Chapter 6 Content-Oriented Listeners

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COMM5 Instructor Manual Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Listening

Goal: To understand the necessity of listening, receiving information accurately, and

responding appropriately

Overview: This chapter discusses effective listening and its importance in our daily lives.

The levels of listening are discussed with suggestions on how to improve each type.

Learning Outcomes

6-1 Define listening.

6-2 Identify the three challenges of listening.

6-3 Practice the steps involved in active listening.

6-4 Employ strategies to respond effectively in different situations.

Key Terms

Listening

Listening style

Content-oriented

Listeners

People-oriented listeners

Action-oriented listeners

Time-oriented listeners

Listening apprehension

Passive listening

Active listening

Attending

Understanding

Question

Paraphrasing

Content paraphrase

Feelings paraphrase

Empathy

Empathetic

Responsiveness

Perspective taking

Sympathetic

Responsiveness

Remembering

Repetition

Mnemonic device

Evaluating

Facts

Inferences

Responding

Feedback cues

Supportive responses

Figures and Tables

Figure 6.1 Guidelines for Supportive Responses

Figure 6.2 Guidelines for Critiquing Others

Figure 6.3 Examples of Effective and Ineffective Speech Critiques

Chapter Outline

I. Listening consists of complex affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes. Affective

processes are those that motivate us to attend to a message. Cognitive processes

include understanding and interpreting its meaning and behavioral processes are those

related to responding with verbal and nonverbal feedback.

II. Challenges to Effective Listening

A. Listening style is our favored and usually unconscious approach to listening

1. Content-oriented listeners focus on and evaluate the facts and evidence

2. People-oriented listeners focus on the feelings their conversational partners

may have about what they are saying

3. Action-oriented listeners focus on the ultimate point the speaker is trying to

make

4. Time-oriented listeners prefer brief and hurried conversations and often use

nonverbal and verbal cues to signal that their partner needs to be more

concise

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B. Listening apprehension is the anxiety we feel about listening.

C. Passive listening is the habitual and unconscious process of receiving messages. By

contrast, active listening is the deliberate and conscious process of attending to,

understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding to messages

III. Active Listening

A. Attending: the perceptual process of selecting and focusing on specific stimuli from

the countless stimuli reaching the senses

1. Get physically and mentally ready to listen

2. Resist mental distractions

3. Hear the person out

B. Understanding: accurately interpreting a message.

1. Identify the main point

2. Ask questions

3. Paraphrase the message to check your understanding

a. Content paraphrase: restating the denotative meaning of a statement

b. Feelings paraphrase: restating the emotions attached to the message

4. Empathize

a. Empathic responsiveness: when we experience an emotional response

parallel to another person’s actual or anticipated display of emotion

b. Perspective taking: using everything we know about the sender and his or

her circumstances to understand his or her feelings.

c. Sympathetic responsiveness: feeling concern, compassion, or sorrow for

another’s situation.

C. Remembering: being able to retain and recall information later

1. Repeat information: saying something two, three, or even four times

2. Construct mnemonics: any artificial technique used as a memory aid

3. Take notes: an important strategy for learners when attempting to listen to

absorb information from lecture-type speech

D. Evaluating: the process of critically analyzing a message to determine its

truthfulness, utility, and trustworthiness.

1. Separate facts from inferences

2. Probe for information

E. Responding: providing feedback

1. Regardless of the situation in ways that demonstrate respect as well as

clarity.

2. Sometimes the appropriate response is to reassure, encourage, soothe,

console, or cheer up. Supportive responses create an environment that

encourages the other person to talk about and make sense of a distressing

situation

3. When we cannot agree with what a speaker has said, our messages will be

most effective if they clearly demonstrate respect.

4. The goals when providing a formal constructive speech critique are to

remember that your goal is to be respectful, honest, and helpful

COMM5 Instructor Manual Chapter 6

a. When critiquing content, comment on the appropriateness of the

speech for that particular audience and the use of faces and

inferences, the logic of the arguments, and evidence used to support

ideas.

b. When critiquing structure, focus on the introduction (attention catcher,

thesis statement, main point preview), organizational patterns of main

points, transitions, and concluding remarks.

c. When critiquing delivery, comment on the use of voice (intelligible,

conversational expressive) and use of body (attire, poise, eye contact,

facial expressions, gestures)

d. When critiquing presentational aids, talk about construction (large,

neat colorful, visual symbol system) and integration (concealed,

revealed, and referenced during the speech).

