Hearing and Listening are not the same thing. Hearing is the act of perceiving sound. It is involuntary and simply refers to the reception of aural stimuli. Listening is a selective activity which involves the reception and the interpretation of aural stimuli. In involves decoding the sound into meaning.
Listening is divided into two main categories: passive and active.
• Passive Listening: Occurs when the receiver of the message has little motivation to listen carefully.
• Active Listening: Requires the receiver to hear the various messages, understand the meaning, and then verify the meaning by offering feedback.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Barriers of Communication
• Culture, background, and bias: We allow our experiences to change the meaning of the message.
• Noise: Equipment or environmental noise impedes clear communication. The sender and the receiver must be able to concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.
• Ourselves: Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to confusion and conflict.
• Perception: We listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.
• Message: Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than the idea.
• Noise: Equipment or environmental noise impedes clear communication. The sender and the receiver must be able to concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.
• Ourselves: Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to confusion and conflict.
• Perception: We listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.
• Message: Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than the idea.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Book about communication skills
Communication and Listening
The world would be a better place to live and work if we communicated and listened to each other. Are You Listening? Keys to Successful Communication by Paul J. Donaghue and Mary Siegel is a book about how to become better listeners. These psychologists, who are in private practice, have been on TV about their work. They studied the ways people don’t listen. We fail to admit that we listen poorly and sometimes we only want to listen to what matters to us. Listening is a very important skill everyone needs to practice and learn. Listening opens people to the world and those around us who matter the most. So how should we listen? We should first listen to ourselves. Then we should listen and acknowledge what the speaker says, even if we don’t agree with it, before expressing your experience or point of view. A speaker can communicate through his body language. Our body language can also indicate also we are not good listeners. We may become defensive to what the speaker says. Sometimes we can identify with the speaker when a similar experience happens to us. There can be many blocks to listening such as fear, conflict, and lack of time. Sometimes we can be defensive when we listen to the speaker and what he or she has to say. When we get defensive, then we shut the speaker out. Developing a better ear for listening can show us how to respond better. If we listen, we can learn and grow, but it takes time.
Language is an expression of our thoughts and feelings. Its function is to communicate. It doesn’t have to be in the form of words spoken. Fifty per cent of messages communicated are through body language. Body language is a form of nonverbal communication. The book, Understanding Body Language by Geoff Ribbens and Richard Thompson tells us body movement and posture can add to the words we speak. The authors studied the body language of people. This book discusses about using body language in getting jobs. Your body language can give one a first impression. The body language such as facial expression, body movement and gestures can tell us something about the person. We can tell a person’s attitude such as anger or excitement by their body language. If you understand body language, then you can understand other people and communicate with them.
Both of these books are good resources to improve communication and listening. Our body language can indicate how we communicate and listen. If we become a better listener, then we can improve our communication. Then the world would be a better place to work and live in.
Jonathan McLellan
The world would be a better place to live and work if we communicated and listened to each other. Are You Listening? Keys to Successful Communication by Paul J. Donaghue and Mary Siegel is a book about how to become better listeners. These psychologists, who are in private practice, have been on TV about their work. They studied the ways people don’t listen. We fail to admit that we listen poorly and sometimes we only want to listen to what matters to us. Listening is a very important skill everyone needs to practice and learn. Listening opens people to the world and those around us who matter the most. So how should we listen? We should first listen to ourselves. Then we should listen and acknowledge what the speaker says, even if we don’t agree with it, before expressing your experience or point of view. A speaker can communicate through his body language. Our body language can also indicate also we are not good listeners. We may become defensive to what the speaker says. Sometimes we can identify with the speaker when a similar experience happens to us. There can be many blocks to listening such as fear, conflict, and lack of time. Sometimes we can be defensive when we listen to the speaker and what he or she has to say. When we get defensive, then we shut the speaker out. Developing a better ear for listening can show us how to respond better. If we listen, we can learn and grow, but it takes time.
