CHAPTER 5 – Oral
Communication.
5.1 Meaning,
Nature & Scope:
Oral communication is also called as
verbal communication. It occurs through spoken words. In oral communication,
two parties i.e. Sender & receiver, comes together to exchange their views
through speech, face-to-face communication between individuals or group of
individuals; with or without use of any mechanical or electronic device such as
telephone, teleconference etc. meeting, public address system, lectures etc are
the some other medias of oral communication.
In oral communication nothing is in
writing. It is always done with use of words only. Speech is widely adopted
tool of communication. Every day in an educational institute teachers interact
with the student with speech. In any
company or department superiors & subordinates communicate with each other
by mostly using oral communication. Even in our day today life we interact with
suppliers, lawyers, doctors, auditors, consultant as a customer.
In today’s dynamic era, oral
communication should be clear, effective and meaningful to achieve the objects
of communication. Factors like communication, style, language, medium,
importance of message, authority, temperament of receiver and speaker etc. are
important.
In human relations, oral communication
plays important role while maintaining public relations. Even it is considered
a fundamental element of public relation.
5.1.1 Scope
of oral communication:
1. It is used in face-to-face communication.
2. It can be happen with the use of mechanical
devices like telephone & teleconferencing.
3. It is used to maintain public relations in
informal communication.
4. It is used as a means of formal communication
in every organization to maintain relationship between superior &
subordinate.
5.2 Principles
of effective oral communication:
Oral
communication is an important skill to communicate effectively & clearly.
It is a valuable asset of every professional like doctor, lawyer, auditor,
solicitor, chartered accountant etc. there are no standard rules to be followed
in oral communication; But to make message effective, clear & easily
understandable, the communicator must follow certain principles. These
principles are as follows:
1.
Clarity.
2.
Brevity.
3.
Cliché.
4.
Sequence.
5.
Avoid jargon.
6.
Avoid verbosity.
7.
Seven ‘C’s of communication.
8.
Propositions.
9.
Adjectives & adverbs.
1.
Clarity: it
is one of the first and foremost principles of oral communication. There are
three most important qualities of oral communication styles; these are first
clarity, then clarity and then clarity. The speaker should think & rethink
his ideas before speaking. To achieve clarity, speaker must use simple &
common words with short sentence, which make it possible to understand message
to people of various capacities even idiots or lunatic also.
2.
Brevity: it is the second important effective
principles of oral communication. It means conversation in short sentence.
Lengthy sentences confuse and may lead to misunderstanding. So, message must be
brief because it gives sufficient time & opportunity to listener to follow
the endeavors of speaker to put across his conversation.
3.
Cliché: an effective & good communicator should
avoid clichés. Cliché means a phrase which is used too often and has some
meaning. Clichés like mean, oh really, ok, quite fine etc. may used by the
speaker unconsciously when he is involved in a serious mood of conversation.
4.
Sequence: it implies presentation of matter in a logical
order. It is an important principle of oral communication. The speaker should
maintain sequence while speaking. He should not jump points. He should maintain
consistency, continuity & logical development of the subject matter. The
manner in which a speaker said something is more important than the matter
itself in communication.
5.
Avoid jargon: while speaking with common people, speaker
should avoid language or terminologies relating to law, commerce, sport,
defense etc. it may be called legal jargon, commercial jargon and so on. In
short, the speaker should make his conversation with simple and easily
understandable words.
6.
Avoid verbosity: the speaker should avoid using superfluous
words. Using more words does not assure greater clarity. It will take valuable
time of audience and listeners may tire and may misunderstand the meaning.
7.
Seven ‘C’s of communication: Francis J. Bergin suggested that, every communicator
must remember seven ‘C’s while speaking. They are:
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1. Clear.
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2. Complete.
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3. Concise.
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4. Concrete.
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5. Correct.
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6. Courteous
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7. Candid.
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8.
Propositions: the speaker should avoid use of unnecessary
propositions. For instance, all students should follow rules & regulations
in regard to their school. Here the word ‘about’ can be used in place of ‘in
regard to’. Some other examples of propositions are with regard to, in relation
to, with reference to, in connection with etc.
9.
