1.
Explain the process of Listening.
Differentiate
Hearing and Listening.
Definition:
Listening is a
process of receiving, interpreting and reacting to the message received from
the speaker. Listening requires respect. Point scoring and name
calling can have no place in a listening process. The words we use may cause
offence and so they need to be chosen carefully.
The listening
process is not a debate. It is not about persuading someone else that you are
right, nor is it about finding a compromise between two positions. One writer
has said: “Debate is too often about two opposing opinions, about making points
that build up one and demolish the other. It’s adversarial … In my experience,
debates rarely build anything or anybody up; rather they entrench us and our
opinions.”[1] Listening processes are about how another person sees and
understands the world and the gospel and not about you making others agree with
you, or others making you agree with them.
5 Steps In The Listening Process
1. Reception
– involves receiving stimuli, such as facial expressions, body language, and
appearance. These stimuli enter your
short-term memory and the process of listening begins. 2. Attention – involves
concentration, selectivity, motivation, and intent. In this step of listening, the stimuli enter
the short-term memory system. You must
focus your attention on the incoming information and block out distractions to
concentrate.
2.
Attention – involves concentration, selectivity, motivation, and intent. In this step of listening, the stimuli enter
the short-term memory system. You must
focus your attention on the incoming information and block out distractions to
concentrate.
3.
Perception – involves the initial attempt to evaluate information
received. During this process, you
become aware of the information you understand and the information that does
not make sense. Your previous
experiences affect how you perceive the information. 4. Assignment of meaning –
the process of interpreting or attaching meaning to what you hear by linking
the new information to previous information or experiences. 5. Response – this
may include a nonverbal form of feedback, such as nod to indicate
understanding. Or this may include verbal
feedback, such as paraphrasing the speaker to ensure accuracy of your
interpretation.
Ways to Become an Active
Listener
• Be
attentive - concentrate on what is being said, not the delivery.
• Be
impartial - being open to whatever is being said, without judgment - don't form
an opinion, just listen.
•
Reflect back - restating what has been said helps the speaker know that you
understand.
•
Summarize - pull together the important messages so that you and the speaker
recognize what was important during the conversation.
•
Avoiding distractions - in the environment, from the speaker, within the
listener.
•
Paraphrase - Saying, in your own words, what the other person has said to you.
This way they know you have heard them and you know that what you have heard
accurately reflects what they are saying – in so far as they have agreed that
it is what they have said. But remember, they may feel they have to agree.
•
Clarifying - Making sure you understand
what the speaker means (I think what you said was …, What I hear you saying is
…, What did you mean when you said/talked about …, Are you saying …).
6 Ways To Improve Your Listening Skills
1.
Focus on the speaker and let them know you are listening by giving verbal cues
such as, ‘yes’, ‘ I see’ and non-verbal cues such as, nodding, leaning forward
and smiling. Give the speaker your full attention.
2.
Make eye contact, look at the person you are speaking to or who is speaking to you.
Looking in another direction or distracting glances appear as though you are
not listening.
3.
Avoid interrupting. It’s rude and you cannot talk and listen at the same time.
If you assume what people are going to say before they say it and then interrupt
to respond to your assumptions, you will annoy the person you are talking with
and you will miss the real message.
4.
Ask questions and try to see the other person’s point-of-view. Don’t assume
that you know what the person saying if things are not making sense for you. If
you are unsure of the meaning ask for clarification and then if you are still
not sure repeat it back to them.
5.
Acknowledge the other person’s feelings; make them feel like you understand and
that it is okay to feel the way they do.
6.
Be patient when you don’t understand; getting upset won’t solve any problems
but will only create more.
Difference between listening
and hearing
Hearing is simply perceiving
sounds;
listening, on the other hand, is a more
complicated process of forming meaning out of these sounds.
What is hearing?
Hearing
is an action in which, just the sound is perceived by the ear, and it requires
no or very little concentration. Very little or no effort is required as your
mind is occupied in other thoughts or perhaps you are engaged in a different
task while the other person is sharing his or her thoughts with you. Words spoken
are just heard. This is a passive process.
What is listening?