Technology Resources

Mnemonics

http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html Mindtools.com is a great site that describes and

provides links to a variety of mnemonic techniques.

Public Speaking

http://publicspeakingproject.org/ This website offers an assortment of tools to help people

with their public speaking skills, either at a low cost or for free. The website also offers

relevant pedagogy and a forum for speech teachers.

Movies

Movies and movie clips can be used to help students grasp concepts. Clips can be shown in

class, or movies can be assigned as homework. Following the movie clips, ask students

written or oral questions. These questions should address pertinent concepts, thereby

actively engaging students in discussion.

The Soloist (2009)

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements, some drug use, and language)

Synopsis: This drama is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who

developed schizophrenia and became homeless and played the cello in the streets of L.A.

Steve Lopez, a journalist, discovers Ayers and writes several stories about him and the

problem of homelessness in L.A. The complexities of the issue of homelessness and Ayers’

personal struggles are the focus of the film.

Questions for discussion:

1. What type of listening to do you think Lopez engages in when he communicates with

Ayers?

2. Do you think Ayers has never told his story before telling it to Lopez, or has no one ever

really listened? What is the difference between listening and hearing?

3. Do you think we (in the U.S.) listen to mentally disabled people differently than we listen

to people without mental disabilities?

4. How does listening to Ayers help Lopez learn about himself? How does listening to

others give us insight about ourselves?

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Erin Brockovich (2000)

Rated: R (Profanity)

Synopsis: Erin Brockovich is a single mom who works as a clerk for a lawyer. In the course

of her work, she stumbles across a pro-bono case about water contamination. After doing

some investigating, she learns that the property named in the case, owned by a powerful

utility company, has been contaminated by a highly toxic, highly carcinogenic compound

that can get into a person’s DNA. Winning the case looks promising, but with the expense

involved in fighting a corporate giant, Erin’s boss is reluctant to pursue it. In the meantime,

the time that Erin is spending on this case is straining her relationship with her boyfriend

and her children.

Questions for discussion

1. At times, Erin Brockovich demonstrates excellent empathic listening skills . However,

there are times when her attending listening skills are less effective. Find an example

where she demonstrates good empathy skills and another where she demonstrates poor

attending skills.

2. How do the residents of the town react to the big corporate lawyers? Why do you think

they react in this way?

3. Erin learns the names, phone numbers, and case histories of more than 600 people by

heart. How does she remember and retain so much about the case histories?

The King’s Speech (2010)

Rates: R (Profanity, Mature themes)

Synopsis: King George VI is an unlikely heir to the throne after his brother abdicates the

throne for a woman. His ascension to power is not unfettered. Standing in his way is a

speech impediment. The film undergoes both inner and outer journeys for this monarch and

the people who helped him succeed not only as a king, but also as a person.

Questions for discussion

1. Describe the listening and feedback relationship between King George VI and Lionel

Logue, his speech therapist.

2. What kind of listening style does Logue employ and how does he use his own

listening and speech skills to help the king succeed?

3. Discuss times in the film when either active or passive listening is evident. What is

the reason and result of this type of listening relevant to both personal and public

issues?

4. Why is Logue a successful evaluator of the king and how does he teach the king to

evaluate himself?

Additional suggested movies: Twelve Angry Men (1957) (listening, group

communication); The Red Violin (1998) (listening); Dead Man Walking (1996) (listening)

Marvin’s Room (1996) (Listening, remembering, understanding, and responding) Milk

(2008) (listening and speaking); Birdman (2015) (listening, challenges to listening);

Whiplash (2015) listening, challenges to listening; Arrival (2016) (understanding and

responding); Silence (2016) (understanding and responding)

Other Media Resources

1. Effective Listening: The Key to Classroom Attendance

http://www.nade.net/documents/SCP97/SCP97.9.pdf

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2. International Listening Association

http://www.listen.org

3. Evie Glen: How to Listen with Your Whole Body

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3V6zNER4g

4. Critical Reading Strategies for Students

http://www.readinghorizons.com/reading-strategies/reading-strategies-that-work-for-

struggling-readers

Diverse Voices

Hearing a Life Journey

by Heather Whitestone McCallum

On September 17, 1994, Heather Whitestone became the first Miss America with a

disability. Profoundly deaf since she was 18 months old, Heather’s ballet dance at the

pageant wowed the audience. Since relinquishing her crown, Heather has married, borne

two sons, and established herself as a popular speaker and author. In 1995, she continued

her lifelong struggle to hear by undergoing a cochlear implant.

