Dr. Sarwet Rasul

Preview of the session What is listening? Why listening is important? Difference in hearing and listening Perspectives on listening Human aspects of listening Language aspects of listening Different listening contexts Difficulties in listening Listening strategies

We can define listening as following: Listening is the ability to accurately receive messages in the communication process. 

Difference between hearing and listening Hearing – Physical process, natural, passive Listening – Physical as well as mental process, active, learned process, a skill Listening is the process of recognizing, understanding, and accurately interpreting communicated messages and responding to spoken and / or nonverbal messages.

We spend a lot of our time listening Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing. (Adler, R. et al. 2001). http://www.skillsyouneed.co.uk/

In fact most of us are not, and research suggests that we remember between 25 percent and 50 percent of what we listen to. That means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers or spouse for 10 minutes, they pay attention to less than half of the conversation. This is dismal! Turn it around and it reveals that when you are receiving directions or being presented with information, you aren't hearing the whole message either. You hope the important parts are captured in your 25-50 percent, but what if they're not? http://www.mindtools.com/

Perspectives on learning to listen From people’s perspective From Language’s perspective

Listening Activity: Take a pen and paper to do the activity I am going to draw four pictures for you: 1. Inkpot. 2. Circle, 3, Square, 4. Rectangle Look at the four pictures drawn for you. Now listen carefully to the instructions and do accordingly. In the box above each picture, label it appropriately as follows: circle, square, rectangle and ink bottle. Draw a slightly smaller circle inside the circle. Put your signature in the top left-hand corner of rectangle. Draw a vertical line through the centre of the square. Now draw a horizontal line through the centre of the square. Write the word stop backwards in the ink bottle. Draw a horizontal line close to the bottom line of the rectangle. Write the letter ‘O’ in the centre of the circle.

How was the experience of this listening activity?

Listening is one of the most important skills one can have. How well you listen has a major impact on your work effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others. Clearly, listening is a skill that we can all benefit from improving. By becoming a better listener, we can add to our productivity. Better listening also adds to our ability to influence, persuade and negotiate. Listening is an important tool of learning as well. Think for a while about its importance in your context of virtual learning

Active Listening The way to become a better listener is to practice "active listening." You need to make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that come from the mouth of the person, rather, more importantly, you need to try to understand the complete message being sent by the speaker Active listening means listening with attention and carefully. Active listening is a focused activity.

Active Listening as a Process Xjsnxjsn xxsnxnnnncn Active Listening as a Process Receiving Understanding Responding

Desire to be other directed No desire to protect yourself Desire to imagine the experience of others Desire to understand, not critique

Becoming an Active Listener http://www.mindtools.com/ There are five key elements of active listening. They all help you ensure that you receiving what the other person says, and that the other person knows you are listening to him or her: 1. Pay Attention 2. Show That You're Listening 3. Provide Feedback 4. Defer Judgment 5. Respond Appropriately

1. Pay Attention Give the speaker your undivided attention, and acknowledge the message. Recognize that non-verbal communication also "speaks" loudly. Look at the speaker directly. Put aside distracting thoughts. Don't mentally prepare a rebuttal! Avoid being distracted by environmental factors. For example, side conversations. "Listen" to the speaker's body language.

2. Show That You're Listening Use your own body language and gestures to convey your attention. Nod occasionally. Smile and use other facial expressions. Note your posture and make sure it is open and inviting. Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes, and uh hum.

3. Provide Feedback Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can distort what we hear. As a listener, your role is to understand what is being said. This may require you to reflect what is being said and ask questions. Reflect what has been said by paraphrasing. "What I'm hearing is," and "Sounds like you are saying," are great ways to reflect back. Ask questions to clarify certain points. "What do you mean when you say." "Is this what you mean?" Summarize the speaker's comments periodically.

4. Defer Judgment Interrupting is a waste of time. It frustrates the speaker and limits full understanding of the message. Allow the speaker to finish each point before asking questions. Don't interrupt with counter arguments.