Listening
is an action where you choose to actively concentrate on what you hear and your
brain processes the information into knowledge. You need to put in a lot of
effort in terms of attention, processing, thinking, analysing and
concentrating. You do not think about anything else, or get engaged in any
other tasks, but you sit down and listen to what the speaker is saying, word by
word. You look into the feeling and meaning of what is being said. Words spoken
are listened to and processed. This is an active process.
Difference between
hearing and listening:
Hearing:
We
always hear something around us all the time and it is just a physical ability.
For example, while you are at home, you might hear the sound of other people
talking, sound of cooking in the kitchen, sound of television, and sound of
anything that is happening around. While you are at work, depending on where
you work, you hear the sound of various things around you. While on the road
you hear the sound of traffic and any events in the public, the people
laughing, talking, shouting etc. And, at the end of the day, after you go to
bed and fall asleep, you hear sounds even while you sleep. All these happen
around you and you do not necessarily see the incidents. It is just sound waves
reaching your ears. Hearing is an alarm system which operates even outside of
the line of sight.
This
also applies to music. Nowadays music is played everywhere, in shopping malls,
in restaurants, in supermarkets, in offices and everywhere. It puts people in a
situation where they just hear this music as every other noise around them. Not
all of us listen to that music and acquire anything from it. People lose the
chance of acquiring any skills from it and in a way it devalues music. Most
people use music to just fill the silence while they are doing other tasks.
Listening:
When
you need to listen, you need to pay attention, because you need to interpret
and respond in the end. Listening is a skill which is diminishing and this can
be due to advancement in digital technology, not wanting to concentrate or too
much of information to handle. Listening is a skill that can be improved with a
little bit of hard work, dedication and determination. Everywhere and in every
relationship we come across this complaining phrase quite often, “You never
listen” or “You do not want to listen”.
As
Ernest Hemingway quotes, “When people talk, listen completely. Most
people never listen.”
A
typical example that we come across in our day to day life is, people reading
something on the internet and responding to the speaker / trying to listen to
someone, or typing something on the computer, eyes on the screen and an ear
listening to the other person or texting on the mobile
and responding to someone who is talking to you. These are common scenarios we
come across in offices and personal lives almost every day. These behaviours
clearly indicate that the listener is behaving in an awful manner, not
respecting the other and indirectly this tells the speaker that they are less
important than the work that the listener is doing. This puts the speaker in an
awful situation and makes them feel inferior.
Source:
Internet & Technical
Communication(Oxford University)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
‘The Eyes are Not Here’
Ruskin bond
The Writer
Ruskin
Bond, born in 1934 at Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, is an Indian writer of
British descent. He is an outstanding figure of international repute among the
contemporary Indian English writers. He does much to standardise our national
English literature. He is a prolific and powerful writer. He has written short
stories, essays, novels and children books. The setting of most of his stories
is Dehra, as Malgudi is for R K Narayan. He has received many awards. His first
novel, The Room on the Roof brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys
Memorial Prize in 1957. He received the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for his
short story collection, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was awarded the
Padma Shri in 1999 and the N D Mehra Memorial Award in 2003 for his contribution
to children’s literature. Ruskin, a versatile writer and a man of colourful
personality, is still active. He now lives in Landour near Mussoorie. His
profound love for his own birth place and his passion for literature are the
treasure of his life. Let his powerful pen run long.
The Source
The
Eyes Have It, a very popular short story by Ruskin Bond, was originally
published in Contemporary Indian English Stories. Later it was included in
many other collections with different titles such as The Eyes Are Not
Here, The Girl on the Train, etc.
The Story
The
Eyes Have It is a marvellous short story of Ruskin Bond who has used first
person narrative technique in the story. Here everything is narrated by the
person who himself is blind. His eyes are sensitive only to light and darkness.
While going to Dehradun by train he comes across a girl. He starts conversation
and gradually becomes interested in her. He tactfully hides his blindness from
the girl to impress her. But the conversation does not last long. The girl bids
him good-bye as the train arrives at her destination. After her departure, a
new male passenger comes into the compartment. From that man the narrator
learns that the girl was completely blind. The revelation shocks the narrator.
