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Chapter 4
EFFECTIVE LISTENING
To participate in dialogical communication, students must be savvy, yet responsible listeners as well
as speakers. Let’s face it; we spend infinitely more time listening than we do giving speeches. The
chapter opens with a discussion of the importance of listening followed by a section describing the
barriers to listening—linguistic, cultural, and personal. Next are strategies to improve comprehensive
and critical listening. The final section describes verbal and nonverbal behaviors students can use to
be more dialogical listeners.
Chapter Goals
At the end of this chapter, your students should be able to:
•
Distinguish listening from hearing
•
Appreciate the importance of listening skills
•
Describe the linguistic, cultural, and personal barriers that affect your listening
•
Draw and explain four thought patterns that are common during listening
•
Identity strategies to improve your comprehensive listening
•
Discuss diverse cultural listening styles
•
Improve your critical listening skills
•
Give effective nonverbal feedback
•
Give appropriate verbal feedback, using the D-R-E Method
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
Know which, if any, students say they need better listening skills, and help those students devise a
strategy to improve their listening.
Chapter Outline
I.
Listening skills are valuable
A.
Hearing (a physical process) and listening (an active mental process) are different.
B.
We use listening more than any other communication skill.
C.
Good listening skills are good job skills.
D.
Good listening skills are good academic skills.
E.
You have an investment in the listening situation.
II.
Barriers to listening come from linguistic, cultural, and personal factors.
A.
There are two major linguistic barriers.
1.
People must share a language; accents and dialects can hinder understanding.
2.
Vocabulary differences can hinder comprehension.
B.
Cultural barriers may mean that an audience doesn’t understand a speaker’s cultural
allusions.
C.
Personal barriers can obstruct listening.
1.
Physical factors such as hearing loss or sleepiness hinder listening.
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2.
Psychological factors such as stress or worry divert attention.
3.
You may experience receiver apprehension.
4.
Stereotyping
and
prejudices
interfere with listening.
5.
Attention wanders, partly because of the speech-thought differential (also known as
leftover thinking space
).
6.
Four thought patterns characterize listening.
a.
Small departures from the communication line can help or hinder.
b.
Going off on a tangent means the listeners depart into their own worlds.
c.
Engaging in private argument is one way to close one’s mind.
d.
Taking large departures means that listeners’ minds wander to unrelated topics,
return, wander, and return.
III.
Several strategies can improve listening.
A.
Have a listening purpose.
1.
Comprehensive listening, listening for information, is an important skill.
a.
Prepare in advance by finding some information on the topic.
b.
During the speech, direct attention by taking notes.
c.
Remember your goals and consider your investment in the topic.
d.
Use elaboration strategies.
e.
Use strategies that complement one’s personal learning style.
f.
Don’t get hung up on delivery.
B.
You can improve your critical listening skills.
1.
Critical listening skills help you sort through competing claims.
2.
You use advanced listening skills to analyze evidence.
3.
Critical listening skills build on comprehensive listening skills.
4.
Critical listening is your response to the speaker’s general purpose to persuade.
5.
In a diverse culture, it is psychologically rewarding to seek out speakers who bolster
and affirm your ideas, however, make sure to submit all persuasive messages to critical
evaluation.
IV.
Dialogical listening involves nonverbal, verbal, and written feedback.
A.
Nonverbal messages are communicated through posture, movements, and distance.
1.
A posture of involvement can help focus attention.
2.
Eye contact helps focus attention.
3.
Shorter distances between speakers and listeners can increase involvement.
4.
Avoid disruptive movements and make supportive movements that help the speaker.
B.
Appropriate verbal feedback includes both questions and comments.
1.
Clarification questions ask for information to clear up confusion about the message.
2.
Closed questions
ask for brief, specific answers.
3.
Open questions invite more lengthy responses.
4.
Loaded questions have implicit assumptions that put the speaker on the defensive.
5.
Requests for elaboration
ask speakers to expand on their ideas.
6.
Comments provide information that supplements the speech.
C.
Provide written feedback using the D-R-E Method (describe-respond-evaluate).
1.
Describe what you heard.
2.
