Listening: The Finer Points

Please take notes on the key concepts of this topic. Keep your notes in your journal for easy reference.

Why do we have to learn to listen?

Well, listening is, just like writing, a skill. There is a big difference between LISTENING and HEARING.

• Listening is active. It requires your brain to process symbols, words, sounds.
• Hearing is the reception of sound. It requires that you can receive the sound. A deaf person cannot hear or her reception of sound in order to hear is not working. Deaf people use other ways in which to communicate.

When teacher say: "are you listening?" we often misunderstand and think they mean "did you hear me?" Yes, we say, all the while not paying attention to WHAT the teacher is saying. This happens with parents, brothers/sisters, neighbors, and all sorts of strangers too. It is the root of many conflicts and problems in our society.

If we don't understand a message a sender is sending to us, we often blame the speaker. But SOMETIMES the problem is with us, the RECEIVER. If we are not listening, we cannot blame the speaker. It takes two to communicate: the sender and the receiver!

WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Learning to listen carefully allows us to:

1. Avoid misunderstandings
2. Get along better with others
3. Learn
4. Be more successful in school and on the job

But there are barriers to listening. It's not easy to do all the time. Here are some of the common barriers of effective listening:

1. Distractions
2. Daydreaming
3. Being close-minded
4. Overemphasizing the source
5. Listening to only what is easy to understand

In order to avoid these obstacles or problems, we need to:

1. Prepare to listen
2. Expand our vocabulary
3. Apply the message to yourself or your life
4. Pick out central ideas or details
5. Provide feedback by looking at the speaker and giving the speaker feedback cues
6. Remember what we hear

It is courteous to be an effective listener. Rude people (people who often think of no one but themselves) tend to have poor listening skills. Learning to be a good listener is one of those important skills you learn in school and its use in life is essential to your success.