Language is an expression of our thoughts and feelings. Its function is to communicate. It doesn’t have to be in the form of words spoken. Fifty per cent of messages communicated are through body language. Body language is a form of nonverbal communication. The book, Understanding Body Language by Geoff Ribbens and Richard Thompson tells us body movement and posture can add to the words we speak. The authors studied the body language of people. This book discusses about using body language in getting jobs. Your body language can give one a first impression. The body language such as facial expression, body movement and gestures can tell us something about the person. We can tell a person’s attitude such as anger or excitement by their body language. If you understand body language, then you can understand other people and communicate with them.
Both of these books are good resources to improve communication and listening. Our body language can indicate how we communicate and listen. If we become a better listener, then we can improve our communication. Then the world would be a better place to work and live in.
Jonathan McLellan
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Listening Skills-Key Terms
1. Hearing: Is the process in which sound waves strike the eardrum and cause vibrations that are transmitted to the brain.
2. Listening: Occurs when the brain reconstructs these electrochemical impulses into a representation of the original sound and then gives them meaning.
3. Attending: The act of paying attention to a signal.
4. Understanding: The process of making sense of a message.
5. Responding: Consists of giving observable feedback to the speaker.
6. Remembering: The act of recalling previously introduced information.
7. Residual message: (what we remember) is a small function of what we hear.
8. Pseudolistening: Is an imitation of the real thing.
9. Selective listeners: Respond only to the parts of a speaker’s remarks that interest them, rejecting everything else.
10. Defensive listeners: Take innocent comments as personal attacks.
11. Ambushers: Listen carefully and collect information to attack what you have to say.
12. Insulated listeners: are almost the opposite of their selective listening cousins.
13. Insensitive listeners: Are the final example of people who don’t receive another person’s messages clearly.
14. Stage hogs: Try to turn the topic of conversations to themselves instead of showing interest in the speaker.
15. Content-oriented listeners: are most interested in the quality of messages they hear.
16. People-oriented listeners: Are especially concerned with creating and maintaining positive relationships.
17. Action-oriented readers: Are most concerned with the task at hand.
18. Time-oriented readers: Are most concerned with efficiency.
19. Informational listening: Is the approach to take when you want to understand another person.
20. Sincere questions: Are aimed at understanding others.
21. Counterfeit questions: Are really disguised attempts to send a message, not a receive one.
22. Paraphrasing: Involves restating in your own words the message you thought the speaker had just sent, without adding anything new.
23. Critical listening: Is to judge the quality of a message in order to decide whether to accept or reject it.
24. Empathic listening: The goal is to build a relationship or help the speaker solve a problem.
25. Advising: To help by offering a solution.
26. Judging response: Evaluates the sender’s thoughts or behaviors in some way.
27. Questioning: Help others think about their problems and understanding them more clearly.
28. Prompting: Involves using silences and brief statements of encouragement to draw others out.
2. Listening: Occurs when the brain reconstructs these electrochemical impulses into a representation of the original sound and then gives them meaning.
3. Attending: The act of paying attention to a signal.
4. Understanding: The process of making sense of a message.
5. Responding: Consists of giving observable feedback to the speaker.
6. Remembering: The act of recalling previously introduced information.
7. Residual message: (what we remember) is a small function of what we hear.
8. Pseudolistening: Is an imitation of the real thing.
9. Selective listeners: Respond only to the parts of a speaker’s remarks that interest them, rejecting everything else.
10. Defensive listeners: Take innocent comments as personal attacks.
11. Ambushers: Listen carefully and collect information to attack what you have to say.
12. Insulated listeners: are almost the opposite of their selective listening cousins.
13. Insensitive listeners: Are the final example of people who don’t receive another person’s messages clearly.
14. Stage hogs: Try to turn the topic of conversations to themselves instead of showing interest in the speaker.
15. Content-oriented listeners: are most interested in the quality of messages they hear.
16. People-oriented listeners: Are especially concerned with creating and maintaining positive relationships.
17. Action-oriented readers: Are most concerned with the task at hand.
18. Time-oriented readers: Are most concerned with efficiency.
19. Informational listening: Is the approach to take when you want to understand another person.
20. Sincere questions: Are aimed at understanding others.
21. Counterfeit questions: Are really disguised attempts to send a message, not a receive one.
22. Paraphrasing: Involves restating in your own words the message you thought the speaker had just sent, without adding anything new.
