Week 2 Comunication Process & Factors Affecting Listening & Speaking Skills

ROKIAH MOHD. SOM

Listening Process

Receiving

• Connected vs not connected

• Problems

• What is the difference of ‘hearing’ and ‘listening’ ?

Attending

• Selectivity of attention

- information overload

• Strength of attention

- energy, effort and desire

• Sustainment of attention

- duration, setting, delivery

“Communication begins with understanding.”

“We communicate effectively with each other only insofar as we share meanings for the symbols (verbal or nonverbal) that we are using.”

Understanding• Verbal symbols

- Barrier 1: Same words mean different things

Do you understand?

Are you okay?

Understanding

Barrier 2: Different words sometimes mean

the same thing

Fred has been crestfallen since he fell out of favor with the Fall Festival Committee last fall after he had a falling out with Joe because Joe had fallen in with a new crowd of people rather than falling in love with Fred’s sister, Fallina.

Understanding

• Non-verbal symbols

- Barrier 1: Misinterpretation of the action

- Barrier 2: Misinterpretation of nonaction

symbols

- Barrier 3: Misinterpretation of the voice

Responding

• Direct verbal responses

• Responses that seek clarification

• Responses that paraphrase

• Nonverbal response

Remembering

“If you can’t remember it, you weren’t listening.”

Listening Spoken Language 

• Receptive skill/ Passive skill?

• Productive skill/ Active skill?

• The listener wants to listen to ‘something’

• The speaker wants to say something

• He/ she is interested in the communicative purpose of what is being said

• He/ she has some communicative purpose

• He/ she processes a variety of language items

• He/ she selects from his/ her language store

Some important differences between listening and spoken language

The Communication ProcessCommunication is :

•a dynamic process involving a series of actions and reactions with a view to achieving a goal. 

•a two way process - the ability to receive is as important as the ability to send.

•For successful communication, feedback is crucial because it tells how your message is being interpreted. It can make or break the communication process.

• Communicator - encoder.• Encoding - formulation of messages in the

communicator’s mind, that is, the communicator not only translates his purpose (ideas, thoughts or information) into a message but also decides on the medium to communicate his planned message. 

• A channel - the vehicle through which a message is carried from the communicator to the receiver.

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• The receiver - the recipient of the message and must possess the same orientation as the communicator. 

• Decoding - interpretation of the message by the receiver. 

• Feedback - response or acknowledgement of receiver to the communicator’s message. The exchange is possible only if the receiver responds.

• Noise - any kind of interruption that can creep in at any point of the communication process

• and make it ineffective.

Why Listening Needs to be Taught?

• Very important skill in daily life; Wilga Rivers (1981): we listen twice as much as we speak, four times as much as we read and five times as much as we write

• It has unique aspects that make it different from other language skills

• Very important for developing speaking skills. Nida (1957): “Learning to speak a language is very largely a task of learning to hear it”.

What Does Learning to Speak Involve?

• Functions – speakers do a number of things with language; certain functions go together (Bygate, 1987: ‘routines’)

• Linguistic forms – speakers use different words/structures to do things they have to do

• Automaticity of responses – thinking, listening and speaking go on almost simultaneously

• Social appropriacy – highly sensitive to context, degree of formality, politeness

• Topics – speakers speak about something, use words and structures that pertain to the topic

The Functions of Language

 

•Transactional function – conveying information; message-oriented;

•Interactional function – gives importance to the listener as a person; main purpose to maintain good social relationships

Conventions of Spoken Language•Putting words, phrases and sentences together•Vocalizing what they want to say – pronunciation and intonation•Possessing the ability to be reasonably fluent•Stretching the language they know to cope with new situations•Interaction is more than just putting a message together responding to what other people say•Choosing language that is appropriate for the person you are talking to

.

• Taking turns in a conversation• Knowing how to interrupt• Knowing how to disagree politely• Encouraging others to speak• Expressing interest• Changing the topic• Asking one to repeat or explain what they are

saying

• Factors Affecting Listening and Speaking Skills

 • TASK: (Pair work) • Think of two real-life situations in which you were

involved in – one in which communication was successful and the other when communication was unsuccessful.

• Identify the factors that contributed to the success/ failure of the communication that took place

• Pronuniciation• Suprasegmental features of the language • Knowledge of subject matter/topic • Language ability – grammatical competence• Vocabulary • Intercultural awareness • Role relationship and appropriacy • Conventions of speaking • Awareness of the varieties of language• Discourse competence – awareness of the different

ways language is used in different situations• formal and informal language use

• encourage understanding of the many important contributions by people from diverse cultural and linguistic groups, people with disabilities and minority groups

• motivate children, students and educators to examine their own attitudes and behaviour and to comprehend their duties, responsibilities, rights and privileges as citizens in our society

• and behaviour and to comprehend their duties, responsibilities, rights and privileges as citizens in our society

• THE END