2

THE LISTENING PROCESS

Objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to:

1. state why listening is important;

2. distinguish hearing from listening;
3. define listening;
4. describe the nature and stages of the listening process;
5. explain the purposes of listening;
6. identify barriers to effective listening;
7. suggest ways to improve listening;
8. identify ways to give and receive effective feedback; and
9. recognize various propaganda techniques.
INTRODUCTION

A story is told of a balikbayan who upon boarding a plane from San Francisco noted the usual
passenger apathy as the attendants gave their safety message at the beginning of the flight. That is until
a voice came over the intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, as the song says there may be 50 ways to
leave your friend, but I guarantee you there are only 7 exits from this airplane. So listen up!” And
after the laughter subsided, they did.
Indeed, listening is an activity we often take for granted. We do not take our listening seriously
until we face the consequences of not listening. Due to your inattentiveness in the classroom, how
often have you asked your seatmate what the teacher has just said? What about the habit of engaging in
passive listening until the teacher informs the class that a quiz will be given after the lecture? Poor
listening takes a toll in the home as well. Marriage counselors say that many domestic break-ups are
related to communication failure between spouses, among family members and listening is often at the
heart of it. Moreover, poor listening in the workplace often results in lowered productivity and
morale.
Having examined the communication process in an earlier chapter, let us now focus on listening,
the reciprocal of speaking. In this chapter the nature and stages of the listening process will be
discussed. The purposes of listening will be explained. The different barriers to effective listening
and some suggestions on how to overcome or counteract these barriers will likewise be tackled.
Finally, some guidelines to further improve your listening will be presented

THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

Listening is the most basic of the four major areas of language development. S. Lundsteen notes that
listening is the first language skill which we develop (Wolvin 1988). As children, we listen before
we speak, we speak before we read and read before we write. The preceding statement clearly
indicates that our ability to speak, read and write and master cognitive skills is dependent directly or
indirectly upon our ability to listen.
Listening is also the most frequently used form of verbal communication. Many studies made to
investigate the frequency of listening conclude that listening consumes more of our daily
communication time compared to any other forms of verbal communication. According to Rankin, on
the average, adults spend 70 percent of their waking hours engaging in communication activities.
Specifically, about 10 percent of this communication time is spent in writing, 15 percent in reading,
30 percent in speaking and 45 percent in listening. Given the amount of time we spend listening, our
listening behavior should be made more effective. Unfortunately, listening is a skill that does not
automatically improve with practice.
It seems quite evident that despite the great allocation of time for listening, we do not listen as well
as we should. We are relatively poor listeners. Listening consultant Lyman Steil notes that on the
average our level of listening effectiveness is only about 50 percent. We can hear, evaluate and
respond to only about half of what was said. These figures may drop after 48 hours to an effectiveness
level of 25 percent. Operating on this low level of listening results in a 75 percent loss.
Listening is a skill that is of utmost importance at the various levels of communication. We listen to
ourselves at the intrapersonal communication level. We listen at the interpersonal level when we
listen in conversation, to interviews and in small group discussion. We listen at the public
communication level when we listen to various speakers, watch a play or a concert. We listen at the
mass communication level when we listen to the radio, television and film. Listening is not limited to
formal speaking situations or just the classroom. It is a skill that is vital in both formal and informal
situations. It plays an integral part in our everyday lives as our attitudes, skills; and behaviors are
affected by the listening that we do.

HEARING vs. LISTENING

Since hearing and listening are frequently misused as synonyms, a distinction between the two must
be made. Although they are two receiving processes they are essentially two different entities.
Hearing is the physiological process of receiving aural and visual stimuli. It begins when the
listener takes in the sound of the speaker’s voice. It is the passive phase of speech reception since we
can hear without effort. Good hearing is important to listening because hearing provides the raw
material on which the listening process operates. Good hearing though is not synonymous to good
listening. (Clevenger 1971)
Listening is more than hearing. It is described as the active phase of speech reception, a
physiological process guided and controlled by the habits, attitudes and conscious intentions of the
listener. He chooses from those complex stimuli certain information that will be useful in formulating
his response. These distinctions are helpful in clarifying the meaning of listening.