Adjective & Adverbs: the
speaker should not use adverbs & adjectives unnecessarily. They emphasize
the meaning with the degree of importance e.g. a positive decision will be
taken, definite results, active consideration; comparatively the results are
poor etc.
5.3 Techniques of effective speech:
With
effective principles, speaker should follow certain techniques to make
communication successful. An effective speech creates goodwill of the speaker
& produces a favorable reaction from the listeners. To achieve positive
& favorable reactions from listeners, speaker should be promoting friendly
kind attitude & cheerful consent towards listeners. There are different
types of listeners, listens to speaker with different capacity. So their
understanding level may also be different. So message of the speaker should be
capable of being understood by them all.
However, following are the important
techniques of effective speech given by C.S. Rayadu:
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1. Friendly atmosphere.
2. Personal greeting.
3. Personal interest.
4. Importance to listeners.
5. Personal appearance.
6. Speaking style.
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7. Appreciation.
8. Smile.
9. Empathy.
10. Language.
11. Honesty.
12. action
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13. Use of aids.
14. Handouts.
15. Accent.
16. Beauty of speech.
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1.
Friendly atmosphere: the speaker
should create a friendly attitude, kindly and helpful atmosphere at the place.
The listener should be capable to understand and put the message in writing.
The speaker is responsible to make the message capable to understand to common
people.
2.
Personal greeting: in oral
communication, the speaker must use a personal greeting before starting the
speech. Instead of using ‘Dear sir’, speaker should call to the person by name
like “Dear Mr.……”. It implies that speaker is interested to communicate with
listener.
3.
Personal interest: to maintain
desirable quality of successful communication, the speaker must show personal
interest and awareness in listeners. He must make honest efforts to make the
other person feel better e.g. in case of speaking with new employees, the
officer can say, “I’m happy to learn that you are joining our organization”
or while informing to subordinate superior
should say, “It gives me great pleasure to inform you.”
4.
Importance to listeners: it implies that the speaker should give due
importance to the listeners. It is another technique for building goodwill
among the audience. The speaker should achieve the purpose of speech by making
them understand the message. It also helpful to clarify the doubts of
listeners. So the speaker should speak from listener’s point of view.
5.
Personal appearance: it is also an
important technique of an effective communication. It includes communicating
with acceptable & gentle dress. It is considered one of the most direct
& silent way of communication. It may be different from country to country
and profession to profession e.g. dress of army men, policeman, political
leaders, lawyers, doctors or religious heads etc. communicates message
effectively and gain attention and interest of the audience.
6.
Speaking style: the
style of speaking should be suited to the audience and to the situation; a good
speaker uses different style while speaking to small children, to adults, male
& female colleagues and to the guest on different occasions.
7.
Appreciation:
to build personal
goodwill, the speaker should show appreciation towards listeners. He must wish
to show his personal appreciation for what listeners are listening. He must
give thanks to an appreciative audience. The speaker’s satisfaction with his
listeners fully depends on success of speech.
8.
Smile: the speaker should start his speech with a
sweet smile. It shows pleasure towards listeners’. It gives clues to feeling
& meaning. Smile is necessary when speaker is taking favorable action. It
demands a happy attitude to be apparent from the very beginning.
9.
Empathy: it implies the ability of speaker to share
& understand the feeling, experience & opinions of listeners. It is
mostly important in a speech to a group or audience. It is necessary to show
every consideration for the listener that will create interest & persuade
the listener.
10.
Language: language is very essential for effective oral
communication. While speaking, speaker should speak at the listeners’ level.
This will make message pleasing & interesting. A pleasing language of
message not only put the speaker as ease but also relaxes to listeners. It also
satisfies the purpose of speaking & fulfills the desire of speaker.
11.
Honesty: the speaker should be honest in his response,
if he is genuinely interested in the listener. It promotes speakers confidence
among the listeners.
12.
Action:
it implies gesture of speaker while communicating. Physical movements or body
language of speaker in relation to the audience has a real impact on
communication. It gives us clues to a person’s self confidence or interest in
the topic.
13.
Use of aids: to
make oral communication effective & impressive, the speaker should use
visual or audio-visual aids in support of speech. In the recent business era,
the speech must be always combined with Medias like charts, graphs, tables,
visual projection etc. it is helpful for speaker to carry his message in right
way.
