1. Listening and Responding A Closer Look at Listening The International Listening Association http://www.listen.org/

2. Wait a minute! Say that again, Doris!... you know the part about, 'If only we had some means of climbing down.' The Ship That Couldn't Be Sunk One of the greatest tragedies in the history of sea travel occurred on the night of April 14, 1912, when the crew of the Titanic refused to listen to repeated warnings of icebergs. The crew had been led to believe that this brand-new pas­ senger liner was "unsinkable." Even after the ship struck an iceberg and was slow­ly sinking, some of the passengers ig­nored the captain's orders to get into the lifeboats. When the ship finally began tilting dangerously, it was too late. There weren't enough lifeboats for all the pas­sengers and worse still, the Californian, the only other ship in the area (about 10 miles away) made no attempt to reach the wreck. Her radio operator had gone off duty. He, too, wasn't listening. As a result, more than a thousand people needlessly lost their lives.

3. Understand the Importance of Listening Floyd, author of Public Speaking Matters, defines listening and hearing. Listening is the process of making meaning out of another person’s spoken language Hearing is the perception of sound. Appreciate how often you listen. Distinguish hearing from listening. Acknowledge the difference between active and passive listening.

4. Time Spent Listening StudyPopulationReadingWritingSpeakingListening Rankin, 1930Varied15%11%32%42% Brieter, 1971Homemakers10% 7%35%48% Weinrauch and Swanda, 1975 Business Personnel19%23%26%33% Werner, 1975 High school, college students, employees, homemakers 13% 8%23%55% Barker et. al, 1980*U.S. College Students17%14%16%53% Bohlken, 1999U.S. College Students13%12%22%53% Davis, 2000*Australian College Students12.30%9.80%30.60%34.10% U.S. Department of Labor, 1991 Government Managers13.30%8.40%23%55% Janusik & Wolvin, 2006U.S. College Students 6% 8%20%24%

6. Listening facts Employees of major North American corporations spend 60% of time listening. Of North American executives, 80% believe listening is one of the most important skills needed in the corporate environment. In committed relationships, listening in everyday conversations is ingredient of satisfaction. The ideal manager has ability to listen effectively, according to 1000 human resource executives Fewer than 2% of us have had any formal listening training Students are in listening situations 65%-90% of the time. http://74.6.239.185/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=average+time+listening+student+90%25&fr=yfp-t- 701&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=average+time+listening+student+90%25&d=4609848658364003&mkt=en-US&setlang=en- US&w=dfbf78a9,a855f805&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=NHJx5H8lcShoDeVIui.73w--

7. Listening Facts cont. On average, viewers who just watched and listened to the evening news could only recall 17.2% of the content when not cued. The cued group never exceeded 25% (Stauffer, Frost, & Rybold, 1983). The average person speaks at a rate of about 125-175 wpm and one can listen at a rate of us to 450 wpm (Carver, Johnson, & Friedman, 1970)

8. LISTENING ACROSS THE LIFESPAN Elementary students reported themselves as having better attention spans than all other ages and groups (Halone, Wolvin, & Coakley, 1997). High school students rate themselves as better able to listen than elementary students, young adults, colleges students, adults, and the elderly (Halone, Wolvin, & Coakley, 1997).

9. LISTENING AND LEADERS Listening is tied to effective leadership (Bechler & Johnson, 1995; Johnson & Bechler, 1998). Leaders give good attention to the speaker by looking the speaker in the eye (Orick, 2002). Leaders paraphrase the speaker to ensure understanding of the speaker’s message (Orick, 2002). Leaders are able to relate accurate messages to a third party, which shows that they listening to and remembered what the original speaker had said (Orick, 2002). Leaders listen with an open mind by not becoming emotional or defensive (Orick, 2002). Leaders can listen to a speaker and be respectful by not betraying the confidence of the speaker when asked to do so (Orick, 2002).

