Speech 470: Analyzing Listening Experiences Journal

This assignment presents a listening journal from a Speech 470 student, analyzing three distinct listening experiences: a social interaction with friends (discriminative listening) and two comprehensive listening scenarios, one involving a professional COVID-19 safety workshop and the other a co...Read More

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Speech 470
Student’s Name
University

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Speech 470
Entry #: Discriminative entry one
Date 28/03/2020 social group hang out with friends
In this conversation, we were relaxing out with friends in the backyard who had visited
me in the evening. We were engaging in a conversation on different topics and issues that relate
to us. We were talking about our life experiences especially when it comes to relationships.
Since discriminative listening seems to be more of a social aspect, my purpose as a listener was
to interpret the meanings and sounds that were being communicated to contextualize the
situation of the speaker. This leads to an understanding of the emotional variations of the speaker
as a way of discerning the emotions of the other person. This listening is no defined by clarity
but rather a social empathy of the situation. The focus is to understand non-verbal elements like
tone variation, expression emotions, and general body language to connect emotions to the
conversation. In this case, my role as a listener is to pay attention to verbal and non-verbal
elements. My listening strengths were looking at the speaker in the face so that I can connect,
read and interpret the emotions. My strength as a listener was to establish a connection between
the verbal and the non-verbal cues being made by the people in the conversation. However, my
weakness was interpreting the non-verbal elements of the communication process since I was not
sure if I had interpreted the non-verbal aspects of the communication process well. I learned that
the principle of attention was the most effectively used since it defined the way I got and
interpreted the message.
Entry # 2: Comprehensive listening
Date- 15/03/2020 Professional workshop on how to be safe with COVID-19

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The activity took place in one of our neighborhoods where a group of individuals has
partnered up with the public health team to train people on safety issues. This type of listening
was more of information listening based on active listening. This is achieved through
concentration and consciousness to understand the issues being raised in the conversation. In this
context, my listening was guided by the principle of attention which is based on understanding
the information being communicated. This was through looking at the verbal messages being
communicated by the presenter like the words being used and non-verbal messages like the use
of gestures and body language to emphasize a specific aspect that was being presented by the
individual. This listening was comprehensive since it entails understanding the thoughts, ideas
and the message being put across. As an active listener, seeking to obtain information, paying
attention was an important aspect of the communication process and use of feedback to base on
personal filters, assumptions and judgments on the topic. This means that I was supposed to ask
for feedback where I did not understand. My strength as a listener was seen in the ability to
easily connect with the speaker and an easy understanding of the language and jargon of the
speaker and seek feedback where necessary.
Entry # 3: Comprehensive Listening Entry
Date 27/03/2020 communication with parents
This was communication between myself and my parents who were giving me some
advice based on the issues that were taking place in my life. The communication was personal
thus requiring comprehensive listening to gather the information that was being passed to me by
my parents. The purpose of the listening was to listen keenly to understand the information being
communicated and give feedback. This was based on the principles of clarity, attention, and
feedback which are supposed to show an understanding of the information being communicated.

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My purpose as a listener was to internalize the information and give feedback based on what has
been communicated. My listening strengths were based on asking insightful questions, listening
attentively, comparing and connecting the ideas of the speaker with previous knowledge that I
had in the past. However, my weakness was seen in interrupting the speaker every time now and
then which delayed the conversation. What I learned from the listening experience is that one
must learn to practice different elements of listening and communication to meet the personal
needs of the communication process. This means that compressive listening is a simple social
process that is defined by the interaction between two or more people. What I learned from
listening is the fact that listening is an important part of the communication process that
increased the ability of the individual to get the intended message. Here the focus is applying the
principles of communication to contextualize the message for easy interpretation.
Conclusion
As seen in the above three scenarios, both discriminative and compressive listening
requires skills that the user needs to manage the conversion process. The focus is on active
listening and interpretation of the message being communicated by the other person. This means
that in both settings, one has to understand the importance of communication and how the role of
the individual in getting the message and interpreting it. What I have learned here is that
communication is an overall process that requires active listening and the ability to follow the
conversation through verbal and non-verbal cues being made by the other person. From here, my
communication will improve since I have learned how to interpret information being
communicated from the other person.