CHAPTER FIVE
IMPROVING YOUR LISTENING SKILLS
True-False
T F 1. Most people are accomplished passive listeners.
T F 2. Blocking is often a result of listener bias.
T F 3. When an active listener becomes so saturated by what they hear and see, blocking our can
become habitual.
T F 4. Passive listening usually is harmful to individuals and should be avoided.
T F 5. A good example of discriminative listening would be hearing an automotive
technician describing what is wrong with your car.
T F 6. An example of appreciative listening is an individual who listens compassionately
to a friend who lost a family member due to cancer.
T F 7. Evaluative listening causes persuasion to be more difficult because of listener
resistance to persuasive messages.
T F 8. An individual who is enjoying hearing the sound of the ocean is engaging in
empathic listening.
T F 9. According to the text, listeners should make significant judgments about a speech
based upon a speaker’s appearance.
T F 10. A speaker who uses large, unfamiliar words helps to stimulate thinking within
listeners.
T F 11. According to the text, listeners should not be too easily influenced by the style
and delivery of a speaker.
T F 12. Active listening is easier that passive listening because we learn more.
T F 13. The text suggests that poor listening is generally only a problem for people who don’t
go to college.
T F 14. Wolvin and Coakley define listening as “the process of receiving, attending to, and
assigning meaning to aural and visual stimuli.”
T F 15. The text advises listeners to make preliminary judgments while a speaker is
talking.
T F 16. According to the text, discriminative listening helps us to make distinctions and to
differentiate in order to be enlightened, informed or educated.
T F 17. One way to eliminate distractions is by blocking them out.
T F 18. Discriminative listening means to listen with preconceived notions or prejudice.
T F 19. The listening model indicates that the receiver decodes a stimulus through the
hearing and visual senses.
T F 20. The lower funnel of the listening model is known as the feedback cone.
T F 21. Studies by the International Listening Association show that we spend the
majority of our time speaking.
T F 22. According to the ILA, about 20 percent of us have formal training in listening.
Multiple Choice
23. The listening model presented in the text was developed by
a. Shannon and Weaver
b. Abraham Maslow
c. Wolvin and Coakley
d. The International Listening Association
24. The type of listening that facilitates the needs and feelings of another person is
a. discriminative listening.
b. evaluative listening.
c. appreciative listening.
d. empathic listening.
25. Listening that helps us to learn and to test theories is known as
a. discriminative listening.
b. evaluative listening.
c. appreciative listening.
d. empathic listening.
26. Listening which helps individuals formulate reactions to persuasive messages
is known as
a. discriminative listening.
b. evaluative listening.
c. appreciative listening.
d. empathic listening.
27. Research indicates that college students spend the majority of their time
a. listening
b. speaking
c. reading
d. writing
28. Passive listening would tend to be used mostly while
a. participating in a meeting
b. engaging in a team sport
c. playing the stereo
d. receiving an award
29. A listener who thinks about a weekend trip to the beach while a speaker is presenting
a lecture is guilty of
a. piecemeal listening
b. over criticizing the speaker
c. faking attention
d. yielding to distractions
30. According to the text, giving a fair hearing to opposing viewpoints helps a listener to
a. formulate rebuttal arguments
b. grow as a communicator
c. avoid extraneous mental activity
d. be influenced by the speaker
31. A listener who mentally stores up ammunition while a speaker is presenting an
opposing idea is guilty of
a. judging
b. blocking
c. over criticizing
d. yielding to distractions
32. Speech content refers to which of the following?
a. Research of the topic.
b. Organization of the speech.
c. Logical development of the topic.
d. All of the above.
33. The International Listening Association reports that ______________ per cent of
what we know we learn by listening.
a. 25%
b. 30%
c. 50%
d. 85%
34. A survey at Auburn University found that students spend about ___________of their
communication day in speaking-related activities.
a. 52 percent
b. 16 percent
c. 26 percent
d. 10 percent
35. The Auburn University study found that students were involved in listening activities
about ________________of their communication day.
a. 52 percent
b. 16 percent
c. 26 percent
d. 10 percent
36. Which of the following is/are a part of speech presentation?
a. Style.
b. Delivery.
c. Neither A nor B
d. Both A and B
37. Faking attention
a. is difficult for a listener to accomplish
b. is necessary when a speech is boring
c. creates a barrier to listening
d. is necessary in building a speaker’s confidence
38. The text advises listeners to evaluate a speech
a. during the presentation
b. during the conclusion.
c. when it is finished.
d. none of the above.
39. Feedback should be which of the following?
a. Attentive
b. Honest
c. Creative
d. None of the above
e. A and B above
40. When thinking about a speaker’s previous point rather than what is currently being
said, we are engaging in
a. giving all topics a fair hearing.
b. making mental summaries.
c. being swayed easily by the delivery and style
d. distracting the speaker.
Short Answer
41. Identify four barriers to listening.
42. List some of the issues that can cause the listener to overcriticize the speaker.
43. Identify and describe several kinds of listening.
Essay Questions
44. A local university has developed a non-credit course entitled, “Developing Skills in Reading,
Studying, and Listening,” to assist students who have been placed on academic probation. If you
were asked to present a one-hour lecture on listening, how would you help these students to
become better listeners?
45. The President is delivering a televised speech on behalf of spending billions of taxpayer
money to bail out the failing American automobile companies. If you were asked to evaluate the
speech, what areas would you analyze regarding the content? What aspects of delivery would be
important?
46. Discuss the six barriers to listening by providing examples from your own experience.
47. Discuss which type of listening requires the listener to “be present” and why this is
important.
Online Chapter Quiz Questions
Chapter 5
Improving Your Listening Skills
True False
1. Studies have shown that we spend the majority of our time talking.
2. Sometimes blocking behavior is necessary to survival.
3. Passive listening is always undesirable behavior.
4. The primary goal of empathic listening is to benefit the needs and feelings of someone else.
5. When providing feedback, we should not always be honest because it could hurt the speaker’s
feelings.
Multiple Choice
6. Discriminative listening involves
a. listening to the power and beauty of words and images
b. listening to persuasive messages
c. listening therapeutically
d. listening to be informed
7. Appreciative listening involves
a. listening to the power and beauty of words and images
b. listening to persuasive messages
c. listening therapeutically
d. listening to be informed
8. Empathic listening involves
a. listening to the power and beauty of words and images
b. listening to persuasive messages
c. listening therapeutically
d. listening to be informed
9. Evaluative listening involves
a. listening to the power and beauty of words and images
b. listening to persuasive messages
c. listening therapeutically
d. listening to be informed
10. Which of the following is/are NOT a barrier to listening?
a. yielding to distractions
b. listening actively
c. overcriticizing the speaker
d. faking attention
Fill in the Blank
11. One poor listening behavior is ____________________.
12. The type of listening where one focuses on the sounds of the ocean or the power and beauty
of words is called _________________.
13. Listening to be instructed, educated, or informed is known as _________________.
14. Listening to persuasive messages is called ____________________.
15. Empathic listening is also known as__________________listening.
Answers