I lost my hearing when I was 18 months old. Before I became deaf, I was communicating

like any other 18-month-old hearing child. I contracted meningitis and high fever that

almost resulted in my death. In an effort to bring my fever down, my doctors gave me two

strong antibiotics with risky side effects. Those medications saved my life, but they also

took their toll on my young body. I left the hospital with a profound hearing loss, but my

parents did not know about my deafness until several months later when my mother

dropped some pans in the kitchen that made a crashing sound. The noise scared everybody

in the family, but I did not react to the sound. Tests revealed that I had at least a 120-

decibel hearing loss in my right ear and a 90-decibel hearing loss in my left ear—and that’s

why I’m wearing my hearing aid. Without my hearing aid and a cochlear implant, I hear

nothing from either ear.

I have depended on a hearing aid for my left ear ever since I was a toddler, and with it I

can talk on the phone, listen to music, and hear sirens. Of course, I cannot understand what

people are saying on the radio nor can I understand a conversation with a group of people

or hear a preacher or a speaker from the stage.

My mother was a schoolteacher so we did a lot of homework. She chose an acoupedic

approach to my hearing, which meant I had to use what hearing I had and to rely on

auditory stimulation. I visited a private speech therapist twice a week. It took me six years

to say my last name correctly. I did not learn sign language until I was in 11th grade. I was

mainstreamed in a public hearing school until 4th grade, and then I attended Central

Institute for the Deaf, which was an oral school located in St. Louis, Missouri. When I was

14 years old, I went back to public high school and graduated with 3.6 GPA without having

a sign language interpreter. I had only hearing friends most of my childhood because I was

the only deaf child in the public schools. However, by the time I became a teenager, I had

several oral deaf friends. It was healthy for me to have both deaf and hearing friends.

Lip reading has been a primary source of communication for me, but I also listened with

the help of my hearing aid. If I only read lips, I would not get very much information. When

I was a little girl, I was discouraged from relying upon lip reading. My mother, my teachers,

and my speech therapist would all cover their lips in order to challenge me to develop my

residual hearing in my left ear.

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I find lip reading very stressful and frustrating because I am often confused. One-on-one

conversations are not that stressful, but group conversations when coupled with background

noise are nearly impossible. Lip reading is a grueling and exhausting mental exercise and lip

readers are constantly thinking and trying to discern what is actually being said. For

example, if you look at person’s lips saying (the words) dog and saw, they look the same.

With my hearing aid alone, I do not hear s or d sounds. So usually I have to use my

common sense. Then I know it was not the saw that ran across the street—it was the dog.

Most hearing people do not understand that people in my position have to think incredibly

fast in order to keep up with conversations. I get real mad at those who think that I am

stupid simply because I cannot hear. The truth is I get exhausted after a while and simply

cannot keep up. At that point, I begin to guess at what is being said and eventually give up

and choose to be quiet.

I was relatively content with my deafness and my hearing aid until my oldest son started

to become more independent. He began to walk away from me instead of being in my arms,

and he also began talking more. He often asked me questions about the sounds he had

heard, and I could not answer his questions because I did not know what he was hearing. I

also realized that I missed his crying from a distance. One time in particular, Little John fell

down in the backyard and I saw my husband walking to him and comforting him. My

husband had heard him crying and I had not. It bothered me in a great way because I

wanted to be there for my boys. That is why I chose to have a cochlear implant in my right

ear.

Prior to having cochlear implant surgery, I wore only one hearing aid in my left ear. I

had not heard a sound from my right ear for 28 years, not even with the help of hearing

aid. [As a result] my right ear and brain connections did not have an opportunity to develop

language and speech when I was a toddler. For adults like me who have not heard sounds

for many years, the decision to receive an implant is more complicated as many people in

my position have no history of comprehending sound. Further, my brain is not like that of a

child and is not very interested in learning to do something new.

My husband, John, my boys, my mother, and [my] mother-in-law were with me when I

first heard my first sound—the clapping hands of my audiologist, Jennifer Yeagle. When I

first heard the clapping, I heard it and thought it was a dream. Then she clapped again. It

hit me that the sound was real, not a dream. I immediately began weeping.

During the first four months with the cochlear implant, I learned that having better

hearing takes much determination and a lot of faith in God. Changing my lifestyle is painful

and frustrating, but I believe it is worth it because I did finally hear my boys’ cries from the

backyard. Four months after surgery, I realized that I was beginning to understand my

boys’ speech better. For example, before I had a cochlear implant, my oldest son had to

repeat what he said about ten times. Now he only has to repeat two or three times. I am

getting better at hearing.