Respond with a personal interpretation or reaction.
3.
Evaluate by critiquing what was effective and what could improve.
Suggested Videos
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Malcolm X. Show a clip from this film (www.americanrhetoric.com has several excerpts) or one from
another film that shows a speaker and audience in a “call and response” interaction. (knowledge,
comprehension)
•
Before the clip, review the pattern and emphasize that some cultures place great value on the
co-creation of meaning.
•
After the clip, discuss specific words and phrases the audience used to respond.
•
Analyze the function of the responses. That is, what effect do they have on the speaker? On
the listener personally? On the rest of the audience? (analysis, synthesis)
•
Why isn’t the call and response form common in board meetings or committee meetings? Or
is it there, but less obvious? Do you think a board made up of African Americans would use
more dialogical forms in meetings? Why or why not? (synthesis, analysis)
Informative Student Speech
•
Before the speech, announce the topic and ask students to identify their knowledge about it,
their interest in it, and the significance it has to them personally. Give the class about three
minutes to write down what they must do to pay attention and learn from the speech.
•
Direct them to jot down questions they’d ask the speaker and then show the speech.
•
Afterwards have them evaluate their listening. Did they comprehend? Did their attention
wander? Where? What did they do to refocus? Did they encounter biases? What did they do
to overcome them? Was something about the speaker distracting? What did they do to
overcome that? (application, evaluation)
Persuasive Student Speech
•
Follow the guidelines for the informative speech above. But ask questions related to critical
listening. What was the speaker’s bias? What were listeners asked to believe? To do? Was
enough evidence presented? What was the speaker’s source of information? Was she
believable?
Speech Illustrating a Schema. To help students understand the concept of schemas, play Reagan’s
tribute to the Challenger crew or Faulkner’s acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature,
available on www.americanrhetoric.com. The first is a eulogy, the second an acceptance
speech. Both were given because each speaker needed to “say something” about the situation he
addresses. Both speeches made it into the top 100 speeches of the 20th century. This ranking
reveals some of the expectations people have in the mental blueprint for a eulogy or an
acceptance speech.
•
Before the clip, describe the context in which the speech occurred.
•
In a whole group discussion, elicit the elements expected in an apology or a eulogy.
•
Play the video clip, directing students to listen for the expected elements.
•
After the video, ask what it was about the speech that met or exceeded the expectations
that people had in their schemas? (comprehension, application, analysis)
Discussion Topics
The Value of Listening (p. 43) Have students rank their communication behaviors in the order they
think they use them. Emphasize that listening takes up most people’s time. Then bring along a
page from your school’s catalogue that shows the course offerings and search for a course on
listening skills. (If your department offers a listening course, pat yourself on the back and read
the course description aloud; if not, discuss why not.)
•
Discuss the specific skills they need to listen in various contexts—with family and friends, in
the classroom, on the job, to radio or television programs.
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•
Give them ten or so minutes of in-class writing. Have them divide their waking time into
hour-long segments, then log their communication activities during a typical day. Ask them
to figure a rough percentage of how much time they spend in reading, writing, listening, and
speaking. Collect their papers and skim them, making appropriate comments.
(comprehension, application, evaluation)
Figure 4.1: The Chinese Character for Listening (p. 44) Have students discuss the significance of this
symbol and its implications in terms of communication.
Barriers to Listening (pp. 43-44) Discuss the listening barriers described in the text and then follow
up by having them vote on which barriers are the most challenging for them.
Figure 4.2: Four Thought Patterns (pp. 45-46) Elicit examples that illustrate each pattern.
(application)
Figure 4.3 Schemas (p. 48) Use the suggested videos on www.americanrhetoric.com to identify
elements of specific speech schemas.
Cultural Listening Styles (pp. 48-49).Use one of the Suggested Videos that illustrates cultural
listening styles. Or ask students to contribute examples from their cultural traditions.
(application)
Listening Purposes Use Teaching Idea 4.1 in Supplemental Resources to illustrate a variety of
listening purposes. (comprehension, application)
Improving Comprehensive Listening (p. 46) Use one or more of the videos of informative speeches
you can access through MindTap or the instructor’s resource website.
