Listening
30/04/14 05:12
I think of myself as an amateur writer - that is I write mostly for the love of writing.My primary motivation isn’t the income that I derive from writing, but rather the love of the process of writing. On the other hand, I make my living by speaking. Of course I do other things, but key to my vocation is my ability to communicate orally. Throughout my career, I have made a careful practice of studying the differences between oral and written language. I have worked hard to become an effective communicator when I speak.
As I was pursuing my education, I became intensely aware that there are many in the academic environment who are excellent writers, but not effective speakers. There is much more to being an effective oral communicator than writing a cogent manuscript and then reading it out loud. There are many differences between effective writing and effective speaking. Speaking demands more repetition, a carefully measured rhythm and precise intonation. Vocal variety is achieved through rate, rhythm, pitch and volume. There are many phrases and turns of speech that do not come across well in writing. Because of the repetition and variation in rhythm for emphasis, I use sentence fragments when I speak that would edit out of a manuscript if I were writing.
From time to time I get requests for written manuscripts of my sermons or other oral communications. It is difficult for me to comply with those requests. If I give someone my notes for a sermon or a lecture, all they receive is an outline with copious notes. If I record and then transcribe an oral presentation, it often does not read well, and requires significant editing before it is a cogent written document.
Oral communication is its own distinct medium. In some arenas, it is becoming a lost art. While contemporary schools place a huge emphasis on reading and writing, much less is taught about speaking and listening. As schools turn more and more to technologically delivered educational media, less and less actual listening is demanded of students, and the art of speaking is devalued as a method of demonstrating knowledge and understanding.
This is a radical departure from the way teaching and learning is practiced in some traditional cultures. In the indigenous tribes of North America, for example, traditional teaching techniques emphasized learning to listen. In many tribal cultures the ability to reproduce stories with word-for-word accuracy is taught from an early age. In some cultures listening is the primary focus of early education. Speaking is allowed only after the mastery of listening is demonstrated.
The challenge for our generation is that there are certain critical concepts and ideas that are best communicated orally, but increasingly we have audiences who are not practiced as listeners. Speakers have always had to adapt oral presentations to the needs of their listeners, but as listeners become more and more accustomed to highly produced video and audio, they lose their skills at learning from more conventional speech. There are plenty of congregations where the ability to listen is barely required. The ideas and concepts presented are elementary at best and the point of the worship tends so heavily to entertainment that the entire production more resembles a product that is sold to an audience than worship that is offered to God. The shift in emphasis often includes a shift in language as well, with the congregation referred to as an audience, the chancel referred to as a stage, and salaried church staff include production managers, lighting and sound professionals and, increasingly, videographers and video editors.
A concept from Indian culture provides an acronym for listening that I have found meaningful and helpful in teaching the skill of listening. In Hindi, rasa is a fairly complex concept. When used in reference to theatre or the performing arts, it is a concept that addresses the evocation of emotions. Rasa is the emotional theme of a performance. In Hindu theology, rasa is a glimpse or taste of the transcendental nature of God. In some translations of the Christian Bible into Hindi, the word is used to describe the good ness of God: “Taste and see that the Lord is rasa.” (Ps. 34:8)
The word is used in teaching oral language in English as an acronym:
Receive
Appreciate
Summarize
Ask
Listening is an active skill that demands practice and work. One can improve one’s ability to listen and strengthen the skill. Receiving an oral communication demands focus. This isn’t something that can be incorporated into “multi-tasking.” There are plenty of scientific studies that demonstrate that people have the capacity to listen fully only if they are not distracted by other tasks and activities. If the television is playing in the background, the individual is partially distracted. If there are side conversations going on, the primary content of the presenter is not received.
Incorporating the ideas of the presenter requires appreciation. We also know from research that people who approach a presentation looking for things to criticize or points to argue, are less capable of retaining the information communicated. Fully hearing an oral presentation requires developing an appreciation of the skills of the speaker and of the content being presented.
Summarizing what has been heard is also critical to retaining content. Counselors are taught specific skills of summarization to both communicate to their clients that they are truly listening and to check the accuracy of their listening skills. When summarization is included in conversation, both parties have a way of determining whether or not communication has taken place.
It is only after receiving, appreciating and summarizing that communication enters the appropriate place to ask. Asking questions for clarification and deeper understanding is critical to oral communication, but asking only works if the questioner is willing and able to listen to the answer. As a teacher, I often find it difficult to answer questions that demonstrate that the student hasn’t been listening to what has already been said. How do I know that the answer will communicate more than the original presentation?
