CHAPTER 3: LISTENING

"I'm talking to you. Listen to me! " "I hear loud sounds from my neighbour's house almost every night. The loud noise irritates me!"

Look closely at the sentences above. What are we trying to convey through them? In the first sentence the speaker used the word ‘listen’ and in the second one the word ‘hear’ was used. We always presume that listening and hearing carries the same meaning.

After this lecture class, it changed our view about these two words.The words listen and hear are actually not the same. 

“There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” 

― G.K. Chesterton

Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from and responding to verbal and/or non-verbal messages.

Hearing is just a basic step of receiving sound. We hear sounds but we do not receive the  context regardless of verbal and/or non- verbal messages.

Hearing VS Listening

Source: google images

The conclusion is:

@convey-yourself.blogspot

So, readers, remember to listen. Do not just hear. Only listening will bring you to the information conveyed. Always remember:

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

In this chapter, we are focusing on listening.  We had learned that there are 5 stages of listening.

Stage of Listening

Source: google images

Stage 1: Receiving

Receive messages verbally and non-verbally.

 Focus is very important in this stage.

Stage 2: Understanding

  Decoding messages

 Relate the messages to what you knew and see the messages from speaker’s point of view

Ask question for clarification

Stage 3: Remembering

 Keep the messages in mind after understood for some period of time

Identify the main idea of the messages

Summarize the messages in an easier way

Stage 4: Evaluating

Judging the messages

 Evaluate the messages after fully understood it

 Prevent the appearance of any biases, self-interest, or prejudices

Stage 5: Responding

Giving feedback while the speaker is talking, or after the speaker has stopped conversing

Show your support to speaker

Source: google images (edited)

For this sub-topic on stages on listening, we were given an activity based on stage 3: remembering. We were given a list of words to memorize in a few minutes. Here's a list of some of the words from the 20 words given.

ÒBed

ÒAwake

ÒComfort

ÒSound

ÒWake

ÒTired

Notice how some of the words are related. That's the reason why some of us wrote down the word sleep although it is not one of the words in the list. The irony of the human brain-gives us the ability to memorize stuff but add information that does not exist.

Listening and Culture

Listening is difficult due to different experiences and different culture between people.

Diversity of listening and culture:

  1. Language and speech

      There is an unique variation of language as every speaker has his or her own idiolect.                                                   

 2. Non-verbal behavioral differences
     Sometimes verbal and non-verbal languages might contradict  with  one another.     

                                        

 3. Direct and indirect styles
     Direct style : You mean what you say. Most people from western countries  use this style.                                                                    

    Indirect style: Used by most people from Asian countries, this style  focuses  more on politeness                                             and maintaining a  positive (+) image rather than the truth.                                                                                                                                              

  4. Balance of story VS evidence
      In some cultural context, rather than critical thinking,they need evidence before making decisions.

                                                                               

 5. Credibility
     To determine whether a speaker is credible or not. (varies in culture)

                                                    

 6. Feedback 
    In some culture, honest feedback is essential and they are made directly.

Now for SOME tips on effective listening!

Listening Effectively

1. Participatory and passive listening

·         Key of effective listening is to participate in both mentally and physically way.      ·         Listening without interrupt the speaker is the best way of listening

2. Emphatic and objecting listening

·         Empathy means to put yourself in others’ shoe      ·         Emphatic listening can increase understanding and enhance the relationship

3. Non-judgmental and critical listening

·         Be open minded while listening

4. Surface and depth listening

·         Differentiate between the surface and depth meaning of the communication

Source: google images


Readers, we are now at the end of this chapter. Stay on our updates for the next chapter.Do not forget to listen instead of hearing!

“When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.” 
― Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art