Importance of Listening Skills in Professional Life
In day to day life, we all are busy in which we forget about listening. Hmm... now you will think why i am writing about listening. before i go further i would like to tell you that, This is a skill , which is not given its due importance in language teaching. We take it for granted that naturally all listen to language automatically and therefore, there is no need to develop listening as a language skill. However, this is not true.
First we must know the definition of listening?
Listening: is an interactive process "by which spoken language is converted to meaning in the mind".
As you can see the right fitted photo in which the girl just Hearing. Now what exactly hearing is a passive process. It is merely the detection of sounds around us. Normally, we come across hearing in certain situations. Actually what happens, you get a tele call about the new product of an insurance company when you are busy conducting a meeting. You may just 'hear' a sentence or two before deciding to ring off the phone. And the disinterest shown on your face like the lady in the right.
Now you can see the another right fitted photo in which the girl is ready to take call in an effective way. Because listening skill is an active process. It involves the conscious desire to determine the meaning of what is heard. It means if you really were interested in the insurance product, you would clarify the introduction of the person. Then, get his/her contact details and after assuring to call back, would ring off. In this situation , you were listening.
Barriers to Effective Listening
There are many reasons as to why individuals fail to listen successfully, These include:
- Interrupting
- Faking attention and tuning out
- Becoming emotional
- Jumping to conclusions
- Getting distracted
- Pre-judging the subject
- Wrong focus
- Gathering only facts
- Inflexibility while listening
- Avoiding complicated subjects
Strategies for effective listening
You can improve your listening skills by following some of the strategies mentioned below: Maintain eye contact with the speaker.
- Provide clues that you are actively involved in listening.
- Focus on content, not delivery
- Avoid emotional involvement
- Avoid distractions
- Refrain from formulating an immediate response
- Ask questions
- Use the gap between the rate of speech.
- Be willing to accept revisions
- Choose the right environment
- Stay active by asking questions for yourself