DEFINITIONS OF LISTENING

Many definitions of listening have been formulated by various experts. Each of these definitions
was arrived at after thorough research determining what components and characteristics are involved
in the listening act. According to Nichols (1954), if “hearing is the apprehension (to become aware of
through the senses) of sound and listening is the comprehension (to embrace or understand a thing) of
aural symbols, then, listening can be more accurately defined as “the attachment of meaning to aural
symbols.” Baird and Knower (1968) refer to listening as a term for a whole group of mental
processes which enable us to interpret the meaning of messages. It is a cognitive process that involves
perception, comprehension and other mental processes. Wolvin (1988) defines listening as the
process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli. A last definition by Brooks
(1993) whose listening model will be discussed in this chapter states that “listening is the
combination of what we hear, what we understand and what we remember.” All these definitions will
be helpful in understanding the nature and process of listening.

THE NATURE OF LISTENING

1. Listening is a dynamic, transactional process.

In the first chapter we learned that communication is a two-way process. It involves both the
speaker and the listener as they send and receive messages. It is therefore their joint
responsibility to make sure that the messages originating from the source must be understood,
interpreted and evaluated by the receiver. Listening, the reciprocal of speaking, is an integral
part of the total communication process.
 2. Listening is an active process not a passive one.
Listening is not a passive state we may find ourselves in. DeVito (1982) stresses that listening
does not just happen; you have to make it happen. It demands physical energy which the listener
needs so that he can focus on the message cues. It requires mental energy so the listener can
participate actively as decoder of the speaker/source’s messages as well as encoder of his return
messages or feedback. Clearly, listening is a skill that demands hard work and needs our full
attention.

3. Listening is a complex process.

Let us understand the complex nature of listening by examining the different stages of listening
as presented in the Brooks’ Listening Model (Figure 1).

(Figure 1: The Brooks Listening Model)

THE STAGES OF LISTENING

According to W. Brooks (1993), listening consists of three stages: hearing, identifying and
recognizing, and auding.
The first stage of listening is hearing, the process of reception of sound waves by the ear. There
are three important factors which affect the hearing of sound: auditory acuity, masking and auditory
fatigue. Auditory acuity is the ability of the ear to respond to various frequencies or tones at various
intensities, referred to as levels of loudness. Human speech frequencies range from 250 to 4,000
cycles per second although the critical range of auditory acuity is 1000 and 2500 cycles per second.
Decibels are units to measure the loudness of sound. If we are referring to speech sounds, it can
range from 55 decibels as in soft talking to eighty-five decibels as in loud conversation. The
intelligibility of speech is affected by hearing loss. An individual is said to have hearing loss if he or
she requires more than the normal amount of intensity in order to hear sounds of certain frequencies. If
one needs 15 to 20 decibels over the normal, he may have a significant hearing loss.
Masking occurs when the background noise received by the ear falls within the same frequency
range as the message one is intending to receive. Competing conversation often “masks” the intended
oral message. Meanwhile, white noise results when the competing or extraneous sounds are
composed of all frequencies. The cacophony of noise emanating from a jam-packed enlistment room
is an example.
A last factor which affects hearing is auditory fatigue. This results from continuous exposure to
sounds of certain frequencies. The monotonous or droning voice of a lecturer, the sound of a running
appliance such as an air conditioner or the continuous ringing of an alarm clock can weaken the
process of hearing and consequently impede listening. Prolonged exposure to sounds of certain
frequencies can bring about temporary hearing loss. Exposure to occupational and non-occupational
noise sources such as high decibel level – rock and roll music, newspaper presses and power
mowers can have damaging effects. Members of rock bands that play heavy metal music wear
earplugs to prevent hearing loss.
The second stage of listening involves “identifying and recognizing patterns and relationships.”
A number of factors may affect this stage of listening. These are the quality of auditory analysis,
mental reorganization, and association. Auditory analysis is the process of comparing the sounds that
are heard with the ones that are familiar to the listener. The sounds are recognized according to their
likenesses and differences.
During mental reorganization, the listener uses a system that will help him retain and structure the
incoming sounds. He may recode, regroup or rehearse these sounds in his mind. He may syllabify the
word while pronouncing it; he may group numbers in batches or he may repeat the series several
times.
Even as the listener hears the sounds, he is making associations in his mind. He links these sounds
with previous experiences, memories and backgrounds. He creates associations even if the sounds
spoken are in a foreign language, one that is totally strange to him and even if his personal and
subjective meanings differ from the speaker.
The third and last stage of the listening process is auding. The listener assimilates the words and
responds to them with understanding and feeling. Aside from the listener’s “experiential background,”
some skills in thinking can be useful to make the assignment of meaning an easy task. The diagram
lists five thinking skills that the listener can engage in: indexing, making comparisons, noting
sequence, forming sensory impressions and appreciating.
Indexing is arranging the listening material according to importance. As the information comes in,
the listener searches for the main ideas as well as the subordinate ones. He also distinguishes the
relevant material from the irrelevant. He may arrange the parts of the message to form the complete
whole.
Making comparisons is another thinking skill.
Noting sequence is arranging the material according to time, space, position or some other
relationship. The framework thus created will facilitate the assignment of meaning as well as the
recall of the information or material.
Forming sensory impressions is translating the material to sensory images. When we listen, we
often react with our different senses. We may form a visual impression thus adding an interesting
dimension to the meaning of the verbal message. Although sight is the most frequently used, we may
also create other impressions so that we may perhaps taste, or smell or feel the message.
Appreciating is a final function that the listener can engage in during the auding stage. Appreciating
is “responding to the aesthetic nature of the message.” This may take place when the listening material
(e.g. special occasion speeches) demands an emotional response.
ATTENTION and LISTENING

