Listening Study Guide

Differences Between listening and hearing

Listening

Hearing

focused

accidental

voluntary

involuntary

intentional

effortless

requires motivation and effort

automatic brain result

Benefits of Listening

  • Become a Better Student
  • Become a Better Friend
    People Will Perceive You as Intelligent and Perceptive
  • Good Listening Can Help Your Public Speaking

Listening Styles

People

Action

Content

Time

Interested in the speaker

interested in finding out what the speaker wants

interested in the message itself

prefer a message that gets to the point quickly.

listen to the message in order to learn how the speaker thinks and how they feel about their message.

sometimes called task-oriented listening

interested in learning

impatient with slow delivery or lengthy explanations

more attentive to the speaker than to the message.

listener seeks a clear message about what needs to be done

want to listen to well-developed information with solid explanations.

receptive for only a brief amount of time

Why Listening Is Difficult

  • Noise (physical, psychological, physiological, semantic
  • Attention Span
  • Receiver Biases
  • Listening or Receiver Apprehension

Stages of Listening

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Six Ways to Improve Your Critical Listening

  1. Recognizing the Difference between Facts and Opinions 
  2. Uncovering Assumptions
  3. Be Open to New Ideas
  4. Rely on Reason and Common Sense
  5. Relate New Ideas to Old Ones
  6. Take Notes

Key Terms

  • Listening
  • Hearing
  • people listening style
  • action listening style
  • content listening style
  • time listening style
  • Physical Noise
  • Psychological Noise
  • Physiological Noise
  • Semantic Noise
  • Attention Span
  • Receiver Biases
  • Listening or Receiver Apprehension
  • Receiving
  • Understanding
  • Remembering
  • Evaluating
  • Responding
  • Formative Feedback
  • Summative Feedback
  • Facts
  • Assumptions

 

A PDF of this Listening Study Guide can be downloaded here.