He feels that he has deceived himself. This is an ironical twist that makes the
end of the story so appealing.
The Features
The
Eyes Have It is an ideal short story. It is short in length and can be
easily finished in one go. It has a limited number of characters – the narrator,
the girl and the new passenger.
It
illustrates Bond’s art of story telling which is simple in approach but
universal in appeal. It tells a simple tale in a lucid style with a deep
insight into the psychology of men. It ends with a striking discovery, and its
plot is well-knit. Bond makes the story a vivid one by using the first person
narrative technique.
The
setting of the story is very simple and interesting. Everything happens in the
train compartment and the time chosen is October when Mussoorie looks
beautiful.
It
is full of ironical turns and twists. There is a real humour in the narrator’s
attempt to conceal his blindness. But this humour takes an ironical turn when
he discovers that the girl is also blind.
It
shows Ruskin Bond’s sympathy for the blind and for their troubles and
loneliness. Through the personal experience of the blind narrator Bond focuses
on universal human experiences.
It
shows Bond’s mastery in the art of characterization. Like the great French
master Maupassant Bond also chooses common people to create interesting
situations.
Source:
Internet & Technical
Communication(Oxford University)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The
Romance of a Busy Broker"
O. Henry
The Writer
The story under analysis was written by the American
writer O.Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter. His short
stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever
twist endings. O.Henry wrote about ordinary people: clerks, policemen or
waitresses, many of his stories take place in NYC. He had an inimitable hand
for isolating some element of society and describing it with an incredible
economy and grace of language. His best known works are: the collections of
stories "Cabbages and Kings", "The Four Million", and stories
like "The Gift of Magi", "The Ransom of Red Chief",
"The Cop and the Anthem", "A Retrieved Reformation" and
many others.
The Story
The title of
the story is suggestive, because we can predict that the story will be about
the love and feelings of the very busy broker.
It is the story about a busy town, in which there is no time for rest and getting satisfaction from life - this is the main idea of the text. The problem raised by the author is the relationship between two very different people - a very busy worker and his wife who is the absolute antipod of her husband but who loves him very much. The author`s massage is that people should spend more time together not only just working , because they can forget or miss some very important events in their life. This topic is very urgent nowadays.
Talking about the setting of the story - the event take place in a global power city New York. The RoaringTwenties were years of glamour and wealth, highlighted by a construction boom with skyscrapers. New York's financial sector came to dominate the national, and indeed the world economy. The whole event takes place during just one day, exactly the morning time.
It is a broker’s office with a busy office
routine every day.
The story is a third person narration interlaced with descriptive passages and dialogues of the personages. Thr tone of the story is sentimental and a little bit ironical.
As it is the whole story we can see all logical parts of it. "The Romance of a Busy Broker" has no introduction, it starts with an exposition, where the main characters (Pitcher - a confident clerk and Harvey Maxwell - a broker) and the place of the event (an office) are presented.
Then goes author`s narration with the development of the events. We see the author′s presentation of a busy broker′s day which consists of a chronic attack of buzzing of telephone, the thronging men in the office, the jumping clerks who are like the sailors during a storm. It is like hurricanes, landslides, snowstorms, glaciers and volcanoes but in an office. And during this crazy morning time Mr. Pitcher misunderstands his boss and call for a replacement stenographer to replace Miss Leslie . Until Mr. Maxwell finds out and gets upset, telling a clerk that Miss. Leslie will hold the job of stenographer until she cannot anymore.
The story reaches its climax when lunch hour for the office comes around and Mr. Maxwell understands that he is in love with Miss. Leslie. He asks her to marry him and find out that they got married the previous night at a small church around the corner from the office.
Reading the story we come across 3 main characters:
- Harvey Maxwell
- Miss Leslie
- Mr. Pitcher
O Henry describes the main character as a busy and hard-working person. When Harvey gave greeting to Pitcher, his clerk, he was in a hurry. Every second, every minute, every hour, and every day, Harvey was lack of time. It was proven when he run into his desk and did his daily work.
"Well-what is it? Anything?" asked Maxwell sharply. His opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his crowded desk. His keen grey eye, impersonal and brusque, flashed upon her half impatiently.