14.
Handouts: before starting the speech, the speaker should
distribute brief note to audience regarding subject on which he is going to
speak. Such note is called as Handout. It serves the audience and act as
permanent reminder of the speakers’ message.
15.
Accent: it is another important factor to be achieved
in good speech. The speaker should use accent familiar to the audience.
Otherwise they may be worrying or confusing about the meaning of a words
speaker has used. The word ‘accent’ covers two separate meaning :
a.
It is used to
indicate the differences of pronunciations’ heard in different parts of our own
country.
b.
It is also used
in some context to mean extra breath force on a word i.e. stress.
16.
Beauty of speech: it implies actual quality of voice itself. A
beautiful voice in itself is interesting and pleasant to listen. Talking of something
ugly or unpleasant by such person makes unsuitable him and sound may becomes
insincere. So, the owner of the lovely voice should take great pleasure in
listening himself as well as others.
5.3 Medias of oral communication:
Medias of oral communication means tools
or vehicles of communication. The instrument/s used in passing information or
ideas or to convey message are termed as Medias of communication. To achieve
the aim of effective communication, every communicator must select appropriate
media or medium of communication according to the requirement of situation.
Following are the different Medias of oral communication:
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1.
Face-to-face
conversation.
2.
Demonstration.
3.
Dramatization.
4.
Press
conferencing.
5.
Public address
system.
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6. Radio.
7. Recording.
8. Meeting.
9. Rumors.
10.
Grapevine.
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11.
Dictaphone.
12.
Group discussion.
13.
Oral report.
14.
Closed circuit T.V.
15.
Teleconferencing.
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1.
Face-to-face conversation: there are many Medias in oral communication in which
no personal contact between communicator & communicatee. But face to face
communication is the most effective type of communication. It gives an
opportunity of observing facial expressions, reactions & gives immediate
feedback of communication to speaker. It makes possible definite understanding
between both the parties. It exposes feeling & actions and understands
acceptance or rejections. It also gives necessary clarification.
Following
are the some important principles of effective face to face communication:
i.
The message must
show the necessary facts.
ii.
It must consider
the vocabulary level of the receiver.
iii.
To convey the
message in the way that the speaker may feel towards the receiver.
iv.
The speaker
should use short sentence & clear words.
v.
The speaker
should not waste time & thought of communicatee.
vi.
To convey the
central message, the speaker should use appropriate words while communicating.
2.
Demonstration: Demonstration is a medium of communication
which gives message in addition to action. It is used to educate people about
new technologies e.g. to make aware about voting through ballot machine.
Demonstration is important for voter, to educate them, how to exercise their
franchise. Today various corporate marketing agencies adopted this media for
presentation of their sales & services. It proves how their product will
work & how it benefits to the buyer.
3.
Dramatization: this is the method, in which “doing” skills
may be shown, explained and applied. It is a means of giving emphasis to the
subject matter under consideration.
4.
Press conferencing: conferencing
is another medium of oral communication. It means meeting for discussion. It
helps to pool the thoughts of two or more persons to assist in solving
problems. Mostly political leaders or chief executives of large scale business
organizations frequently arranges press conferences, to find out solutions of
their problems or to give an account of their activities. For this, journalist
& reporters from various news agencies are invited to participate, to
listen and cover in the press. The main purpose of press conference is to
appraise a situation, problems, achievements, progress public matters etc. in
addition to talk with them press reporters are supplied pamphlets covering
information & statistical data so as to enable them to cover in the press.
The press reporters are entitled to raise questions and solicit replies or
explanations.
5.
Public address system: public
address system is a mechanical device, which make it possible to project the
human voice spread among a large gathering. This system is mostly adopted at
meetings, shows, speeches, meals, carnivals, exhibitions or message to mass
audience. It is one of the popular mean of communication for management in
which management communicates their plans, programs and achievements of the
organization to employees.
6. Radio: it
one of the old type of communication technology, used for broadcasting many
programs in sequence. Because of its wide accessibility and relatively low
cost, it is popularly used to spread common message to public at large. It is
one way communication system. Even though it is less effective than other Medias
of oral communication advanced countries like Australia and New Zealand still
use radio as a mean of conference and for radio tutorials.
