Critical Listening

Critical Listening
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Critical Listening
Critical listening is the process by which a listener engages in careful systematic thinking and reasoning to assess and determine whether a speaker’s message makes sense or not. People engage in critical listening often depending on how significant the situation is to them. One instance when I failed to practice critical listening was when I had attended a leadership seminar, where the speaker trained the attendees on how to overcome the normal day-to-day challenges. Critical listening was important in this situation because the talk was supposed to guide young us in overcoming challenges, realizing our potentials, and utilizing the opportunities available to make the best out of the given situation.
There are six steps involved in critical listening. These include listening, identifying, interpreting, understanding, assessing, and responding critically (Sastromiharjo, Damaianti, & Mulyati, 2020). The listening stage entails the verbal information that one obtains from the speaker. In the identification stage, the listener has to be able to identify the message in terms of the information it contains and how it relates to him or her. The interpretation stage begins when one appreciates the information and tries to create a meaning out of it. Fourth is the understanding stage, where the listener strives to understand the meaning of what has been said. The fifth stage is assessment, which means pricing the message. A message taken seriously will attract a higher price than the one not taken seriously. Finally, there is the response stage, which entails the listener carrying out the critical thinkin...