The author shows that Harvey was in a stressful condition. His desk was crowded. He also became impersonal and brusque. He could become impatient when he had to talk with other people.
"You are losing your mind, Pitcher," said Maxwell. "Why should I have given you any such instructions? Miss Leslie has given perfect satisfaction during the year she has been here. The place is hers as long as she chooses to retain it. There's no place open here, madam. Countermand that order with the agency, Pitcher, and don't bring any more of 'em in here."
The silver heart left the office, swinging and banging itself independently against the office furniture as it indignantly departed. Pitcher seized a moment to remark to the bookkeeper that the "old man" seemed to get more absent-minded and forgetful every day of the world.
These paragraphs show that Harvey became forgetful day after day. Besides, Harvey became angry when there was a problem with his clerk. Actually at that time the clerk misunderstood Harvey’s instruction. The clerk thought that his boss was disappointed with the stenographer and wanted to get the new one. Therefore, the clerk brought a new stenographer and Harvey was angry cause he was really satisfied with Miss Leslie who had worked at his office for one year.
"Miss Leslie," he began hurriedly, "I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that moment. Will you he my wife? I haven't had time to make love to you in the ordinary way, but I really do love you. Talk quick, please--those fellows are clubbing the stuffing out of Union Pacific."
Harvey could ignore his crowded for a while when he attracted a beautiful woman. However, Harvey still forced Miss Leslie to answer his proposal quickly because he had so much to do. Even while making a proposal he is in a hurry...
We have no detailed description of Maxwell, but with the help of indirect characterization the author reveals the character's personality through his words, doings, interactions with others.
Then goes Miss Leslie. O Henry gives us also a detailed description of Miss Leslie`s appearance that helps us to imagine how did she look like. The author depicts her as a pleasant, beautiful and plain woman who always wears gray or dark colored dresses.
Pitcher, confidential clerk in the office of Harvey Maxwell...
We do not come across Pitcher`s description in the text, but with the help of some phrases and sentences we can understand that he is an obedient and curious office worker.
To portray the setting, the main characters and events of the story the writer implies a lot of different stylistic devices.
The author uses a lot of epithets to portray the main heroes: "mild interest", "expressionless countenance", "the alluring pompadour", "dreamily bright eyes", "genuine peach blow cheeks", "a happy one expression", "tinged with reminiscence". Epithets like: "perfect satisfaction", "high-geared", "strong machine", "wondering eyes", "old business" give a very vivid and bright depiction of details.
We can find a lot of pair synonyms like "rush and pace", "fiercer and faster", "buy and sell", "coming and going", "stocks and bonds", "loans and mortgages", "absent-minded and forgetful" - they are used to make the reader feel all that atmosphere of the office where everybody is running, fussing and hastening.
Also the author uses synecdoche to lighten the people`s traits of character: "...and not a single picture hat or piece of pineapple chewing gum has showed up yet", "the silver heart left the office".
To underline the desire of the broker for spring to come the writer uses personification and writes the word "Spring" from the capital letter.
The author uses various language means to depict the scene and the people, like similes: "his opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his crowded desk", "the clerks in the office jumped about like sailors during a storm", "orders to buy and sell were coming and going as swift as the flight of swallows", "the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine".
Among syntactic stylistic devices writer uses a climax "men began to throng into the office and call at him over the railing, jovially, sharply, viciously, excitedly" to show the growing tension of the people in the rush hour of the working day, parallelism "he jumped from ticker to phone, from desk to door" to stress the working mood of the main character, antithesis here was the world of finance, and there was no room in it for the human world or the world of nature - to draw the opposition between the people who work as machines all day long and the nature which was very romantic and calm that very day.
The atmosphere of the rushing and working office is stressed with the help of polysyndeton: "on the Exchange there were hurricanes and landslides and snowstorms and glaciers and volcanoes, and those elemental disturbances were reproduced in miniature in the broker's offices" and the combination of polysyndeton and asyndeton "some of his own holdings were imperilled, and the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine - strung to full tension, going at full speed, accurate, never hesitating, with the proper word and decision and act ready and prompt as clockwork".