7. Recording:
the process of making a record of something,
on recording system or on a tape is called as recording. It involves process of
recording message, talk, interview or program at a particular place. A
recording is an electronic instrument, produces the sounds recorded on records.
It makes possible to capture a speech or radio program and reply it by radio
before an audience or over a public address system anywhere.
8. Meeting:
9. Rumors: a rumor is a
verbal statement or report circulating in a group, of the truth of which there
is no clear evidence. It is an essential part of grapevine communication. It
passes unfounded news from person to person. In rumors, communication is a
piece of news or story, which may not be true. A rumor once spread cannot be
removed. A person who originate rumor is called as rumor monger. There is
always two persons involve in the rumor. They are known as rumor spreader &
rumor bearer. Even a management can use rumors for effective communication. To
provide quick & easy access to the information e.g. a rumor circulating
that the chairman of the company has been changes; a person rumored that a
colleague has resigned; it is rumored that the supervisor is getting
transferred etc.
10. Grapevine: informal
communication at working place or in an organization is known as grapevine.
When management uses informal means to spread the message within the
organization, it is called grapevine. But it is not deliberately created &
officially prescribed channel for flow of information, so it is free from all
sorts of formalities. The network is formed out of personal relationships,
social & group relations, but not out of position of line and authority,
superior & subordinate or based on organizational hierarchy. It may be
conveyed by a simple glance, gesture, smile or mere silence. It is composed of
a series of small groups of people, linked to one another covering everyone in
the organization. One person in the group passes the message to each person in
a particular group. Because of inter group links and chains; the message is
quickly passes to everyone. Management can make use of them to communicate and
also create its own grapevine. It is very helpful and advantageous to
management because it saves time, gets immediate response, provides useful
feedback for decision making and generates ideas & suggestions etc.
11. Dictaphone: Dictaphone is one of the old mechanical devices
for communication, through which device dictates correspondence read for
another to write down. It is a combination of electronics & mechanical
means to record the voice. It is popularly used for dictation of
correspondence, recording the proceedings, conferences and interviews. It is
also used for market research. For the effective use of Dictaphone in
communication, following norms should be followed:
1. Clear pronunciations
2. Clarity.
3. Simplicity.
4. Short sentences.
5. Stop when interruption takes place.
6. Avoid pipe, gums, cigar in mouth while dictating
etc.
There
are some advantages of using Dictaphone, these are as follows:
i.
It saves time
and cost of correspondence work.
ii.
It helps to
avoid mistakes in hearing by typists.
iii.
It achieves seed
& accuracy.
iv.
Dictaphone
facility works through inter room connections, so dictation is possible without
the presence of steno.
v.
It can achieve
the advantageous of centralization.
12. Group discussion: it is one of
the types of formal meeting. In this group of any number of people engaged in
interaction with one another. In the words of Robert Bales, “A small group s
defined as any number of persons engaged in interaction with one another in a
single face-to-face conversation or series of such conversations. In this each
member receives some impression or perception of each other member distinctive
enough. So that he can, either at the time, or in later questioning give some
reaction to each of the others as an individual person, even though it may be
only to recall that the other was present”. There are no fixed norms as to the
right size for a group. It all depends upon circumstances of particular case. A
group for discussion may be casual, permanent, learning or action group, which
can reaches to decision after discussion. Decision taken after group discussion
is superior & better than one side decision. It involves defining problem,
generating solutions, analyzing alternative solutions, identifying a balanced
solutions, selecting the best solutions, implementing the best solution and
evaluating the result.
13. Oral report: oral
report is a presentation of written data before a group. For effective
presentation of data communicator must have oral communication skills. These
skills include good speaking, presentation of informational and analytical
message. According to L. Brown, “The function of an oral report is to furnish
the fact necessary to expedite action or to persuade someone or any number of
persons to take the action the group has decided on or to implement the group’s
solution”.
An oral
report is generally drafted for a particular group of people. So considering
the group of people, it must be effectively & carefully planned and
developed. Like speech, it should have an introduction, main body, result,
conclusion and ending. To make oral report effective and successful, one must follow
certain essential principles, which are given as below:
i.
