Critical Listening Papers: Fakultas Keguruan Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Hkbp Nommensen Medan 2019

CRITICAL LISTENING PAPERS

By : Name

: Astri Ivo Gultom

Academic Number

: 15120161

Study Program

: English Department

FAKULTAS KEGURUAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN UNIVERSITAS HKBP NOMMENSEN MEDAN 2019

FOREWORD Praise our prayers for the presence of God Almighty, because only with all His grace we can finally compile this paper with the theme 'CRITICAL LISTENING' on time. We also say thank you to Mr. Herman, as our supervisor who has given us this task so that we get a lot of additional knowledge. We as the authors hope that the papers we have compiled can provide many benefits and increase knowledge. We realize that this paper still has many shortcomings that need improvement, so we look forward to input and criticism from readers.

BACKGROUND Critical listening is the practice of listening for the purpose of evaluating the quality of an audio device, by carefully listening while analyzing. Different from listening for the purpose of enjoying music (= listening for pleasure). The purpose of critical listening is not to enjoy the experience of listening to music, but to determine whether a system or a component produces good sound or not, and what specific characteristics of the sound make it good or bad. Critically we want to pay close attention to what we hear so that we can make an assessment of the sound produced. Then from the assessment, we use the information as consideration when selecting components or building our audio system. Evaluating with our ears is the most important, because the existing measurement tools are not sophisticated enough to measure the character of the musical performance of a device. The mechanism of human hearing is far more sensitive and complex than the sophisticated measuring instruments available today. Although technical data is a valid consideration for choosing a device, our ears remain the final judgment to determine which sound is good. Good technical performance can contribute to producing high-quality musical performance, but the technical performance presented in the form of technical data of a device cannot tell us what we really want to know about how the device presents its musical message. To know this only by listening. Knowing which devices sound good and which ones are not easy, many people can easily tell the difference. But discovering why a musical product is more satisfying than another product, and the ability to recognize and describe differences in sound quality, is a skill

that must be built / trained. Like all other skills, critical listening ability also increases with practice. The more listening experience, the more the listener becomes an expert. As our ear capacity increases, the more we can identify small differences in the sound quality of the device and the more it can describe how they are different and why they are different, why one is better than the other. When practicing building skills for critical listening, sometimes there is danger of lurking. The first danger is when we can no longer distinguish between critical listening and listening for pleasure (listening to enjoy music). We forget our original purpose as music lovers. Every time we listen, we feel obliged to give criticism on sound quality, it is obligatory to comment on what is right and what is wrong with the sound we listen to. This is the exact path to a disease called audiophilia nervosa. Symptoms of audiophilia nervosa: - Constantly replace audio devices - Set only 1 specific track from a CD or LP repeatedly - Change the cable only to listen to certain tracks from CD / LP - Refuse to listen to good music just because the recording is not good The symptoms above indicate we have deviated from the original goal. Instead of listening to music, we instead turn to listening to the device. Ironically, high end audio actually aims to enjoy music until the device feels lost and forgotten. Our focus is no longer enjoying music and forgetting the device, on the contrary our awareness continues to focus on the device. When enjoying music, forget the device. Forget about critical listening. Switch to critical listening mode only when we are in the process of evaluating a device. Give a clear line between critical listening and listening for pleasure. The second danger of the process of building skills for critical listening, which is our standard is increasingly rising to the point where we can no longer enjoy music unless the music is reproduced perfectly. Don't let your enthusiasm of being an audiophile interfere with your enjoyment as a music lover anytime and anywhere

CRITICAL LISTENING The Art of Critical Listening is improving the personal connection you make with team members and project stakeholders by intensely engaging as you listen to what they say. This works because most people are not accustomed to having their words carfully listened to by others.You’re probably familiar with the terms “critical thinking” and the “art of listening.” Both are important skills to cultivate in the project management profession. But just as important is the ability to use both skills in combination in communications with your team members and

What is “critical listening?” Simply put, it is the ability to pay attention to what other people are saying while assessing the validity and value of the information they are conveying. This skill—and it’s a learned skill for most of us—is an important one to consciously work on and use in your daily project manager role. Here’s an example that illustrates why critical thinking and critical listening, working together, are important. Not long ago, I was a member of a “kaizen” (i.e., a process improvement team) on a large government contract that was experiencing numerous process management issues. Our team’s objective was to identify the failures or rough spots in our processes, analyze their causes, and suggest corrective actions. The team consisted of eight people, one from each major organizational component: Project Management (me), Finance, Contracting, Engineering, etc. Our team leader did a fairly good job of leading the group through the initial problem identification phase. But it quickly became apparent that the Finance Office representative, who was quite young but also quite competent, was being all but

