WHATCANBEDONEABOUTLISTENING

RalphG.Nichols
TheSupervisor'sNotebook,Scott,Foresman&Co.
Vol.22,No.1,Spring1960

Thebusinessofbecomingagoodlistenerprimarilyconsistsofgettingridofbadlisteninghabitsand
replacingthemwiththeircounterpartskills.

TENBADLISTENINGHABITS
SeveralyearsagoIidentifiedwhatseemedtometobethetenworstlisteninghabitsinAmericatoday.
Thoughmydiscussionofthemhereisinrelationtothewaystheymayaffectusinaformallistening
situation,theeffectsofthesehabitscanbejustasdevastatinginlessformallisteningsituationsathome,at
school,inbusinessorsocialgroups.
1.CallingtheSubjectDull
Badlistenersoftenfindsasubjecttoodryanddustytocommandtheirattentionandtheyusethisas
anexcusetowanderoffonamentaltangent.Goodlistenersmayhaveheardadozentalksonthesame
subjectbefore,buttheyquicklydecidetoseeifthespeakerhasanythingthatcanbeofusetothem.
Thekeytogoodlisteningisthatlittlethreeletterworduse.Goodlistenersaresifters,screeners,and
winnowersofthewheatfromthechaff.Theyarealwayshuntingforsomethingpracticalorworthwhileto
storeinthebackoftheirmindtoputtoworkinthemonthsandyearsahead.G.K.Chestertonsaidmany
yearsagothatinallthisworldthereisnosuchthingasanuninterestingsubject,onlyuninterestedpeople.
2.CriticizingtheSpeaker
It'stheindoorsportofmostbadlistenerstofindfaultwiththewayaspeakerlooks,acts,andtalks.
Goodlistenersmaymakeafewofthesamecriticismsbuttheyquicklybegintopayattentiontowhatissaid,
nothowitissaid.Afterafewminutes,goodlistenersbecomeoblivioustothespeaker'smannerismsor
his/herfaultsindelivery.Theyknowthatthemessageistentimesasimportantastheclothinginwhichit
comesgarbed.
3.GettingOverstimulated
Listeningefficiencydropstozerowhenthelistenersreactsostronglytoonepartofthepresentation
thattheymisswhatfollows.AttheUniversityofMinnesotawethinkthisbadhabitissocriticalthat,inthe
classeswhereweteachlistening,weputatthetopofeveryblackboardthewords:Withholdevaluationuntil
comprehensioniscompletehearthespeakerout.Itisimportantthatweunderstandthespeaker'spoint
ofviewfullybeforeweacceptorrejectit.

4.ListeningOnlyForFacts
Iusedtothinkitwasimportanttolistenforfacts.ButI'vefoundthatalmostwithoutexceptionitis
thepoorlistenerswhosaytheylistenforfacts.Theydogetfacts,buttheygarbleashockingnumberand
completelylosemostofthem.