A report should
be clear, complete & short.
ii.
There should be
fixed time limit to read (not more than 20 minutes).
iii.
To set a gentle
style & tone.
iv.
To know the
audience.
v.
It should be
divided in to the paragraphs and each paragraph should give a separate central
idea.
vi.
There should be
five minutes at the end of presentation of reports for audience to ask
questions.
Points
to be considered while presenting oral report:
i.
Prepare your
talk carefully.
ii.
Practicing
aloud.
iii.
An Audio visual
recording can be helpful, if presenter fails memorizing his talk. It allows him
to hear his own.
iv.
Check your
appearance is suitable for the occasion and audience or not.
v.
Begin slowly and
do not give up once you have begun, until and unless ending.
vi.
Speak loudly
than ordinary speak, at least at the outset.
14. Closed circuit T.V.: it is a
medium of oral communication operates by using a television set. The television
camera is connected to the receiving set. This camera scans the pictures and
converts the picture in to electrical signals to be transmitted. The video
amplifier applies the range of frequencies. Amplitude modulated picture
transmitter is a circuit places visual information on a carrier wave. The
microphone converts audio signals into electrical signals. The complete process
gives us continuous viewing of pictures & listening of sound.
15. Teleconferencing: it is an
audio-visual instrument of oral communication, in which two or more persons
from different places communicate with each other. In this system, with the use
of television technology one can see another person through desktop and hear
views on the topic to be discussed. There is special room for these
technologies. Person who wants to communicate should go to this room connect
our closed circuit television nationally and internationally by using open air
TV channel. To communicate through this technology the communicatee should have
such technology available with him. Otherwise teleconferencing is not
possible.
5.4
Listening:
5.4.1
Meaning and nature of listening :
Listening is the process of receiving,
interpreting and reacting to the message received from the communicatee i.e. sender.
It is an art of communication, which is often taken for granted. Like any other
art, listening requires to be cultivated consciously, carefully and
systematically. It requires conscious efforts of interpreting sounds, grasping
the meaning of words and reacting to the message. Interpreting the sound
signals is a cognitive act, which is depends on the listener’s knowledge of the
code & signals and on his attitude towards the communication sender.
Actual listening processes begin with
listener’s attention to some audible sound signals and permit him to interpret
those sounds cognitively. The sound signals which stand for some arbitrary
meaning engage the listener’s attention and demand for some kind of response
from him. An individual may hear many sounds but he may listen to none of them.
The process of listening which stands with the selective attending listening;
listener can evaluate the message and draw certain conclusions.
Listening is half of oral communication,
and it s a skill that needs to be practiced and taken equally as seriously as
speaking & writing. Following are the different definitions of term
listening:
According to Keith Davis, “Listening is a conscious, positive act requiring
will power. It is not simple, passive exposure to sound.”
According
to Rogers, “Listening reflects a
whole orientation to life and people. This orientation implies that, to listen
is to have the creative power to imagine how it would make sense to say what
the other person is saying.”
In
the words of M. V. Rodriquez, “Listening
is a process of receiving, interpreting and reacting to the message received
from the communication sender”.
Leland
Brown says that, “Listening is an
activity that can be turned on and off consciously and unconsciously. It starts
with the receiver’s becoming aware that they should listen and become attentive
to what is being said”.
According
to the Myers & Myers, “Active listening
is to listen to a person without passing judgments on what being said, and to
mirror back what has been said to indicate that you understand, what feeling
the speaker was putting across”.
5.4.2 Importance or significance of listening in
business communication:
i. An
effective listening improves the information output of superiors i.e. Managers,
and help them to make better policies, to take correct decisions, to solve the
problems and grievances.
ii. An
effective listening helps to know various activities of organization and to
understand the activities of the competing organizations.
iii. An effective listening to employees feels pulse to
them, and find out false rumors which may cause damage to the organization.
iv.
An effective listening creates a
congenial atmosphere for listening, which allows freedom of expression for the
speakers and encouraged them for promoting & understanding coordination
among various departments in the organization.
vi.
