Listening
Here are the results of the Foundations of Verbal Communications staff examination of "listening" at our meeting 25 May 2006:
David Spolum on Listening:
To listen is to: visualize in one’s mind’s eye what is being spoken – if it is realistic or factual in nature then to link it to reality (even perhaps one’s personal experience) – if fantastic or abstract ion nature then to use one’s imagination (or attempt to) to envision what is being spoken.
Linda King Brown on Listening:
What is listening?
* being alert, aware, engaged, and present
* absorbing the facts, perspectives, opinions, descriptions of another person or persons speaking – of a text
– of a song
– of a piece of art
* processing but not immediately analyzing or drawing conclusions
* requires open state of mind; removal of "self"
* allowing communication to flow unhindered
Why is listening important to a college student?
* will constantly be exposed to new material and experiences in all of their classes
* must understand one’s own historical and cultural "context" so that any prejudices or preconceived notions of a subject can be identified
How can listening be improved?
* by removing distractions – physical and emotional
* refrain from judgment initially
* intentionally focus
* don’t let note-taking interfere
What are some tools, techniques, exercises one may practice to strengthen listening?
* in-class written responses
* waiting to speak, speak thoughtfully
* repeating, echoing another’s point of view for clarification
* asking questions
Mark Edward Achtermann on listening:
What is listening?
Listening is hearing made conscious. Listening is active.
Listening necessarily involves a degree of judgment, discernment, and categorization, but listening itself is neither categorizing, nor discerning, nor judging.
Listening is impaired by a false view of listening, by pre-judgment of what is heard, by external or internal distractions.
Why is listening important to a college student?
Many instructions are given only orally, or in written form but with oral additions. One must be able to follow oral directions, therefore one must be able to listen.
Most interactions with other students, academically and socially, will be oral; to get the most out of these interactions, and to avoid wrong understandings, one must be able to listen.
Much information provided in a college course is provided in the way of spoken presentations, whether discussions, formal or informal talks, or lectures. To be able to efficiently take in the information given, one must be able to listen.
Furthermore, listening allows one to experience the world more fully; the more conscious one is of the act of listening, the more one can direct and enlarge the experience of the world.
How can listening be improved?
To begin with, it is most useful to recognize that one cannot do more than one thing at once. We often deceive ourselves with the idea that we can do two or more things at once, but this is not correct – we may do them in so rapid a sequence as to seem to be doing more than one thing, but in fact only one thing is happening at a time. We may listen, or take notes, or doodle, or think about something unrelated to what we are hearing, but we cannot do all of these, or even three of these, or even two of these, at once. Thus, to listen, one must listen.
To listen, one must first be silent.
One can work on eliminating the impairments of listening. By cultivating a proper view of listening, one can overcome false views of listening. The chief false view of listening is that it is identical to hearing, and that it is passive. Listening is an activity. By becoming aware of one’s prejudices related to what one is hearing, one can set them to the side and listen without them. By reducing or eliminating distractions, external and internal, one can be more purely in contact with what one is hearing.
Correct posture for listening involves an upright spine and regular, even, deep (but not forced) breathing, the entire body still.
What are some tools one can use to improve listening?
Tools useful to listening are fundamentally hearing devices; listening is a mainly a matter of technique, not of tools.
In some cases, some amplification is required or helpful. Cupping a hand around the ear is in fact useful. Opening the mouth very slightly is also helpful. In more extreme cases, electronic amplification may be useful.
A tape recorder or similar recording device may be a useful tool in learning how to listen. If one has difficulty concentrating while listening, and finds that one’s mind drifts, one may be able to work on extending the time one may stay alert by listening to recordings; to say more is to delve into technique, however.
What are some techniques or exercises one can use to improve one’s listening?
Listening carefully to music is a good beginning. One might also listen to a recording of something other than music. The goal is to listen without imposing mental images or allowing the mind to drift from the music itself (or from the other material). By listening to the same material several times with the precise purpose of increasing the length of time during which one can concentrate solely on the music (or other material), eventually one will gain the ability to listen without prejudice or other internal distraction. Because we must often face many external distractions, using a recording which can be played back is helpful, as one can stop the exercise when one is distracted, and begin again, and so begin to determine the increase in concentration.
Listening carefully to another person’s argument and rephrasing the argument so that the meaning remains in the order given is also a good beginning. Note, however, that the rephrasing of the argument is a demonstration of the listening, rather than the listening itself.
An intermediate-level technique involves identifying or locating the sources of sounds, for example, learning to distinguish an oboe from a clarinet in a symphonic composition, or learning to distinguish the call of a robin from that of a sparrow. Learning to distinguish the patterns of human languages, whether one understands the words or not, is also a useful intermediate-level technique.
