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CHAPTER 3

Listening

Resource Guide

The opening page of each chapter in Communicating at Work lists desired learning outcomes. The

Resource Guide will assist you in locating activities and resources from the text and Instructor Manual

that are relevant to each objective.

Classroom Activities: 9

Chapter Objectives

Resources

Describe how effective listening can contribute to

your career success, and how false assumptions

about listening could impede your career.

Instructor’s Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 1, 2

Classroom Activities: 1, 2

Identify three major barriers to your listening

effectively and outline strategies for overcoming

each barrier.

In the text:

Activities: 1-3

Case Study: Careless Listening Leads to Ridicule

Ethical Challenge: Monitoring Employees’

Emotions

Culture at Work: Cultural Differences in Listening

Instructor’s Manual online:

Personal Reflection for Journaling

Discussion Launchers: 3-5

Classroom Activities: 3

Written Application Exercises: 1

Analyze your listening style(s), and explain how

you might use this knowledge to explain how to

better understand others.

Key terms: analytical listening, critical listening,

relational listening and task–oriented listening

Instructor’s Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 6,7

Classroom Activities: 4

Apply the six guidelines for listening to understand

and be able to create appropriate paraphrasing

response in given situations; apply guidelines

regarding evidence and appeals when listening to

evaluate.

Key terms: counterfeit questions, mindful

listening, mindless listening, paraphrasing, and

sincere questions

Instructor’s Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 8-11

Classroom Activities: 5-8

Written Application Exercises: 2, 3

Evaluate various listening approaches you could

use in a specific situation and describe the best

approach to accomplish your goals and enhance

your career relationships with others.

In the text:

Activities: 4, 5

Technology Tip: Listening to Voice Mail

Career Tip: Use a Telephone Log

Instructor’s Manual online:

Discussion Launchers: 12

Written Application Exercises: 4

Video Activities: 1-3

About Chapter 3

Chapter 3 demonstrates that communication is more than talking, and that one can listen and send out

messages simultaneously. This chapter provides ample opportunities to review concepts from previous

chapters and to reinforce skills taught earlier. Chapter 1 introduced the notion that communication is a

transactional process involving communicators who simultaneously send and receive messages. Chapter 2

discussed the need to listen to people who may communicate differently than we do. Chapter 3

emphasized the crucial (and often neglected) role of mindful listening in the communication process.

The first section of this chapter emphasizes the importance and value of effective listening. Research

oriented, analytical, and critical. Students should become aware that each style of listening has its place,

and should be encouraged to develop their capacity to listen from each approach. The final section

outlines guidelines for effective listening in two key applications: listening to understand and listening to

evaluate.

Personal Reflection for Individual Journaling Assignment

Recall a situation when you felt what you were saying was important but the person(s) to whom you were

speaking didn’t seem to be listening to you. What made you think they weren’t listening? How did that

make you feel? What listening barriers do you think were present? How can you use this personal

reflection to encourage yourself to listen more attentively to others?

Discussion Launchers

1. What examples of poor listening have you observed in the workplace, at school, or at home? What

were the consequences of the ineffective listening? In your experience, does ineffective listening

contribute as much, more than, or the same as ineffective speaking to the presence of organizational

2. In your own experience, particularly on the job, what are some of the reasons you and others have

listened poorly? Classify your examples according to those listed in the text. If possible, suggest

additional reasons not mentioned in the text.

3. List the barriers to listening identified in the book. Can you add others? Now, rank–order the entire

list from the most important (most frequent) barriers to the least important. Give examples to support

4. Based on your experience, which barrier to effective listening causes the most confusion in an

organizational setting? Illustrate with examples.

5. Identify typical differences between masculine and feminine listening styles. Do these differences

affect men’s and women’s ability to communicate effectively with each other? Explain your answer.

6. Do you believe you and other people have a predominant listening style? Is it difficult to switch styles

if you have a strong tendency toward one type of listening (such as task–oriented listening)? What

advantages are there to training yourself to competently switch styles?

