Listening skills

Introduction :

The word listening is defined as making an effort to hear something; to pay attention or heed. It is different from hearing, which is the physiological process of the ear absorbing sound waves and trasferring them along neural pathways to parts of the brain. Hearing is necessary for listening, but listening is much more than processing sound. Someone may hear very well but be a very poor listener.

Listening generally involves a five-step process : attending, understanding, interpreting, responding, and remembering. This process is active rather than passive and involves using a number of behaviors and tools to be most efective. The various types of listening critical, empathic, incormational, and appreciative have their own characteristics and techniques. Which type of listening is used and which behaviors are involved depend on the situation and the people engaged in conversation. Self-awareness plays an important role in being a good listener. A large part of the facilitator`s role for a listening skills training is to help learners recognize their strengths and weakness when it comes to listening and to help them develop strategies to increase their listening effectiveness.

For purpose of this training, listening is defined as paying close attention to someone`s words and ideas.

Main Discussions :

1. Listening Defined
2. Types of Listening
3. The listening process
4. Nonverbal Communication
5. Effective Listening Behavior
6. The Bad Listener
7. Paraphrasing
8. Empathic Listening
9. Giving and Receiving Feedback

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