Verbal Communication and Listening

• Uses spoken words: conversation, telephone, interviews, meetings, lectures, presentations.

• Advantages: immediate feedback, personal touch, flexible, faster, can use tone and expression, builds rapport.

• Limitations: no permanent record, chances of distortion, speaker may be impulsive, not suited to complex data, depends on memory.

• Letters, emails, reports, memos, notices, manuals, circulars.

• Advantages: permanent record and legal evidence, careful drafting, wide reach, reference value, suitable for complex details.

• Limitations: delayed feedback, costly and time-consuming, needs literacy, lacks personal touch.

• Hearing is a physiological act; listening is a psychological, active process of attending, interpreting and responding.

• Types of listening: appreciative (for enjoyment), empathic (for emotional support), comprehensive/informational (to learn), critical/evaluative (to judge arguments), discriminative (distinguishing sounds and cues).

• Active listening involves attention, eye contact, paraphrasing, clarifying, withholding judgment and giving feedback.

• Barriers to listening: distractions, prejudgment, daydreaming, emotional bias, speaker-listener speed gap.

Know your audience, structure the message (opening, body, closing), use simple and precise language, maintain appropriate pace and volume, use examples, invite and give feedback, and keep the tone respectful.

• Use oral when it is urgent, emotional, needs immediate clarification, or involves a small group (e.g., resolving a student's misunderstanding).

• Use written when you need a record, legal proof, detailed data, or a message that must reach many people (e.g., an exam notification).

Why written feels "permanent": an email can be saved and shown later as proof. That is why contracts, notices and reports are in writing.

People can think much faster than others can speak, so the mind gets spare time and wanders. This is the speed gap, and it is a major cause of poor listening. Good listeners use that spare time to summarise what they hear and predict the next point.

Listening types with examples:

• Appreciative: enjoying music or a poem.

• Empathic: a friend is upset and you listen to understand their feelings, without rushing to give advice.

• Comprehensive / informational: listening to a lecture to learn and remember facts.

• Critical / evaluative: listening to a political speech and judging whether the claims are logical.

• Discriminative: noticing a change in someone's tone or telling similar sounds apart (the base of other types).

Active listening steps: pay full attention, keep eye contact, do not interrupt, nod and use small encouragers, paraphrase ("So you mean..."), ask clarifying questions, and respond with feedback.

Common forms are letters, emails, memos, notices, circulars, reports and minutes. A good written message has a clear purpose, logical order, simple sentences, correct grammar and a polite close. In emails, use a meaningful subject line, a greeting, a short body and a sign-off; avoid ALL CAPS (which reads as shouting) and think before pressing "send" (communication is irreversible).