23. Critical listening: Is to judge the quality of a message in order to decide whether to accept or reject it.
24. Empathic listening: The goal is to build a relationship or help the speaker solve a problem.
25. Advising: To help by offering a solution.
26. Judging response: Evaluates the sender’s thoughts or behaviors in some way.
27. Questioning: Help others think about their problems and understanding them more clearly.
28. Prompting: Involves using silences and brief statements of encouragement to draw others out.
Listening Skills
Listening Skills occurs when the brain reconstructs these electrochemical impulses into representation of the original sound and then fives them meaning. Listening Skills qualifies as the most prominent kind of communication. One study revealed that of their total communicating time, college students spent an average of 14 percent writing, 16 percent speaking, 17 percent reading, and a whopping 53 percent listening. A study examining the links between listening and career success revealed that better listeners rose to higher levels in their organizations. Listeners don’t always respond visibility to a speaker. Good listeners showed that they were attentive by nonverbal behaviors such as keeping eye contact and reacting with appropriate facial expressions. When two or more people are listening to more people are listening to a speaker, we tend to assume that they all are hearing and understanding the same message. Ninety percent of first grade children could repeat what the teacher had been saying, and 80 percent of the second graders could do so; but when the experiment was repeated with teenagers, the results were much less impressive. Only 44 percent of junior high students and 28 percent of senior high students could repeat their teacher’s remarks. Research suggests that adults listen even more poorly at least in some important relationships. One experiment found that people listened more attentively and courteously to strangers than to their spouses.
Communication Skills-Key Terms
1. Channel: Medium through which a message passes from sender to receiver.
2. Communication: Refers to the process of human beings responding to the symbolic behavior of other persons.
3. Communication Competence: Ability to maintain a relationship on terms acceptable to all parties.
4. Coordination: Describe situations in which participants interact smoothly, with a high degree of satisfaction but without necessarily understanding one another self.
5. Decoding: The process in which a receiver attaches meaning to a message.
6. Dyad: A two-person unit.
7. Encoding: The process of putting thoughts into symbols, most common words.
8. Environment: Refers to the personal experiences and cultural backgrounds that participants bring to a conversation.
9. Feedback: The discernible response of a receiver to a sender’s message.
10. Interpersonal Communication: Communication in which the parties consider one another as unique individuals rather than as objects.
11. Intrapersonal Communication: Communication that occurs within a single person.
12. Linear Communication Model: A characterization of communication as a one-way event in which a message flows from sender to receiver.
13. Mass Communication: Consists of messages that are transmitted to large, widespread audiences via electronic and print media.
14. Message: A sender’s planned and unplanned words and nonverbal behaviors.
15. Noise: Describe any forces that interfere with effective communication.
16. Public Communication: Occurs when a group becomes too large for all members to contribute.
17. Receiver: Decodes the message.
18. Sender: Encodes ideas and feelings.
19. Small Group Communication: Every person participates with other members.
20. Symbol: Are used to represent things, processes, ideas, or events in ways that make communication possible.
21. Transactional Communication Model: A characterization of communication as the simultaneous sending and receiving of messages in an outgoing, irreversible process.
2. Communication: Refers to the process of human beings responding to the symbolic behavior of other persons.
3. Communication Competence: Ability to maintain a relationship on terms acceptable to all parties.
4. Coordination: Describe situations in which participants interact smoothly, with a high degree of satisfaction but without necessarily understanding one another self.
5. Decoding: The process in which a receiver attaches meaning to a message.
6. Dyad: A two-person unit.
7. Encoding: The process of putting thoughts into symbols, most common words.
8. Environment: Refers to the personal experiences and cultural backgrounds that participants bring to a conversation.
9. Feedback: The discernible response of a receiver to a sender’s message.
10. Interpersonal Communication: Communication in which the parties consider one another as unique individuals rather than as objects.