It helps the
managers to get the constructive suggestions from the employees.
vi. An
effective listening helps to raise the morale of the employees. Such raised
morale can bind them together with a sense of togetherness.
vii.
An effective listening, participates
subordinates in decision making process and employees can introduce new schemes
and useful suggestions to the manager.
5.4.3 Types
of listening:
Following are the different types of listener or
listening:
1.
Emphatic listener: it is also called as active listener. He is a person
who not only pays attention to the surface meaning of the words but tries to
probe the feeling & emotions of the speaker and try to get maximum
information from the speaker without interrupting. According to Myers and
Myers, “Active listening consist of listening to a person without passing
judgment on what is being said, and to mirror back, what has been said to
indicate that you understood, what feeling that the speaker was putting
across”.
2.
Sympathetic listener: When listener
gives sufficient time for listening and listens to speaker attentively with
patience. Sympathetic listener always respect to the speaker, so that speaker
feels flattered and open out much more e.g. sympathetic teacher listens
problems of pupils attentively.
Figure 5.1: Types of listener or
listening.
3.
Projective listener: when the
listener tries to project himself in the speaker’s point of view, such
listeners’ are called as projective listeners’. It is a process of observing
and understanding; what is said to assimilate the viewpoint of the speaker.
This type of listening mostly used in group communication like meetings,
conferences etc. In this, judgment making is not an important aspect but an
attempt is made to grasp the message before contradiction or further ideas.
4.
Marginal listener: Marginal listening means a listener has the capacity
to listen three or four times faster than speaker’s capacity to speak. So the
listener can use extra time available to think about other matters or to judge
the quality of speech and for preparation of reply. Sometimes, he may engage in
taking notes. Therefore, he may not be able to understand the next argument of
speaker.
5.
Fake listener: when the listener tries to show that he is
listening sincerely, but instead of attentive listening they develop the habit
of fake attention, such listener is called as fake listener. They concentrate
on speaker & try to project themselves as good listeners. They may be
physically present in communication but mentally they are somewhere else. So,
it is very difficult to find out pretended listening.
6.
Prejudiced listener: when the
listener tries to make certain assumptions before listening, such listening is
called as prejudiced listening. In this listener decides in advance that
subject is not relevant or useless or difficult to understand. Therefore, he
does not show interest in the subject or feels boring to listen. Sometimes,
prejudice listener, on the physical appearance of the speaker, thinks that he
may not able to speak effectively or he may not have anything significant to
present.
7.
Evaluating listener: in this type of listening, listener spares his time
and thinks to judge & evaluate what is said by the speaker, while
listening. Sometimes, listener tries to rebuttals to speaker.
5.4.4
Listening
process:
As an element of communication, success
of listening is demands on following listening process effectively. Following
are the six stages of listening process:
Figure 5.2 Process of Listening.
1.
Receiving: this is the first stage of listening process
in which listener physically hears the message & take note on it. The
efficiency of this stage will be affected by various external factors, such as
nose, poor hearing, lack of attention etc.
2.
Interpreting: in
this stage, listener infer the speakers’ meaning, based on his own experience
and expectations as well as his own values, beliefs, ideas and needs. In this
speaker may need to consider whether the speakers’ frame of reference is
similar or different and how this will affect on listener’s understanding of
meaning.
3.
Remembering: the
stage at which listener store the messages for future reference are called
remembering. The listener takes notes while listening or make a mental note of
the key points mentioned by speaker.
4.
Evaluating:
Evaluation is the stage, in which listener consider the point mentioned by
speaker and assess the same as per their importance. The listener should
separate facts from opinion & assess the quality of facts provided by the
speaker.
5.
Responding: after evaluating the message, the listener has
a chance to react in some way. In communication with individual or group
situation, the listener should give verbal feedback or nods or sounds of
agreement. In a large audience, listener’s initial reaction to message may be
to laugh, applaud or perhaps to make some notes and may not act on whatever
heard until much later.
6.
Acting: on
some occasions, communication is an end in itself. Perhaps an update or
progress report. However, very often action is vital. It is very important to
put all promised action in writing, so as to avoid any misunderstanding and
listener may make sure that he has deliver his promises.
5.4.5
Barriers in listening process:
Following are the different types of
barriers in listening process:
Figure 5.3 Barriers to listening
1. Wandering mind: the normal listening capacity of human organic
system is nearly 1000 or more words per minute. This is 7 to 8 times than
normal speakers’ capacity of speaking while communicating orally. So the
listener may have a lot of spare time and his mind may wanders when listening
process going on. So this may caused barriers to listening.
2. Distraction of mind: this is one
of the effective barriers to listening process, caused due to personal mood of
speaker, place of sitting, thinking about domestic and personal problem,
atmosphere, hurried or worried noise or it can be external, internal, physical
or mental. Due to such distraction, listening to someone may sometimes
difficult and listener or speaker cannot concentrate effectively. Sometimes
while listening to a speaker on particular subject and thinking on some other
relevant and unwanted matter is also called distraction of mind.
3. Lack of
motivation: listening always costs
time, physical & mental energy etc. unless to motivate listeners, they do
not expand energy & their valuable time. Lack of interest of listeners
deterrents to the listening process. There may be some reasons of lack of
motivation like unfamiliar speaker, ineffective speech, unrelated subject, lack
of faith & confidence etc.
4. Emotions: due to the emotions, it is finding difficult for
listeners to listen effectively and concentrate on screen. The importance of
emotions is ignored by many people but it works powerfully. Joy, sorrow, worry,
excitement etc. emotions related acts of listeners’ works as barriers to
effective listening. Sometimes due to frustration, depression, anger or
unsecure feelings of listener may work as a barrier.
5. Taking notes: taking
details notes while listening is work as barriers to listening. Due to the
habit of taking notes of the speakers’ message, speaker may reduce their
listening capacity. A good listeners’ approach to listen carefully and write
down only the points or leading ideas. But bad listeners’ may rationalize his
habits & express some reasons for not listening.
6. Preconceived
notions: when the listener
decides in advance that a subject is too difficult for him to understand or he
believes that subject is very boring & he will not able to listen properly.
Just by looking at the speaker’s face or just observing to speaker, he decides
that speaker cannot have anything significant to communicate. So, prejudice and
bias is works as great barriers to good listening.
7. Rebuttal instinct: this type of
barriers arises only in small group communication or interpersonal
communication. It is a act of rebutting which proves that, whatever said by
speaker is wrong and gradually results in quarrels between small groups &
listening process becomes affected due to this act.
8. Jumbled & mumbled words: use of
jumbled and mumbled words makes effective listening difficult. Sometimes
speaker uses jumbled words in oral communication, which may confused to listen
to find out exact meaning. Some speakers’ are habituated that they find known
reasons to mumble words. It means to speak in such a way that speaker find it
difficult to hear.
9. Psychological
ear muffs: this is one of the
effective barriers in listening process in which listeners develops
physiological ear muffs to avoid necessary matter or details to be listened to.
It protect them listening from enormous amount of talk. Manipulative matters,
dull, trite, annoying matters develop psychological ear muffs. It is a state of
split attention & half listening e.g. Advertisement on television
contributes to the temptation to develop psychological ear muffs in listening
of important program or serious matters on television.
10. False listening: false
listening is the process in which listener appears to be listening but not
actually involved in the listening process, interpretation & understanding
the message. They make the speaker believe that they are listening or have
listened. They also exhibit eagerness and intense look and try to put periodic
comment or a question, which is the usual technique.
11. Lack of interests: lack of
interest in listening is also a barrier to effective listening. They shows
disinterest towards the speakers’ talk due to rejection of speaker, boring, impulse
dull, lack of new ideas or little useful.
12. Perception: perception
of listener is also one of the effective barriers to listening. If the listener
is unable or fails to perceive the meaning of the message, as per the
perception of speaker. It may produce a barrier to active listening. Such type
of barriers may arise due to incapacity of listener due to inadequate knowledge
of the language used by the speaker.
13. Hallo effect: hallo effect is the state of mind which is
based on capacity of listener to trust or distrust on the speaker. If the
listener trusts the speaker then everything that he says appears true & if
listeners distrust the speaker, then everything that he says appears untrue.
14. Noise: noise in the communication process is one of
the barriers in effective communication and it cannot be ignored because it
distracts the listener from understanding message clearly as perceived by the
sender. The noise may be physical, technical, cultural or visual.
15. Defensive listening: This barrier arises only when the listener is
sensitive. Such type of listener always takes everything as personal attack. So
they may try to listen defensively. So purpose of listening is not fulfilled.
16.
Emotional block: emotional block is a “Deaf spot” which
prevents a person from taking in and retaining certain ideas.
5.4.6. Bad
listening habits:
Different behavioral scientist
identified different bad listening habits. The list of such bad habits is given
as below:
1.
To interpret to
the speaker.
2.
Impatient
towards the criticism in the speech.
3.
Involve in the
daydreaming during listening.
4.
Lose interest in
the speaker in his speech.
5.
Pretend to pay
attention towards the speaker.
6.
Too much
thinking on a single point.
7.
To arrive late
at the place of meeting or lecture.
8.
Listen to
several people at a time.
9.
Reading mails or
entertaining telephone calls while listening to someone.
10. Discouraging the speaker by openly contradicting his
statement.
11. State of emotional excitement.
12. Listen with negative attitude towards the speaker.
13. Try to outline every factual detail.
14. To show your lack of interest in speech.
15. Focus on dress & appearance of the speaker only.
5.4.7
Guidelines to effective listening:
i.
Listen patiently to what the speaker has to
say even though believe it to be wrong or irrelevant. Indicate simple
acceptance by nodding your head or perhaps interjecting an occasional “um-um”
or “I see”.
ii.
Give attention
carefully while listening and try to understand the feeling of speaker as
expressing intellectual contents.
iii.
Try to restate
the feeling briefly & accurately and encourage the speaker to continue
talking.
iv.
Keep your tone
neutral while making summary response and don’t try to lead the speaker to your
pet conclusions.
v.
Allow time for
discussion to continue speech without interruption and try to separate the
conversation from mere official communication of your plans.
vi.
Avoid direct
questions and arguments about facts and refrain from saying like ‘prove it’,
‘hold on a minute’ or ‘let’s look at the facts’. You may want to review the
evidence later because you may irrelevant and speaker may feels bad or may
discouraged.
vii.
When you want to
know more about the point, the speaker does touch upon, simply repeat statement
as a question.
viii.
Try to listen
for what is not said; evasions for pertinent points or perhaps too ready
agreement with common clichés.
ix.
If the speaker appears genuinely to want your
viewpoint; be honest in your reply. But try to limit the expression of your
views.
x.
Try to understand the message as simple as
possible first and defer evaluation until later. Don’t get emotionally involved
yourself.
xi.
Try to listen
“between the lines”, because speaker does not always put everything in to words
even it is important. Speakers’ changing tone & volume of voice may have a
meaning. So listener should listen attentively and concentrate on speakers’
facial expressions, gestures and body movement.
xii.
To achieve the
better results, listener should give more emphasis to listening and less
emphasis on explaining the facts.
5.4.8 Principles of good listening:
To make listening process effective,
every listener should follow, following principles:
1.
The listener
should show interest in the speaker and maintain silence while listening.
2.
Rather than
physical appearance i.e. dress up and look, listener should focus on what the
speaker says.
3.
Listener should
be friendly and patient towards the speaker, even if you feel his approach is
wrong. They should keep in mind that, the speaker is entitled to be heard and
listeners’ should indicate their simple acceptance.
4.
To become a good
listener, listen first and take notes afterwards. Also concentrate on the main
theme & main ideas of speech.
5.
Don’t interrupt
the speaker before he finished.
6.
Find an area of
interest in the speech and act as interested in listening.
7.
Avoid pondering
on a single point and try to repeat the key ideas during the slow and long
speeches.
8.
Keep your mind
always open to every subject & speaker.
9.
Empathize with
speaker & try to understand his opinion, views and values.
10. Observe the non-verbal signals, the body movements,
facial expressions and gestures of speaker, which make easier to listener to
understand the subject.
11. Seek out difficult speech presentation to challenge
your listening skills.
12. Accept criticism without losing your temper.
13. Communicate feedback to the speaker and ask such
questions which may encourage the speaker.
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