Page 373 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

Model Question Papers | 361

much distance may be interpreted as indifference or rejection and too close proximity may
make the speaker feel uncomfortable.
The listener must react to the speaker with certain nonverbal signals. His/her face must
move and the expressions must indicate that the speaker is being followed.
A good listener will stop talking and use receptive language.

reflective listening

Reflective listening restates the feeling and content that the speaker communicated and demon-
strates that listener understands and accepts the speaker’s message. It is not only to understand
the content of the message, but also the feeling and intention conveyed by the speaker.
Reflective listening requires observation of nonverbal communication and helps you to
focus on the central points of the issue. It encourages the speaker to disclose his feelings,
thereby listeners must guard against prejudices, closed minded opinions, defenses and fears
of being wrong which prevent us from believing what is said.
He/she must respond, letting the speaker know that he/she was understood. Empathic listen-
ing is more complex than just listening. An Empathic listener focuses on the speaker’s feelings.

Listening is extremely vital to teaching
Effective listening is of enormous importance in the area of teaching. It is not only the
students but also the teachers who have to practise listening skills.
In a teaching-learning process, it is generally believed that the student is at the listening
end and the teacher at the talking. But this is a wrong notion. The teacher is not always at the
authoritative talking end. The teacher is also a friend and a facilitator. There are a number of
occasions where a teacher needs to listen, not just give an indifferent hearing, but a patient,
empathic listening to their problems. Understand and perhaps even solve them.
Listening is not a school subject like reading and writing. It does not come naturally
although we feel so. Listening is a very large part of school learning and is one of the
primary means of interacting with people on a personal basis. It is estimated that between
50 to 75 percent of students’ classroom time is spent listening to the teacher, to other
students or to audio media.
In a classroom the students need to listen attentively to the lectures. Students must consider
listening skills to be an art that should be used effectively in order to accomplish the set goals.
Listening skills must be consciously improved by following some strategies.

Some listening strategies for the student

i. Focus on content: Do not pay too much importance to the style of delivery and the teacher’s
idiosyncrasies. If you are doing so, you are not focusing on the content of the lesson.

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