Listening is essential to the continuation of culture. It is at the core of the practice of Christianity. And, I fear, it is a skill that we too often fail to carefully teach.
When, like me, one’s profession is speaking, it is nice to know that at least a few of the people are listening.
As I was pursuing my education, I became intensely aware that there are many in the academic environment who are excellent writers, but not effective speakers. There is much more to being an effective oral communicator than writing a cogent manuscript and then reading it out loud. There are many differences between effective writing and effective speaking. Speaking demands more repetition, a carefully measured rhythm and precise intonation. Vocal variety is achieved through rate, rhythm, pitch and volume. There are many phrases and turns of speech that do not come across well in writing. Because of the repetition and variation in rhythm for emphasis, I use sentence fragments when I speak that would edit out of a manuscript if I were writing.
From time to time I get requests for written manuscripts of my sermons or other oral communications. It is difficult for me to comply with those requests. If I give someone my notes for a sermon or a lecture, all they receive is an outline with copious notes. If I record and then transcribe an oral presentation, it often does not read well, and requires significant editing before it is a cogent written document.
Oral communication is its own distinct medium. In some arenas, it is becoming a lost art. While contemporary schools place a huge emphasis on reading and writing, much less is taught about speaking and listening. As schools turn more and more to technologically delivered educational media, less and less actual listening is demanded of students, and the art of speaking is devalued as a method of demonstrating knowledge and understanding.
This is a radical departure from the way teaching and learning is practiced in some traditional cultures. In the indigenous tribes of North America, for example, traditional teaching techniques emphasized learning to listen. In many tribal cultures the ability to reproduce stories with word-for-word accuracy is taught from an early age. In some cultures listening is the primary focus of early education. Speaking is allowed only after the mastery of listening is demonstrated.
The challenge for our generation is that there are certain critical concepts and ideas that are best communicated orally, but increasingly we have audiences who are not practiced as listeners. Speakers have always had to adapt oral presentations to the needs of their listeners, but as listeners become more and more accustomed to highly produced video and audio, they lose their skills at learning from more conventional speech. There are plenty of congregations where the ability to listen is barely required. The ideas and concepts presented are elementary at best and the point of the worship tends so heavily to entertainment that the entire production more resembles a product that is sold to an audience than worship that is offered to God. The shift in emphasis often includes a shift in language as well, with the congregation referred to as an audience, the chancel referred to as a stage, and salaried church staff include production managers, lighting and sound professionals and, increasingly, videographers and video editors.
A concept from Indian culture provides an acronym for listening that I have found meaningful and helpful in teaching the skill of listening. In Hindi, rasa is a fairly complex concept. When used in reference to theatre or the performing arts, it is a concept that addresses the evocation of emotions. Rasa is the emotional theme of a performance. In Hindu theology, rasa is a glimpse or taste of the transcendental nature of God. In some translations of the Christian Bible into Hindi, the word is used to describe the good ness of God: “Taste and see that the Lord is rasa.” (Ps. 34:8)
The word is used in teaching oral language in English as an acronym:
Receive
Appreciate
Summarize
Ask
Listening is an active skill that demands practice and work. One can improve one’s ability to listen and strengthen the skill. Receiving an oral communication demands focus. This isn’t something that can be incorporated into “multi-tasking.” There are plenty of scientific studies that demonstrate that people have the capacity to listen fully only if they are not distracted by other tasks and activities. If the television is playing in the background, the individual is partially distracted. If there are side conversations going on, the primary content of the presenter is not received.
Incorporating the ideas of the presenter requires appreciation. We also know from research that people who approach a presentation looking for things to criticize or points to argue, are less capable of retaining the information communicated. Fully hearing an oral presentation requires developing an appreciation of the skills of the speaker and of the content being presented.
Summarizing what has been heard is also critical to retaining content. Counselors are taught specific skills of summarization to both communicate to their clients that they are truly listening and to check the accuracy of their listening skills. When summarization is included in conversation, both parties have a way of determining whether or not communication has taken place.
It is only after receiving, appreciating and summarizing that communication enters the appropriate place to ask. Asking questions for clarification and deeper understanding is critical to oral communication, but asking only works if the questioner is willing and able to listen to the answer. As a teacher, I often find it difficult to answer questions that demonstrate that the student hasn’t been listening to what has already been said. How do I know that the answer will communicate more than the original presentation?
Listening is essential to the continuation of culture. It is at the core of the practice of Christianity. And, I fear, it is a skill that we too often fail to carefully teach.
When, like me, one’s profession is speaking, it is nice to know that at least a few of the people are listening.