What is Reflective Listening?

3 Basic Levels of Reflective Listening:

Repeating or rephrasing—Listener repeats or substitutes synonyms or phrases; stays close to what the speaker has said.

Paraphrasing—Listener makes a major restatement in which the speaker’s meaning is inferred

Reflection of Feeling—Listener emphasizes emotional aspects of communication through feeling statements—deepest form of listening

Information from here.

Reflective Listening Skills

Acknowledgment Responses:

“Brief, one to three-word statements or nonverbal gestures. These responses demonstrate to the speaker that you are following the conversation. Such responses help the other know he or she is being listened to.”

Reflecting Content:

“Listening accurately to another person and reflecting the essence of the content to the other in your own words.”

Reflecting Feelings:

“Listening accurately to another person and reflecting the feeling component of the communication to the other in your own words.”

Reflecting Meanings (combining feelings and content):

“Listening accurately to another person and reflecting the essence of both the content and the feelings the other has expressed.”

Summarizing

“Listening accurately to another person and reflecting the main points of the other’s communication. Summarizing condenses all of what a person has said into two or three sentences.”