Goodlistenerslistenforthemainideasinaspeechorlectureandusethemasconnectingthreadsto
givesenseandsystemtothewhole.Intheendtheyhavemorefactsappendedtothoseconnectingthreads
thanthecatalogerswholistenonlyforfacts.Itisn'tnecessarytoworrytoomuchaboutfactassuch,forfacts
havemeaningonlywhenprinciplessupplythecontext.
5.TryingToOutlineEverything
There'snothingwrongwithmakinganoutlineofaspeechprovidedthespeakerisfollowingan
outlinemethodofpresentation.Butprobablynotmorethanahalforperhapsathirdofallspeechesgivenare
builtaroundacarefullypreparedoutline.
Goodlistenersareflexible.Theyadapttheirnotetakingtotheorganizationalpatternofthespeaker
theymaymakeanoutline,theymaywriteasummary,theymaylistfactsandprinciplesbutwhateverthey
dotheyarenotrigidaboutit.
6.FakingAttention
Theposeofchinproppedonhandwithgazefixedonspeakerdoesnotguaranteegoodlistening.
Havingadoptedthispose,havingshowntheovertcourtesyofappearingtolistentothespeaker,thebad
listenerfeelsconsciencefreetotakeoffonanyofathousandtangents.
Goodlisteningisnotrelaxedandpassiveatall.It'sdynamic;it'sconstructive;it'scharacterizedbya
slightlyincreasedheartrate,quickercirculationoftheblood,andasmallriseinbodilytemperature.It's
energyconsuming;it'splainhardwork.ThebestdefinitionIknowofthewordattentionisa"collectionof
tensionsthatcanberesolvedonlybygettingthefactsorideasthatthespeakeristryingtoconvey."
7.ToleratingDistraction
Poorlistenersareeasilydistractedandmayevencreatedisturbancesthatinterferewiththeirown
listeningefficiencyandthatofothers.Theysquirm,talkwiththeirneighbors,orshufflepapers.Theymake
littleornoefforttoconcealtheirboredom.Goodlistenerstrytoadjusttowhateverdistractionsthereareand
soonfindthattheycanignorethem.Certainly,theydonotdistractothers.
8.ChoosingOnlyWhat'sEasy
Oftenwefindthepoorlistenershaveshunnedlisteningtoseriouspresentationsonradioortelevision.
Thereisplentyofeasylisteningavailable,andthishasbeentheirchoice.Thehabitofavoidingeven
moderatelydifficultexpositorypresentationsinone'sensuretimelisteningcanhandicapanyonewhoneedsto
uselisteningasalearningtool.
9.LettingEmotionLadenWordsGetInTheWay
Itisafactthatsomewordscarrysuchanemotionalloadthattheycausesomelistenerstotunea
speakerrightout:suchas,affirmativeactionandfeministtheyarefightingwordstosomepeople.
Isometimesthinkthatoneofthemostimportantstudiesthatcouldbemadewouldbethe
identificationoftheonehundredgreatesttroublemakingwordsintheEnglishlanguage.Ifweknewwhat
thesewordswere,wecouldringthemoutintotheopen,discussthem,andgetthembehindus.It'ssofoolish
toletameresymbolforsomethingstandbetweenusandlearning.
10.WastingtheDifferentialBetweenSpeechandThoughtSpeed
Americansspeakatanaveragerateof125wordsperminuteinordinaryconversation.Aspeaker
beforeanaudienceslowsdowntoabout100wordsperminute.Howfastdolistenerslisten?Or,toputthe
questioninabetterform,howmanywordsaminutedopeoplenormallythinkastheylisten?Ifalltheir

thoughtsweremeasurableinwordsperminute,theanswerwouldseemtobethatanaudienceofanysizewill
average400to500wordsperminuteastheylisten.
Hereisaproblem.Thedifferentialbetweenthespeakerat100wordsperminuteandtheeasythought
speedofthelistenerat400or500wordsperminuteisasnareandapitfall.Itluresthelistenerintoafalse
senseofsecurityandbreedsmentaltangents.
However,withtraininginlistening,thedifferencebetweenthoughtspeedandspeechspeedcanbe
madeasourceoftremendouspower.Listenerscanheareverythingthespeakersaysandnotwhats/heomits
saying;theycanlistenbetweenthelinesanddosomeevaluatingasthespeechprogresses.Todothis,to
exploitthispower,goodlistenersmustautomaticallypracticethreeskillsinconcentration:
Anticipatingthenextpoint.Goodlistenerstrytoanticipatethepointsaspeakerwillmakeindevelopinga
subject.Iftheyguessright,thespeaker'swordsreinforcetheirguesses.Iftheyguesswrong,they'llhaveto
dosomethinkingtodiscoverwhytheyandthespeakerfailedtoagree.Ineithercase,theirchancesof
understandingandrememberingwhatwassaidisnearlydoublewhatitwouldhavebeeniftheyhadsimply
listenedpassively.
Identifyingsupportingmaterial.Goodlistenerstrytoidentifyaspeaker'ssupportingmaterial.Afterall,a
personcan'tgoonmakingpointswithoutgivinglistenerssomeoftheevidenceonwhichtheconclusionsare
based,andthebricksandmortarthathavebeenusedtobuilduptheargumentshouldbeexaminedfor
soundness.
Recapitulating.Withthetremendousthoughtspeedthateveryonehas,itiseasytosummarizeinaboutfive
secondsthehighlightscoveredbyaspeakerinaboutfiveminutes.Whenthespeakerstopstotakeaswallow
ofwaterorwalksovertotheblackboardtowritesomethingoreventakesadeepbreath,theexperienced
listenermakesamentalsummary.Halfadozensummariesofthehighlightsofafiftyminutetalkwilleasily
doubletheunderstandingandretentionimportantpointsinatalk.
Academic Skills Center, Dartmouth College 2001