LISTENING.

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

INTRODUCTION:

                        Listening is a complex process – an integral part of total communications process, albeit a part often ignored.   There are numerous definitions for listening.  The most useful one defines listening as the process of receiving, attending and understanding auditory messages, i.e., messages transmitted through the medium of sound.   Often, the steps of responding and remembering are also included.

TYPES OF LISTENING:

                        Different situations require different types of listening.   The types of listening are:

• Informative listening;
• Relationship listening;
• Appreciative listening;
• Critical listening;
• Discriminative listening

INFORMATIVE LISTENING:

                        In this type of listening the listener’s primary concern is to understand the message.   Listeners are successful insofar as the meaning they assign to messages is as close as possible to that which the sender intended.  It is found in all areas of lives.  Much of our learning comes from informative learning.  There are three variables related to informative listening.   They are vocabulary, concentration and memory.

                        The relationship between vocabulary and listening is not defined but it is clear that increasing vocabulary will increase potential for better understanding.  Having a genuine interest in words and language, making a conscious effort to learn new words, breaking down unfamiliar words in to their component parts – all these things will help to improve the vocabulary.  Another way to improve vocabulary is to be sensitive to the context in which words are used.   Sometimes, unfamiliar words appear with synonyms. 

                        The concentration is very difficult.  One can remember times when another person was not concentrating on what one was saying and can remember times when one was not concentrating on something that someone was saying.

                        Memory is a crucial variable to informative listening.  One cannot process information without bringing memory into play.  Memory helps informative listening in three ways:

• It allows recalling experiences and information necessary to function in the world.   In other words without memory one would have no knowledge bank;
• It establishes expectations concerning what one will encounter.   One would be unable to drive in heavy traffic, react to new situations, or make common decisions in life without memory of one’s past experiences;
• It allows one to understand what others say.  Without simple memory of the meaning of words, one could not communicate with anyone else.   Without memory of concepts and ideals, one could not understand the meaning of messages.

RELATIONSHIP LISTENING:

                        The purpose of relationship listening is either to help an individual or to improve the relationship between people.   Therapeutic listening is a special type of relationship listening.   It brings to mind situations where counselors, medical personnel or other professionals allow a troubled person to talk through a problem.   But it can also be used when one to listen to fiends or acquaintances and allow them to get things off their chests.   Although relationship listening requires one to listen for information, the emphasis is on understanding the other persons.   There are three behaviors keys to effective relationship listening which are attending, supporting and empathizing.

                        In relationship listening attending behaviors indicate that the listener is focusing on the speaker.   Non verbal cues are crucial in relationship listening, i.e., non verbal behavior indicates that one is attending to the speaker or that one is not.  Eye contact is the most important attending behaviors.  Body positioning communicates acceptance or lack of it.  Leaning forward shows the interest to the speaker.  Leaning away expresses lack of interest.   Head nods, smiles, frowns and vocalized cues such as ‘uh, huh’ etc., are all positive attending behaviors. 

                        Many responses have a negative or no supportive effect.   For example interrupting the speaker, changing the subject, turning the conversation toward oneself and demonstrating a lack of concern for the other person etc., will adverse the effect on the relationship.  The best response is silence.  The speaker may need a ‘sounding board’ not a ‘resounding board’.   Wise relationship listeners know when to talk and when to just listen and they generally listen more than they talk.   There are three characteristics meant for supporting listeners which are-

• Discretion – being careful about what they say and do;
• Belief – expressing confidence in the ability of the other person;
• Patience – being willing to give others the time they need to express themselves adequately.

Empathy is not sympathy.   It is a feeling for or about another.  Empathy is feeling and thinking with another person.   The caring, empathic listener is able to go into the world of another – to see as the other sees, hear as the other hears and feel as the other feels.

APPRECIATIVE LISTENING:

                        It includes listening to music for enjoyment, to speakers because one likes their style, to one’s choices in theatre, television, radio or film.   It is the response of the listener, not the source of the message that defines appreciative listening.   One person may provide something else for another.   Hard rock music is not a source of appreciative listening.  The quality of appreciative listening depends in large part on three factors – presentation, perception and previous experience.

                        Presentation is composed of the medium setting, the style and personality of the presenter.  Perception influences all areas of our life.   Certainly they are crucial determinants as to whether or not we enjoy or appreciate the things we listen to.  Perceptions also determine what we listen to in the first place.  The previous experience influences whether one enjoy listening to something.  In some cases, one enjoys listening to the things because one may be expert in that area.   In some cases, however, expertise or previous experience prevents one from enjoying a presentation because one is too sensitive to imperfections. 

CRITICAL LISTENING:

                        The politicians, the media, salesmen, advocates of policies and procedures etc, requires us to place a premium on critical listening and the thinking that accompanies it.  The subject of critical listening deserves much more attention than one can afford.   There are three things in critical listening-

-         ethos or speaker credibility;

-         logos or logical arguments;

-         pathos or psychological appeals.

The credibility of the speaker is important.   The two critical factors of speaker credibility are expertness and trustworthiness.   A speaker may be expert or competent and skill and still not be trustworthy.  On the other hand a person may be trustworthy but not be an expert on the subject.  A person may have personality or charisma but these do not take the place of credibility.   A person may even be highly competent and an expert in one area and simply not be informed in another.  Effective critical listening requires careful judgment about the expertness and trustworthiness of the speaker. 

                        Ethos without logos is not enough.  Even speakers with high ethos often make errors in logic, not by intention but by accident, carelessness, inattention to detail or lack of analysis.  Speakers may appeal to any one or several needs, desires or values that are important to including – adventure, thrift, curiosity, fear, creativity, companionship, guilt, independence, loyalty, power, pride, sympathy, altruism.    Psychological appeals also require for effective critical listening.

DISCRIMINATIVE LISTENING:

                        By being sensitive to changes in the speaker’s rate, volume, force, pitch and emphasis, the informative listener can detect even nuances of difference in the meaning.  Though discriminative listening cuts across the other four types of listening there are three things to consider about this type of listening:

• Hearing ability – Obviously, people who lack the ability to hear well will have greater difficulty in discriminating among sounds.   This problem is more acute for some frequencies or pitches than others;
• Awareness of sound Structure – Native speakers become quite proficient at recognizing vowel and consonant sounds that do or do not appear at the beginning, middle or end of words;
• Integration of non verbal cues – The action, no action and vocal factors were important in understanding the messages.  Words don’t always communicate true feelings.   The way they are said, or the way the speaker acts, may be the key to understanding the true or intended meaning.