11. Intrapersonal Communication: Communication that occurs within a single person.
12. Linear Communication Model: A characterization of communication as a one-way event in which a message flows from sender to receiver.
13. Mass Communication: Consists of messages that are transmitted to large, widespread audiences via electronic and print media.
14. Message: A sender’s planned and unplanned words and nonverbal behaviors.
15. Noise: Describe any forces that interfere with effective communication.
16. Public Communication: Occurs when a group becomes too large for all members to contribute.
17. Receiver: Decodes the message.
18. Sender: Encodes ideas and feelings.
19. Small Group Communication: Every person participates with other members.
20. Symbol: Are used to represent things, processes, ideas, or events in ways that make communication possible.
21. Transactional Communication Model: A characterization of communication as the simultaneous sending and receiving of messages in an outgoing, irreversible process.
Communication Skills
Communication Skills refers to the process of human beings responding to the symbolic behavior of other persons. Communication Skills is typically used to describe face-to-face and written messages. In one study, researchers measured the amount of time a sample group of college students spent on various activities. They found that the subjects spent an average of over 61 percent of their waking hours engaged in some form of communication. Relationships can change a communicator’s identity as well as confirm it. Others messages shaping who we think we are, the messages we create often are attempts to get others to view us the way we want to be seen. In another survey, over 90 percent of the personnel officials at five hundred U.S. businesses stated that increased communication skills are needed for a success in the twenty-first century. One way to understand more about what it means to communicate is to look at some models that describe what happen when two or more people interact. Different communication channels (e-mail, telephone, and face-to-face communication) can affect the way a receiver responds to a message. One study revealed that ideas of how good friends should communicate varied from one ethnic group to another. Communication is a set of skills that anyone can learn. Communication can be a tool for expressing warm feelings and useful facts, but under different circumstances the same words and actions can cause both physical and mental pain.
Types of Listening Skills
- Active Listening: Listening in a way that demonstrates interest and encourages continued speaking.
- Appreciative Listening: Looking for ways to accept and appreciate the other person through what they say.
- Comprehension Listening: Listening to understand.
- Critical Listening: Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on what someone else says.
- Discriminative Listening: Listening for something specific but nothing else.
- False Listening: Pretending to listen but actually spending more time thinking.
- Full Listening: Listening to understand.
- Informative Listening: The listener's primary concern is to understand the message.
- Relationship Listening: Listening in order to support and develop a relationship with the other person.
- Total Listening: Paying very close attention in active listening to what is said and the deeper meaning found through how it is said.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Listening Games
Objective:Help students understand the importance of listening when engaged in conversation.
Preparation:
Copy paper strips to accomodate the number of students in your class.Cut the ideas into strips and place them into corresponding containers -Container 1 and Container 2.
Note: Copy the directions for the Box#1s on one color and Box #2s on another color to avoid mixing the two up. Also, put the #1s in one basket and the #2s in another basket for the students to draw from. Make enough copies of the directions so each students has a #1 or #2 set of directions. Also make equal numbers of the directions so the students can work in pairs.
Instructions:
1.Divide the class into pairs.
2.Allow one person to choose from the #1 basket and the other person to choose from the #2
basket. Instruct the student to keep their directions secret from their partners.
3.Allow students about two minutes to complete this exercise.
At the end of this exercise,discuss with the students how they felt during this exercise. Then review some good listening skills with the class. A good listener will:
*Sit or stand near the person with whom he/she is communicating.
*Maintain good eye contact.
*Give feedback-let the person know you are listening.
*Concentrate on what he/she is saying.
*Let the person finish what he/she is saying without interruption.
*Watch the speaker's body language- it will help the listener understand what the person is
really saying.
*Don't do something else while someone is talking.
Good Listening skills improve communication. The way we listen to others may distract or enhance communication. We need to practice our listening skills in order to improve our communication.
