Listening
Why Is Listening So Important?

college students spend an average of 14%
writing, 16% speaking, 17% reading and 53%
listening
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on average only about 15% of our time is
spent talking otherwise it is mostly listening

listening has been identified by employers as
the most critical skill for working effectively in
teams

in family and social setting listening was
ranked the most important communication skill
Listening
~you are now assigned to read chapter seven: Listening Effectively

before we can talk about what listening is,
we must talk about what listening is not
Listening is NOT...

the same as hearing
 hearing: sound waves
striking the eardrum and
cause vibrations that are
transmitted to the brain

a natural process
 ppl are not born listeners, it is not automatic
 listening is a skill
○ Ever misunderstood what someone said?
Listening is NOT...

effortless
 leads to faulty listening behaviors

going to have all listeners receive the same
message
 “Because I could not stop for death…”
○ listen to the poem and write a ½ page interpretation
of what it means to you
Faulty Listening Behaviors 1-2
1: Pseudo-listening
 pretend/fake listening
 look like paying attention, but not
○ Ex: your mom or dad tries to talk to you in the middle
of your favorite show
2: Selective Listening
 only listen to the things you find interesting and tune
everything else out
○ Ex: someone it telling of their vacation in Florida and
the only part you care about is the TWINS training
games
Faulty Listening Behaviors 3-4
3: Defensive Listening
 take innocent comments as personal attacks
○ Ex: when I come home from work on a day that my
husband had off, I might ask, “So, what did you do
today?” I may be doing this to show interest in his day,
but he thinks I am mad at him for being lazy.
4: Ambushing
 listen carefully, but only to gather info. to attack that
speaker back
○ Ex: arguments; one person will listen for keywords and
then go off about those things
Faulty Listening Behaviors 5-6
5: Insulated Listening
 listening for something specific to avoid talking about it
○ Ex: parents remind you of a missing assignment or a dirty
room that needs to be cleaned; you might listen to comments
leading towards these topics and when it gets close, interrupt
and leave
6: Insensitive Listening
 taking a message at face value
 taking everything said literally
○ Ex: a friend talks about a fight they had with their parents,
and says everything is okay when it clearly is not, but you
decide everything is okay and never ask about it
Faulty Listening Behavior 7
7: Stage Hogging
 turning the topic back to you
 don’t allow others to talk; dominate the
conversation
○ Ex: interrupting a friends story to talk about your latest love
interest
You Do!
get into seven even groups
 Each group will draw a different faulty
listening behavior and create a real
situation to model it in
 These will be presented in front of the
class, and the class will guess which
behavior is being modeled

Reasons for poor listening
effort: it takes energy to actively listen
 message overload: if listen to everything all
the time would be overloaded
 rapid thought: humans are capable of taking
in 600wrds per minute, people only talk
100wrds per minute, which leaves a lot of
open listening time

More reasons for poor
listening
psychological noise: personal concerns take
more importance in your mind than current
speaker
 physical noise: physical distractions around
you
 hearing problems: hearing loss
 faulty assumptions: think you know what is
going to be said, so do not listen

More reasons for poor listening
talking has more apparent advantages:
speaking well is the key to success
 cultural differences: listening is valued
differently in each culture
 media influences: media info. is becoming
more graphic and less text based; stories are
brief and pertinent

 For tomorrow: bring in some type of object
that makes a noise
Listening is...

a five step process
 listening: accurately perceiving communication
 How we listen:
1. hearing: receiving the message
2. interpreting: attending to the message and decoding it
3. evaluating: understanding message and deciding if it
is new or prior information
4. remembering: log the message away for recall
purposes later
5. responding: giving the sender feedback
Why Listen?
Listening can reduce tension!
 Listening aids learning!
 Listening can win friends!
 Listening can stimulate the speaker!
 Listening can give you confidence!
 Listening can increase your enjoyment!
 Listening can help you do a better job!
 Listening gives you time to think!

Listening Personality
1:
2:
3:
4:
content-oriented
people-oriented
action-oriented
time-oriented
 Take Listening Personality Test
Content-Oriented
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prefers intellectually challenging
messages
interested in quality of info.
seeks details; analytic
explore ideas in-depth
valued: when goal is to evaluate quality or
range of ideas
problems: annoys those who are not analytic;
takes time; challenging ideas seems hostile/
critical
People-Oriented
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see listening as a means to establishing
commonalties between them and the speaker
concerned with having positive relationships ;
tune into others moods; less judgmental
responds to feelings and ideas; more interested
in supporting and understanding others
problems: overly involved in others’ feelings;
lose their detachment; overly expressive and
intrusive
Action-Oriented
want brief, pertinent, and accurate info;
concerned with task at hand; mentally
organizes messages
 keeps focused; will take care of business
 problems: seems to minimize
emotional issues and
concerns
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Time-Oriented
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prefers brief and concise messages;
concerned with efficiency
views time as scarce and valuable;
gets impatient with wasting time
valued: great with deadlines and
pressure
problems: excessive focus on time can
damage work; seeks to disregard
feelings
Purpose to Listen
1: Listening to Comprehend
Informational Listening: listening to understand
2: Listening to Support
Empathic Listening: listening to build a
relationship; solve a personal problem
3: Listening to Analyze
Critical Listening: listening to judge the quality of
the message
4: Listening to Appreciate
5: Listening to Discern (mood)
Listening Activity

Get into groups of four
 two against two
○ each side, right now, pick agree or disagree
 as a set of four, pick four topics to create an
argument about
○ Work with your partner to create your argument for
your side
 each partner will argue two times, so decide
who will argue what topic
 while argument is happening, other two should
be observing and recording what they notice
happening in terms or vocals, body language,
faulty listening behaviors, etc…
Agree/Disagree
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Abortion is the best form of birth control.
The drinking age should be raised to 25.
People should have to pass a test to get
married.
Women belong in the home.
Hunting should be illegal.
Tech should have mandatory uniforms.
Tech should have open-campus for lunch.
Everyone should lose their license after
age 75.
“Life with the Wright Family”
stand in a circle
 each time you hear “left,” pass the
object to the left one person
 each time you hear “right,” pass the
object to the right one person
 you should have no more than one
object in your hands at any time

 may not throw one on the floor if have too
many
Listening to Comprehend
Who was left behind?
 Who got sick?
 Who went to watch the sick one throwup?
 What was forgotten at home?
 Who picked up the trash can?

Speaker-Listener Responsibility

Speaker
 it is the speaker’s responsibility to present a
clear message and interpret nonverbals of
audience

Listener
 it is the listener’s responsibility to pay
attention, give nonverbals, listen to the
whole message, and realize that a message
can be important even if the delivery is weak
Are you a good listener survey
Bad vs. Good
Listening Habits
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Bad
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calling info. not interesting
criticizing speaker’s appearance, delivery, body language, etc…
getting too excited/verbal about the presentation
listening only for facts, not the main idea
trying to take notes on everything you hear instead of choosing the
important ideas
 faking attention; distracting others

Good

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Tuning in to the speaker to see if anything you can use
Getting the speaker’s message
Not over-reacting to the speaker
Listen for main idea and details, and for a while before taking notes
Use active listening skills and be alert
Stop distraction
Work Cited
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Adler, Ronald B. and George Rodman.
“Understanding
Human Communication.” Ed. 8 Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003
Ferguson, Sherry Devereaux. “Public
Speaking: Building
Competency in Stages.” Oxford: Oxford
University
Press, 2008.
McCornack, Steven. “Reflect and Relate.” New
York: R.R.
Donnelley & Sons Company, 2007.