LISTENING: THE BIG PICTURE

Andrew Wolvin, University of Maryland
Melissa Beall, University of Northern Iowa
Laura Janusik, Rockhurst University
Kathy Thompson, Alverno College

1. If you had to explain this area to someone in 2 minutes, what would you say? Your description should be comprehensible by the general public and should convey the significance and value of the area.

The study of listening focuses on the “other side” of communication. Listening scholars and educators are concerned with the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of how listeners process and respond to speakers’ messages. The International Listening Association defines listening as “the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages.” Listening is not synonymous with hearing. Hearing may well be a part of receiving messages, but listeners also use their visual and other senses as they process and construct meanings.

2. Why does this area make a difference (to students, to administrators, to the public, other audiences you may think of) and what kind of difference does it make (to careers, to quality of life, to citizenship, other ends that you can think of)?

Listening is central to human communication. Studies of communication in the workplace suggest that people spend the majority of their communication time as listeners. Listening is the way people connect with each other to tell their stories, receive social support, do their work, lead, and know their world.

3. What are the key documents in the area that I should read and have our students read (i.e. seminal readings, books, basic canons)? Doesn’t Beall have anything the might belong here and/or in the education part? Additionally, I think Fitch-Hauser was really important in bringing in the cognitive part, so either piece she did with Hughes should be included in here.

Bentley, S.C. (2000). Listening in the 21st century. International Journal of Listening, 14, 129-142.

Bozik, M., & Carlin, P. (1989). Listen! A Read-Aloud Listening to Literature Program. Sundance Educational Materials.

Brownell, J. (2006). Listening Attitudes, Principles, and Skills (3rd Ed.) Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Cooper, P.J., & Morreale, S.P. (Eds.) (1998). Competent Communicators: K-12 Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy Standards and Competency Statements (1998). Washington, DC: National Communication Association.

Cooper, P.J., & Morreale, S.P. (Eds.) (1998). Creating Competent Communicators: Activities for Teaching Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy in K-8 Classrooms. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb-Hathaway Publishers.

Cooper, P.J., & Mooreale, S.P. (Eds.) (2003). Creating Competent Communicators: Activities for Teaching Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy in 7-12 Classrooms. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb-Hathaway Publishers.

Galvin, K. (1985). Listening by Doing. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook.

Halone, K.K., Cunconan, T.M., Coakley, C.G., & Wolvin, A.D. (1998). Towards the establishment of general dimensions underlying the listening process. International Journal of Listening, 12, 12-28.

Hunsaker, R. (1989). What listening skills should be taught to teachers and students? Galvin, K, & Cooper, P. (Eds.) The Future of Speech Communication Education. (pp. 27-30). Annandale, VA: National Communication Association.

Imhof, M. (1998). What makes a good listener? Listening behavior in instructional settings. International Journal of Listening, 12, 81-105.

Janusik, L.A. (2002). Teaching listening: What do we know? What should we know? International Journal of Listening, 16, 5-30.

Phillips, A., Lispon, A., & Basseches, M. (1994). Empathy and listening skills: A developmental perspective on learning to listen. Sinnot, J. (Ed.) Interdisciplinary Handbook of Adult Lifespan Learning. (Pp. 301-324). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Wolvin, A.D., & Coakley, C.G. (1996). Listening. (5th Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wolvin, A.D., & Coakley, C.G. (1993). Perspectives on Listening. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

4. What are the other disciplines that might study this area and how does a communication approach differ?

The foundation for understanding listening is based in cognitive psychology. Reading behaviorists and audiologists also contribute to our understanding of listening functions. Educational researchers, biologists, philosophers, music theorists, clinical psychologists, neurologists, and training/development specialists are just some examples of experts whose work informs our understanding of listening. The communication perspective, however, offers a fuller understanding of listening as a communication function that incorporates cognitions and behaviors. In terms of communicative response?

5. Pedagogy: How do we teach this at various levels: K-12, community college, small college, university, continuing education, distance education?

Listening traditionally has been taught from a skills perspective. The 20th century study of listening behavior is based primarily on seminal work by Ralph Nichols (1948. Factors accounting for differences in comprehension of materials presented orally in the classroom. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa) who identified listening practices of college students. Listening educators have expanded the study of listening to go beyond listening skills to the cognitive dimensions of understanding what listening is and how the listener is functioning and to the affective dimensions of valuing listening and being willing to engage as a listener. The cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of listening instruction are the foundation for curricula at all levels and contexts of communication education.