Source: Whitestone McCallum, Heather. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. Heather.

Retrieved from www.heatherwhitestone.com/site/content/faqs.shtml

Reflection Questions

1. What might Whitestone McCallum be able to share about active listening?

2. What kind(s) of listener do you believe Whitestone McCallum to be?

3. How is Whitestone McCallum’s understanding process different because of her disability?

COMM5 Instructor Manual Chapter 6

Discussion and Assignment Ideas

I. Can listening be taught? If so, how should society teach better listening skills? If not,

what can we do to improve?

II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, questions perspectives, or gain

individual opinion. Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or

reflect on their personal feelings about the quote can help to spark discussion and

interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this concept in your own words”; “Do

you agree with this statement? Explain”; “What text material can be used to support or

refute this idea?” “How can any or all of these quotations be applied to concepts from

chapter 5”; “What might these people say to Heather Whitestone McCallum (the author

above) or vice versa?”

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

—Frank Tyger

I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if

I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.

—Larry King

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I

thought, and attended to my answer.”

— Henry David Thoreau

III. How do you feel when someone listens to your stories intently? How do you feel when

you can tell someone is not listening? How can you be sure to convey active listening

skills during all conversations? Why is empathy important in listening, understanding,

and providing feedback?

IV. Working in groups, have each person in class select a newspaper or magazine article

and prepare a two-minute reading of it. As each person reads, ask half the group to take

notes and have the other students use a mnemonic device of their choice to remember

the content. At the end of each reading, ask class members who did not take notes to

pair up with a student who took notes. Have the students share what they heard with

each other and compare the results. Have students discuss why they chose to write

what they did. Did note-taking increase accuracy? What about comprehension? Why or

why not? How does this lesson help us become better listeners? What are some

strategies for better memories, to be better students, and to be better readers?

Video Conversation

Damien and Chris work in a small shop selling shirts and gifts. Usually they get along well,

but lately Chris has seemed standoffish. Damien decides to talk with Chris to see if anything

is wrong. Damien approaches Chris in the break room. After you’ve watched the video of

Damien and Chris and have read the transcript of their conversation, answer the following

questions.

1. What does Damien do that shows he’s attending?

2. What does Damien do that demonstrates his understanding?

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3. Does Damien use critical listening to separate facts from inferences?

4. How does Damien show empathy?

5. What kinds of things does Chris say that alerts Damien he is listening and understanding?

DAMIEN: Chris, you’ve been kind of quiet lately, man. What’s been going on?

DAMIEN: Come on, man, what’s going on?

CHRIS: Just life. (He shrugs.) I’m just kind of down right now.

DAMIEN: Well, what am I here for? I thought we were friends.

CHRIS: (He thinks briefly and decides to talk about it.) Well, Carl’s been on my case the

last few weeks.

DAMIEN: Why? Did you do something?

CHRIS: Oh, he says that I’m sloppy when I restock and that I’m not always “polite” to our

customers. You know, just ’cuz I don’t smile all the time. I mean, what does he want—little

Mary Sunshine?

DAMIEN: So you’re angry with the boss.

CHRIS: Yeah, I guess. . . . No, no, not so angry. I’m just frustrated. I come in to work

every day, and I try to do my job, and I don’t complain. You know, I’m sick and tired of

getting stuck back there in the stock room reorganizing everything. It’s not like they’re

paying us big bucks here. And Carl shouldn’t expect us to be charming with everybody who

walks through that door. I mean, half of the people who walk through that door are, well,

they’re totally rude and act like jerks.

DAMIEN: Yeah, I feel like you on that. Some of those people shouldn’t be allowed out in

public. What is Carl saying about how you’re dealing with the customers?

CHRIS: Oh, he just says that I’ve changed and that I’m not being “nice.” I mean, he used

to call me his top guy.

DAMIEN: I mean, you know how Carl is. He’s a fanatic about customer service. You know

how, when we first started, he drilled us about being polite and smiling and being courteous

at all times. So maybe when he says “you’re not being nice,” he just means that you’re not

doing it the way you used to. I mean, I’ve noticed a change. I mean, you’re just not

yourself lately. Is anything going on outside of work?

CHRIS: You could say that. Sarah and I just bought a house, so money’s been a bit tight.