7. Consider each style of listening explained in the text. Suggest scenarios in which each style might be

a good choice or a poor choice. Explain your choices. Can you find any relationships between the

listening styles introduced in this chapter and the cultural dimensions we read about in Chapter 2?

Explain.

8. Compare and contrast mindful and mindless listening. What is involved in each? When is each type

appropriate? Design a set of guidelines to help your classmates decide when it would be valuable to

evaluate a speaker’s message and when it would be helpful to withhold judgment.

9. Think of a time when another person evaluated your message before they took the time to completely

understand your meaning. Why did they do this? How did you know they were evaluating without

understanding? What impact did it have on your communication and on your relationship? (It is also

instructive to reverse roles and answer the same questions concerning a time when you evaluated

10. Which of the guidelines for “Listening More Effectively” do you find most useful? Are some

guidelines more suitable for specific contexts such as friendships, work, school, or completive sports?

Explain your answer.

11. Which of the guidelines for “Listening More Effectively” will be the most difficult for you to apply?

Why? What suggestions do you have for becoming more competent in this area?

12. Communication is an art, not just a science. Consequently, sometimes when we’re attempting to be

good communicators and use our best paraphrasing skills, either the other person isn’t receptive, or

our words just seem to come out wrong. Think of specific examples from your own experience that

illustrate this unfortunate possibility. Explain your example to the class, and ask your classmates to

Classroom Activities

1. A Good Listener

Objective: Students will recall and analyze examples of effective listening.

Procedure: Divide students into small groups. Instruct group members to describe someone they know

Class Discussion: Ask groups to share some of their favorite descriptions and guidelines. Try to match

2. Standardized Listening Tests

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to assess listening skills by using a

standard listening test.

Procedure: Obtain a standardized listening test. One that is readily available is: Barker, Larry L., and

Watson, Kittie W., Listen Up: Skills Assessment. Facilitator’s Guide.

The Watson–Barker Listening Test assesses five categories of listening skills: (1) evaluating message

content, (2) understanding meaning in conversation, (3) understanding and remembering lectures, (4)

evaluating emotional meaning, and (5) following instructions. It comes with a 20–minute videotaped

listening test followed by multiple–choice questions. This version has 20 questions. A longer version

includes two 40–minute videos (Form A and Form B) that can be used as pre– and post–listening tests.

Listen Up: Learning Activities, an activity manual, provides various activities you can employ to teach

3. Overcoming Listening Barriers

Objective: This activity helps students acknowledge ways they can improve their own listening.

Procedure: Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Ask each group to consider the

following question: “If you had one minute to give the best advice you could to help people overcome the

reasons they listen poorly and to become better listeners, what would you say? Be very specific.”

Class Discussion: On the board, create a column for each of the listening barriers listed in the text. Add

an additional column titled “Miscellaneous”. Elicit from each group some of their suggestions for

listening improvement. Have the class categorize each suggestion according to which barrier it

4. Listening Styles

Objective: This activity helps students understand differences among four types of listening styles and

understand when each style is appropriate or inappropriate. This exercise helps sensitize students to the

importance of developing a flexible listening style.

Procedure: Divide students into groups of four or five. Distribute copies of the following chart.

Exploring Styles of Listening

Characteristics

Relational

Listening

Analytical

Listening

Task–Oriented

Listening

Critical Listening

Key concerns of

this type of

listening

Tell me how

you feel about

this. I want to

be sure

everyone feels

heard.

Let’s consider

each contrasting

point of view and

look at all the

evidence before

we try to reach

any conclusions.

We need to make our

decision quickly, but

I’ll extend this

discussion for three

more minutes… IF

your point is relevant.

What are the

strengths and

weaknesses of this

idea? Have we done

the best possible job?

Example of a

response that

illustrates this

style of

listening

Situation when

such a comment

would be

appropriate

Situation when

such a comment

would not be

appropriate

How the person

being listened

to might feel

after hearing

this comment.

