Listening

Ms A. Sauer

What is listening?• An active process by which students receive,

construct meaning from, and respond to spoken and or non-verbal messages (Emmert, 1994).

• Integral part of the communication process• Listening comprehension complements

reading comprehension• Verbally clarifying the spoken language before,

during, and after a presentation enhances listening comprehension.

Hearing v. Listening• Hearing: the act of perceiving sound by

ear. Passive process. A natural process that people engage in involuntarily

• Listening: a purposeful, cognitively directed activity. It requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and sentences. Active process.

• Listening leads to learning.

Types of listening• Comprehensive(informational): students listen

for the content of the message.• Critical (Evaluative): students judge the

speaker’s message, listen to evaluate or criticise.• Appreciative(aesthetic): Students listen for

enjoyment.• Therapeutic (empathetic): Students listen to

support others but not to judge them.(Wolving and Coakley, 1992)

Purpose for listening

• To receive information?• To follow instructions?• To evaluate information?• For pleasure?• To support and empathise?

Listening in real lifeCasual/half listening: - listen with no particular purpose in mind, - Paying attention to some; tuning out others-listening to the radio while doing housework; chatting to a friend-distracted by personal thoughts or what’s going on around you-doodling or texting

Listening in real life (Cont.)

Sound listening: -Hearing the words, but not the meaning behind them. -Missing the significance of the message.- Responding with logic only.

Listening in real life (cont.)Focused/active: -listen for a particular purpose -ignoring delivery quirks and focusing on the message- Asking clarifying questions- Making eye-contact- Understanding the speaker’s ideas- Being aware of body language- Remaining engaged even when taking notes

Cont.

• For one to be able to respond appropriately to what he/she hears, one has to listen attentively, understand what he/she hears, and be able to interpret it before formulating a response.

• Listening is a receptive skill in that the listener receives information from the speaker. This information has to be clearly heard, understood and properly interpreted before meaningful interaction can take place.

The listening process

• Two major approaches to explaining the listening process:

• Bottom-up processing• Top-down processing

Bottom-up processing

• Using the incoming input as the basis for understanding

• Comprehension is viewed as a process of decoding

• Listener’s lexical and grammatical competence in a language provides the basis

• Process: (i) chunking(ii) Knowledge of grammar helps us find the appropriate chunks (iii) speaker assists through intonation and pausing.

Bottom-up (cont.)

e.g. “The guy I sat next to on the bus this morning on the way to work was telling me he runs a Thai restaurant in Chinatown. Apparently, it’s very popular at the moment.”(i) chunking: our knowledge of grammar helps us find the appropriate chunks

Top-down processing

• Top-down: the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a message.

• the attribution of meaning drawn from one’s own world knowledge, to language input. It involves “the listener’s ability to bring prior information to bear on the task of understanding the ‘heard’ language.” (Morley, 2001)

Top-down (cont.)

• Process: (i) draw on previous knowledge by asking questions (ii) response to questions

• E.g. “I heard on the news there was a big earthquake in South Africa last night.”

• Where exactly was the earthquake? How big was it? Did it cause a lot of damage? Were many people killed or injured? What rescue efforts are underway? The questions guide us through the understanding and focus our listening.

• If the listener is unable to make use of top-down processing, an utterance or discourse may be incomprehensible.

• Bottom-up processing alone provides insufficient basis for comprehension.

• In real-life listening, both bottom-up and top-down processing generally occur together.

• The extent to which one dominates depends on:

(a)Listener’s familiarity with the topic and content of a text(b)The density of information in a text©The text type(d)The listener’s purpose for listening

Barriers to listening1. We join the conversation with predetermined attitude and assumptions about the other person or the subject matter to be discussed.2. We are so preoccupied with our own thoughts that we are unable to listen attentively. 3. We are completing the other person’s thoughts and jumping to conclusions. 4. We engage in selective listening.

Barriers (cont.)5. We feel too tired, anxious, or angry to listen actively. 6. We don't pay enough attention to body language and vocalics, such as intonation, rate of speech, emphasis, or tone. 7. We are in a hurry. 8. The type of technical language used.9. Cultural differences.10. The place where listening occurs.

Effective listening habits

Pre-listening:• Build their background knowledge on subject

before listening• Have a specific purpose for listening and

attempt to ascertain speaker’s purpose• Tune in and attend• Minimise distractions

Effective listening habits (cont.)

During listening:• Give complete attention to listening task and

demonstrate interest.• Search for meaning.• Constantly check their understanding of

message by making connections, making and confirming predictions, making inferences, evaluating and reflecting.

During listening (cont.)• Know whether close or cursory listening is

required: adjust their listening behaviour accordingly

• Are flexible note makers (outlining, mapping, categorising) who sift and sort, often adding information of their own

• Take fewer, more meaningful notes• Distinguish message from speaker• Consider the context and “colour” of words

Effective listening habits (cont.)

After listening:• Withhold judgement until comprehension of

message is complete.• Will follow up on presentation by reviewing

notes, clarifying, reflecting and acting upon the message.