Do you recall why and how your grade school teacher tried to get your attention at the start of the
class? Or how during drill days the platoon commander would shout the initial command
“Attention!”? Let us briefly learn some facts about the nature of attention and how they apply to
listening.
Attention is a key concept in effective listening. Let us examine the two parts of the term. The first
part of the word is “at” or focuses. The second part comes from “tension” which pertains to the
energy that a listener needs to be able to focus or in this case, perform his listening task. O’Neill and
Weaver give us a more precise definition: “attention is a unified, coordinated muscular set, or
attitude, which brings organs to bear with maximum effectiveness upon a source of stimulation and
thus contributes to alertness and readiness of response” (Brembeck and Howell 1952).
To be in attention is not an easy thing. Understanding the duration of attention, the number of stimuli
one can attend to and the selectivity of attention should enable us to listen more attentively. Duration
of attention refers to the length of time one is able to attend to a given stimulus or stimuli. How long?
It might surprise you to know that the length of absolute attention has been found to be only a few
seconds. In 1908, Pillsbury’s studies revealed that the duration of a single act of attention was three to
twenty-four seconds, with most acts falling within the 5–8 second range. In 1914, M. Billings
observed that the average duration of attention was approximately two seconds. Schmidt and
Kristofferson in 1963 determined it to be 63.8 to 66.4 of a second. W. Scott attributed this brevity of
duration of attention to the fact that our thinking is done in “spurts” There are periods of attention
followed by periods of inactivity. A stimulus can be attended to for a long period of time but the
attention will not be uniformly strong all the time. He added further that in public speaking we seldom
are able to hold the full and undivided attention for more than a few seconds or a few minutes at best.
The audience’s attention is constantly wandering or decreasing in force.
At any one time, a multitude of stimuli in the immediate environment is vying for your attention.
You must be aware of this fact as you find yourself in the classroom a great deal. There are external
stimuli such as the teacher’s lecture, her visual aid and a chatty seatmate. Coming from outside the
classroom, you may hear the grass cutter motor running and the students talking. From your seat you
can see students walking up and down the corridor. There are also internal stimuli trying to grab your
attention. You may be suffering from a terrible headache or are worrying about your exam in the next
period. How many of these stimuli can you attend to? How many objects or ideas attended during a
particular period are important? Laboratory experiments have revealed that on the average we can
attend to four to five objects visually and five to eight auditorily. Our attention span is really limited
and dependent on the type of stimuli as well as the person listening or attending. If there are too many
objects a person has to attend to simultaneously, the quality or intensity of attention is reduced.
Furthermore, attention shifts from one stimulus to another. Imagine that you are watching a musical
extravaganza on stage. There are myriad stimuli in that particular listening event. Which one will grab
your eyes or ears? Generally we attend to stimuli that stand out above the others in terms of odor,
lights, shape or sound.
Even as we discuss attention in the context of listening, the attention factor is also essential to the
speaker. The brevity of the duration of attention, for instance, becomes important to a public speaker.
He will need to focus selectivity on those stimuli upon which his speech rests. Further discussion on
various factors of attention as they relate to public speaking will be covered in the last chapter
“Communicating in Public.”
PURPOSES IN LISTENING

