The Perception of Listening

The Perception of Listening

Listen up! Are you really listening? What is Listening and why is it important? This paper will address the viewpoint of listening skills and its outcome. Listening is an essential tool, which is one of the constructive aspects in the communication process, for communicating with other people. To listen well is a talent that is learned. However, for people to listen effectively, they would need to practice to obtain the skill. ”As with any new skill, learning to listen takes effort, attention, and practice” (Stewart, 2006, p. 202).Listening skills allow people to make sense of and understand what another person is saying. In other words, listening skills allow you to identify with the meaning of what people are talking about.

Listening skills is a beneficially sensible approach for doing what is appropriate when it comes to communicating with other people. In today’s society, listening has become a modern way of life since people are always listening to something, such as the television, the radio, or merely a conversation with family and friends. Stewart (2006) comments that “about 45 percent of our day are spent on listening” (p. 199).However, the attention span for some people needs improvement, especially if they are easily distracted.

Consistency should be a concept of listening and the only way to make this happen is by practice. In other words, people should be able to communicate their comprehension of what the other person is talking about. For example, if a friend, teacher, or speaker speaks about the need to improve various types of environmental issues in our society, the listener or receiver should be able to execute his/her listening skills by clarifying what was addressed by question...

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...er because each person can benefit by enhancing their listening habits. Depending on the situation, the three learning styles, active listening, critical listening, and empathic listening should suffice for effective communication.

On a final note, while listening skills consist of paying attention to words and interpreting those spoken words correctly, people can develop a creative character as they express such a rewarding attribute. Furthermore, when people obtain listening skills, it is an impressive tool for learning new concepts about each other. Above all, the perception of listening is his or her personal choice if they decide to be an effective interpersonal communicator.

References

Hybels, S. & and Weaver, R.L., (2007). Communicating effectively (8th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Stewart, J. (2006). Bridges not walls, (9th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill