Chapter 5- Listening and
Responding Skills
SPCH 153
Hearing vs. Listening
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Hearing= Physiological process of just
decoding sounds
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Listening= Complex process of selecting,
attending to, creating meaning from,
remembering, and responding to verbal
and nonverbal messages.
Five Elements of Listening Process
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Selecting
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Attending
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Understanding
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Remembering
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Responding
Listening Styles
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Listening Style- Preferred way of making
sense out of spoken messages
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Four Styles:
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People Oriented
Action Oriented
Content Oriented
Time Oriented
Not mutually exclusive.
Listening Barriers

Being self-absorbed
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Information overload
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Unchecked emotions
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External noise
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Criticizing the
speaker

Listener
apprehension

Different Speech rate
and thought rate
Improving as a listener
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Stop
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Look
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Listen
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Determine listening goal
Transform barriers into
goals
Summarize details of the
message
Weave summaries
together into a major
point
Listen to challenging
material
Empathic Listening Skills
Socially decenter- imagine what others
are thinking
 Think how you would react
 Reflect on what you know about the
other
 Think about how you think most would
react
 Imagine how the partner is feeling
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Critical listening skills
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Critical listening- evaluate the quality,
appropriateness, value, or importance of
information
Assess information quality
 Avoid jumping to conclusions
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Responding skills
Don’t interrupt
 Ask appropriate questions
 Accurately paraphrase
 Provide well-timed responses
 Provide usable information
 Avoid unnecessary details
 Be descriptive rather than evaluative
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