Now, she wants to quit her job and start a family, and I’m not sure we can afford it. On top

of it all, my kid sister shows up a few weeks ago on our doorstep, pregnant, and so she’s

living with us. So yeah, it is a bit overwhelming. And I’m a bit worried that Carl’s going to

fire me.

DAMIEN: Wow, that is a lot of stuff! I can understand why you’re down, but did Carl really

threaten to fire you?

CHRIS: No, no, but I’m not perfect, and he could use my “attitude” as an excuse to fire me.

DAMIEN: Well, did you think about telling him what’s been going on? And maybe, you

know, he’ll understand and cut you some slack.

CHRIS: Or he could see that I really have changed and he’d can me.

DAMIEN: OK, well, just tell me this. Do you like working here?

CHRIS: Yeah, of course I do.

DAMIEN: OK, well, then, you’ve just got to tough it out. I mean, you’ve just got to use the

game face on these people. You used to be the best at doing that. So you’re just gonna

have to get back to being a salesman, and leave everything else behind.

CHRIS: I guess I never realized how much my problems were affecting my work. I thought

Carl was just out to get me, but now you’re noticing something too, then maybe I have

changed. Thanks, thanks for talking this out.

COMM5 Instructor Manual Chapter 6

Chapter Activities

6.1: Conveying and Listening Effectively

Purpose: To allow students to experience the difficulty of listening effectively to a

confusing message with additional external noise

Time: 20 minutes

Process: Create two designs or shapes that can each be drawn on an index card.

Create pairs of the cards, with each card in the pair showing a different

design. Have each student find a partner, and ask the partners to sit back to

back. Give each set of partners a paired card set, giving one student card A

and the other student card B. Don’t let the partners see each other’s card.

Tell the partners to pick a role: the describing partner or the drawing partner.

The describing partner is responsible for describing the image on his or her

card. The drawing partner is responsible for drawing the object according to

the describing partner’s directions. Have partners switch roles and use the

new describing partner’s card. Repeat the exercise. Debrief by having

students compare their drawings with the images on the cards. Ask questions

such as these:

• How would you rate your listening skills during this exercise?

• How hard was it to understand your partner? Why?

• What was missing from this exercise that you would normally have during a

conversation, enabling you to listen more effectively?

This activity can be used to review verbal, nonverbal, perception, and

conversation ideas as well as practice listening skills.

6.2: Listening and Gender

Purpose: To enable the possibility of gender empathy regarding listening differences

Time: 30 minutes

Process: Remind students that a common complaint from women is that men don’t

listen well. Discuss whether there is an actual gender-based difference in

listening effectiveness, or perhaps a difference in the perception of what it

means to listen. Divide the class into groups by gender. Ask the men to list

reasons for the complaint about their poor listening skills, or refute, or both.

Ask the women to discuss the complaint and provide evidence to support it.

After 10 minutes of discussion, ask each group to write down their findings as

lists, then exchange their lists for 5 minutes of separate group discussion.

Conduct a role-play in which the women take the male roles and vice versa,

using the information provided in the written lists they’ve gotten from the

opposing group (i.e., the women use the men’s list and vice versa):

Simulation: A talk show in which three “women” talk about what poor

listeners their male significant others are. The “men” then come out to justify,

explain, or refute their behaviors. The instructor or a student volunteer can

serve as the talk show host. The rest of the class should take the role of the

talk show audience, but they all need to role-play from the perspective of the

other gender.

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6.3: Group Listening in Conversation

Purpose: To provide a general introduction to listening challenges

Time: 40 minutes

Process: Form groups of five and instruct each to select a controversial topic for

discussion. (Providing current campus-related topic suggestions is helpful.)

Designate one of the members of each group as an observer. Give each

observer the following evaluation checklist, but instruct observers not to

disclose what they are observing. After the discussion, have each observer

report his or her findings to the class. After the observers report, have

discussion groups answer the following questions:

• Does controversy make it more difficult to listen?

• What factors led to listening difficulties?

• Are you a better or worse listener with topics you find interesting? Topics on

which you possess knowledge? Topics you consider important?

• What are the nonverbal and verbal behaviors that demonstrate effective

listening?

Evaluation Checklist

Indicate your agreement with the following factors: 3 indicates high

agreement, 2 indicates moderate agreement, and 1 indicates low agreement.

Write comments to support your perceptions.

_____ Group members were courteous.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Group members listened attentively to contributions.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Messages were understood and responded to accurately.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Individuals interrupted speakers to get in their comments.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Group members showed boredom by their nonverbal facial

expressions, gestures, and lack of eye contact .

