ESSENCE OF EFFECTIVE

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

By- Ananya Jain

[Link] (Hons) BSE
MEANING OF LISTENING

Listening is an act of hearing attentively. However, listening is not simple hearing; it is absorption of meaning of
words and sentences by brain. Listening enables the understanding of facts and ideas.
The difference between hearing and listening can also be stated in the following way.
 Hearing is the reception of sound listening is the attachment of meaning to the sound.
 Hearing is passive, listening is active.

In other words, hearing refers to the sound that you hear whereas listening requires more than that it requires focus.
Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how It is Told, the use of language and voice, and how the
other person uses his or her body .in other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal message. your
message your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understanding these
messages.
In fact, listening involves observing body language and noticing inconsistencies between verbal and non- verbal
message. for example, if someone tells you that they are happy with their life but through gritted teeth or with tears
filling their eyes, you should consider that verbal and non-verbal messages are in conflict, they maybe don’t mean what
they say. listening requires you to concentrate and use your other senses in addition to simply hearing the words spoken.
 ROLE OF LISTENING

 To learn new information or language: listening is one of the four core skills of language acquisition. the other three are speaking
reading and wring listening and reading are receptive skills, speaking and writing active skills. listening is how a baby first starts to
become aware of language, so it is clearly important for learners of any language. Listening is important because you can learn new
information through listening. Through listening the learner picks up vital clues, some consciously, other subconsciously, about what
constitutes idiomatic spoken English. the learner may also register and retain words and phrases which having heard them from a
native speaker or their teacher, they know to be acceptable for their own use later on.
 To show empathy with speaker: listening is not only crucial to understanding how to learn the language for example via instruction
in the classroom or via audio devices, but also because it is a core life skill. Sometimes called active listening .it involves not only
sense of hearing, but also being aware of body language and being able to empathize with the speaker to ensure that the message
being transmitted is received correctly.
 To keep focus: listening also includes paying attention to the person speaking, so you can also pick up on body language, gestures,
expression and –verbal clues to help you understanding what they are saying.
 To maintain the term: listening is also polite and it helps you to get along with other people listening is a virtue something that not
everyone has it gives you an insight of other persons thoughts and their behavior, and which in turn makes dealing easy with them.
Sometimes just by listening you can help people reasons with them and deal better with their emotion and the most important of all it
gives you other person is perspective of the problem or the situation.
 PROCESS OF LISTENING

 Hearing – it refer to the response caused waves simulating the sensory

receptor of the ear it is physical response hearing is perception on of
sound waves you must hear to listen but you need not listen to hear
perception necessary for listening depends on attention.
 Attention – brain screens and permits only a select flow to come into
focus –these selective perception is known as attention ,an important
requirement for effective Listening strong stimuli like bright light,
sudden noise, are attention to more commonplace or less striking
stimuli requires special effort postural adjustment are aided by physical
changes in sensory receptor organs ; receptor adjustment might include
tensing of the ear’s tympanic muscle for better response to weak sound.
 Understanding – to understand symbols we leave seen and heard we
must analyze the meaning of the stimuli we have perceived
symbolic stimuli are not only word but sound like applause and sight like blue uniform … that have symbolic
meaning as well as ; the meaning attached to these symbols are a function of our past associations and of the context
in which the symbols occur; for successful interpersonal communication , the listener must understand the interned
the meaning and the context assured by the sender.
 Remembering – it is important listening process because it means that an individual has not only received and
interpreted a massage but has also added it to the mind’s storage bank; but just as our attention is selective, so too
is our memory - what is remembered may be quite from what was originally seen or heard.
 Evaluating-it is stage in which active listener participate; it is at point that the active listener weigh evidence, sort
fact from opinion and determines the presence or absence of bias or prejudice in a message; the effective listener
makes sure that he or she doesn’t begin this activity too soon; beginning this stage of the process before a message
is completed requires that we no longer hear and attend to the incoming message as a result the listening process
ceases.
 Responding – this stage requires that the receiver complete the process though verbal and /or nonverbal
feedback because the speaker has no other way determine if message has been received this stage becomes the
only overt means by which the sender may determine the degree of success in transmitting the message.
TYPES OF LISTENING:

1. Active listening: you listen closely to content and intent. what

emotional meaning might the speaker be giving you? You try to block
out barriers to listening most importantly you are non –judgment and
empathetic.

