PowerPoint Presentation for college Projects: Effective Listening Skills

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What is listening?

Listening and hearing are not the same. Hearing is the first stage of listening. Hearing occurs when your ears pick up sound waves which are then transported to your brain. This stage is your sense of hearing.

Listening is a communication process and, to be successful, is an active process. In other words, you must be an active participant in this communication process. In active listening, meaning and evaluation of a message must take place before a listener can respond to a speaker. Therefore, the listener is actively working while the speaker is talking.

How can this happen? It is simple. Our thought speed is much faster than our speech speed. But be careful! Don't allow the thought speed to race into daydreaming. This habit will defeat your attempt to become an active listener.

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 is listening and understanding what others communicate to us. When a person decides to communicate with another person, he/she does so to fulfill a need. The person wants something, feels discomfort, and/or has feelings or thoughts about something. In deciding to communicate, the person selects 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 nonverbal. When the other person receives the coded message, they go through the process of decoding or interpreting it into understanding and meaning. Effective communication exists between two people when the receiver interprets and understands the sender’s message in the same way the sender intended it.

The Three Basic Listening Modes:

Competitive or Combative Listening happens when we are more interested in promoting our own point of view than in understanding or exploring someone else’s view. We either listen for openings to take the floor, or for flaws or weak points we can attack. As we pretend to pay attention we are impatiently waiting for an opening, or internally formulating our rebuttal and planning our devastating comeback that will destroy their argument and make us the victor.

In Passive or Attentive Listening we are genuinely interested in hearing and understanding the other person’s point of view. We are attentive and passively listen. We assume that we heard and understand correctly. But stay passive and do not verify it.

Active or Reflective Listening is the single most useful and important listening skill. In active listening we are also genuinely interested in understanding what the other person is thinking, feeling, wanting or what the message means, and we are active in checking out our understanding before we respond with our own new message. We restate or paraphrase our understanding of their message and reflect it back to the sender for verification. This verification or feedback process is what distinguishes active listening and makes it effective.

The Technique:

Active listening is really an extension of the Golden Rule. To know how to listen to someone else, think about how you would want to be listened to.

While the ideas are largely intuitive, it might take some practice to develop (or re-develop) the skills. Here’s what good listeners know — and you should, too:

Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language.

Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all remain comfortable.

Minimize external distractions. Put down your book or magazines, don’t think about the things you have to do afterwards and do not answer your cell phone if not emergency & don’t reply any useless SMS.

Respond appropriately to show that you understand. Murmur (“uh-huh” and “um-hmm”) and nod. Raise your eyebrows. Say words such as “Really,” “Interesting,” as well as more direct prompts: “What did you do then?” and “What did she say?”

Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point.

Minimize internal distractions. If your own thoughts keep horning in, simply let them go and continuously re-focus your attention on the speaker, much as you would during meditation.

Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree. Try not to make assumptions about what the speaker is thinking.

Avoid letting the speaker know how you handled a similar situation. Unless they specifically ask for advice, assume they just need to talk it out.

Even if the speaker is launching a complaint against you, wait until they finish to defend yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had been made. They won’t feel the need to repeat it, and you’ll know the whole argument before you respond. Research shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than we can talk, so we have the ability to sort ideas as they come in…and be ready for more.

Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but, once again, wait until the speaker has finished. That way, you won’t interrupt their train of thought. After you ask questions, paraphrase their point to make sure you didn’t misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re saying…”

As you work on developing your listening skills, you may feel a bit panicky when there is a natural pause in the conversation. What should you say next? Learn to settle into the silence and use it to better understand all points of view. Ironically, as your listening skills improve, so will your aptitude for conversation.

Suggestion for listening:

1. Set a purpose for listening.

What do you want to achieve?

Main ideas or details of the topic?

Improved notes?

Better ability to participate in discussion?

Staying awake during lecture?

2. Concentrate on the message by eliminating internal and external distractions.

Examples of external distraction:

Participants arriving late

noise from outside hall etc.

Examples of internal distraction:

concern over argument with friend from the night before

Worry about stack of papers on instructor desk due to be returned at end of class etc.

3. Think of questions. You may need to jot down questions.

To ask during discussion or individually.

Informational Type: "I don't understand...."

Clarifying Type: "Is is true that...?"

4. Capitalize on your faster thought speed. Use this time wisely.

Predict what will be discussed next.

Evaluate evidence presented.

Find links among topics or details.

Think of additional questions or comments you might make.

5. Listen for transitions. These are often specific clues to various parts of a lecture.

Introduction or Summary:

Today's lecture covers....

Today I'd like to discuss....

Let's look at the topic of....

To summarize....

As a review....

Recapping....

In conclusion....

Enumeration or Sequence:

First, second, third

First, next, then, finally

Most important, least important

In addition, last

Compare and Contrast:

similarly, both, likewise, in like manner

however, on the other hand, instead of, nevertheless

Cause and Effect:

the cause of, for this reason, because

as a result, results in, thus, therefore

6. Hear the speaker out.

Don't jump to conclusions.

Don't stop listening because of an emotional response to a word or topic.

Don't give up because the subject is difficult.

7. Be alert for other verbal and nonverbal cues.

Tone of voice changes.

Item is written on chalkboard or overhead transparency.

Specific phrases may be used such as "Last semester...." or "Some students have had difficulty with this." These phrases may be cues that details will be on the test.

Note: After reading please don’t misunderstand that, I am a intelligent guy or something. Most of the text has been adapted from the website given below. I had just brought all the useful data on 1 page and arranged it, As per sequence.The PPT is made by myself with the help of some articles.So it's possible that the above article and the PPT does not match 100%. Hope you people will like my work & will find it useful.