_____________________________________________________

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_____ Interesting discussion raised the listening level of group members.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Everyone in the group participated.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Good listening played an important role in the outcome of the

discussion.

_____________________________________________________

_____ Poor listening played an important role in the outcome of the

discussion

_____________________________________________________

6.4: Listening Log

Purpose: To evaluate and reflect on listening habits demonstrated in the media

Time: 25 minutes

Equipment: 10-minute video or audio clip of a talk show or other news interview program

Process: Ask students to keep a log of the listening skills of the host and the guest(s).

They are to count the number of times they notice each type of good or poor

listening habit from each person.

Listening Habit

Guest 1

Guest 2

Host

Good listening skills

Demonstrated empathy

Paraphrased effectively

Listened correctly

Repeated information correctly

Asked effective questions

Separated facts from inferences

Poor listening skills

Demonstrated impatience

Paraphrased incorrectly

Paraphrased ineffectively

Reacted before the speaker

finished

Asked misleading or ineffective

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questions

Confused fact with inference

Go through the listening log and ask the class to report what they found.

What factors led to listening difficulties? What factors led to good listening

behaviors? On balance, did the host listen effectively? How did this affect the

guest(s)? What about the guests—were they good listeners? How did this

affect the host? Why do you think these kinds of listening behaviors show up

in the media? Do you think this is typical of most listening, or is it different

because of the forum? Are the best speakers also the best listeners? Explain.

Describe the listening and speaking skills of someone whom you deem

effective or impactful in the talk show or news interview program.

6.5 Active Listening

Purpose: To teach and implement strategies for effective active listening

Time: 10 minutes

Process: Divide the group into pairs and let each pair have a listener and a speaker.

The speaker is then given a situation which he speaks on as the listener

actively listens to him. Then the listener tries to rephrase the speech, i.e.

expresses the same message in different words and offers his solution or

feedback to the speaker. The performance of both the listener and speaker is

reviewed and they are asked to swap roles. This exercise helps improve

communication skills and the ability to understand what others are saying.

These skills can help you work efficiently with each other.

Adapted from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/active-listening-activities.html

Skill Building

Questions and Paraphrases

Provide an appropriate question and paraphrase for each of these statements. To get you

started, look at this model:

Example: “It’s Dionne’s birthday, and I’ve planned a big evening. Sometimes I think

Dionne believes I take her for granted—well, after tonight she’ll know I think she’s

something special!”

Question: “What specific things do you have planned?”

Paraphrase: “If I’m understanding you, you’re really proud that you’ve planned a night

that’s going to be a lot more elaborate than what Dionne expects on her birthday.”

1. Luis: “It was just another mind-numbing class. I keep thinking one of these days

Professor Romero will get excited about something. He is a real bore!”

2. Angie: “Everyone seems to be raving about the new reality show on Channel 5 last

night, but I didn’t see it. You know, I don’t watch the boob tube.”

3. Kaelin: “I don’t know if it’s me or Mom, but lately she and I just aren’t getting along.”

4. Aileen: “I’ve got a report due at work and a paper due in management class. On top of

that, it’s my sister’s birthday, and so far I haven’t even had time to get her anything.

Tomorrow’s going to be a disaster.”

5. Suellen: “I bring cupcakes to work every Friday. Everyone always eats them and no one

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ever says thank you. Besides that, I don’t think anyone really appreciates me there. I

try so hard but people keep ignoring me.”

Journal Assignments

A. Listening Self-Analysis

How would you evaluate your listening skills? Which of the five steps in the listening process

causes the most difficulties for you? Are you consciously acting on all of the guidelines and

suggested steps for the listening process? What will you do to improve your listening

abilities?

B. Children & Listening

What special difficulties might children have with listening? Did any of you experience those

difficulties as a child? If so, what helped you learn to listen more effectively?

C. Listening for Understanding

How do you listen differently when you are listening for understanding versus when you are

listening for pleasure? Use examples in your description.

D. Active Listening Experiment

Spend a full hour simply listening to a significant other. Practice all the active listening

behaviors described in your text. Try to pay attention to your nonverbal behaviors and

make them demonstrate active listening. See what happens when you limit your verbal

reactions and only respond nonverbally during the conversation. Record the reaction and

impact on the relationship.

E. Public Speaking Improvements

Find a famous speech – both in transcript somewhere online and recorded on YouTube.

