As we all know, active listening means a participating, interactive, dynamic, and global model of listening. In this method, the listener fully concentrates, understands, responds, and then remembers what is being said. It is something that takes time to develop and perfect, but once the person is in the habit of using active listening, he will find that he will understand more of what is being said to him, and will make fewer mistakes of communication.

Actually, it can be particularly difficult to develop good listening skills in a second language, but the payoff is of even greater value than it is in a person's native language. Active listening provides the person with a knowledge of the speaker and the speaker's circumstance. With a good understanding of the speaker, one can better respond to what is being said. This is particularly useful in influencing others. By saying the right things, one can avoid conflicts and solve problems, and it is much easier to say the right thing if one knows what the other person is thinking. It is a very knowledge-based model, allowing for a highly accurate understanding of what the person is thinking, and a greatly increased chance of the listener being able to express empathy for the speaker. 

In addition, active listening also gives the speaker an opportunity to inform the listener, and possesses a benefit for the listener in that the speaker's statement will often be more thought out and better expressed when the speaker knows that he has the listener's attention. Active listening is contrasted to passive hearing and automatic responses. A person using active listening is contributing nothing to the interaction save for the listening, and perhaps periodic response. This is distinct from passive hearing in that the listener is paying focused attention. It is also marked subtly by an asking of the right sort of question. Where the person using active listening would ask for the speaker to clarify a statement, a person using an automatic response would ask the speaker to repeat himself for no good reason. However, it can often be difficult to tell whether a person is using an automatic response or attempting to switch the topic. 

To sum up,the biggest problem with active listening is that it does not provide enough feedback to the speaker, and an overly passive listener might have the speaker feeling that the listener is apathetic or ignoring the speaker. It is for this reason that an active listener might occasionally use more overt responses.