David Spolum on Listening:
To listen is to: visualize in one’s mind’s eye what is being spoken – if it is realistic or factual in nature then to link it to reality (even perhaps one’s personal experience) – if fantastic or abstract ion nature then to use one’s imagination (or attempt to) to envision what is being spoken.
Linda King Brown on Listening:
What is listening?
* being alert, aware, engaged, and present
* absorbing the facts, perspectives, opinions, descriptions of another person or persons speaking – of a text
– of a song
– of a piece of art
* processing but not immediately analyzing or drawing conclusions
* requires open state of mind; removal of "self"
* allowing communication to flow unhindered
Why is listening important to a college student?
* will constantly be exposed to new material and experiences in all of their classes
* must understand one’s own historical and cultural "context" so that any prejudices or preconceived notions of a subject can be identified
How can listening be improved?
* by removing distractions – physical and emotional
* refrain from judgment initially
* intentionally focus
* don’t let note-taking interfere
What are some tools, techniques, exercises one may practice to strengthen listening?
* in-class written responses
* waiting to speak, speak thoughtfully
* repeating, echoing another’s point of view for clarification
* asking questions
Mark Edward Achtermann on listening:
What is listening?
Listening is hearing made conscious. Listening is active.
Listening necessarily involves a degree of judgment, discernment, and categorization, but listening itself is neither categorizing, nor discerning, nor judging.
Listening is impaired by a false view of listening, by pre-judgment of what is heard, by external or internal distractions.
Why is listening important to a college student?
Many instructions are given only orally, or in written form but with oral additions. One must be able to follow oral directions, therefore one must be able to listen.
Most interactions with other students, academically and socially, will be oral; to get the most out of these interactions, and to avoid wrong understandings, one must be able to listen.
Much information provided in a college course is provided in the way of spoken presentations, whether discussions, formal or informal talks, or lectures. To be able to efficiently take in the information given, one must be able to listen.
Furthermore, listening allows one to experience the world more fully; the more conscious one is of the act of listening, the more one can direct and enlarge the experience of the world.
How can listening be improved?
To begin with, it is most useful to recognize that one cannot do more than one thing at once. We often deceive ourselves with the idea that we can do two or more things at once, but this is not correct – we may do them in so rapid a sequence as to seem to be doing more than one thing, but in fact only one thing is happening at a time. We may listen, or take notes, or doodle, or think about something unrelated to what we are hearing, but we cannot do all of these, or even three of these, or even two of these, at once. Thus, to listen, one must listen.
To listen, one must first be silent.
One can work on eliminating the impairments of listening. By cultivating a proper view of listening, one can overcome false views of listening. The chief false view of listening is that it is identical to hearing, and that it is passive. Listening is an activity. By becoming aware of one’s prejudices related to what one is hearing, one can set them to the side and listen without them. By reducing or eliminating distractions, external and internal, one can be more purely in contact with what one is hearing.
Correct posture for listening involves an upright spine and regular, even, deep (but not forced) breathing, the entire body still.
What are some tools one can use to improve listening?
Tools useful to listening are fundamentally hearing devices; listening is a mainly a matter of technique, not of tools.
In some cases, some amplification is required or helpful. Cupping a hand around the ear is in fact useful. Opening the mouth very slightly is also helpful. In more extreme cases, electronic amplification may be useful.
A tape recorder or similar recording device may be a useful tool in learning how to listen. If one has difficulty concentrating while listening, and finds that one’s mind drifts, one may be able to work on extending the time one may stay alert by listening to recordings; to say more is to delve into technique, however.
What are some techniques or exercises one can use to improve one’s listening?
Listening carefully to music is a good beginning. One might also listen to a recording of something other than music. The goal is to listen without imposing mental images or allowing the mind to drift from the music itself (or from the other material). By listening to the same material several times with the precise purpose of increasing the length of time during which one can concentrate solely on the music (or other material), eventually one will gain the ability to listen without prejudice or other internal distraction. Because we must often face many external distractions, using a recording which can be played back is helpful, as one can stop the exercise when one is distracted, and begin again, and so begin to determine the increase in concentration.
Listening carefully to another person’s argument and rephrasing the argument so that the meaning remains in the order given is also a good beginning. Note, however, that the rephrasing of the argument is a demonstration of the listening, rather than the listening itself.
An intermediate-level technique involves identifying or locating the sources of sounds, for example, learning to distinguish an oboe from a clarinet in a symphonic composition, or learning to distinguish the call of a robin from that of a sparrow. Learning to distinguish the patterns of human languages, whether one understands the words or not, is also a useful intermediate-level technique.
posted by M E Achtermann at 9:54 PM
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