Improving Critical Listening (pp. 12-15) Use one or more of the speech videos available via
MindTap or the instructor’s resource website
to show and discuss a persuasive student speech.
Co-creation of Meaning (Dialogical Listening) (p. 50) Review the concept of co-creation of meaning and
ask how the student listeners can create meaning in a variety of contexts—examples include: a
protest rally, a lecture, a dispute with a parent, a religious service. (application, synthesis)
Nonverbal Feedback (pp. 50-51). Have students listen to a classroom speech using the suggestions
for #4 Critical Thinking Exercises. (comprehension, analysis) (application)
Give Verbal Feedback. (pp. 51-52) Discuss the types of questions and comments listed on page 64
and ask students to keep them in mind as they listen to you lecture on a short section of the
chapter. After you finish, assign them to small groups and have them construct at least two types
of questions. After a few minutes, reassemble the entire class and elicit their questions,
identifying each type. Answer appropriately. Discuss how this process co-creates meaning.
Provide Written Feedback. (p. 52) Have students watch a videotaped speech or listen to a classmate’s
speech and then use the D-R-E Method for writing comments. Discuss how this process is one
way to co-create meaning.
Diversity in Practice: Saving Face (p. 52) Link the notion of saving face to ethics, as discussed in
Chapter 3. How is helping someone else save face arguably ethical? When is public shaming ever
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called for? (Discuss specific incidents in American politics and public life in which people’s
embarrassing mistakes were publicized through extensive media coverage. Assess the positive
and/or negative results of the incident.) (synthesis, evaluation)
Critical Thinking Exercises
(See p. 54 of the textbook for Critical Thinking Exercises)
Application Exercises
(See pp. 54-55 of the textbook for Application Exercises)
Internet Activities
You can access instructor’s resources at http://www.cengage.com/us/. You will need your instructor’s
access code. Students and instructors may also go to MindTap to find a broad range of resources that
will help students better understand the material in the chapter, complete assignments, and succeed
on tests. MindTap also features speech videos with critical viewing questions, speech outlines, and
transcripts.
Supplemental Resources
•
Teaching Idea 4.1: Listening to Various Types of Material
•
Teaching Idea 4.2: Lecture Option—The Process of Listening
Teaching Idea 4.1: Listening to Various Types of Material
Purpose: To have students understand various listening purposes.
Procedure: Make three tapes with excerpts (about 3 minutes long) from three very different types of
speeches. Examples: a biology class lecture, an opinion piece taped off the radio such as a
commentary from National Public Radio, and an excerpt from an inspirational narrative like Dave
Dravecky’s life story. I’ve used a clip from a news program that is arguably more persuasive than
informative.
Construct a handout with 4-5 questions that ask specific information about each speech. For
example (from an anatomy and physiology lecture):
1.
How does the speaker support his claim that muscles are important?
2.
What does “masticate” mean?
3.
What is his point (his claim) in the butterfly example?
4.
What is his general purpose?
5.
What do you remember most about the lecture?
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Have students listen to all three tapes without taking notes. Then, divide the class into groups, give
each group a set of questions, and have a recorder write the group’s answers. Go over their answers
together.
Throughout, refer to the material in the text and the supplementary lecture, if you used it. Did
vocabulary words hinder comprehension? Were there any unknown cultural allusions? What
listening schema, if any, did they activate to help them interpret the various speeches? Where did
their attention wander? Which material do they remember best? Why?
Teaching Idea 4:2: Lecture Option—The Process of Listening
Listening is part of the total process of cognition or thinking that includes five stages: receiving,
discriminating, attending, assigning meaning, and remembering. (You’ll find a list of the stages,
suitable for transfer to a transparency, in the materials at the end of this chapter.)
Receiving If our ears function normally, we hear sounds continually. However, if there are problems
in our anatomy or in the sound itself, we cannot receive the sensory data basic to good listening.
•
Some people have anatomical impairments that prevent reception and processing of sounds.
•
Problems can also exist in the sound source. Speakers’ voices may be too soft to carry.
Competing sounds, such as static in the microphone or noise in the hall during the speech, may
also make it difficult to receive sounds.