Just as a speaker’s purpose in speaking varies from situation to situation, so, too, does a listener’s
purpose in listening. Each purpose or kind of listening has its own requirements and skills that are
needed to achieve the goals of the communication transaction. Listening experts identify at least four
different types of listening.

1. Appreciative listening is listening for pleasure, entertainment or enjoyment. It calls for a

receptive attitude and an open and relaxed mind. Listening to music, to conversations with
friends, to an entertaining speech or a television sitcom demand only little or no concentration.
We listen simply because we want to unwind or relieve tension.
2. Empathic listening is listening to provide emotional support. It serves a therapeutic function.
We listen because the other person needs us to understand his plight and feelings. Therapeutic
listening is exemplified by parents as they listen empathically to their children, by supervisors as
they listen to employees who have personal problems, or by trained volunteers who help
troubled callers on the telephone hotline. When we provide others a sounding board, it gives
them comfort and support.
3. Comprehensive listening is listening to derive information, facts, ideas and principles. Since
the focus of this type of listening is accuracy of perception, a considerable degree of
concentration is needed. When you sit in class and listen to the lecture or listen to directions for
finding a friend’s house you are listening with the goal of acquiring knowledge.
4. Critical Listening is listening to make an evaluation in order to make an intellectual judgment,
to criticize, to evaluate ideas of others. Here, appreciative listening is controlled and analytical
listening is necessary. When you have all the facts, you can evaluate and then arrive at a decision
based on the evidence. When you listen to a campaign speech of a political candidate or the
sales–pitch of a real estate agent, you will first need to understand the message in order to make
judgments about it.

Make it a habit to consciously determine your listening purpose demanded by the listening
occasion. This will help you to structure or organize your listening. It will enable you to anticipate the
needs of the specific level or type of listening and adapt your skills accordingly.

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Have you ever played the telephone (or rumor) game? A story is told to one person and this person
is asked to tell it to another person. This person then tells it another, etc. By the time the story has
gone through five or six persons, it is often almost unrecognizable. Many of the distortions which take
place in message transmission are due to the fact that listeners are influenced by their habits, attitudes
and expectations which they bring to that listening event. All of these come into play with the other
elements of the communication situation. There are many obstacles to effective listening. The listener
must recognize these obstacles and know how to overcome them.

1. Hastily branding the subject as uninteresting or irrelevant.

Sometimes speakers fail to show how the information they are presenting can be relevant to
 their audience’s needs. More often though, it is the listener who feels that the subject matter is
not worth listening to. This then becomes an excuse by the listener to abandon his task. This habit
does not give a chance for the speaker to prove that the hasty dismissal of the subject is wrong.
Someone once said that all communication is at least potentially interesting and useful, “What
can I learn or use?” is often a good question to ask. Suggestion: Seek ways to make the
subject matter interesting and useful to you.

2. Focusing attention on appearance or delivery

As students, you will likely agree that it is difficult to resist the temptation to dwell on the
speaker’s mannerisms, gestures and vocal qualities. Delivery and physical appearance are
details which influence a listener’s reaction to a speaker but should not be used as excuses not to
listen. This practice takes a toll on listening because it diverts time and energy. Do not be too
critical of the physical appearance or manner of speaking. Suggestion: Judge content, not
delivery.

