1 Chapter 7 Listening Listening Inter-Act, 13 th Edition Inter-Act, 13 th Edition

Chapter Objectives Discuss the three challenges that make it difficult for us to effectively listen List and describe the five steps in the active listening process Discuss the guidelines and skills that can help you improve your ability to listen 2

Discussion Question: Based on your work and life experience, what are some of the reasons why you and others have listened poorly? 3

4 Listening Listening makes up 42-60% of our communication. Writing Speaking Reading

Class Activity A common complaint from women is that men don’t listen well… 5

Challenges to effective listening Personal and cultural styles of listening Listening Apprehension Dual processes in listening 6

Personal & Cultural Styles of Listening Content-oriented: prefer to focus on facts and evidence People-oriented: prefer to focus on conversational partners and their feelings Action-oriented: prefer to focus on point speaker is trying to make Time-oriented: prefer brief and swift conversations 7

Listening Apprehension Fear of misinterpretation Fear of the psychological affect of the message 8

Dual Processes in Listening Passive listening: effortless, thoughtless, and habitual process Active listening: skillful, intentional, deliberate, and conscious process 9

The Active Listening Process Attending Understanding Remembering Critically Evaluating Responding 10 The process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages

Attending The process of willfully striving to perceive selected sounds that are being heard Get physically and mentally ready to listen. Make the shift from speaker to listener a complete one. Resist tuning out. Avoid interrupting. 11

Understanding Process of accurately decoding a message so that you share its meaning with the speaker Identify the speaker’s purpose and key points. Observe nonverbal cues. Ask clarifying questions. Paraphrase what you heard. 12

Paraphrase the following statements to reflect both the thoughts and feelings of the person speaking: 1. “I really like communication, but what could I do with a major in this field?” 2. “I don’t know if Pat and I are getting too serious too fast.” 3. “You can borrow my car, if you really need to, but please be careful with it. I can’t afford any repairs and if you have an accident, I won’t be able to drive to D.C. this weekend.” 13

Remembering Reasons we fail to rememberUsing repetition to remember We filter out messages We listen anxiously or passively We remember “easy” or “desirable” messages We forget the middle Primacy effect Recency effect Repeat two, three, four times Create mnemonics Take notes 14 Process of moving information from short-term memory to long-term memory

Mnemonics 15 Any artificial technique used as a memory aid For example: take the first letter of a list you are trying to remember and create a word HOMES (the five Great Lakes) Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

Note Taking 16 Take notes when you are listening to complex information. Brief outline:  Overall idea  Main points  Key developmental material

Critically Evaluating Information Separate facts from inferences Fact – a verifiable statement Inference – a conclusion drawn from facts Probe for information 17

Responding Process of providing feedback to your partner’s message Back-channel cues: verbal and nonverbal signals demonstrating listener response to the speaker Reply when message is complete Respond to the previous message before changing the subject 18

Class Activity Scenarios? Form groups of 3 Listener Story Teller Observer Takes notes on verbal/nonverbal messages, examples of paraphrasing/questioning What factors led to listening difficulties? What behaviors demonstrated effective listening? 19

Digital Communication Literacy Extra effort is required to understand digital messages. Critically evaluate social media messages to separate facts from inferences. Recognize underlying motives, values, ideologies. Digital messages should not completely replace face- to-face communication. 20

Homework Create a communication improvement plan for developing/improving on a particular listening skill (questioning or paraphrasing) or an aspect of the listening process (attending, understanding, remembering, critically evaluating, and responding). Be sure to also incorporate your class activity to illustrate your current assessment of your listening skills. Check your assignment rubric and past assignment evaluations for additional support. 21