Read the guidelines for supportive responses and critiquing others and have them on hand

while you watch the speech. Pay attention to visual and nonverbal speech. What worked,

what didn’t? Listen and then read the transcript. What worked, what didn’t? Give advice for

speech writing and delivery.

What Would You Do?

A Question of Ethics

Janeen always disliked talking on the telephone—she thought it was an impersonal form of

communication. Thus, college was a wonderful respite. When friends called her, instead of

staying on the phone she could quickly run over to their dorm or meet them at a

coffeehouse.

One day during reading period and before exams, Janeen received a phone call from

Barbara, an out-of-town friend. Before she was able to dismiss the call with her stock

excuses, she found herself bombarded with information about old high school friends and

their whereabouts. Not wanting to disappoint Barbara, who seemed eager to talk, Janeen

tucked her phone under her chin and began straightening her room, answering Barbara with

the occasional “uh–huh,” “hmm,” or “wow, that’s cool!” As the “conversation” progressed,

Janeen began reading through her mail and then her notes from class. After a few minutes,

she realized there was silence on the other end of the line. Suddenly very ashamed, she

said, “I’m sorry, what did you say? The phone . . . uh, there was just a lot of static.”

Barbara replied with obvious hurt in her voice, “I’m sorry I bothered you. You must be

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terribly busy.”

Embarrassed, Janeen muttered, “I’m just really stressed, you know, with exams coming

up and everything. I guess I wasn’t listening very well; you didn’t seem to be saying

anything really important. I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“Nothing ‘important,’” Barbara answered. “I was just trying to figure out a way to tell

you. I know that you are friends with my brother Billy, and you see, we just found out

yesterday that he’s terminal with a rare form of leukaemia. But you’re right; it obviously

isn’t really important.” With that, she hung up.

1. How ethical was Janeen’s means of dealing with her dilemma of not wanting to talk on

the phone but not wanting to hurt Barbara’s feelings?

2. Identify ways in which both Janeen and Barbara could have used better and perhaps

more ethical interpersonal communication skills. Rewrite the scenario incorporating

these changes.

3. If you could edit what each girl said to the other after the problem was discovered, what

would you amend? Is either Janeen or Barbara, neither, or both to blame for the

animosity and sudden end to the telephone call?

4. Which specific guidelines from supportive responses or critiquing others could you give

either girl?

PopComm!

Pundit “Debates”: The Lost Art of Listening and the Future of Civil Democratic

Discourse in America

During their August 2009 recess, members of the U.S. Congress returned to their home

states amidst partisan wrangling over health care reform. Many of them held town hall

meetings, allowing citizens to debate the government’s proposed changes to the health care

system. They were shocked to encounter citizens shouting at one another and at their

elected representatives, refusing to listen to explanations and differing points of view. But

could this situation have been predicted given the steady diet of what now passes for

“debate” on televised news and opinion programs?

Today, the uncivil discourse spouted by television’s self-proclaimed pundits is so

widespread that comedian Stephen Colbert created a TV show, The Colbert Report, devoted

entirely to satirizing them. Mimicking real cable TV hosts, Colbert frequently interrupts his

guests, manipulates data, and has the unshakeable faith that his opinions are always right.

One of the first and most popular of these pundits is Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox’s The

O’Reilly Factor. O’Reilly’s aggressive pundit style has been widely copied by others such as

Lou Dobbs on CNN, Nancy Grace on Headline News, and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Taken

as a group, these TV talk show hosts are influencing a generation of Americans, whose only

exposure to the concept of democratic debate is informed by these programs.

But news programming that features in-depth interviews and discussion about policy

issues is not new. In 1945, Meet the Press debuted as a radio show, providing discussion

and debate among public officials and other policy experts about the issues of the day. The

program migrated to the NBC television network in 1947 and has been broadcast

continuously ever since.

In its original format, Meet the Press was considered part of NBC’s public information

programming, featuring a government official or a prominent expert who was quizzed by a

panel of well-known journalists. These discussions were moderated by the host of the show,

also a respected journalist. This format changed in the early 1990s, when journalist and

lawyer Tim Russert began hosting the show. Under the new format, Russert interviewed the

guests alone, and a panel of people with opposing viewpoints discussed the interview.

COMM5 Instructor Manual Chapter 6

Russert was known for ambushing his guests on air, confronting them with statements

they’d made in the past that differed from their current views and asking them to reconcile

the differing positions. In addition, the show’s panels are often populated by the same

combative pundits who appear on other TV news and opinion talk shows. As a result, Meet

the Press often succumbs to uncivil discourse characterized by interruptions, talk-overs, and

the demeaning of those who hold opposing views.