Ask each group to fill in the empty blocks. After students have filled in all blocks, ask group members to

read an example aloud. Their classmates’ task is to identify which style of listening the response

illustrates. Students will find that many responses could be classified as examples of more than one

Class Discussion: Ask students whether any of the styles seem to be appropriate in more situations than

others. Do some seem more polite? Are some more productive? Are some more self–serving? Have

students come up with their own emotive descriptions of each style.

5. Asking Sincere Questions

Objective: Students will differentiate between sincere versus counterfeit questions.

Procedure: Divide students into groups of four. Students in each group will assume the roles of Student

A, Student B, Student C, and Student D. The task of Student A is to talk about something interesting that

happened to her or him during the past week. (If students claim that they can’t think of anything

interesting, instruct them to talk about something that isn’t interesting.) Students B and C will ask

Class Discussion: When groups have finished analyzing their questions, ask each group to share two or

three of their questions with the class. Evaluate with the class which type of question each example

illustrates. Ask students who assumed the role of Student A to report to the class their reactions to the

questions. Use this opportunity to reinforce problems inherent with counterfeit questions.

Extend the discussion by eliciting times when students wanted to tell their stories, but were interrupted by

others who were too busy giving advice to really listen. Encourage students to practice asking sincere

questions between now and your next class meeting. In your next class, ask students to share their

6. Seeking Feedback

Objective: To apply and practice skills at asking questions and paraphrasing in order to discover the

speaker’s content, intent, and feelings.

Procedure: Ask students to listen to the statements you’re going to read. After you’ve read each

statement, give the students two or three minutes to write a response aimed at discovering the content,

Class Discussion: Class discussion could focus on the way students draw meaning from the various

statements.

• What cues did you use to interpret the intent of each of these messages?

• In what ways could these types of statements be misinterpreted?

• How might the other person respond if your paraphrase is inaccurate?

• Which of these statements has the most negative connotation? Why?

• Did your paraphrase reflect that negativity?

• How does the way we listen for and respond to content, intent, and feeling affect our

everyday interactions?

7. Paraphrasing in Context

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to understand the impact of context on

the listening process.

Procedure: For each statement in the previous exercise, discuss how a different context might change

their paraphrased response. Use the sample contexts below, or have students make some up. Randomly

select some of the contexts to apply to each of the above statements, and have students write a

• In what ways did each of the context types affect your paraphrasing?

• Which context has the most impact on an individual’s interpretation of a message?

• In what practical ways can you alter your listening practices to consider context?

8. Listening to an Older Generation

Objective: Students will become more sensitive to varying communication styles.

Procedure: Point out that effective communicators often adjust some aspects of their listening and

communication patterns when they are communicating with persons from other cultures. Assign students

to spend at least 15 minutes interacting with a person (not someone they know well) from a culture

Class Discussion: After students have completed their interactions, discuss their experiences.

• Describe any differences in your communication styles.

• Did you experience any listening barriers?

• Did you adapt your listening or communication style? If so, how?

• Illustrate with specific examples.

• How effective do you think your communication was? Explain.

Written Application Exercises

1. Take Some Listening Practice Tests

Complete one of the Cyber Listening Lab exercises at http://www.esl–lab.com/. If you are an ESL

student, choose one of the easier practices. If you are a native speaker (and listener) of English, choose

one of the more difficult practices. After you listen, test your comprehension by answering all the

questions, including the vocabulary and grammar items. You don‘t need to write your answers.

2. Validating Others’ Feelings

Read the article titled “Emotional Validation” (available at http://eqi.org/valid.htm).

How does the concept of validation compare to trying to “fix” things for the person you’re listening to?

How does validating compare to the concept of “counterfeit questions” discussed in your text?

4. Listening to Understand

Read the flowing articles:

• “Effective Listening” (available at http://www.csbsju.edu/academic–advising/study–skills–

guide/effective–listening.htm)

• “In the Classroom” (available at http://www.csbsju.edu/academic–advising/study–skills–

guide/classroom.htm)

Choose four of the practices from these articles that stood out to you. Try out these concepts while you

listen to a classroom or workplace lecture. Write an essay in which you define the four concepts and

describe specifically how you applied each. What was the outcome? What would you change next time?

