week-4-listening-receiving-and-processing-messages-the-most-basic-of-all-human-needs-is-the-need-to-understand-and-be-understood

by

Assignment: Week 4 Worksheet: Effective Listening in Interpersonal Communication

At this point in the course, you will have noticed that there are many ways to demonstrate interpersonal communication skills. Similarly, there are many ways to implement effective listening skills during a conversation. This Application challenges you to consider the myriad of ways you can exhibit listening skills or let listening obstacles get in the way. You will demonstrate your knowledge by constructing a conversation between two characters that not only illustrates their listening skills, but also demonstrates the impact of listening skills in a relationship.

In preparation:

  • Review the websites from this week’s Learning Resources.
  • View the media located in this week’s Learning Resources.

The assignment:

Refer to the Week 4 Application Worksheet, “Effective Listening in Interpersonal Communication.”Week 4: Listening: Receiving and Processing Messages

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.

—Ralph G. Nichols, prominent researcher in the field of listening skills

As the quote above suggests, if your goal is to understand the people around you, the best place to start is by really listening. Just as understanding and improving interpersonal communication skills can benefit your life and your interactions with others, the same can be said of listening skills. Listening skills can enhance other people’s perceptions of you and increase the amount of useful information you gain from an interaction, whether the interaction takes place at work, at home, in your community, or online.

The first half of this course focused on how and why you choose to communicate in the ways that you do. This week, you will look at what you do when you are not the one speaking. You will also consider how listening skills can help manage conflict, and how you can demonstrate active listening in a typical conversation.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
  • Analyze factors that contribute to poor listening
  • Analyze obstacles to effective listening
  • Identify ways to enhance listening skills
  • Illustrate the elements and process of effective listening skills

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies. Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/

Executive Advisory. (n.d.). The Toolkit: Poor Listening Habits. Retrieved from http://www.theexecutiveadvisory.com/toolkit/poor_l…

Schilling, D. (2012). 10 Steps to Effective Listening. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/0…

Required Media

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2016d). Listening, receiving, and processing [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 4 minutes.



HOMEWORK

1. Discussion: What? The Effects of Poor Listening

Imagine a conversation with a trusted colleague, friend, or family member in which you disclose a distressing situation you are experiencing. He or she listens quietly, nods in agreement, smiles sympathetically, makes eye contact while you speak about the problem, and then responds by citing specific issues you brought up. How would this interaction make you feel?

Now imagine how you would feel in that same situation, while you are talking, if the other person begins to type on a computer or glances repeatedly at his or her cell phone, and only occasionally looks up at you to nod or smile. When s/he does respond to you, the response is vague and generalized. Not only would you feel less connected and understood, and perhaps even resentful, but the advice you received would be less specific and/or helpful to your situation. This is just one example of the impact of poor listening.

To prepare:

  • Read Dianne Schilling’s article for Forbes and also the Executive Advisory’s Poor Listening Habits article.
  • View the media located in this week’s Learning Resources.
  • Bring to mind an experience where you suffered from the effects of poor listening.
  • Reflect on your listening skills and your relationships.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 a 1 to 2 paragraph discussion. In this post you should:

  1. Describe a situation or situations in your own life (or imagine one) where you experienced or displayed at least two of the poor listening habits listed in the Executive Advisory article. Explain which ones you experienced or displayed and how they affected the interaction negatively.
  2. Choose two of the steps to Schilling’s effective listening and explain how using those two steps would have been changed the outcome of the conversation you described above.

Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week’s Learning Resources, or to something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced.

2. Assignment: Week 4 Worksheet: Effective Listening in Interpersonal Communication

At this point in the course, you will have noticed that there are many ways to demonstrate interpersonal communication skills. Similarly, there are many ways to implement effective listening skills during a conversation. This Application challenges you to consider the myriad of ways you can exhibit listening skills or let listening obstacles get in the way. You will demonstrate your knowledge by constructing a conversation between two characters that not only illustrates their listening skills, but also demonstrates the impact of listening skills in a relationship.

In preparation:

  • Review the websites from this week’s Learning Resources.
  • View the media located in this week’s Learning Resources.

The assignment:

Refer to the Week 4 Application Worksheet, “Effective Listening in Interpersonal Communication.”