluating the message.
(iii). Showing interest:The listener should show his interest to the topic so that the speaker can
be motivated to convey his ideas in a better way.
.

LISTENING
Faults/Pitfalls of Listening
Listening is a very important aspect (portion) of oral
communication. If there is any lacking or fault in listening, it
might cause failure to communication process. So, people
should be well aware of faults in listening so as to improve
the overall communication ability. These faults are
enumerated as under:
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Prejudice (unfairness) against the speaker.

External Distraction (disturbance).
Thinking (estimation) speed.
Premature (before time, un-timely) evaluation.
Semantic stereotype (emotional and psychological belongingness).
Delivery of speech.
Language.
Sluggishness (slowness, delay).

LISTENING
Results of the Good Listening
1. It permits mutual understanding between the speaker and the listener.
2. It permits the speaker and the listener to improve communication
because both are receptive to each other.
3. It leads to positive attitudes.
4. It shows the speaker that the listeners are interested. In turn, the
speaker is motivated and encourages giving his best presentation.
5. It results in receiving useful information enable the listener to make

accurate decisions.
6. It helps the one speaking (esp. in an interview) to talk out problems.