Listening
By Prof. Patterson
Listening is an important skill
Hearing and listening are different processes
 Hearing is a physiological process
 Listening is a mental process
 Most people are poor listeners
 Research shows most people understand only half of what they
hear
 After 24 hours, most people remember only 10 percent of what
they originally heard
 Listening is an important job skill
 Effective listeners hold higher job positions, promoted more
often than poor listeners
 Business managers rank listening as the communication skill
most crucial to their jobs
 Survey of Fortune 500 countries revealed
 Listening is an excellent way to improve one’s speaking skills
 Speakers get many of their ideas by listening to lectures, TV,
radio, etc.
 Listening attentively to good speeches is an excellent way to
improve your own speaking skills
Listening skills are closely linked to
critical thinking
Four types of listening
 Appreciative listening
 Empathic listening
 Comprehensive listening
 Critical listening
 Appreciative listening
 Listening for pleasure or enjoyment
 Examples: listening to music or comedy routines
 Empathic listening
 Listening to provide emotional support for the speaker
 Examples: counselors and friends practice empathic
listening when they discuss something with a person
in distress
 Comprehensive listening
 Focuses on understanding the speaker’s message
 Examples: listening to classroom lectures; getting
directions to a friend’s house
 Critical listening
 Involves evaluating a message either to accept it or
reject it
 Example: listening to a sales pitch or a campaign
speech are opportunities to listen critically
Comprehensive and critical listening are
most important for public speaking
 Critical thinking skills central to Comprehensive
Listening
 Ability to summarize information
 Ability to recall facts
 Ability to distinguish between main points and minor
points
 Critical thinking skills important to Critical listening
 Separating fact from opinion
 Spotting weaknesses in reasoning
 Judging the quality of evidence
Four Cause of Poor Listening
 Not concentrating
 Listening too hard
 Jumping to conclusions
 Focusing on delivery and personal appearance instead of
listening to a speaker’s message
Ways to Improve Listening Skills
 First, take listening seriously
 Second, become an active listener
 Third, resist distractions
 Fourth, don’t be diverted by appearance or delivery
 Fifth, suspend judgment until hearing a speaker’s full message
 Sixth, focus your listening
 Seventh, develop strong note-taking skills