1. Learning to Listen

2. Overview What is the difference between listening and hearing?
What are the types of listening?
Why is listening important?
What are some myths about listening?
What are some bad listening habits?
What are steps for practicing effective listening techniques?
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

3. Think you can’t hear anything?
Quick Write
Stop for a moment.
What do you hear?
Think you can’t hear anything?
Listen more closely!
Concentrate on anything you can hear—no matter how small the sound.
Write down a description of five things you hear.
Then share your list with a few classmates.
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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4. Hearing Versus Listening
Hearing is continual, unfocused and unconscious
Listening is a focused, conscious activity
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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5. Each hour people are awake they spend 50 minutes communicating:
Time Spent Listening
Each hour people are awake they spend
50 minutes communicating:
15 minutes reading or writing
10 minutes talking
25 minutes listening
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

6. Types of Listening Passive One-way, no feedback
Competitive Receiver only listens to needed information
Active Two-way, feedback given
Reflective Receiver interprets speaker’s feelings
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

7. Importance of Listening
Failure to listen to your teacher’s instructions could get you in trouble
Failure to listen in class could result in a poor grade
Failure to listen to your friends
could hurt someone’s feelings
Failure to hear a car come around the corner when crossing the street could get you seriously hurt
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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8. How Important Is Active Listening?
Name some situations and professions in which listening is vital. How might a failure to listen well result in
danger or harm?
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

9. Busting Listening Myths
Myth #1: Listening is not my problem
People falsely assume listening is easy
Myth #2: Listening and hearing are the same
Listening must interpret sounds you hear
Myth #3: Good readers are good listeners
Little correlation between reading and listening; even good readers need to work on it
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

10. Busting Listening Myths
Myth #4: Smart people are better listeners
Smarter students have the capacity for better listening, but that potential is often not realized
Myth #5: Listening improves with age
Ability to listen well does improve, but performance actually declines with age
Myth #6: Listening skills are hard to learn
It takes practice and effort, but the skills are not hard to learn
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

11. Bad Listening Habits
Bad Habit #1: Thinking about what to say rather than listening to speaker
Bad Habit #2: Talking when you should be listening
Bad Habit #3: Interrupting
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

12. Bad Listening Habits
Bad Habit #4: Listening for what you expect to hear rather than what is actually said
Bad Habit #5: Being preoccupied
Bad Habit #6: Falling victim to tendency to stereotype
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

13. Bad Listening Habits Bad Habit #7: Being self-centered
Bad Habit #8: Not paying attention
All other bad habits stem from this one, because you must be paying attention to listen effectively
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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14. Practicing Effective Listening
Clarify
Ask specific questions—good feedback clarifies
Restate, paraphrase, or repeat back
Repeating what the speaker said is a good way to ensure you got the right message
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

15. Practicing Effective Listening
Acknowledging
Let the speaker know that you understood the message—this doesn’t mean you have to agree
Summarizing
Highlight the main points you noted during the conversation
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

16. Effective Listening Framing Note taking
Framing gives you a chance to find areas of agreement on which to focus
Note taking
Don’t write down every word! Jot down key phrases, words, or diagrams that will help you recall main points
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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17. Review
Hearing is continual, unfocused, and unconscious, whereas listening is focused, conscious, and active
Listening can be:
passive
competitive
active
reflective
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

18. Review Failing to listen can be dangerous
There are six myths about listening that people often believe
Failing to pay attention is a bad listening habit—and all other bad listening habits stem from it
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

19. Review To improve your listening, try some of these techniques:
clarifying
restating, paraphrasing, or “mirroring”
acknowledging
summarizing
framing
and note taking
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

20. Summary What is the difference between listening and hearing?
What are the types of listening?
Why is listening important?
What are some myths about listening?
What are some bad listening habits?
What are steps for practicing good listening skills?
Chapter 1, Lesson 2

21. Next Done—effective listening Next—we’ll learn about critical thinking
Chapter 1, Lesson 2
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