6. Student Learning Outcomes: What knowledge, skills, and abilities should students have at each level? How does it fit into the curriculum? Please provide sample instructional materials (syllabi, reading lists, etc.).

Learners should be aware that listening is performed cognitively but perceived behaviorally, so listening in human communication is different from thinking and cognitive processing. Students should be prepared to understand what they are doing/how they are behaving as listeners. They should be brought to an awareness of how they personally function as listeners. They should understand how central listening is to human communication. They should know how cognitively and behaviorally complex the process of listening is. They should be willing to engage actively as listeners. And they should have the skill set to function effectively as listeners. This includes, but is not limited to, the following standards: Competent listeners demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the listening process. Competent listeners demonstrate the ability to use appropriate and effective listening skills for a given communication situation and setting. Competent listeners demonstrate the ability to identify and manage barriers to listening.

These pedagogical goals can frame listening education at all levels. Clearly, individual listeners will have developmental capacities and life experiences that will enable them to engage at increasingly sophisticated levels in understanding and performing listening. Just as good readers are forever honing their craft, good listeners work at their listening development at various stages of the life span.

Cooper, P.J., & Mooreale, S.P. (Eds.) (1998). Competent Communicators: K-12 Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy Standards and Competency Statements. Washington, DC: National Communication Association.

Thompson, K., Leintz, P., Nevers, B., & Witkowski, S. (2004). The integrative listening model: An approach to teaching and learning listening. JGE: The Journal of General Education, 53, 225-246.

Wolvin, A.D., & Coakley, C.G. (1994). Listening competency. Journal of the International Listening Association, 8, 148-160.

7. How do we research in this area? What methods are used to generate knowledge? What are some typical studies?

Research in listening has focused on the measurement of listening ability. Qualitative studies that explore how listeners listen in different personal and professional contexts represent a line of research in the field.

Ross, C.S., & Glenn, E.C. (1996). Listening between grown children and their parents. International Journal of Listening, 10, 49-64.

Wolvin, A.D., & Coakley, C.G. (1993). A survey of the status of listening training in some Fortune 500 corporations. Communication Education, 40, 152-164.

Another line of research makes use of quantitative methods to study how listeners function when listening to various messages in various contexts.

Bodie, G.D., & Villaume, W.A. (2003). Aspects of receiving information: The relationship between listening preferences, communication apprehension, receiver apprehension, and communicator style. International Journal of Listening, 17, 47-67.

Imhof, M. (2003). Social construction of the listener: Listening behavior across situations, perceived listener status, and cultures. Communication Research Reports, 20, 357-366.

Watson, K.W., Barker, L.L., & Weaver, J.B. III. (1995). The Listening Styles Profile (LSP-16): Development and validation of an instrument to assess four listening styles. International Journal of Listening, 9, 1-13.

Empirical research in listening is moving more into listening cognition and ways to measure them outside of perceptions.

Janusik, L.A. (in press). Conversational Listening Span: A proposed measure of conversational listening. International Journal of Listening.

Consistent with communibiology theory, researchers will develop an agenda for brain imaging research to determine how listeners’ brains are responding.

Phillips, M.D., Lowe, M.J., Lurito, J.T., Dzemidzic, M., & Mathews, V.P. (2001). Temporal lobe activation demonstrates sex-based differences during passive listening. Radiology, 220, 202-207.

8. What are the key research questions in this area?

What is listening?
How do listeners perform cognitively, behaviorally, affectively, and ethically?
How do listeners perform in various personal (i.e. family, relationships) and professional (i.e. health care, educational, legal) settings?
How do listeners function in different listening dimensions (i.e. discriminatively, comprehensively, therapeutically, critically, appreciatively)?
How do we understand the biology of listening?
How do we understand the neurology of listening?
How do we understand the psychology of listening?
What strategies/approaches are most effective to teach listening?
How do we assess listening?
Are there any listening behaviors that are consistent with listening cognitions?

9. What are the practical applications and implications of this area?

Since listening is central to human communication, the applications and implications of this area are profound. Human oral communication is centered on the listener and his/her response to the message. Consequently, listening may well be the most complex of all human behaviors. As such, it deserves a great deal more attention and support as a central area of communication education, research, development, and practice.

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