active listening

Listening Susan Cain said in her book 'The Power of Introverts', "We have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionally." Listening is more important of a skill than speaking in an effective communication. Active listening provides people with opportunity to understand the speaker to be able to respond and form opinions about what's being conveyed. I was part of the ESL program for the first two years of High School. After I got out of the ESL program, I started tutoring and encouraging other students in the program. Counseling them required me to become skilled at listening to be able to advise them better. Becoming an active listener requires knowing the definition of active listening, importance of active listening, benefits of active listening and barriers to active listening. Active listening is a communication skill that facilitates understanding, comprehension, and compassion between people. As a famous English writer and poet G.K. Chesterson said, " There is a lot of difference between listening and hearing." The process of hearing is merely sound waves transmitted to the ear into the brain, while listening is an active process that requires paying attention to the words being spoken with the intention of understanding them. Four Subsets of skills are involved in active listening: value of silence, listening to what has been said, reframing what has been said, and usage of accurate body language. Silence shows the listener is interested, and allows the speaker to hear him/herself talk. Reframing what's being conveyed is processing what's being said to be able to form opinions, questions and concerns about it. Usage of affirmative body language by the listener can help the speaker recognize the attention being paid and attitude of the listener toward what's being said. Listening is an active process that requires good attention span and has many benefits. Most importantly, it is the benefits and importance of active listening that