Barriers to Listening, Essay Example

A1. The four barriers to listening that reside within us are preoccupation, prejudgment, lack of effort, and not recognizing diverse listening styles. Preoccupation means we are absorbed in our own thoughts and are not paying attention to what the speaker may be saying. Once I was talking to a friend about an incoming road trip but he was not paying attention to me. When I expressed my anger over his lack of attention, he told me he had performed poorly in a test and was worried about its impact on the course grade. Since he was preoccupied with his concern for the grade, he didn’t pay attention to what I was saying. Prejudgment refers to forming ideas about others even before they have had the chance to speak. I once remember hearing a conversation between an American guy and a Saudi girl and the American guy said Saudi woman must have it tough since they are forced to wear hijab all the time. The Saudi woman replied that she wears it by choice and not because she is forced to. She also said hijab is not a sign of oppression because even Christian nuns and Orthodox Jewish women also cover their heads.

Listening requires efforts including giving attention to the speaker and lack of efforts refers to not really being interested or attentive to the speaker’s message. I remember once going to Church and not really paying attention to what the priest was preaching because I have never been a religious person and only went to church out of respect for an American friend. The last one is not recognizing diverse listening skills. This refers to lack of knowledge about the communication styles that may be dominant in different cultures or societies. One of my instructors once told a story that he was lecturing in the class and one of the students from India was moving his face right and left. After the class he called the Indian student and asked him why he didn’t seem to agree with the lecture as his face movements indicated. The student corrected the instructor that in India, this kind of face movement means the listener agrees with the speaker and not vice versa. He also explained that this kind of face movement is a norm in India and people often move their faces out of habit to demonstrate their agreement with the speaker’s message.

A2. Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo mentions six barriers to listening which are focusing on a personal agenda, experiencing information overload, criticizing the speaker, getting distracted by emotional noise, getting distracted by external noise, and experiencing physical difficulty (Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo). Focusing on personal agenda means we are more concerned with formulating our responses than focusing on the speaker’s message. In other words, instead of trying to understand what the speaker may want to say, we are focused on proving ourselves right. Experiencing information overload refers to the fact that we are limited in our capability to process information and when too much information may be conveyed, it becomes difficult to focus on the message. Criticizing the speaker means we focus on the speaker instead of the message when we should really be focusing on the message and not the communicator.

Getting distracted by emotional noise means we let our emotions hinder our ability to focus on the message. The emotions may be caused by the actual message or factors related to the speaker such as his/her appearance and other non-verbal cues. Getting distracted by external noise means breakdown in listening due to distractions outside the communication environment such as cell phone ring and construction work in the neighborhood etc. Experiencing physical difficulty means not being in a state of listening due to health reasons such as pain or feeling unwell.

Reference

Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. Effective Communication: Barriers and Strategies. 1 October 2012 <http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/effective_communication_barriers_and_strategies.html>.