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LISTENING SKILLS
Face the speaker and maintain eye contact: Facing the speaker and maintaining eye
contact enable the listener to give undivided attention to him/her and also enables the
listener to observe facial expressions and boy language as these factors can
communicate as much as spoken language.
Do not interrupt and impose solutions: It is crucial to refrain from interrupting since
doing so will distract the speaker and also because it is considered rude. If any
comment or question is to be made, it is ideal to wait for the speaker to pause. Also,
the listener must not compel the speaker to accept unsolicited advice.
Practice active listening: The listener may ask the speaker to slow down or repeat
when the listener does not understand or want to be certain about what has been
heard. The listener should also repeat back what he/she thinks has been heard in order
to avoid leaving a gap between what he/she thinks has been heard and what the
speaker actually intended to say. Active listening skills involve using a lot of
clarifications in order to ensure understanding.
Listen for key words: It is important to pay attention to the words the speaker
emphasises in order to recognise the main point of the message. For example, by
stressing the word ‘time’ in “Let’s talk about the TIME we will meet tomorrow…” the
speaker lets the listener know that the time of tomorrow’s appointment is the main
point. Hence, it is crucial to pay attention to what the speaker stresses on.
Listen for phrases or markers: In formal lectures, the speaker usually marks main
points with key phrases such as “The main point is…” or “On the other hand, some
people take an opposing standpoint…” However, even in everyday conversation, the
speaker often uses less formal markers such as “I guess what I’m trying to say is…”
or “What I mean is…” These markers are often used before a main point and, hence,
act as clues to indicate the important points of the message. Additionally, the listenr
must also pay attention to phrases commonly used phrases such as “first of all”,
moving on to”, “in summary”, “in other words”, “to illustrate this”, etc. so that the
listener will be able to follow the speech/message and organise its content.
MCAII SS-I|3
Practice active thinking: The listener should actively think about what the speaker is
saying. This can be done by analysing and paraphrasing in the listener’s mind the
information that has been shared. This is a crucial skill that helps in absorbing and
remembering content.
Anticipate or predict content: Anticipating or predicting what the speaker has to say
helps in understanding the message better since it allows the listener’s mind to be
more open to the message. However, care must be taken not to jump to conclusions.
The listener must listen to the entire content first and should not confuse the actual
message with what the listener thinks the speaker will say.
Give the speaker regular feedback: Giving feedback at regular intervals is a positive
sign that shows that the listener is paying attention to the content of the message. It
also shows that the listener understands the point of the message or the feelings of the
speaker. Feedback can include comments, nods, facial expressions, and
backchanneling, i.e., using language to show interest or comprehension in a
conversation. This includes phrasal backchannels (e.g. “right”, “I see”, “Is it?”, etc.)
and non-lexical backchannels (e.g. “uh-huh”, “hmmm”, etc.).