10. **Listening has been identified as one of the top skills employers seek in entry-level employees as well as those being promoted (AICPA, 2005; Goby & Lewis, 2000; Hynes, & Bhatia, 1996; James, 1992; Maes, Weldy, & Icenogle, 1997; Waner, 1995; Willmington, 1992; Winsor, Curtis, & Stephens, 1997). **As of the late 1990’s, 64% of organizations provided some sort of listening training for their employees because they find that employees’ listening skills are ineffective for today’s work environment (What Employers Teach, 1997). Consider the following rankings of what’s important in the interview process. The following numbers represent how private industry ranked the importance of the item, with 1 being the most important. Curtis, Winsor, & Stephens (1989) Maes, Weldy, & Icenogle (1997) Winsor, Curtis, & Stephens (1997) Oral Communication111 Listening213 Problem Solving2 Self-Motivation3 Written Communication42 Technical Competence55 GPA111316

11. LISTENING AND EDUCATION Even though most of us spend the majority of our day listening, it is the communication activity that receives the least instruction in school (Coakley & Wolvin, 1997). Listening training is not required at most universities (Wacker & Hawkins, 1995). Students who are required to take a basic communication course spend less than 7% of class and text time on listening (Janusik, 2002; Janusik & Wolvin, 2002). If students aren’t trained in listening, how do we expect them to improve their listening? Listening is critical to academic success. An entire freshman class of over 400 students was given a listening test at the beginning of their first semester. After their first year of studies, 49% of students scoring low on the listening test were on academic probation, while only 4.42% of those scoring high on the listening test were on academic probation. Conversely, 68.5% of those scoring high on the listening test were considered Honors Students after the first year, while only 4.17% of those scoring low attained the same success (Conaway, 1982). Students self-report less listening competencies after listening training than before. This could be because students realize how much more there is to listening after training (Ford, Wolvin, & Chung, 2000).

12. Types of Listening Appreciative listening Informational listening Critical listening Empathic listening Listening and Hearing are NOT the same thing Hearing is a physiological process (passive and physical) Listening is a cognitive process (active and mental)

13. Listening Process (HURIER model) “We don’t necessarily have to enact the 6 stages of the HURIER model in order. Listening effectively sometimes requires us to go back and forth among them.” 1. Attending/hearing – paying attention to a signal / physically perceiving sound 2.Understanding – making sense of a message / decoding the message / comprehending the words we have heard 3.Remembering – retaining the information and recalling it Unfortunately, research suggests people only remember 50% immediately after hearing it, only 35% within eight hours and within 2 days only remember 20% of the original message 4. Interpreting – assigning meaning to what is heard 5. Evaluating – critically analyzing the message / judging the speaker’s credibility and intention 4.Responding – indicating that we are listening / providing feedback

14. Research shows link between effective listening and school success Unfortunately, people seem to get worse at the skill of listening as they get older: – Teachers at various grade levels were asked to stop their lectures periodically and ask students to repeat what the teacher had been saying: 90% of first graders could repeat 80% of second graders could repeat 44% of junior high students could repeat 28% of senior high students could repeat

15. Reasons for Poor Listening Effort – heart rate quickens, respiration increases, body temperature rises Rapid thought – we are capable of understanding speech at rates between 400- 800 wpm, the average person only speaks between 120-150 wpm (page 91) Message overload

16. Reasons for Poor Listening cont. Psychological noise Physical noise Hearing problems Faulty assumptions – heard it all before, information is too simple or complex, information is unimportant Selective Listening Pseudolistening (fake listening)

17. Reasons for Poor Listening cont. Talking has more apparent advantages – talking allows us to gain more (admiration, respect, liking). One study revealed that men interrupt more than women. Men don’t listen????????Men interrupt to dominate or control conversation. Women interrupt to agree, elaborate on speaker’s idea, or participate in topic. Media Influences – programming consists of short segments Short attention spans – A 1999 study revealed the average attention span for adults is 20 minutes or less.

18. Improve Your Listening Get physically and mentally ready to listen (Effective listeners are likely to sit uprights, lean forward, cease unnecessary movement, look directly at instructor.) Resist mental distractions Don’t argue, interrupt, or judge prematurely – Hear the speaker out! (We typically stop listening before they have finished if we think we know what they are going to say) Observe nonverbal cues – gestures, voice, facial expressions Adjust to the listening goals of the situation Identify the benefits of the message – Be opportunist

19. Improve Your Listening Ask questions to gain additional information Paraphrase Look for key ideas Repeat the information – if information is not reinforced it will be held in short-term memory for as little as 20 seconds. Construct mnemonics - AURER Take GOOD notes