3. Avoiding difficult and unpleasant material.

What do you consider difficult to listen to? The answer will vary depending on your interests
and capabilities. Generally speaking, if the subject matter demands careful scrutiny and mental
exertion, it is considered difficult material. And since most listeners do not usually want to strain
their minds, these messages are avoided. Filtering unpleasant subject matter may also serve as
an obstacle to effective listening. Messages which contradict personal stands or question long-
held beliefs and ideals are the very things we ought to listen to. When we avoid difficult and
unpleasant material we may miss a lot. Suggestion: Practice listening in a wide variety of
situations.

4. Getting over stimulated by what the speaker’s says

There will be many instances when you will be faced with a speaker who may say something
with which you disagree. What follows is an interesting chain of events: you might allow
yourself to be irritated; you might prepare an answer or rebuttal, and then continue to rehearse
your response. What really happens is that you miss out on the message all together. Set your
feelings about the speaker and the topic aside. If this happens when in conversation with
someone, make a mental note of it and go back to it at an appropriate time. If you are listening to
a speech, a good suggestion is to jot down the comment and return to your listening. Yes, we
listen with both mind and heart, but we cannot allow ourselves to be irritated or distracted by
something the speaker says. Suggestion: Keep your emotions in check.

5. Listening primarily for facts.

Facts are stepping stones of ideas leading to a major point. As such they are only secondary to
the central idea. Do not become too preoccupied with details and consequently fail to grasp the
speaker’s central idea. Differentiate between main points and supporting materials. Learn to
distinguish between fact and principle, idea and example, and evidence and argument.
Suggestion: Focus on ideas.

6. Trying to outline everything that the speaker says

Writing down everything word for word can become an obstacle to effective listening. It
deprives you of the more exciting experience of reacting to the speaker’s message. Note-taking is
particularly important to comprehensive listening. It is helpful to consider a note-taking method.
Here are some suggested methods of note-taking. Learn about their advantages and
disadvantages.

Note-Taking Methods
The key-word outline is a common system. As the name suggests, this method briefly notes
a speaker’s main points and supporting evidence in an outline form. This outline can be very
useful for review purposes. This method helps the listener develop skills in identifying the
main ideas and noting the important details and the relationships between these ideas and the
details. Although most suitable for classroom lectures and formal speeches, it is not a
practical system if the message is “unoutlinable.” Sometimes, the note-taker can become too
preoccupied with the mechanics of outlining. By separating main points from subpoints and
supporting material, the outline format exemplified below shows the relationships among the
speaker’s ideas.

I. First major idea

A.

1.
2.

B.

1
2.

II. Second major point

A.
B.
C.

Another note-taking method is called précis writing or precis method. There are three
steps to follow in accomplishing this system. First, the note-taker listens for several minutes.
He then mentally summarizes what was said. Finally, at periodic intervals, he writes a short
paragraph or a one- or two-sentence abstract summarizing what he has heard. He may even
have a series of brief abstracts covering what the speaker said. This method works well for
both organized and disorganized messages. The writing though can take up too much time
which may also result in losing other relevant information.
The “fact versus principle” system of note-taking requires that the note taker divide his
paper into two vertical columns. In the right-hand column, he lists the important principles or
main ideas derived from the speech and number them in Roman numerals. In the left-hand
column, he lists the important facts and numbers them in Arabic numeral. The listener
organizes the speaker’s thoughts by mentally checking the facts against the principles. When
done efficiently, this method is excellent for review.

A fourth method of note-taking is mapping. This system organizes the notes in a visual
manner resembling a map. This method requires that each main idea as it is presented is
written on the center of the paper and then encircled. If more than one main idea is presented,
it is listed to the left or right of the center. The supporting details are then written on lines
connected to the main idea that they support. If there are minor details that need to be
included, they are also written on lines which are connected to the supporting details. This
system works well for disorganized messages and for visually-oriented notetakers. However,
the note-taker can get too engrossed in the drawing and consequently miss out on important
concepts and details that are presented.
In the annotation method, the listener records important notes opposite the printed speech
or discussion while the verbal explanation or oral presentation is being made by the speaker.
As a Comm. III student for instance you may jot down the explanations made by your
instructor in the left- or right-hand margins of the speech book or the hand-outs provided in the
class.
To use notes effectively, the note-taker should be able to review his notes in order to retain
the information more permanently. A recommended method of reviewing notes is the Cornell
System. It was developed by Dr. Walter Paule of Cornell University. These are the steps
involved in the Cornell System.