dismissed by the team leader. Each time she attempted to speak (in her too quiet voice), she would be talked over by others, including the team leader, or quickly moved past without being acknowledged. Before long, she’d had enough and simply stopped trying. Around the end of the third day, the team leader finally asked for her thoughts on something in a too-late attempt to engage every team member. Without mincing words, she let the team leader know the following: her inputs didn’t appear to be of any interest her opinions and insights did not matter project management was the source of most of the problems the team was not going to succeed if they chose to use their assumptions about financial processes instead of the facts she had to offer. She then folded her arms and sat back to await our response. I agreed with almost everything she said (except the part about Project Management, of course)! The kaizen team leader had been guilty of a series of failures in critical listening. First, he clearly wasn’t listening to this young but valuable member of his team. The few points she had managed to make early on were later picked up by and attributed to other members. And after several frustrated attempts to be heard, she simply “bailed” on the team in speech and spirit. As a result, her ideas went unexpressed and unexplored. The opportunity for a fuller range of data to sift and analyze was lost and the group’s dependence on its own perceptions increased. Second, the absence of critical thinking and listening enabled the real possibility of false conclusions. The Finance Office member’s dressing-down of the team left us wondering if we were guilty of gross “group think.” Had we substituted perceptions and opinions where facts should have been gathered and applied? Did this cast doubt on the accuracy of the conclusions drawn so far? Had we ignored the basic principles of critical thinking in addition to being poor listeners? The team, which included me, concluded the answer was “Yes” on all accounts. Once that house of cards fell, the group’s faith in its own ability to deliver a valid end product was damaged. Critical listening combines the core principles behind critical thinking and the art of listening. Make sure that you are truly listening when in a conversation. That means no multi-tasking, no checking cell phone messages, reading email, etc. Be fully engaged in the conversation. Ask questions to make sure you haven’t misunderstood or translated the intended thought into something you expected to hear.

While listening, be open to new information, something you don’t expect, something that differs from your understanding or experience. Try to be neutral and accept verifiable information that differs from your beliefs. But be ready to challenge what you hear if it doesn’t add up. Can you or the other person provide evidence to substantiate or refute the information you’re receiving? Are the assumptions being made reasonable? Can they be validated by facts? Finally, be open to changing your mind or position if the information you receive and process does pass muster. Project management is as much about information management —“listening” as well as “talking”—as it is about planning, controlling, leading and any of the other skills you must have and cultivate to be a successful PM. It can be hard to change a position you’ve become comfortable with, so ask yourself questions if you must. Challenge your commitment to a “fact” and try to base your perspective on valid rationale rather than an emotional attachment. So, how did things turn out for the kaizen? After some repair work on team functions and the information generated, the kaizen managed to recover—albeit a little less sure of itself than it had once been. Five days after starting, it had identified over 50 verifiable process issues, most with suggested corrective actions that were later implemented. And with the team’s new-found respect for “critical listening,” Project Management was cleared of most of its alleged offenses.

LISTENING STRATEGY Look at it this way: Hearing is the practical, and listening is the strategy. And as with most things strategic, there’s more than one way to listen. As a communicator, you should know which type of listening to use in every situation, as well as how to use those skills to your advantage. Here are four (of many) types of listening: 1. Appreciative listening Appreciative listening is exactly what the name implies — listening to enjoy the story, music or information you hear. The American Society for Training and Development recommends that, to truly embark in appreciative listening, you should avoid engaging in other communications and focus solely on the sounds or words.

So, when someone is speaking to you, put your phone down! 2. Critical listening Critical listening involves hearing what someone says, identifying key points and/or arguments and solidifying your opinion. Think of a debate, or how you feel when you listen to a politician speak. When you engage in critical listening, your goal is to analyze what the speaker is saying and determine his agenda. 3. Relationship listening Relationship listening is one of the most important skills to have when dealing with people. Relationship listening is also known as therapeutic or empathetic listening. You would use relationship listening to help a friend through a problem, solve a conflict between co-workers or prompt people to open up through support and honesty. 4. Discriminative listening Discriminative listening is when you look past the words you hear to detect the underlying message. It might be one of the most important types of listening for online marketers. This works best in person, as you can look to body language, tone changes and volume to determine what the speaker really thinks and feels. However, these days we’re not often face-to-face with clients or customers. We need to adapt to become better online discriminative listeners as we engage more and more via texts, Facebook comments and snappy tweets. Understanding the difference between hearing and listening is a vital skill, whether you deal with people in the boardroom or through comments on your brand’s blo

LEARNING ACIVHEMENT

Listening III course is designed to train the students’ skills in understanding a mediumlength conversation and talk effectively and efficiently in the high-intermediate to advanced level. In this course students are to practice identifying unfamiliar words and guessing their meaning from the context, identifying main idea and the gist of a conversation or talk, selecting the detailed information from a conversation or talk, and making inferences from the conversation or talk.

CONCLUSION