Listening Questions

Listening Assessment



There are many different types of listening skills that one can utilize. Listening is an active process of selecting, attending to, interpreting, and remembering sounds and may be intrapersonal or interpersonal, but because all communication starts within a person it is crucial that a person masters their intrapersonal listening skills before they attempt to succeed and interpersonal listening. In order to succeed in the business world one must be good at many different kinds of listening, and an employee that has strong listening skills will promote themselves by simply listening and appropriately responding. This self-assessment test lets one know in what areas of listening they are strong and weak, and once they know where they need improvement they can begin to take steps in order to strengthen my listening skills in that area. Critical listening, dialogue listening and sensitive listening are three very common listening skills that many employees will use on a daily basis and by assessing these listening skills they will be able to target my trouble areas and eventually improve them. After reviewing the questions look back over them to see where you may be weak.



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Listening Self-Assessment

1. I tend to daydream or change the topic if I am not completely interested in what the speaker is talking about.
2. I mentally or verbally paraphrase or restate what the speaker is saying to me to improve my understanding of the message. I tend to interrupt the speaker before he or she is finished speaking. I ask the speaker questions about his or her perspectives to find out where he or she is coming from. I often divert my eye gaze away from the speaker or look at something else. I ask for clarification of a message or specific words when I am unsure about the speakers intended meaning.
3. I tend to think about what I want to say while the speaker is still talking. I listen to everything the speaker has to say before making a judgment or coming to a conclusion. I find myself fidgeting with my hair or other objects and have a difficult time standing still while somebody else is talking to me. I avoid internal and external distractions when listening, focusing my attention on the speaker. I find myself thinking about other things unrelated to the speaker’s topic. I exhibit non verbal cues such as nodding my head maintaining eye contact leaning forward toward the speaker and using confirming verbal cues such as “yes” and “uh-huh” to demonstrate that I am listening. I verbally complete the speaker’s sentences before he or she does. When necessary I take notes to stay focused and remember key points. I jump into offer my opinion as the speaker begins to convey a problem.

Critical Listening

Critical Listening requires a person to not only exercise skills to comprehend information but also to make assessments and decisions about what they hear. Critical listening is the most difficult of the types of listening because it requires a person to fully comprehend the information in order to make an informed decision regarding what was spoken. When practicing critical listening one must analyze what is being said for credibility and accuracy. Being able to listening critically is a valuable skill in the business world, and it can greatly help one to promote ones selves if they can demonstrate their critical listening skills in a practical fashion.

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Written by John Severin,


CD Player Electronics

http://cdplayerelectronics.net