1. The listener divides his paper vertically into two columns. The right-hand column is
labeled RECORD while the left-hand column is labeled RECALL.
2. The listener lists the speaker’s main ideas in the “Record” column.
3. When the speaker has completed the message, the listener summarizes the recorded
information by jotting down key words and phrases in the RECALL column.
4. Shortly thereafter, the note-taker covers the right-hand column (RECORD) and then using
only the key words and phrases attempts to reconstruct the other column (RECALL) as he
recites the message in his own words.
5. Future review sessions are conducted in the same manner.

Your choice of note-taking method will depend on the organizational pattern of the
message. Keep your notes clear and brief so that they will be easy to review at a future time.
 Becoming a better note-taker will surely help you become a better listener.

7. Faking Attention
Many think that looking like an attentive and cooperative listener will satisfy the requirements
that a speaker expects of his listeners. The reality is that these actions (nodding the head
periodically to indicate understanding, smiling occasionally, even obsessive note-taking) which
are done to please the speaker are really superficial. You have nothing to gain in pretending to
grasp the message while making a mental detour. Besides, speakers are smarter than you think.
They often know when you have switched them off. They can recognize these signs that you may
be unaware of. Suggestion: Don’t pretend to listen.

8. Creating or yielding easily to distractions

Experience will tell you that there is hardly a perfect listening environment. There will often
be distractions in the physical environment. A good example is your classroom in
Communication III. It can get uncomfortably hot or noisy especially when students wait outside
the hall for their next class. Overcome these distractions by closing the door, adjusting the
electric fan or lights or finding a good seat. Sometimes listeners themselves create distractions
in the listening environment. Latecomers can disrupt proceedings. Students play with a ballpen,
doodle or chat with their seatmates. Some even entertain text messages or phone calls. These are
negative behaviors which interfere with effective listening. Remember, it is your joint
responsibility with the speaker to create a favorable listening environment. Suggestion: Fight or
resist distraction.

9. Engaging in “private planning”

How often have you used the time for listening to an important lecture or class discussion to
daydream or make plans for the weekend? Perhaps relive an argument you had with you
boyfriend over the phone last night? Anyone of these seems the better option to a boring
presentation. If you wish to make the most out of your listening, learn to concentrate and focus. It
takes a lot of energy but it can be done. Suggestion: Set aside unrelated personal problems or
concerns.

10. Wasting the advantages of thought speed

We are inefficient listeners because our “brains can understand many more words per minute
than speakers can produce clearly” (Gronbeck 1994). The average rate of speaking is 125 words
to 175 words per minute while the rate at which we think is 400 words per minute. These figures
reveal that listeners can think four to five times faster than a speaker can speak. On the average,
we need only about 20 to 25 seconds of every minute to comprehend what the speaker is saying.
This is only a portion of the total listening time needed to process the information in messages.
This time differential between thought rate and speech rate provides a tempting excuse to tune
out the speaker. You may not realize it but these spare moments can be the used to the listener’s
advantage.
How can you capitalize on the advantages of thought speed? Here relevant mental activities
can you engage in to use the spare time wisely.

• You can anticipate what the speaker will say

 • You can mentally review the points or concepts discussed so far
• You can test the use of evidence and reasoning.
• You can formulate questions
• You can search for additional meanings by listening “between the lines.”
• You can outline or re-organize the speech.
• You can relate the speaker’s examples to your personal storehouse or field of experience.

Do not allow mind to wander. Use the time wisely. Suggestion: Capitalize on the
advantages of thought speed.

GUIDES TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

1. Listen actively.
In the initial part of this chapter a distinction between hearing and listening was made. It was
emphasized that we usually can hear without effort but we cannot listen without effort. It takes a lot
of time and energy to listen effectively. For one, a certain degree of physical alertness is needed.
Do you remember how you moved up close to somebody who had something important to say to
you? With straight body, head brought close to the speaker and ears all set to hear, you listened
attentively. This physical readiness is a sign that you are mentally ready as well. Active listening is
not just participating physically but mentally and emotionally or empathically in the listening
process.

