Listening Skills - Types, Barriers and Strategy to Overcome Barriers

‘Listening’ as the ‘Master Art’. It is more challenging than reading as I previously said here. I cannot think of underlining or highlighting the spoken words or the sound waves. They are ‘virtually visible to my ears’ and once articulated and once missed by me is a ‘gone word’. Everything in life doesn’t have a ‘Play Again’ button. Unlike reading, listening is not visibly documented. The book in your possession won’t mind if you missed two-three sentences and you can read them again- all at your convenience. Listening- if you don’t listen to me, I can see that and will mind the negligence-even to a single word.

1. Listening Module 2 – IFS 1
Parveen Kumar [email protected]

Blog Post: https://ifsamityenglish.blogspot.com/2022/10/listening-skills-and-
note-making-module.html

The Process of Listening: (As explained by P.D. Chaturvedi & Mukesh Chaturvedi)
• Undivided Attention
• Hearing
• Understanding
• Interpreting
• Evaluating
• Conceptualising
Listening-the forgotten art- is divided into various types, based on the treatment a
listener gives to it. The Types of Listening are as follows:
Attentive Listening: When the listener concentrates and makes notes to be used for
further learning. This is called actual listening. There is coordination between the mind
and the notebook. The Attentive Listener pays full attention and is not swayed away
by temporary interruptions. There are no preoccupations and bias towards the
speaker. In Attentive Listening, the retained amount is the maximum and the listeners
are able to comprehend the text in the intended sense. Attentive listening enables
further discussions and sharing of learning.
Reflective Listening: When the listened content creates reflections in the mind of the
listener and takes the mind to a different level of thinking. In simple words, reflective
listening is a dangerous state when the listener needs to pay full attention and the
heard information generates associated feelings and thoughts. It creates
introspection and sometimes takes away attentive listening. The speaker has to take
care of the words and references that can produce reflective listening. There is no
negative quality to it, but it is not required in academic and business listening.
Selective Listening: You are in a lecture and the professor is taking attendance by
calling the roll numbers. Our mind comes into ‘attention’ mode only when our turn to

2. speak is about to come. We become ‘selfish’ or to say rightly- we become ‘selective
listeners’. The listener is preoccupied with the belief that the complete speech is not
of worth, and I need to ‘retain’ only a selected segment. All is heard, but thoughtful
attention is paid only to selected words.
Pretended Listening: ‘I may not be listening to you at all, but I need to make you believe
that I am’. This is well known to us that we sometimes avoid listening to a complete
lecture/speech or we take our attention away for a while. Yet, the observer or the
speaker is not aware that we deviated from the worthy words. The mechanism of
nodding heads, taking (engraving) ‘fake’ notes and keeping the smart expressions
convey that one has been paying full attention. The reality is otherwise contrary. This
is Pretended Listening and is not recommended in formal situation. The words are
worthy to be listened to, whenever-wherever they are spoken.
Listening Skills: Barriers and Ways to Enhance Listening Comprehension
If I don’t want to listen to you, you can’t make me do. Other than this simple
pronouncement, there are certain barriers that can be checked to a significant extent
by the participation of the speaker and listener. These barriers correspond to Barriers
to Communication in general. But a dedicated discussion on the hurdles to better
listening can be more fruitful. It is a ‘voluntary’ activity and can easily be affected by
‘internal and external factors, such as:
• Lack of Concentration: Unequal Statuses of Participants- Organisational Set-
up is not ‘Supportive’
o Hearing Faster than Speaking
o Paying Attention to the Speaker and not to the Speech
o Listening too Closely
• The Mental Locks/Preoccupations/Psychological Fixations
• Psychological Complexes in the Mind of the Listeners or Speaker
• Poor Retention
• Premature Evaluation and Hasty Conclusions
• Focusing on Selected Segments, rather than the Whole Speech
• Biased Presentation of the Matter by a Speaker
• Cultural and Language Barriers
• Resistance to Change Point of View (By the Listener)

3. • Organisational Facilities in the Listening Activity- Infrastructural as well as
Technical


How to Enhance Listening Comprehension Skills
• Take Notes: A Listener must be respectful to the ‘reinforcements’ done by the
speaker. On a personal level, we should listen and do what is being conveyed.
On the academic and professional levels, one should be prompt to ‘Take Notes’
of the highlighted idea. Whenever the speaker repeats something, writes it on
the board or mentions the terms in a slide on the screen, or speaks it with
special effort- the listener should take note of the same. These are the dots that
need to be connected to create a comprehensive understanding after the
speaker has departed. We need to remember that Note Making happens only
when Note Taking has been done. You cannot Recall-or make a note to
someone unless you have not NOTED it.
Note Taking Techniques are so integral to Comprehension Skills, especially listening
that avoiding them makes recall and retention poor in most contexts.
• Avoid Selective Listening and Focus on the Content: A rational mind will not get
preoccupied with the selections or deviations. Attentive Listening should be
done and the focus should be on the content, not on the speaker. However, the
speaker must be respected as a person, not at the cost of content though.
• Separate the Ideas from the Speaker and do not indulge in biasness by relating
the content with the context, cast-colour-religion-region-race of the listener. It
does not mean that the presence or the character of the speaker is of no
importance. It suggests the removal of mental locks against the deserving
speakers.
• Heard Melodies are Sweet, but Those Unheard are Sweeter: When a speaker
articulates his thoughts, there are so many connotations to be ‘heard’ by us. Do
listen to the expressions-feelings-tone-pitch-voice modulations-and intentions.
“Listen to what is left Unsaid.’ Use your eyes as well.

4. • Don’t get carried away by the ‘emotive content’: In professional as well as
academic listening, one has to remember that getting too emotional can reduce
or ruin the objective of comprehending the content.
• Don’t be a Saint: A Listener is not required to be a sponge of the speaker. Too
much concentration often results in less comprehended material. Be attentive
but keep your mind free to reflect on your own.
• Think with the Speaker (not like the speaker) and empathise.
• Responsible Listening: It is an ethical term when we ask for responsible
behaviour. However, without being a good listener, one cannot become a good
speaker.
Listening Comprehension is about improving your listening skills and becoming an
attentive listener. It is an integral skill of Receptive and Expressive Communication
Skills.
I must conclude by hailing ‘Listening’ as the ‘Master Art’. It is more challenging than
reading as I previously said here. I cannot think of underlining or highlighting the
spoken words or the sound waves. They are ‘virtually visible to my ears’ and once
articulated and once missed by me is a ‘gone word’. Everything in life doesn’t have a
‘Play Again’ button. Unlike reading, listening is not visibly documented. The book in
your possession won’t mind if you missed two-three sentences and you can read them
again- all at your convenience. Listening- if you don’t listen to me, I can see that and
will mind the negligence-even to a single word.