Video Activities

1. Listening at Work: Health Care

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to identify listening styles and barriers

in a work environment.

Procedure: In the third major scene of the film Mask (1985, Universal Pictures, starring Cher, directed

by Peter Bogdanovich), Rocky, the main character, visits a medical office. Four medical workers speak

with him—an older male, a midlife male technician, a female, and a new, young doctor. In these brief

encounters students can observe stark contrasts in listening/relating styles. These encounters also provide

Class Discussion: The following sample questions will focus attention on listening skills.

• Which medical worker(s) listened best to Rocky?

• How would you describe each of their styles?

• Can you identify instances of paraphrasing content, intent, or feelings?

• What were the barriers that interfered with the young male’s listening effectively?

(Egocentrism will probably top the list here, but others are apparent also.)

2. Listening for Information

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to apply principles of listening for

information.

Procedure: Videotape an informative speaker (C–SPAN is a good source for speeches), and play the

Class Discussion: The following sample questions could be used to identify the difficulties students had

after watching the speech.

• What were the key points identified by most students? Did most students select the same

points?

• What common pieces of information did most students remember? Why?

• How did selectivity of listening to and remembering information affect the information you

3. Listening to Evaluate

Objective: This activity helps students develop skills in listening to evaluate.

Procedure: Videotape a persuasive speaker (C–SPAN is a good source for speeches), and play the speech

in class. Instruct students to apply the following guidelines from the text: analyzing the speaker’s

evidence, and examining emotional appeals. Have students write down the speaker’s key claims,

examples of credible evidence, lack of evidence, and emotional appeals.

Class Discussion: Discuss students’ evaluations with the class. You could use the following questions to

stimulate discussion:

• What were the speaker’s key claims?

• To what extent were the claims supported with accurate and timely evidence? What other

types of evidence could the speaker have added to the speech?

• What emotional appeals did the speaker use? Were these appeals relevant to the intended

audience? Were they realistic?

• Did any of the emotional appeals obscure logical considerations?

• Based on your analysis of evidence and emotional appeals, do you believe this speaker had

high or low credibility? Explain.

Additional Resources

Chen, G., & Starosta, W. J. (1998). Listening Between Cocultures. In Foundations of Intercultural

Communication. Allyn & Bacon.

This chapter provides insight into and instruction in the process of intercultural listening, with

examples and research highlights.

Meiss, R. (1994, March). Effective Listening Skills. Women in Business, 46(2), 28–31.

Emphasizes listening principles and styles, requirements to change listening behavior, and how

powerful listening is essential for personal and professional growth. Listening skills need to be

Purdy, M., & Borisoff, D. (1997). Listening in Everyday Life: A Personal and Professional Approach

(2nd ed.). Lanham, ND: University Press of America.

Offers suggestions for listening in various settings.

DVD

The Art of Listening (2007) 25 min. Learning Seed Video.

This video teaches “Seven Laws of Good Listening,” including the value of silence, when and

how to take notes, and listening between the words to understand the speaker’s feelings.

Breakthrough Listening. 20 min. Kantola Productions.

Listening is examined in an office setting, focusing on the role of perception and interpretation.

Developing Positive Listening Skills (2004) 27 min. Insight Media.

Compares empathic, active listening to neutral listening. Outlines poor listening habits to avoid.

I Know Just What You Mean. 20 min. CRM Films.

This workshop, introduced by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, shows us how to understand the speaker’s

need before we prescribe solutions.

Web

Center for Rural Studies

http://crs.uvm.edu/gopher/nerl/personal/comm./e.html

This site provides a lecture outline and several exercises for teaching active listening skills.

This site provides listening tests and resources for ESL students. Some of the most difficult tests

might also be useful for native speakers to test their own listening skills.

EQ International

http://eqi.org/und1.htm

http://eqi.org/valid.htm

241–1721.