Public Speaking Module 3: Listening Skills

Public Speaking Module 3: Listening and Responding

• This module focuses on active listening and responding effectively to others.
• Learning outcomes include demonstrating understanding of active listening principles, recognizing listening barriers, and giving effective verbal and nonverbal feedback.

Active Listening

• Active listening is a skill requiring both intention and effort.
• Hearing is a biological, passive process, while listening is intentional and requires focused attention.
• Active listening involves three key components: attention, attitude, and adjustment.

Types of Listening

• Appreciative listening is for enjoyment, such as music or stories.
• Relational listening is for building connections and relationships.
• Empathetic listening involves understanding and validating the feelings of others.
• Critical listening is for evaluating and making judgments.
• Informational listening is for understanding and remembering information.

Understanding Active Listening

• Attention involves focusing on the speaker.
• Attitude involves being open-minded and acknowledging potential biases
• Adjustment involves adapting to the speaker/situation to improve understanding.

Barriers to Effective Listening

• Anticipating conclusions can prevent understanding the speaker's complete message
• Judging a speaker prematurely can lead to missing important information
• Emotional reactions may prevent attentive listening
• Distractions (physical, psychological, situational) can hinder concentration
• Lack of preparation can create barriers to engagement.

Effective Listening Strategies

• Strategies for avoiding distractions include recognizing and minimizing disruptions, having a listening goal.
• Note-taking strategies can include listing, outlining, concept maps, and the Cornell method.
• Keeping an open mind is vital for productive listening
• Preparation beforehand enables effective engagement with the speaker's message.

Feedback

• Feedback is a crucial aspect for improvement.
• The three kinds of feedback are Appreciation, Coaching, and Evaluation.
• Nonverbal feedback examples include posture and eye contact.
• Verbal feedback examples include compliments, suggestions, or questions.
• Effective feedback should be timely, observational, specific, reasonable, balanced (positive and constructive), and limited in amount. Effective feedback uses a positive format, such as the sandwich method.

Class Activity

• The activity involves group work using a YouTube video to evaluate feedback in speech and identify verbal/nonverbal cues.

This quiz covers key concepts of active listening and the various types of listening methods. Participants will explore principles of effective listening and how to respond to others appropriately. Enhance your communication skills by understanding the barriers and feedback techniques in listening.