The Importance of Listening

The importance of listening
Communication takes place along four modalities: speaking, writing, listening, and
reading. It is common for instructors to teach speaking, writing, and reading skills, and
yet, listening is at once the least understood and most important of these
competencies.
Listening is an important communication competence that includes complex cognitive

processes like understanding and interpreting messages, affective processes like being
motivated to pay attention, and behavioral processes like responding with both verbal
and nonverbal feedback. In other words, to be an effective listener, the listener has to
take into consideration what he or she is thinking about the communication being
received, what he or she is feeling about the communication and also the context of the
conversation, and what he or she will do in the process and as a result of the
communication.
The characteristics of effective listening thus range across these cognitive, affective,
and behavioral frames.
Cognitive characteristics of effective listening
 Probing
 Paraphrasing
 Summarizing
Asking questions to follow up or for clarification, paraphrasing the individual

communications, and summarizing the conversation are all activities that show the
listener’s cognitive engagement in the conversation, indicating his or her attempts to
fully understand and correctly interpret the messages being relayed.
Affective characteristics of effective listening
 Focusing of attention
 Acceptance
 Empathy
The effective listener can also signal his or her affective engagement in the
conversation by making it the sole focus of attention, and by receiving communications
with acceptance and empathy. Receiving communications with empathy requires that
the listener try to avoid projecting his or her own opinions, feelings or prejudices onto
the speaker, and that the listener accept the speaker’s communications without
simultaneously trying to craft a response.
Behavioral characteristics of effective listening
 Non-verbal behavior
 Advice
Action is also part of effective listening. The listener should communicate his or her
attention through non-verbal means like eye contact, erect posture, nodding, and other
positive body language. The listener can also demonstrate engagement by broadening
the range of the conversation, such as by inquiring about or suggesting alternatives to
the topic or conclusions at hand.
Teaching effective listening

In a dynamic classroom, both the instructor and the students need to be effective
listeners. Perfecting listening skills will foster learning in the classroom by helping
students master the content of the course, ask incisive questions, and learn to think
critically about the content of the course. Listening skills also play a crucial role in
personal and professional success and are especially important to master for students
for whom the language of instruction is not their first language. Because listening is
such a complex activity, or a broad field of activities, inculcating good listening habits in
students requires the instructor to address each of these types of listening processes.
Resources for teaching effective listening
For enabling effective listening in students whose first language is not English:
http://itl.uconn.edu/blog/?tag=active-listening
For in-class listening exercises:
Peterson, S. (2012) “The labor of listening.” International Journal of Listening, 26:2, 87-

90.
Thompson, K., Leintz, P., Nevers, B., & Witkowski, S. (2004) “The integrative listening
model: an approach to teaching and learning listening.” The Journal of general
Education, 53:3-4, 225-246.
Additional references on listening in general:
1. Bodie, G.D., Worthington, D., Imhof, M. & Cooper, L.O. (2008) “What would a unified
field of listening look like? A proposal linking past perspectives and future
endeavors.” International Journal of Listening, 22:2, 103-122.
2. Edwards, R. (2011) “Listening and message interpretation.” International Journal of

Listening, 25:1-2, 47-65.
3. Jones, S. M. (2011) “Supportive listening.” International Journal of Listening, 25:1-2, 85-
103.

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The importance of listening

Listening is an important communication competence that includes complex cognitive

Cognitive characteristics of effective listening

Asking questions to follow up or for clarification, paraphrasing the individual

Affective characteristics of effective listening

Behavioral characteristics of effective listening

Teaching effective listening

Resources for teaching effective listening

For in-class listening exercises:

Peterson, S. (2012) “The labor of listening.” International Journal of Listening, 26:2, 87-

Additional references on listening in general:

2. Edwards, R. (2011) “Listening and message interpretation.” International Journal of

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