5. Respond Appropriately Active listening is a model for respect and understanding. You are gaining information and perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker or otherwise putting him or her down. Be candid, open, and honest in your response. Assert your opinions respectfully. Treat the other person in a way that you think he or she would want to be treated.

Give Feedback While Listening Put open ended questions Eye contact Give Feedback While Listening Body Posture Nodding head Put open ended questions Restate what is said

So this was “listening” as a skill from human perspective Now let us move on to “listening” as a skill from the language perspective

Purposes of listening in Academic context We listen to obtain information. We listen to understand. We listen to learn. We listen for enjoyment. http://www.mindtools.com/

DIFFERENT LISTENING SITUATIONS 1. Right now you are listening to me: A virtual lesson 2. Just before this you might be listening to something that a family member told 3. Or you might have listened to an announcement made from the local mosque

DIFFERENT LISTENING SITUATIONS

FACTORS AFFECTING THE DIFFICULTY OF LISTENING SITUATIONS Aids Difficulties Station, airport, announcements visual back-up, notice boards etc ask a member of staff for help no possibility for clarification distorted speech listening to the radio background knowledge, eg The News no possibility of clarification, no visual clues participating In a conversation face-to-face clarification from the speaker visual clues - speakers' expression the context of the situation the need to plan. next contribution to the conversation while Listening film, play or TV visual clues - speakers' expression, context of the situation no possibility to clarify (unacceptable to ask audiences for help!) meeting or seminar knowledge of subject matter possibility of asking for clarification the need to plan your contribution while listening taking part in a Lesson teacher should make himself comprehensible visual clues - black-board work the possibility of being called on to answer, unexpectedly understanding the contributions of students talk or lecture background knowledge or expectations visual Glues - board work etc. provided by speaker frequently the need to take notes, important information and writing, interrupting for clarification Eavesdropping motivation (curiosity) you start by knowing nothing of what the conversation is about. You need to 'tune in’ Telephone conversation no visual clues distorted speech.

DIFFICULTIES SPECIFIC TO LEARNERS OF ENGLISH Difficulties specific to language learners Strategies learners should try Text linguistically difficult: eg (i) words in stream of speech hard for learner to recognize (ii) certain, structures unknown to learner (iii) certain words unknown to learner Referring outside: eg using dictionary, asking for an explanation, repetition, etc Holding doubtful sections of what is heard in suspense and hoping that clarification will come later

Mustering all pre-knowledge and expectations before listening starts DIFFICULTIES SPECIFIC TO LEARNERS OF ENGLISH Listener is unfamiliar with how certain types of 'spoken text' are presented and organized in the foreign culture Mustering all pre-knowledge and expectations before listening starts Being alert to all the clues in the context or situation

Extensive and Intensive listening Extensive listening: Listening to something in a relaxed way not concentrating on every word for sheer pleasure example: The experience of listening to an interesting or amusing radio programme, which poses no particular problems of language or difficulty of concepts. Stories read aloud by the teacher or heard on tape. To hear a short poem or joke,

Intensive Listening: The widely-used form of listening practice in modern classrooms. To pick up and remember a series of important instructions, as in the case of the employee listening to his boss’s orders. To listen to a passage with the aim of collecting and organizing the information that it contains.

How would you listen to your virtual learning lessons?

Listening and Language Learning: How to Improve? Language learning depends on listening. Listening provides the aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication. Language learners need to learn how they can modify their listening behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and listening purposes. Language learners need to learn which strategy works the best in which context

Top-down Listening Strategies We may call these strategies listener based learning strategies The listener himself or herself explores background knowledge of the topic The listener tries to understand the context, the type of text, and the language. This leads to a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what he or she listens to. Top-down strategies are: listening for the main idea drawing inferences predicting summarizing

Bottom-up Listening Strategies Bottom-up strategies can also be called text based listening strategies The main source of information is the text itself The text includes sounds, words, and grammar. Bottom-up strategies are: listening for specific details recognizing cognates recognizing word-order patterns

Summary of today’s What is listening? Why listening is important? Difference in hearing and listening Perspectives on listening Human aspects of listening Language aspects of listening Different listening contexts Difficulties in listening Listening strategies

Thank you very much!