2. Listen with empathy.

Listening with empathy is to be able to feel what the speaker feels. You will have to learn to see
things from the point of view of the speaker. As students, it is important that you see things from the
point of view of your professors. Teachers must also learn to see matters not just from their own
perspectives but from the point of view of their students as well.

3. Listen for total meaning.

We would normally think that all we have to hear are the words or utterances of a source or
speaker. Listening involves the total communication process. It includes visual perceptions that
attend the listening situation. We have to watch the speaker, observe his use of bodily actions and
audio-visual aids. What does a speaker who paces throughout his delivery communicate? These
visible symbols are significant in that they help you accurately interpret the verbal message and
thereby gain more information. They may sometimes dominate a communication act and become the
most important source of a message.
Together with the overt behavior of the speaker, we have to “listen” between the lines, so to
speak. We listen for meanings in the context and in the total situation. We need to listen also to
what is unsaid or omitted. It takes a sensitive receiver/listener to infer meanings from messages
which are hidden.

4. Listen with an open mind.

A closed-minded listener will refuse to hear and understand conflicting points of view. He will
not strive to hear out the other side of the story. Being dogmatic causes us to be poor listeners.
 Before arriving at decisions or accepting proposals, listen with both an open ear and an open mind.
It is a healthy and mature practice to listen to all sides.

5. Give effective feedback.

If speakers to be effective are expected to adapt their messages to their listeners, then listeners
must be trained to send effective feedback. Feedback is defined as the response or reaction (overt
and covert) of the listener as perceived by the source in the communication transaction. Reacting
and responding is a necessary component of the listening act.
DeVito (1982) characterizes effective feedback as immediate, honest, appropriate, clear and
informative. The most effective feedback is that which is sent immediately after the message is
received. The practice of sending feedback quickly will help in the process of understanding
another’s messages. Honest feedback is a sincere response to the communication. Do not hesitate
to express your doubts or disagreements. Do not feel afraid to admit that you do not understand the
message. Feedback should be appropriate to the communication situation. Keep feedback to the
message separate from feedback directed at the source or person you are listening to. Feedback
must also be clear and specific in meaning. Avoid sending distracting and unintentional feedback.
Your overt response must communicate the messages you intend. For instance, facial expressions
can be misconstrued. If what you had for breakfast does not agree with you, make sure that these
reactions will not confuse the source or speaker. Lastly, effective feedback is informative. It
provides the speaker with relevant clues that can improve his subsequent communication efforts.
Consider other general guidelines for sending feedback. Make sure that you understand the
message before sending directive feedback. Be certain that the speaker recognized the feedback.
Use nondirective feedback until the speaker invites feedback to his message. Sending feedback is a
conscious effort. It should come easy and natural once you get accustomed to it.

6. Listen critically.
An effective listener must carefully evaluate and critically analyze the messages that he receives.
This responsibility becomes a real challenge in the classroom where academic interaction with
teachers and classmates takes place. Evaluate the main points or arguments advanced by the
speaker. Test the evidence used to support various claims. Also test the reasoning employed by the
speaker. Brooks suggests that “such weighing and evaluating is most effectively done point by point
rather than at the end of a message.”
A critical listener must also have the ability to recognize propaganda techniques and fallacies in
reasoning so he can reject false claims advanced by some speakers.