We can see a very bright depiction of the woman, one of the main characters of the story. The woman, the stenographer is very beautiful and as he says unstenographic, it is underlined with the help of epithets "dreamily bright eyes" ,"genuine peach blow cheeks", "alluring pompadour", "kind and frank eyes", "wondering eyes", the last two epithets give as a vivid impression of the feelings of Miss Leslie to Maxwell, she was in love with him.
In order to impose on the reader his attitude towards the character of the broker the author employs in numerous amount of metaphors: "plunged into the great heap of letters and telegrams waiting there for him", "the machine sitting at that desk was no longer a man; it was a busy New York broker, moved by buzzing wheels and uncoiling springs", "the broker's hour is not only crowded, but the minutes and seconds are hanging to all the straps and packing both front and rear platforms" , these metaphors show the business of the main hero.
Summing up the analysis of the given story we see that O Henry brilliantly uses great amount of different stylistic devices.
It is the story about a busy town, in which there is no time for rest and getting satisfaction from life - this is the main idea of the text. The problem raised by the author is the relationship between two very different people - a very busy worker and his wife who is the absolute antipod of her husband but who loves him very much. The author`s massage is that people should spend more time together not only just working , because they can forget or miss some very important events in their life. This topic is very urgent nowadays.
Talking about the setting of the story - the event take place in a global power city New York. The RoaringTwenties were years of glamour and wealth, highlighted by a construction boom with skyscrapers. New York's financial sector came to dominate the national, and indeed the world economy. The whole event takes place during just one day, exactly the morning time.
It is a broker’s office with a busy office
routine every day.
The story is a third person narration interlaced with descriptive passages and dialogues of the personages. Thr tone of the story is sentimental and a little bit ironical.
As it is the whole story we can see all logical parts of it. "The Romance of a Busy Broker" has no introduction, it starts with an exposition, where the main characters (Pitcher - a confident clerk and Harvey Maxwell - a broker) and the place of the event (an office) are presented.
Then goes author`s narration with the development of the events. We see the author′s presentation of a busy broker′s day which consists of a chronic attack of buzzing of telephone, the thronging men in the office, the jumping clerks who are like the sailors during a storm. It is like hurricanes, landslides, snowstorms, glaciers and volcanoes but in an office. And during this crazy morning time Mr. Pitcher misunderstands his boss and call for a replacement stenographer to replace Miss Leslie . Until Mr. Maxwell finds out and gets upset, telling a clerk that Miss. Leslie will hold the job of stenographer until she cannot anymore.
The story reaches its climax when lunch hour for the office comes around and Mr. Maxwell understands that he is in love with Miss. Leslie. He asks her to marry him and find out that they got married the previous night at a small church around the corner from the office.
Reading the story we come across 3 main characters:
- Harvey Maxwell
- Miss Leslie
- Mr. Pitcher
O Henry describes the main character as a busy and hard-working person. When Harvey gave greeting to Pitcher, his clerk, he was in a hurry. Every second, every minute, every hour, and every day, Harvey was lack of time. It was proven when he run into his desk and did his daily work.
"Well-what is it? Anything?" asked Maxwell sharply. His opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his crowded desk. His keen grey eye, impersonal and brusque, flashed upon her half impatiently.
The author shows that Harvey was in a stressful condition. His desk was crowded. He also became impersonal and brusque. He could become impatient when he had to talk with other people.
"You are losing your mind, Pitcher," said Maxwell. "Why should I have given you any such instructions? Miss Leslie has given perfect satisfaction during the year she has been here. The place is hers as long as she chooses to retain it. There's no place open here, madam. Countermand that order with the agency, Pitcher, and don't bring any more of 'em in here."
The silver heart left the office, swinging and banging itself independently against the office furniture as it indignantly departed. Pitcher seized a moment to remark to the bookkeeper that the "old man" seemed to get more absent-minded and forgetful every day of the world.
These paragraphs show that Harvey became forgetful day after day. Besides, Harvey became angry when there was a problem with his clerk. Actually at that time the clerk misunderstood Harvey’s instruction. The clerk thought that his boss was disappointed with the stenographer and wanted to get the new one. Therefore, the clerk brought a new stenographer and Harvey was angry cause he was really satisfied with Miss Leslie who had worked at his office for one year.