Discriminating Not only must we hear, we must distinguish among the sounds we hear and make
out meaningful words and phrases. Many factors can hinder this. A speaker’s accent might make the
discrimination of sounds difficult, or static in the microphone may distort the sound. Furthermore,
acoustics can be so poor that resulting echoes distort the sounds.
Attending If there are no problems in the reception or discrimination of sounds, we must then focus
our perception by paying attention—which is not always easy. There are three important things to
know about attention:
•
Attention is selective. Our interests, beliefs, and experiences predispose us to listen through filters
by which we focus on some sounds and not others.
➢
Example: You’re driving a car and talking to your friend as the radio plays, your attention is
on the conversation—not the road noise or the radio sounds. When a traffic bulletin warns of
an accident in your area, your attention shifts to the bulletin. Your friend continues to speak,
but you are not hearing her; your focus is on the radio message.
➢
Example from public speaking: Some people pay close attention to physics lectures but find a
discussion of the economy difficult to follow. We often listen differently to a speaker who
supports our ideas on capital punishment than one whose ideas differ radically from ours.
We may also pay more attention to certain parts of speeches, ignoring the statistics but
paying attention to stories about real people.
•
Attention fluctuates. Our attention can shift due to external causes—there’s a noise outside, then
the microphone static attracts our attention, finally, our focus returns to the speaker. However,
instead of paying attention to her words, we notice a distracting mannerism or hear the noise her
bracelet makes as it hits the podium.
➢
We also have internal reasons for fluctuating attention. We think at the rate of about 500
words per minute, but the normal speaking rate is about 150 words a minute. The difference
in the speed of thinking and the speed of speaking is termed the speech-thought differential.
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➢
It is common for a speaker’s words to trigger related thoughts in our minds, and we may find
that we have “wandered” off on a tangent where we remain in our own mental world until
something—perhaps audience laughter or a teacher’s question—returns our focus to the
speaker. Although we continue to receive sounds the whole time, we do not attend to them.
•
Attention requires energy. Because we often listen quietly, it may seem that we are doing
nothing; however, listening is an active process. Our minds busily receive and sort ideas, relating
them to what we already know, checking them against our beliefs, sifting the important and
significant from the less important, and searching for categories to classify the information.
During the speech-thought differential, we form images in our minds, predict what will be said
next, or predict consequences.
Assigning meaning. Listening is more than simply hearing or even focusing on sounds, it requires
that we assign meaning to the sounds we hear by thinking about the literal and figurative meaning of
the words and ideas presented.
We also assign meaning to the way in which speakers present their ideas. If they speak confidently
from conviction, their intense involvement with the topics becomes part of the total message such as,
“This is important, pay attention,” or “I care about this topic and so should you.” If, however, they
are tentative and apologetic or appear apathetic about the subject, we may get an entirely different
message, concluding, “This does not matter a great deal.”
Remembering. A test of listening skill is our ability to understand and remember what we hear, for
ideas are of no long term value unless we can recall them. The common saying, “In one ear and out
the other,” reflects the fact that we forget much of what we hear. Many people tend to overestimate
how well they listen—thinking they remember 75-80% of what they hear, when, in fact, average
listeners recall only about 25%.*
Example: Think about a lecture you heard last week in any class. Can you remember the main
points? What arguments or evidence did the instructor use? Would you feel confident taking a
detailed test on the information today? What if your term grade depended on that test?
Remembering involves a deep level of mental processing in which we put the ideas into our long
term memories. This process is aided by mentally repeating and translating the speaker’s ideas into
our own words, making extensive connections to related ideas, and taking notes and reviewing them
after the speech or lecture.
*Roach, C. A. & Wyatt, N. J. (1990). Listening and the rhetorical process. In J. Stewart (Ed.) Bridges not
walls: A book about interpersonal communication (5th ed., pp. 169-173). New York: McGraw Hill.
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The Listening Process
1.
Receiving
2.
Discriminating
3.
Attending
o Attention is selective.
o Attention fluctuates.
o Attention requires energy.
4.
Assigning meaning
5.
Remembering