1. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Listening
&
Reading
Unit 2
Developed by F. Chilufya

2. I
Books

3. 1. Listening Techniques 2. Reading Techniques Outline
1. Positive Interest
2. Preparation
3. Silence
  Listening to the Message
5. Allow the speaker to finish
6. Avoid Prejudice
8. Integrity
2. Reading Techniques
1. Skimming Techniques
2. Anticipation
3. Organisation
4. A Method

4. Listening and reading is not a passive process through which the mind absorbs information as a sponge soaks up water. Listening and reading require positive effort.

5. Listening Techniques

6. 1. Positive Interest
An active listener has the positive attitude that something of interest or value is likely to reward his/her attention to even the least promising topic.

7. 2. Preparation
Any background knowledge or briefing will help you to be a better listener.

8. 3. Silence
Eye contact, a physical stillness expressive of concentration, a posture and facial expression indicative of attention, will help the speaker to express himself more effectively, and consequently the listener will benefit.
Silence is a positive part of the communication process.

9. 4. Listening to the Message
You should recognise that it is the contents, not the packaging, that matter.
Listen to what is being said and refuse to be distracted by the speaker’s voice, idiosyncrasies, or clumsy use of visual aids.

10. 5. Allow the Speaker to Finish
We can probably think four times faster than we speak. Therefore, we can often guess the end of a sentence or remark.
The best of intentions can tempt us to interrupt the speaker to express our approval or disagreement.
Doing this means we are not hearing the speaker when we are planning our replies.

11. 6. Avoid Prejudice
Having a prior opinion about what is being said can close our minds to the speaker’s arguments.
The fact that we disagree should really make us listen even harder.
Could we be wrong? What are the flaws in his/her argument?
Emotive words are a problem. A speaker may inadvertently use words that trigger emotions and arouse antagonism.

12. 8. Integrity
A good listener is a person who can respect a confidence and help maintain the trust which is essential to communication.

13. Reading Techniques

14. Reading more efficiently is not merely a matter of saving time by reading faster.
This can lead to even less understanding or retention.
First and foremost it is a matter of being able to vary your reading speed and adjust it to the purpose of your reading and the difficulty of the subject-matter.

15. 1. Skimming Techniques
Skimming is glancing at speed over the printed words on a page.
Words are not noted individually but an impression is gained.
By this we note key words in the passage for which we come back and read slowly and carefully sections of this passage. Skimming thus helps:-
to preview
to identify priorities – where to read more slowly
to find a required piece of information
to help memory, by immediate review of what we have just read

16. 2. Anticipation
As we read, we should be aiming to understand the whole content by seeing the complete picture rather than the separate bits of the jig-saw puzzle.
Since we think faster than we read, we can begin to anticipate what the main point of the passage is.
This thus makes comprehension easier.

17. 3. Organization
Any piece of writing has a structure, the pattern into which the writer has organised his/her ideas.
If we develop the ability to recognise the structure of what we are reading, we shall find our way more speedily through it, and we shall also understand it more easily.

18. 4. A Method
When you have a book to read, make use of all the clues it offers before you actually begin to read it.
Inspect the contents page, read the preface and check the subject index which gives you the idea of the relative importance of topics and help your skimming and anticipation.
When you are reading, look for the internal skeleton, for synopses and summaries, for topic sentences in paragraphs, for headings and italics which may emphasise points.

19. Active reading requires
A motive: ‘Why am I reading this?’
Conscious variation of the reading speed
Identifying the whole meaning
Relating the meaning to existing knowledge
Anticipation
Recognition of the structure
That is, PARTICIPATION

20. I
Books

21. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Listening
&
Reading
Unit 2
Developed by F. Chilufya