Comprehensive listening is an incredibly important style of listening because it involves hearing information and understanding the full meaning and implications of what is being said. This style is beneficial in a scholarly setting because students need to process and understand material to learn and retain the subject matter. Practice this style by having your students listen to a speech, presentation or news broadcast and writing down all of the key words and content you remember. Pause the video at certain points and have the students summarize the last point made. Prepare questions that refer to specific details mentioned and see if they're able to recall what they heard.
Discriminative listening is a basic style of listening, but practice can help you develop the skill if you are young and learning or looking to advance and improve your listening abilities. According to Changingminds.org, this style of listening includes hearing differences in words, tone and inflection and understanding meaning from these auditory cues. A practice activity for discriminative listening is the game of telephone, where you whisper a phrase to the person next to you and continue to pass it down the line as accurately as possible. Everyone talks differently, and not always clearly, so honing your discriminative listening skills can help you excel in both your personal and professional life.
Critical listening is when you assess and make judgments about the content of what someone is saying and use the information to form your own ideas on the subject matter. You can evaluate for consistency and truthfulness and differentiate between fact and fiction. Practice this style by actively listening and jotting down notes and questions during a talk or presentation. Asking questions where you perceive a weakness in an argument or a lack of information can help improve the audience’s understanding of the material.
This style of listening can be challenging to master as it involves seeing past the subject matter and context and focusing on the intent of the speaker and the emotions behind the words. This style, also known as therapeutic listening, is when you listen to the problems of the speaker without judgment and, if possible, provide positive feedback. Complete activities in group settings where you have to listen, collaborate and work with others. Sharing your thoughts and hearing what others say can help build a bond of trust and improve your level of comfort with this listening style.