Chapter 2 Listening and the Ethics of Speech
Chapter Objectives
Explain how listening is foundational to all public speaking.
Define “listening” in relation to communication and public speaking.
Define “noise” and explain its role in public speaking.
Define communication.
Define active listening.
List the steps of active listening.
Detail the relationship between listening and responsibility.
Explain how speaking and listening implies an ethics.
Describe the guidelines of ethical speaking.
Lecture Outline
I. Speaking with an Open Ear
A. Learning Objectives
1. Explain how listening is foundational to all public speaking.
2. Define “listening” in relation to communication and public speaking.
3. Define “noise” and explain its role in public speaking.
B. What Did You Say? Understanding Listening
1. Listening is the process of actively making meaning of messages. It involves
some degree of active attention with which we assign, or begin to assign, meaning to a
sound stimulus. One can “listen” to both verbal and nonverbal cues.
2. We tend to listen as we speak and vice versa. For example, even when you speak
to a friend you are “listening” by observing their facial expressions, hearing their
laughter, and hearing your own voice.
3. Unlike listening, hearing is a physical act. It refers to the physiological event in
which sound enters your ear, greets your eardrum, and fires up neurons in your brain.
4. Noise refers to anything that distorts or distracts from a message in the context of
communication.
a) Internal noise refers to any thoughts, feelings, or bodily disturbances
that distract you from attending to a message.
b)
External noise refers to anything in a communication environment that
one can sense or feel that distracts, or can distract, from
a message.
II. Communication and Understanding: Listening beyond Noise
A. Learning Objectives
1. Define communication.
2. Define active listening.
3. List the steps of active listening.
B. Rethinking Noise: There are Always Two Messages
1. Communication refers to the coordination of behavior using symbols. This view
of communication implies whenever we speak and whenever we listen, we are not simply
coordinating what we say but also coordinating who we are to each other.
2. Self-concept or identity is often the source of the internal noise we experience
during communication because we are trying to understand the message and decide how
we feel about the message.
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3. Because of internal noise and identity, there are always two messages: the
message that is delivered and the message that is received.
4. Misunderstanding refers to the inability of one or more communications to
comprehend meanings, feelings, or identities and to coordinate their behaviors. For
centuries, misunderstanding was thought to be primarily due to a speaker’s misuse of
words; however, for the last century it has been researched within the context of the
listener and noise.
C. Selective and Active Listening: Moving toward Understanding
1. Selective perception refers to the ways in which people attend to the things they
like and ignore the things that do not like. As we grow older, we develop both cognitive
and personality-based “filters” for attending to one thing while ignoring other things. See
the box “Why They Don’t Hear You: Reasons Why We Don’t Listen” for descriptions of
the different types of barriers that can cause internal noise.
2. Selective exposure is a psychological theory suggesting that people prefer
information that supports their views and avoid information that does not. How we
selectively perceive the messages coming from others is highly refined and grafted onto
our identities as individuals.
3. Selective listening refers to the ways in which a person attends to some auditory
information (speech or sound), ignoring other information. For example, those who watch
Fox News channel tend to identify as “conservative,” and those who listen to MSNBC
tend to identify as “liberal.”
4. Active listening is a technique of observing and responding to a speaker’s verbal
and nonverbal messages with the goal of mutual understanding. This listening technique
comes from therapeutic communication. Communication scholar Steven McCornack
describes this as a series of four steps:
a)
Receiving and attending refers to the physical act of hearing and the
conscious act of making the speaker’s
message meaningful.
b)
Understanding is the interpretation and assessment of a message’s
meaning. Self-monitoring refers to one’s awareness of his or her own
assessments, shown through asking oneself questions like “What did she just say
to me?” and “Do I actually
understand what was said?”
c)
Responding, paraphrasing, and clarifying refers to the step in which
you
to verbal or nonverbal responses to a speaker that indicate understanding or
misunderstanding of a message. See the box “The Power of Paraphrasing” for an
example of providing helpful responses to others.
provide feedback to the speaker to express that you understand. Feedback refers
d)
Recalling and remembering refers to how a listener is able to hold the
meaning of the message. Since listeners will likely not remember everything that
has been said, speakers will often repeat key
points at the end of their speech.
III. An Ethics of Speaking as a Listener
A. Learning Objectives
1. Detail the relationship between listening and responsibility.
2. Explain how speaking and listening implies an ethics.
3. Describe the guidelines of ethical speaking.
B. Responsibility as “Response-Ability”
1. Philosopher Diane Davis calls the tendency and ability to respond to the call of
others “response-ability.” It is the foundation of listening and speaking, and Davis
argues that it is also the basis of our self-identities.
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2. Responsibility refers to guidelines for relationships and obligations. In speaking,
responsibility refers to the guidelines and expectations of both listeners and speakers.
3. Reasons for listening are a moral and ethical concern. The ability to speak and
listen is part of what it means to be human. One way to get a better understanding of the
human condition is to think about the ethical assumptions of speaking and listening in the
concept of making a pact.
C. The Pact of Speech: Accountability and Ethics
1. In order for sound to be considered speech, one must assume an audience. For
example, a sound, such as a burp or hiccup, is just an utterance or vocalization. Speech is
sounds to which a listener can assign meaning.
2. All speaking implies an often unspoken agreement or speech pact. This pact
implies that when you begin to speak, what you say will be true and of value to the
audience. As the speaker, you are asking the audience to afford you a certain degree of
welcome and trust.
D. On Character, or Ethical Speaking
1. In the context of communication, ethics concerns the study of how we should
and should not respond to others. Aristotle argued that an ethical speaker must cultivate
ethos, which includes three character traits.
a)
Practical wisdom refers to a speaker’s prudent reasoning or their degree
of common sense. Sometimes practical wisdom entails knowing what not to say.
b)
Expertise is the expectation that the speaker knows what he or she is
talking about. This is usually tied to a speaker’s profession or the sources they
cite. Direct quotations allow a speaker to state exactly what another source has
stated assuming proper citation is employed. Paraphrase is a summary of
another source and also includes appropriate citation. Plagiarism
is representing
someone else’s ideas or words as your own. See the box “Plagiarism” for more
information.
c)
Goodwill refers to the ways in which a speaker addresses an audience
with respect and care. This can be established by earnestly and genuinely
expressing concern for the listener’s and/or audience’s well-being.
E. Guidelines for Ethical Speaking
1. If you are asked to speak on a given topic, it is typically your responsibility to
either know or research that topic.
2. If you have the opportunity, always think about, plan, and rehearse your speech
before delivering it. Even when you are asked to speak off the cuff, take a moment to
organize your thoughts and think about what you are about to say before speaking.
3. Demonstrate respect for an audience by thinking of each member as a human
being with thoughts and feelings, not an object to be talked at. Acknowledge common
beliefs and values, as well as try to understand those who may be different from you. Be
honest, try to avoid stereotyping, and do not use language that might anger or polarize an
audience.
4. Before delivering a speech, always take the time to think about whether what you
wish to say could cause someone harm. For most of us, trying to be a good person
involves reducing the harm we might cause others. Speakers are unethical, however,
when they knowingly share false information, mislead, or intentionally cause harm to
others.
F. Ethical Listening
1. Listening ethically is tied to listening actively, as the listener is trying to reflect
the goodwill of the speaker.
2. A listener’s primary task is to interpret the meaning of what a speaker is saying.
a)
Listen for main points.
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b) Try to determine how the points are organized
c) Assign meaning to the speech based on what is said and how it is said.
3. Ethical listening does not mean you have to remember and understand everything
a speaker says. Ethical listening does mean that you must try as best you can to
understand what the speaker is saying on his or her own terms.
Key Terms
Listening: the process of actively making meaning of messages.
Noise: anything that distorts or distracts from a message in the context of communication. Noise can be
internal or external to the listener.
Communication: the coordination of behavior using symbols.
Misunderstanding: the inability of one or more communicators to apprehend meanings, feelings, or
identities, and to coordinate their behaviors.
Selective perception: the ways in which people attend to the things they like, ignoring things that they do
not.
Selective exposure: a psychological theory suggesting that people prefer information that supports their
views and avoid information that does not.
Selective listening: the ways in which a person attends to some auditory information (speech or sound),
ignoring other information.
Active listening: a technique of observing and responding to a speaker’s verbal and nonverbal messages
with the goal of mutual understanding.
Feedback: verbal or nonverbal responses to a speaker that indicate an understanding or misunderstanding
of a message.
Response-ability: the ability to respond to others, which is the foundation of listening and speaking.
Ethics: the discernment of right and wrong or good and evil.
Direct quotations: word-for-word references to what someone else has said.
Paraphrase: summarization of the ideas or remarks of others without directly quoting them.
Plagiarism: the representation of someone else’s words or ideas as your own; plagiarism is intellectual
theft.
Chapter Summary
Chapter 2: Listening and the Ethics of Speech discusses how being a strong speaker is as much about
listening as it is about speaking. The goal of public speaking is effective communication, and listening is
critical in achieving that. The most powerful speakers are ones who listen and understand their audience.
This chapter also clarifies the difference between hearing and listening. Internal and external noise are
described as factors that can negatively affect communication, and strategies to reduce noise are
discussed. In addition, key internal processes are addressed, specifically, selective listening (the ways in
which a person attends to some auditory information, ignoring other information) and active listening
(observing and responding to a speaker’s verbal and nonverbal messages with the goal of mutual
understanding).
Finally, because ethics is a primary concern in speaking and listening, the specific moral and ethical
guidelines and expectations of both listeners and speakers are discussed.
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Discussion Questions
1. Pretend that you are required to evaluate a peer and your internal noise is too distracting to listen. What
kinds of noise might affect you, what would be your ethical response-ability and responsibility, and how
would you handle the situation? Explain your answer by using ideas from the chapter and examples.
2. People use active listening in conversations to reach mutual understanding. How could you adapt the
technique of active listening to public speaking situations? Support your answer with ideas form the
chapter and examples.
3. Consider this scenario:
Two student groups at State U. are divided politically: The Students for Freedom (SfF) and the
Students for Independence (SfI). A member of the Students for Independence chalked an
How would you interpret or explain this scenario using chapter terminology about listening? Who did the
Students for Independence “call” with the symbol? Where does the misunderstanding fall? Who is right
and who is wrong? Did listening occur? How can the situation be resolved and who bears the burden of
resolving it? Defend your answers using terms from the chapter and examples to illustrate.
4. Recently, a new app called “Pop Your Bubble” was released on Facebook. The app adds strangers to
users’ feed to break the echo chamber effect. How can “Pop Your Bubble” affect people’s listening? Do
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you think the app can be successful in its goal? Defend your answer with ideas from the chapter and
examples.
5. Who is the most credible public figure you know? Defend your answer using the three criteria in the
chapter.
Activities for in-class work or homework
1. Energizer—in-class only
This energizing activity introduces the difference between listening and hearing and can illustrate other
concepts relating to the listening process.
Step 1: Stand students in groups of about five, in a circle, shoulder-to-shoulder. Each group
member should have a pen or pencil. Since the activity requires movement, the groups will need
room and there should be nothing else in the students’ hands.
Step 2: Tell the groups you will read a story. Every time they hear something that sounds like
right, they should pass their pen right. Every time they hear something that sounds like left, they
should pass their pen left. Students should have only one pen in their hand.
Step 3: Read the story until you get to right and left a couple of times to give the students an idea
of the process and give them a chance to catch up. Once students catch the idea, read the story,
checking in now and then.
Step 4: Debrief first by trying to remember the story, then discuss concepts that prevented
listening to the story. Discussion should emphasize the difference between hearing and listening.
Ask for examples from the activity and vocabulary or ideas from the text to support the
explanations.
Listening is the attribution of meaning—students attributed meaning to left and right, not the
story. They attributed meaning to right, not Wright.
Meaning is made through content (left/right and Wright) and who we mean to each other. Who
we mean to each other could include: class bonding; the asymmetry between student and teacher;
confusion about following directions or relevance of activity; the quality of peer interactions.
Examples of external noise include:
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Giggling
Dropping the pen
Examples of internal noise include:
Listening for relevance—The story was not “relevant to me”
Selective listening—Selecting left and right out of the story
Defensive listening—Students fall for the repeated first name/last name pattern, so they
often incorrectly anticipate a right and pass their pens off cue.
Riskier discussions could include the ways that peers treated each other during the
activity by ignoring each other’s feedback, judging each other unfairly, or acting
unwelcoming toward each other.
STORY:
“Life with the Wright Family”
One day the Wright family decided to take a vacation. The first thing they had to decide was who
would be left at home since there was not enough room in the Wright family car for all of them.
Mr. Wright decided that Aunt Linda Wright would be the one left at home. Of course, this made
Aunt Linda Wright so mad that she left the house immediately, yelling, “It will be a right cold
day before I return.”
The Wright family now bundled up the children, Tommy Wright, Susan Wright, Timmy Wright,
and Shelly Wright, and got in the car and left. Unfortunately, as they turned out of the driveway
someone had left a trash can in the street so they had to turn right around and stop the car. They
told Tommy Wright to get out of the car and move the trash can so they could get going. Tommy
took so long that they almost left him in the street. Once the Wright family got on the road,
Mother Wright wondered if she had left the stove on. Father Wright told her not to worry because
he had checked the stove and she had not left it on. As they turned right at the corner, everyone
started to think about other things that they might have left undone.
No need to worry now; they were off on a right fine vacation. When they arrived at the gas
station, Father Wright put gas in the car and then discovered that he had left his wallet at home.
So, Timmy Wright ran home to get the money that was left behind. After Timmy had left, Susan
Wright started to feel sick. She left the car saying that she had to throw up. This, of course, got
Mother Wright’s attention and she left the car in a hurry. Shelly Wright wanted to watch Susan
get sick, so she left the car too.
Father Wright was left with Tommy Wright who was playing a game in the back seat. With all of
this going on Father Wright decided that this was not the right time to take a vacation, so he
gathered up all of the family and left the gas station as quickly as he could. When he arrived
home, he turned left into the driveway and said “I wish the Wright family had never left the house
today! Right?”
A full version of the activity can be found by searching “cdc life with the wright family activity
pdf.”
A video illustrating a different version of the story in action to help visualize the activity can be
found by searching “tom heck mrs. wright communication and team building game video.”
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2. Video analysis
James J. Maguire delivered the 2017 commencement speech to Gallaudet University. Gallaudet is a
school for deaf and hard of hearing students, and Maguire recounts his personal connection to the deaf
community as inspiration for his nation-wide business and philanthropy.
In what ways does the speaker demonstrate his ethos and responsibility to the audience? How well is the
pact between speaker and listener upheld in this speech? Defend your answer using ideas, quotes, or
1) The speaker: The speaker attempts to uphold his part of the pact by demonstrating practical
wisdom, expertise, and goodwill. He demonstrates practical wisdom through life experience:
flunking out of school, serving in the military during the Korean War, going back to school;
2) The listener: The discussion of audience should include how the immediate listeners relate and
3) The class as listener: The question should also turn to whether the class upheld its part of the
pact. Was the class able to respond ethically (response-ability)? This allows discussion of other
3. Construct > Rehearse > Deliver a brief presentation about your skill.
Have students prepare, practice, and deliver a brief manuscript speech about something they’re good at.
The procedure and format can be modified to fit the class. The essay can be delivered as a speech or
simply discussed as a whole class. Limit the page length to fit the size of the class. Usually a page is the
maximum length for an effective activity. The essay can be written at home, in class, or posted online.
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Directions:
Write an essay describing something you are good at. You can write about a hobby, your job, a
skill, or something you like to do. Refer to things that demonstrate practical wisdom, expertise,
and goodwill. Include examples or stories. Label at least one example of each. Questions to
consider:
A) How did you learn about your subject? Did someone teach it to you? Did you read about it?
Take a class?
B) Describe some experience(s) you’ve had with your subject that demonstrate your knowledge,
skill, or ability. How long have you been able to do this? What awards, acknowledgements,
accomplishments, or praise have you received?
C) What did you do to “give back” regarding your subject? What classes have you taught? Have
you volunteered, donated your time, creations, or skill to others? (For example, if you chose
swimming, did you volunteer for lifeguarding? Or teach someone to swim?) Have you mentored
others? Do you plan to use your skills to help others in the future? What would you like to give or
share with the audience?
4. Construct > Rehearse > Deliver a paraphrased quote and oral references.
This activity helps students paraphrase, cite references, and integrate quotes or testimony smoothly into
speeches. Connect this activity with the listening for understanding and plagiarism.
The written portion can be completed at home, in class, or posted online.
Oral References Worksheet
Directions:
Step 1: Choose some testimony or a passage to paraphrase, paste it to a document, and add the source
in proper bibliographic format.
Step 2: Describe who the author is, their relevance, importance, ethos.
Step 3: Explain what the passage means. Explain what it means to you personally, why you chose it,
how it supports your point or topic.
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Step 4: Highlight a portion of the passage for a direct quote. Choose something that is easy to read out
loud and also brief, vivid, eloquent, or compelling.
Step 5: Write out a statement that
-includes the direct quote
-captures the rest of the passage in a relevant paraphrase
-explains why or how the passage supports your point—OR for an inspirational passage,
explains why the quote inspires you
-establishes the author’s identity and credibility
-includes an oral reference
Example:
Step 1:
For all my grandma’s efforts, for all of her “You can do anything; don’t be like those f**kers
who think the deck is stacked against them” diatribes, the message had only partially set in
before I enlisted. Surrounding me was another message: that I and the people like me weren’t
good enough; that the reason Middletown produced zero Ivy League graduates was some
genetic or character defect. I couldn’t possibly see how destructive that mentality was until I
escaped it. The Marine Corps replaced it with something else, something that loathed excuses.
“Giving it my all” was a catchphrase, something heard in health or gym class. When I first ran
three miles, mildly impressed with my mediocre twenty-five minute time, a terrifying senior
drill instructor greeted me at the finish line: “If you’re not puking, you’re lazy! Stop being
f**ing lazy!” He then ordered me to sprint between him and a tree repeatedly. Just as I felt I
might pass out, he relented. I was heaving, barely able to catch my breath. “That’s how you
should feel at the end of every run!” he yelled. In the Marines, giving it your all was a way of
life.
I’m not saying ability doesn’t matter. It certainly helps. But there’s something powerful about
realizing that you’ve undersold yourself—that somehow your mind confused lack of effort
with inability.
Vance, J.D., Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis (NY: Harper Collins,
2016).
Step 2: J.D. Vance grew up poor in Kentucky and graduated with a law degree from Yale.
Hillbilly Elegy is his bestselling autobiography that talks about being poor and white in
America.
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destructive mindset. It makes people think they aren’t good enough. Even his grandmother’s
love couldn’t free him. But when he joined the Marines, boot camp took away his excuses and
gave him grit. He writes, “There’s something powerful about realizing that you’ve undersold
yourself—that somehow your mind confused lack of effort with inability.”
5. Practice active listening.
Laci Green is a controversial millennial feminist vlogger with a sex-positive web show. This episode
discusses rape jokes in comedy and in everyday conversation. The content applies to communication,
listening, offensive language, and audience adaptation. Trigger warnings apply to this video. To find the
video online, search “laci green it’s just a joke video.”
Through this activity students should practice active listening in two stages. First, students listen to the
vlog, then they listen actively to each other. Emphasize that the conversation will focus on understanding
only and not debate.
Instructions
Teaching Tips
1. Instructors are often tempted to skip listening when teaching public speaking, but the concepts in
2. Examples and activities in Chapter 2 refer to the deaf community and deaf culture. Students need help
understanding why deafness constitutes a community or culture. Members of the deaf community share
3. Critical listening and peer evaluation are common in speech classes. For instructors who want to
4. Even though online courses might lack face-to-face “presence,” instructors can seek ways to emphasize
Student Activity from Josh Gunn: Fostering Goodwill
A major challenge of ethical public speaking is the cultivation of a sense of goodwill between you and the
audience. Think about a time when you were in the audience of a public speaker in which you felt valued
and respected by him or her. What things did she or he say and do that helped you feel that way? Were
these things said or done in the speech moment itself, or were they said and done prior to the speech?
Now, think about a speaking situation in which you felt disrespected or offended. Why did you feel or
think that way?
Content Presentation Ideas
1. Revisiting Whisper-Down-the-Lane
This is a version of the Whisper Down the Lane game. This time, your students will be performing this
activity as it relates to the chapter concepts. You may choose to have your students remain in their desks
or sit in a circle.
2. Modeling Listening Concepts
This assignment will test students’ understanding and demonstration of various listening concepts. On
separate index cards write down the following terms from the chapter: external noise, misunderstanding,
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selective listening, selective perception, selective exposure, and feedback (you may choose to add or
remove terms).
Divide your class into small groups, and hand each group a card with a different term. The task of each
group will be to model their given concept by acting it out as a group. Allow adequate in-class time for
each group to work together to develop an idea and prepare a skit to present to the class. When each
3. Paraphrasing Presentations
For this assignment, students will view a TED Talk video in class, and each student will be given a
particular part to summarize for the rest of the class. Although paraphrasing and summarizing are
technically two different skills, for the purpose of this assignment, students will be summarizing
(condensing the information and presenting the main points) rather than putting each line of text into their
own words, as a traditional paraphrase would do. They should also do their best to present at least one
direct quotation in their oral summaries, with the source cited. Students are allowed to take notes during
the video.
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Within your oral summary, you are to present at least one direct quotation, with the source cited. The
More Resources
1. The animated video “Failure to Communicate” depicts two young women who have difficulty
communicating due to several types of noise. The comments also provide interesting examples of noise.
The video creator asks users to let him know if they
use the video. To access the video, search “a failure
to communicate tyler legrand.”
3. This TedxYouth Talk about active listening covers most of the requirements outlined in the chapter, but
the speaker misses a crucial part about using I-statements instead of you-statements. This would need
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