There are two reasons why public information programs meant to educate us about

important issues have become “gotcha” scream-fests. First, such shows are profitable for TV

networks because the costs to produce them are relatively low—they don’t require writers

or elaborate sets, and guests receive no compensation for sharing their opinions.

Second, viewers like edginess. Professor Dale Harrison of Auburn University explains,

“Rants add passion to news events and inspire people to take sides on issues”. This is

certainly not a new phenomenon. As journalist James Maguire points out, as far back as 80

B.C., Roman philosopher Cicero speculated that people are more convinced by pathos

(emotion) than by logos (logic). Professor Harrison acknowledges the effectiveness of

pathos, saying, “That’s not all bad, as long as viewers are skeptical about the facts

presented on TV rants and balance their media diet with more reliable sources of facts and

information”. But with newspaper circulation dropping precipitously, more Americans are

getting their news from TV sources, often choosing those whose ideological bent mirrors

their own. As a result, they are less likely to be exposed to valid arguments made by people

with opposing views.

Furthermore, as explored in a presentation by Diana Mutz, Byron Reeves, and Kevin

Wise at an annual meeting of the International Communication Association, experiments

show that although viewers are more likely to remember the main emphasis of the

arguments in less civil debates, they are also less likely to remember the actual arguments

underlying the positions. Compared to more civil debate, viewers are also less likely to

remember the arguments that are opposed to their own opinion.

Despite what viewers say they want, how well does the pundit debate style serve our

democracy? What would Thomas Jefferson—who said, “Information is the currency of

democracy”—think of Bill O’Reilly? How would John F. Kennedy—who said, “The ignorance

of the voter in a democracy impairs the security of all”—grade Keith Olbermann? And what

must Jesse Jackson—who said, “A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy”—make

of the talk-show round tables he participates in, where guests interrupt, fail to listen, and

insult other guests? Fair and balanced? You decide.

Sources:

Colapinto, J. (2006, August 11). Mad dog. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/6417561/mad_dog; Farhi, P. (2009, February

19). Political pundits, overpopulating the news networks. Washington Post. Retrieved from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021802267.html; Hau, L. (2008, April 28). Timber!

Newspaper circulation falls again. Forbes.com. Retrieved from

http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/28/newspapers-circulation-advertising-biz-media-

cx_lh_0428newspapers.html; Johnson, P. (2006, September 24). Cable rantings boost

ratings. USA Today. Retrieved from

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2006-09–24-media-mix_x.htm;

Maguire, J. (2007, February 22). Cicero’s rules of rhetoric and our own shout-fest. Maguire

Online. Retrieved from

http://www.maguireonline.com/2007/02/ciceros_rules_of_rhetoric_and.php; Mutz, D.,

Reeves, B., & Wise, K. (2003, May 27). Exposure to mediated political conflict: Effects of

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civility of interaction on arousal and memory. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the

International Communication Association, San Diego, CA. Retrieved from

http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p111574_index.html

Reflection Questions:

1. How does the above article implicitly define good news programs and based on your

reading and understanding of chapter 6, how would you define them?

2. What might be some other results of the decline of newspaper subscriptions?

3. In your opinion, what is the most reliable source of news and why?

4. How are the news shows described above essentially American?

5. Conjecture about both positive and negative results of “gotcha” shows. How could they

be improved?

Experiential Assignments

Critically Analyzing the Use of Facts and Inferences in the Media (see handout

below)

Watch a political talk show and an infomercial on television. If possible, record the two

programs so you can watch them more than once. While you are watching the programs,

note as many individual factual statements and inferences in each program as you can.

Next, write a paragraph in which you answer these questions: What was the ratio of factual

statements to inferences in the two programs (for example, 1-to-1, 1-to-2, and so on)? Did

these results surprise you? If so, how? Were the ratios different for the two programs? If so,

how did the results conform to or deviate from your expectations? How did evaluating the

inferences used in the two programs change your perception of their messages?

Creating Mnemonics

Mnemonics are useful memory aids. Construct a mnemonic for the five phases of the

listening process: attending, understanding, remembering, evaluating, and responding.

Record your mnemonic.

Tomorrow, while you are getting dressed, see whether you can recall all of the mnemonics

you have created. Then see whether you can recall the phases of the listening process from

the cues in your mnemonic. Write a brief paragraph describing your experience.

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Experiential Assignment Handouts

Critically Analyzing the Use of Facts and Inferences in the Media