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

1. Name-calling is a device that affixes an unfavorable label or name to a person or thing.

Objectional labels such as crony, “trapo” (traditional politician), activist, nerd, loser or terror
teacher are often used to discredit or ridicule a person and thus cause the listener to eventually
reject what he represents.
2. Glittering generalities involve attaching a vague but virtuous-sounding label to a person, cause
or object (“a strong proponent of justice,” “defender of freedom”). Since they are approved
verbal sanctions they are often used to gain acceptability of programs, plans and ideas.
 3. The use of irrelevant personal attacks, also known as argumentum ad personam, is used when
there is a deficiency in logical proof. Instead of attacking the issue at hand, a speaker resorts to
attacking the personal character of an opponent, his age, his relatives or even physical
appearance.
4. False appeal to authority is another type of fallacy. Its Latin name is ipse dixit which means
“because he says it.” Often, testimonials from famous people are used to build confidence in a
product or proposition. When the authority is legitimately connected to the matter at hand the
move may seem reasonable. However, if they are not authorities on them, then the speaker can be
guilty of false appeal. Many television and print ads ask consumers to purchase products
because sport celebrities or popular figures endorse the product(s).
5. Transfer shifts the authority, sanction and prestige of something known, respected and revered
over to something else in order to make the latter acceptable. The flag, the church, educational
institutions are common sources of emotional approval.
6. Half-truth is a common propaganda technique that is neither false nor true.
7. Card-stacking is a scheme used to deceive by means of carefully selecting only favorable
evidence and omitting unfavorable evidence to support the propagandist’s cause.
8. Plain-folks device stresses humble origins and modest backgrounds. This is a common strategy
of politicians who seek the support by portraying themselves as “men of the masses.” This
appeal may be used to establish common ground particularly in introductions of public speeches.
However, if it is used as pseudo-proof to justify a proposal, then, its use becomes unethical.
9. Bandwagon is sometimes known as argumentum ad populum. It is an appeal to popular
opinion. It encourages belief or acceptance of an idea or product by creating the impression of
universal support. It capitalizes on the so-called herd instincts.
10. False causality assigns a false or wrong cause to a certain happening or effect. Its Latin
equivalent is post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Sequential fallacy can be spotted in reasoning from
causal relations.
11. False analogy results when the instances compared are not closely similar in all essential
respects. Although analogy is an effective means to clarify and make vivid a point, it has limited
weight when used for justifying a claim.
12. Hasty generalization is a claim made on the basis of too little evidence. Enough cases must be
examined in order to make a justifiable claim.

An awareness of these propaganda techniques and logical fallacies and the context in which they
are employed will be helpful in evaluating, weighing evidence and arguments and arriving at sound
judgments about a speaker’s message.

Listening, the reciprocal of speaking, is an integral part of the total communication process. It is a
complex communication skill which according to Brooks involves three stages: hearing, identifying
and recognizing, and auding. There are at least four purposes or kinds of listening: appreciative
listening, empathic listening, informative listening and critical listening. Attention and effective
listener feedback are crucial to good listening. Listening critically calls for the recognition of various
propaganda techniques. Although there are many barriers to effective listening, these can be overcome
through concentration and constant practice.

1. Why is listening important to you as a student?

2. Why are hearing and listening not synonymous terms?
3. Explain the stages of the listening process.
4. Differentiate the various purposes in listening.
5. Identify the barriers to effective listening.
6. Suggest ways to capitalize on the advantages of thought speed.
7. How important is the recognition of propaganda techniques to critical listening?
8. What are the important characteristics of effective feedback?

1. Evaluate your major strengths and weaknesses as a listener. What steps do you need to become a
better listener?
2. Begin a listening journal. For a period of two to three days log in or record your listening
transactions. Note the following.

• who you were listening to

• what your purposes in listening were
• how effectively you listened.

After the specified period, review your log and examine your listening patterns. What changes in
your listening behavior should you make?
3. Attend a class. Observe the listening behavior of your classmates. Describe both positive and
negative behaviors that you observe.
4. Listen to a class lecture. Make an outline the lecture using any one of the methods suggested earlier.
Keep these notes for review.
5. Make a list of judgments /biases you have made about three friends or classmates that may serve as
a barrier to listen to them effectively and objectively. What can you do to help suspend these
judgments as you prepare to listen to their speeches?
6. Make a conscious effort to send feedback to speakers in various communication settings:
interviews, panel discussions and public speaking. How well does making an attempt to give
feedback affect your listening? Share your observations with the class.
7. Interview a person who you think is particularly effective as a listener. Some suggestions include a
guidance counselor, a parish priest or a friend who is known to be a good listener. Find out what
 listening strategies/ techniques have worked for them.
8. Make a written critique of a speech you recently listened to. Evaluate both the speaker’s content
and delivery.

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