principles of effective listening

Principles of Effective Listening

Although listening involves hearing information and requires learning the skills for effective listening, one should always adhere to the following principles of listening:

1. Paying attention to verbal and nonverbal clues. If you want to understand well what someone says, you must pay attention to what is said. It is also important to look at the speaker because sometimes body language and facial expressions can add meaning to the speaker's words.

2. Listening to ideas, not words. Assume your parents talk to you for 10 minutes about what you should or should not do in your life. If you are asked to repeat what your parents have told you in one sentence, you will definitely be able to do so. What will enable you to do so is your focus. Out of all the words that your parents tell you, your focus will be on the main ideas or messages only. These are the ideas and messages which matter to you in relation to all that your parents have said. Similarly, you need to focus on the main ideas in every listening activity.

3. Listening to the key words. The previous principle required you to focus on the main ideas when listening. But how could you understand the ideas? It is by picking the key words from the speaker. Speakers tend to emphasise their main ideas using particular words. The words are carefully selected to communicate certain meanings. When you hear words like masks, social distancing, washing hands and chronic pneumonia, you know that they are talking about COVID-19 or anything related to that. Generally, key words dominate the speaker's speech.

4. Paying attention to discourse markers. Speakers use certain words to indicate the direction of their talk. For instance, speakers present opposing ideas using expressions like 'but', 'on the other hand...', 'on the contrary...' and 'conversely'. Likewise, speakers can say 'also...', 'in addition...', and 'furthermore' to present additional ideas. Thus, the use of discourse markers is important in linking ideas.

5. Being patient. Do not jump to conclusions before speakers complete their talk because you may end up misinterpreting the whole message. In the following advert, you may confuse the deadline for submitting your essay to the essay competition organisers by memorising the first date. The message is as follows:

   The deadline for submitting essays is normally 31st December every year. But this year the date has been moved to the last day of November.

   In this kind of advert, one can think that the deadline is 31st December instead of 30th November. This tells us that effective listeners need to be patient. Patience helps them to avoid missing information. To be an effective listener, you must learn to be patient.

6. Taking notes, especially in comprehensive listening. Comprehensive listening involves listening intensively when the topic comprises many details. It is difficult to remember all important things if you do not take notes. Thus, you should always have a pen and a notebook when you attend any event or activity involving listening.

7. Distinguishing facts and opinions as the speaker delivers speech. A fact is a statement that can be proven true, while an opinion is an expression of someone's feelings or views that cannot be proven. Opinions can be based on facts or emotions, and sometimes they are meant to deliberately mislead others. During listening, it is important to distinguish between facts and opinions.