"Miss Leslie," he began hurriedly, "I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that moment. Will you he my wife? I haven't had time to make love to you in the ordinary way, but I really do love you. Talk quick, please--those fellows are clubbing the stuffing out of Union Pacific."
Harvey could ignore his crowded for a while when he attracted a beautiful woman. However, Harvey still forced Miss Leslie to answer his proposal quickly because he had so much to do. Even while making a proposal he is in a hurry...
We have no detailed description of Maxwell, but with the help of indirect characterization the author reveals the character's personality through his words, doings, interactions with others.
Then goes Miss Leslie. O Henry gives us also a detailed description of Miss Leslie`s appearance that helps us to imagine how did she look like. The author depicts her as a pleasant, beautiful and plain woman who always wears gray or dark colored dresses.
Pitcher, confidential clerk in the office of Harvey Maxwell...
We do not come across Pitcher`s description in the text, but with the help of some phrases and sentences we can understand that he is an obedient and curious office worker.
To portray the setting, the main characters and events of the story the writer implies a lot of different stylistic devices.
The author uses a lot of epithets to portray the main heroes: "mild interest", "expressionless countenance", "the alluring pompadour", "dreamily bright eyes", "genuine peach blow cheeks", "a happy one expression", "tinged with reminiscence". Epithets like: "perfect satisfaction", "high-geared", "strong machine", "wondering eyes", "old business" give a very vivid and bright depiction of details.
We can find a lot of pair synonyms like "rush and pace", "fiercer and faster", "buy and sell", "coming and going", "stocks and bonds", "loans and mortgages", "absent-minded and forgetful" - they are used to make the reader feel all that atmosphere of the office where everybody is running, fussing and hastening.
Also the author uses synecdoche to lighten the people`s traits of character: "...and not a single picture hat or piece of pineapple chewing gum has showed up yet", "the silver heart left the office".
To underline the desire of the broker for spring to come the writer uses personification and writes the word "Spring" from the capital letter.
The author uses various language means to depict the scene and the people, like similes: "his opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his crowded desk", "the clerks in the office jumped about like sailors during a storm", "orders to buy and sell were coming and going as swift as the flight of swallows", "the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine".
Among syntactic stylistic devices writer uses a climax "men began to throng into the office and call at him over the railing, jovially, sharply, viciously, excitedly" to show the growing tension of the people in the rush hour of the working day, parallelism "he jumped from ticker to phone, from desk to door" to stress the working mood of the main character, antithesis here was the world of finance, and there was no room in it for the human world or the world of nature - to draw the opposition between the people who work as machines all day long and the nature which was very romantic and calm that very day.
The atmosphere of the rushing and working office is stressed with the help of polysyndeton: "on the Exchange there were hurricanes and landslides and snowstorms and glaciers and volcanoes, and those elemental disturbances were reproduced in miniature in the broker's offices" and the combination of polysyndeton and asyndeton "some of his own holdings were imperilled, and the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine - strung to full tension, going at full speed, accurate, never hesitating, with the proper word and decision and act ready and prompt as clockwork".
We can see a very bright depiction of the woman, one of the main characters of the story. The woman, the stenographer is very beautiful and as he says unstenographic, it is underlined with the help of epithets "dreamily bright eyes" ,"genuine peach blow cheeks", "alluring pompadour", "kind and frank eyes", "wondering eyes", the last two epithets give as a vivid impression of the feelings of Miss Leslie to Maxwell, she was in love with him.
In order to impose on the reader his attitude towards the character of the broker the author employs in numerous amount of metaphors: "plunged into the great heap of letters and telegrams waiting there for him", "the machine sitting at that desk was no longer a man; it was a busy New York broker, moved by buzzing wheels and uncoiling springs", "the broker's hour is not only crowded, but the minutes and seconds are hanging to all the straps and packing both front and rear platforms" , these metaphors show the business of the main hero.
Summing up the analysis of the given story we see that O Henry brilliantly uses great amount of different stylistic devices.
Source:
Internet & Technical
Communication(Oxford University)