2. Selective listening: you hear only what you want to hear. you hear
some of the message and immediately begin to formulate your reply or
second guess the speaker without waiting for the speaker to finish.

3. Reflective listening: this is active listening when you also work to

clarify what the speaker is saying and make sure there is mutual
understanding.

4. Discriminative listening: discriminative listening is the most basic

type of listening whereby the difference between the difference sounds is
identified if you cannot hear difference then you cannot make sense of
the meaning that is expressed by such difference..
We learn to discriminate between sound within our own language early ,and later are unable to discriminate
between the phonemes of other language this is one reason why a person from one country finds it difficult to
speak another language perfectly, as they are unable distinguish the subtle sound that are required in that
language .
5. Critical listening: -critical listening is listening in order to evaluate and judge. Forming opinion about
what is being said. Judgment includes assessing and weakness, agreement and [Link] form of listening
requires significant real –time cognitive effort as the listener analyses what is being said, relating it to existing
knowledge and rules, whilst simultaneously listening to the ongoing words from the speaker
6. Appreciative listening: -in appreciative listening we seek certain information which will appreciate, for
example that which helps meet our need and goals. We use appreciative listening when we are listening to
good music. poetry or maybe even the stirring words of a great leader.
7. Empathetic listening: -when we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to seek a truer understand
how others are feeling. this requires excellent discrimination and close attention to the nuances of emotional
signals. When we are being truly empathetic, we actually feel what they are feeling. In order to get other to
expose these deep parts of them to us, we also need to demonstrate our empathy in our demeanor towards
them, asking sensitively and in a way that encourages self-disclosure.
BARRIERS TO LISTENING

 Experiencing information overload.

 Criticizing the speaker

 Getting distracted by external “noise

 Stereotyping and generalizing

 Not investing time

 Having a distorted focus

 Assuming similar interpretations

 Language differences or accents

STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING

 Stop focus on the other person, their thought and feelings

 Pay attention to non –verbal message

 Listen for the essence of the speaker `s thoughts

 Be empathetic.

 Analyze your own perceptions.

 Develop your ability to understand

 Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk

 Give feedback

 Avoid distractions
TED TALKS

A TED talk is a recorded public-speaking presentation that was originally given at the main TED
(technology, entertainment and design) annual event or one of its many satellite events around the
world. TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks, often
called "TED talks."
TED Talks stand for- Technology, Entertainment and Design. TED talks are limited to a maximum
length of 18 minutes but may be on any topic. The first TED conference was in 1984 and the conference
has been held annually since 1990. Initially, the focus of TED conferences was technology, design and
entertainment.
Why TED Talks Under 18 minutes?

A TED Talk is a showcase for speaker to present great, well-formed ideas in under 18 minutes.

This short talk model works, since it only demands the audience's attention for a short period of time,
decreasing the chance of minds wandering or daydreaming about lunch. In fact, some of our greatest
TED Talks have been as short as 5 minutes long!
MOST POPULAR TED TALKS

 Ken Robinson – How schools kill creativity

Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for school nurturing creativity as
opposed to undermining it.
 Amy Cuddy – Your body language shapes who you are
Amy Cuddy looks at body language and how we can use power posing
(standing confidently) can boost testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain.
 Tim Urban – Inside the mind of a master procrastinator
Procrastination is familiar to us all, which is perhaps one of the reasons
blogger and writer Tim Urban’s 2016 TED Talk has proven to be so popular. In it, Tim set
out his very own struggles with procrastination.
 Tony Robbins – Why we do what we do
Tony Robbins discusses the invisible forces that motivate everyone’s action in his “Why
we do what we do” talk.
 Dan Pink – The puzzle of motivation
Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation and discovers traditional rewards aren’t
IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

An impromptu action is one that you do without planning or organizing it in advance.

Impromptu speaking is a speech that a person delivers without predetermination or preparation. The speaker is most
commonly provided with their topic in the form of a quotation, but the topic may also be presented as an object,
proverb, one-word abstract, or one of the many alternative possibilities.
“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech”
-Mark Twain
An Impromptu speech follows a basic structure in which a student
presents-
 Introduction
 Body
 Conclusion.