WHAT IS LISTENING?

Definition: Listening is a soft skill that allows people to understand the information others convey to them. It is part of the communication skill set that includes speaking skills, also known as verbal communication, and interpersonal skills

·      Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

·       Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood.

·       Listening is one of the most important skills you can have.

·       An active process of getting information, and ideas.

·          “Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken. ”

 

Process of Listening
 

 

1-Receiving

·         Is the intentional focus on hearing a speaker’s message.

·         This stage is represented by the ear because it is the primary tool involved with this stage of the listening process.

2- Understanding

·     In the understanding stage, we attempt to learn the meaning of the message, which is not always easy.

·     Deciding what the message means to you.

3- Remembering

·     Remembering begins with listening; if you can’t remember something that was said, you might not have been listening effectively.

·     However, even when you are listening attentively, some messages are more difficult than others to understand and remember. Highly complex messages that are filled with detail call for highly developed listening skills.

4- Evaluating

·     The fourth stage in the listening process is evaluating.

·     Evaluations of the same message can vary widely from one listener to another.

·     The stages two, three, and four are represented by the brain because it is the primary tool involved with these stages of the listening process.

 

5- Responding

·      Responding—sometimes referred to as feedback—is the fifth and final stage of the listening process.

·    Your reaction to the message. It can be emotional and intellectual

·     For example, you are giving positive feedback to your instructor if at the end of class you stay behind to finish a sentence in your notes or approach the instructor to ask for clarification. The opposite kind of feedback is given by students who gather their belongings and rush out the door as soon as class is over.

·     This stage is represented by the lips because we often give feedback in the form of verbal feedback; however, you can just as easily respond nonverbally.

Why Listening is Important?

It should not be difficult to realize the importance of listening when we consider that it occupies about 40 % of the time adults spend in communication. This is significantly more than speaking, which accounts for 30 percent, and reading and writing, which make up 16 percent and nine per cent respectively.

Yet, for all its importance, students (and even teachers) often fail to give listening  tothe attention it needs. This is all the more remarkable as learners often say that listening is the most challenging of all the skills in English

 

Barriers in the process of listening are listed below.

·   1. Pre-judgments about the speaker.

·   2. Assuming that the speaker is going to give some unimportant information.

   ·  3. Arriving late for a speech, presentation

·   4. Judging the speaker by his/her mannerisms, voice, appearance, accent, etc. 

   5. Lack of concentration/interest.

·   6. Avoiding listening to difficult, boring or complex information and selectively listening only to what is considered interesting.

·   7. Speaker or listener being distracted by disturbances

 

LISTENING CHALLENGES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS