CHAPTER 3
LISTENING: WHAT SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS SHOULD KNOW
Chapter Objective: This chapter deals with an often-neglected dimension of public speaking:
listening. After reading Chapter 3, speakers should be able to better understand the relationship
between speaking and listening. Furthermore, proper employment of this chapter will allow
students to craft speeches that conform to the expectations listeners have for oral presentations.
An additional benefit of this chapter is that students should become more alert and attentive
audience members and more astute consumers of communication once they realize what
accurate and involved listening entails.
To use this chapter most effectively, identify the stages of the listening process. Define what is
meant by listening filters, and discuss how the three filters of culture, gender, and technology
affect the listening process. List and discuss several strategies that listeners can use to improve
their critical listening and better evaluate speakers. List and discuss several strategies that
speakers can use to encourage effective listening from their audience members.
Chapter Outline
I. Stages of Listening
A. In the receive stage, listeners initially attend to or ignore incoming stimuli.
1. We learn to become highly selective; we pay attention to things that are
of interest to use and tune out everything else.
2. Age, cultural background, biases and emotions, as well as environmental
distractions, affect what we sense.
B. In the comprehend stage, listeners attempt to understand, not interpret or
evaluate
C. In the interpret stage, listeners supply meanings for messages they have sensed
in the first stage.
D. In the evaluate stage, listeners think about the message, make more extensive
inferences, evaluate and judge the speaker and the message.
1. The listener’s attitude toward the speaker can affect evaluations.
2. Evaluations are affected by listeners’ pervious experiences, their
expectations, their beliefs, and their emotional states.
E. In the respond stage, listeners give feedback that communicates their reaction.
1. The responding stage is crucial, since it tells speakers whether they have
communicated effectively.
2. Listener responses can take many forms.
3. Sometimes listeners don’t make obvious responses.
4. The goal of the speaker is to accurately interpret listener feedback –
especially the nonverbal feedback.
F. In the memory stage, the final result of listening, the audience decides which
parts of the message to retain.
1. Most audience members will retain only about 10-25% of your
presentation.
2. The goal of the speaker is to help listeners decide what information is
important and to aid them in transferring this information from short–
term to long-term storage.
II. Audience members filter or decode messages through their frame of references; three
main filters require the most speaker adjustment: culture, gender, and technology.
A. Cultural differences that are likely to cause audience members to listen
differently and to misunderstand messages include those deriving from
individualistic and collectivist cultures, low-context and high-context cultures,
and monochromic and polychromic cultures.
B. Gender also plays a role in the way audience members listen. For example,
research shows that women view communication as a cooperative tool whereas
men view communication as a competitive tool.
1. Of the four listening orientations or styles (people, action, content, and
time), women show a preference for the people orientation while men show a
preference for the content orientation.
2. Both genders preferred the content listening style in instructional
situations and the people listening style in situations involving friends.
3. Perhaps the listener of the future will be more androgynous.
C. Technology can both hamper and aid listening.
4. People who prefer the auditory channel are more likely to use “auditory”
words.
5. People who prefer the kinesthetic channel are more likely to use
“kinesthetic” words.
III. What listeners should know about critical listening?
IV. Tip for the receiving stage: Stimulate and motivate your audience to listen.
A. Grab audience attention.
1. Counteract internal stimuli with external stimuli.
2. Once you begin your speech, you have only a few seconds to grab the
attention of our listeners and get them involved in your topic.
B. Keep the audience’s attention by motivating them; convince them that the presentation
will benefit them or people they care about in some way.
V. Tip for the comprehending stage: Maximize listeners’ understanding.
A. Encode your presentation to fit your audience.
B. Personalize your speeches with narratives.
VI. Tip for the interpreting stage: Avoid sending conflicting messages
A. Most speakers assume that the only important code is the verbal code, yet
listeners get most of their information from what they see and the tone of the
speaker’
B. As a speaker, work to avoid sending conflicting messages.
VII. Tip for the evaluating stage: counteract listeners’ resistance to persuasion.
A. Listeners who disagree strongly are the most difficult to persuade.
B. Strengthen your credibility.
1. Cognitive dissonance occurs when evidence is presented that is contrary
to what we believe.
2. Make sure you are perceived as trustworthy and qualified to speak on
the topic.
C. Speakers can boost their perceived credibility in several ways, including but not
limited to the following:
1. Have a credible expert on the topic introduce you as a knowledgeable
and trustworthy speaker.
2. Identify your views with those held by experts the audience respects.
3. Indicate beliefs, affiliations, or problems that you share with your
listeners.
4. You must look and sound confident.
D. Highlight the credibility of your sources.
1. Clearly state the qualifications of the sources.
2. Refute anticipated criticisms of the sources’ claims.
3. Show some important quality that your sources and your listeners share.
E. Keep listeners from mentally evading your message.
1. Audiences might deliberately misunderstand what the speaker says.
2. Audiences might ignore the more discomforting parts of the message.
3. Audiences might alter the message so it does not personally apply to
them.
F. To reduce misinterpretation, speakers can employ several devices.
l. Make it clear that you view the “problem” as fairly common.
2. Show the solution will not be too harmful to anyone if everyone pitches
in.
3. Since smaller changes are easier to defend than drastic ones, show your
position is close to the views held by the audience.
IX. Tip for the memory stage: make your message easier to remember.
A. Incorporate cues to aid memory.
1. Begin with an attention-getter such as a question that will be answered
during the speech.
2. Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices as memory aids for
important concepts.
3. Periodically review previous points.
4. Present a hypothetical situation or problem and then reflect with the
audience on possible solutions.
5. Visually present a short quiz.
6. Include an emotional example to illustrate an important point when
appropriate.
7. Relate new or novel information to commonly held beliefs or myths.
8. Show information in visual form when possible, such as a diagram or
chart.
9. Challenge audience members to share important facts from your speech
with family and friends.
10. Know your audience well enough so you can relate important ideas to
audience experiences.
B. Speak at a faster pace than normal
C Don’t state key ideas in the first or second sentence.
D. Use visuals to enhance listening and remembering.
1. Effective visuals are ones that allow listeners to absorb the content in
one glance.
2. Reading off your visuals word-for-word actually causes your audience
to remember less.
Classroom Exercises
Online Activity
Instruct your students to visit http://www.listen.org/quotations/quotes_menu.html or another
site that has quotations on listening. Have them find a quotation that appeals to them and ask
them to write a brief explanation of why they have chosen this quote and what it means to
them. They are also required to make a comment to the post of another classmate. This activity
will allow the students to see what things about listening are important to their classmates and
will offer some further insight into the people they are working with online. The more often
your online students interact with each other in a discussion, the more comfortable they will be
offering new ideas, expressing themselves freely, and presenting a speech.
Active Critical Thinking Activity
To think further about the stages of listening, ask students to complete the following:
Recall some listening successes and failures. Which listening stage is the easiest part of the
process for you? Which stage is the hardest part of the process for you? Discuss your thinking
by giving examples to illustrate your examples.
3.1 Signposting Poor Listening
For this exercise, you will need to ask each student to create a large sign that says “Not
Listening.” You should give a brief sample speech (perhaps even a lecture on the topic
specified in the syllabus for that day). During the speech, each student should hold up the “Not
Listening” sign whenever s/he begins to “tune out” the message. As soon as you see the sign,
pause and ask the student(s) what made them stop listening. Keep a written inventory of these
factors as references for future speeches.
After you begin this exercise, ask students to take your place as you become an audience
member wielding a “Not Listening” sign. Regardless of who is speaking, pay particular
attention to the times when large numbers of people hold up their signs. Was there a distracting
noise? Had the audience reached a consensus that the speaker had talked for too long? Was
there a problem with terminology or delivery?
3.2 Following Verbal Instructions (Blindfolded Listening Activity)*
To start this activity, you’ll want to clear space in your classroom by moving furniture against
the walls of the room or by taking your students outside to a large, grassy area. You’ll need a
rope of some kind (approximately 30 feet) and enough blindfolds for all of your students. Ask
students to move to the center of the room and blindfold themselves. Any student who isn’t
comfortable being blindfolded can act as your assistant. You and your assistant should then
move students around the area slightly to disorient them. Be gentle as you move them.
Remember they are blindfolded and are relying on you to be their eyes!
Then start offering directions like you would in “Simon Says,” such as: “Take 3 steps
backwards. Turn to your left. Take 2 steps toward my voice. Turn right.” After a few directions
to reposition students, pass out the rope, weaving it around the students. It is best to ask
students to grip the rope firmly, all holding it in the same hand (you can choose left or right).
Inform students that during the next part of this activity they are not to let go of the rope or
slide their hand up and down the rope.
Instruct blindfolded students that they are now to make a square with the rope. They will have
10 minutes to make the square and must remain blindfolded. Typically some communication
chaos results as blindfolded students attempt to work together to form a square. After 10
minutes, let students know they can remove their blindfolds and check on the progress of their
square.
At the end of the activity, discuss what happened, making sure to include the assistants’ point
who was the loudest became the leader, even if that person didn’t have a great idea to solve the
problem. Students come away with an appreciation for the complexity of the listening process
and with an understanding that nonverbal communication is a necessary part of the
communication process in general.
*This exercise was adapted from Zelley, E., “Ropes, blindfolds, and listening – oh
MA.
3.3 Listening Diary
Objective: To discover and diagnose the causes of poor listening.
Procedure: Ask students to keep a listening diary for all their classes or for their jobs over a
one-day period. To keep a diary, students should write a brief summary of circumstances when
they “tuned out” or began not to listen in specific situations. They also need to note when and
under what circumstances their attention was high. One easy way to develop a listening diary is
to keep track of listening during classes by marking in their class notes where attention waxed
and waned. At the end of the day, students should examine their diary entries. They should
come to your class the next day prepared to discuss the following questions:
l. Was there any pattern to my listening behavior? Were there particular
circumstances that tended to lose or attract my attention as a listener?
2. When does my listening seem to be its worst? When am I at my best as a
listener?
3. What specific things are the speakers doing that reduce my willingness to
listen? How are the speakers helping me to listen?
4. What specific things can I do to improve my listening when I begin to “tune
out”? (Note: Seek precise steps here. Don’t settle for generalities such as “Listen
more carefully.”)
5. What specific things should the speakers do to improve my listening? (Point out
that the task of improving listening is an obligation shared by speaker and
listener.)
3.4 Listening to detailed information
This activity is designed to help students see how difficult it is to listen to long, detailed pieces
of information. Ask three students to step into the hall and shut the door. Advise the remaining
class members that you will be telling them a story and they need to actively listen to pick up
as much information as possible. After the story has been told one time only, ask one of the
3.5 Think, Pair, Share: Ineffective Listening
Ask students to take a few minutes and think of a time when someone was talking and they
stopped listening. What caused them to stop listening? What was the outcome? Can they
identify one of the barriers to listening that created the situation? Have them pair with someone
3.6 Focused Listening
Show a film clip of student speech and then ask students to summarize the speech, identify the
specific purpose of the speech, and list as many supporting details as they can remember. Once
they’ve come up with their individual responses, have them work in groups to compare what
they remembered of the speech. Why were some elements more memorable than others? What
aspects of the student speaker’s delivery helped them to remember key points? Did visual aids
play a role in what they were able to recall? How can they make sure their audience remembers
what’s most important about their speeches?