Directions:
For Box 1
*Tell about your favorite television program.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about what you did last night from the time you got home from school.Keep talking for at
least two minutes.
*Tell about your vacation last summer.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about your favorite teacher.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about your favorite movie.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about your favorite television program. Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about what you did last night from the time you got home from school. Keep talking for at
least two minutes.
*Tell about your vacation last summer.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about your favorite teacher.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
*Tell about your favorite movie.Keep talking for at least two minutes.
For Box 2
*While your classmate is talking, stare at the floor or ceiling.
*While your classmate is talking, don't say anything.You may smile, laugh or touch him/her,
but dont say a word.
*While your classmate is talking, act bored with what he/she is saying. (You can yawn ok look
away).
*While your classmate is talking, keep interrupting-don't let him/her ever finish what he/she is
trying to say.
*While your classmate is talking, write a note, read a book, or comb your hair.
*While your classmate is talking, stare at the floor or ceiling.
*While youe classmate is talking, don't say anything. You may smile,laugh, or touch them, but
don't say anything.
*While your classmate is talking, act bored with what he/she is saying. (You can yawn or look
away).
*While you classmate is talking, keep interrupting-don't let him/her ever finish what he/she is
trying to say.
*While your classmate is talking, write a note, read a book, or comb your hair.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Listening is beneficial to students
Active listening will assist is acheiving in class an getting a higher GPA. Active listening will make you a more effective student. If you think at four times the rate that you speak, a passive listener, concentrating just enough to keep up with the speaker will only be applyingone quarter of their mental capacity to the content of the lecture. Active listeners, applied more of their mind's attention and capacity(possibly all of it)to the subject, will be up to four times more effective.
By applying a few active listening techniques, you will benefit in many ways:
*Class time will go by much faster.
*You will develope a more healthy, productive attitudes toward class.
*You will increase your memory and retention for the material.
*You will relieve yourself from undue study time and effort.
*You will strenghten your mind and increase its capacity
*You will always know what to study, come test time
*Means it will help you to be prepared and maintain a high grades.
Listening Skills
*The key to recievinf messages effectively is listening. Listening is a combination of hearing what anothe person says. Listening requires more than hearing words.It requires a desire to understand another human being, an attitude of respect and acceptance,and willingness to open one's mind to try and see things from another point of view.
*Listening requires a high level of concentration and energy. It demands that we set aside our own thoughts and agendas, put ourselves in another shoes and try to see the world through that person's eyes. True listening requires that we suspend judgement,evaluation,and approval in an attempt to understand another is frame of reference,emotions, and attitudes. Listening to understand is, indeed, a difficult task!
*When we listen effectively, we gain information that is valuable to understanding the problem as the other person sees it.We gain understanding of the other person's perception. After all, the truth is subjective in a matter of perception. When we have a deeper understanding of another's perception, whether we agree with it or not, we hold the key to understanding that person's motivation,attitude, and behavior. We have a deeper understanding of the problem and the potential path for reaching agreement.
Seven Elements of Communications
Seven elements of communication that are written in order:1.The first element are being the thought and idea.
2.Second is encoding the same
3.Third is the transmission of the message or the channel
4.Fourth being the reception of the message
5.Fifht is decoding the same
6.Fifth is understanding the decoded idea or thought.
7.Seventh is the feedback of the reciever to the sender as a sign of confirmation of the communication.
Brief Theory of Communication
Expressing our wants, feelings, thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively is only half of the communication process needed for interpersonal effectiveness.The other half involved in listening and understanding what others communicate to us. Basically communication and listening skills are both involved to have an effective communications. When a person decide to communicate with another person he/she does so to fulfill a need.
In deciding to communicate ,the person select the method or code which he/she believes will effectively deliver the message to the other person. The code used to send the message can be either verbal or nonverval.When the other person recieves the code message. They go to the process of decoding or interpreting it into understanding and meaning. Effective communication exist betwwen two people when the reciever interprets and understand the senders message in the same way the senders intended it.
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