5.4: Improving Listening Competence

Learning Objectives

• Improve listening competence at each stage of the listening process
• Understand how to create listenable messages and to give effective feedback

Many people admit that they could stand to improve their listening skills. This section will help us do that. In this section, we will learn strategies for developing and improving competence at each stage of the listening process. We will also define active listening and the behaviors that go along with it. Looking back to the types of listening discussed earlier, we will learn specific strategies for sharpening our critical and empathetic listening skills. In keeping with our focus on integrative learning, we will also apply the skills we have learned in academic, professional, and relational contexts and explore how culture and gender affect listening.

Listening Competence at Each Stage of the Listening Process

We can develop competence within each stage of the listening process, as the following lists indicate (Ridge, 5–6).

To improve listening at the receiving stage,

• prepare yourself to listen,
• discern between intentional messages and noise,
• concentrate on stimuli most relevant to your listening purpose(s) or goal(s),
• be mindful of the selection and attention process as much as possible,
• pay attention to turn-taking signals so you can follow the conversational flow, and
• avoid interrupting someone while they are speaking in order to maintain your ability to receive stimuli and listen.

To improve listening at the interpreting stage,

• identify main points and supporting points;
• use contextual clues from the person or environment to discern additional meaning;
• be aware of how a relational, cultural, or situational context can influence meaning;
• be aware of the different meanings of silence; and
• note differences in tone of voice and other paralinguistic cues that influence meaning.

To improve listening at the recalling stage,

• use multiple sensory channels to decode messages and make more complete memories;
• repeat, rephrase, and reorganize information to fit your cognitive preferences; and
• use mnemonic devices as a gimmick to help with recall.

To improve listening at the evaluating stage,

• separate facts, inferences, and judgments;
• be familiar with and able to identify persuasive strategies and fallacies of reasoning;
• assess the credibility of the speaker and the message; and
• be aware of your own biases and how your perceptual filters can create barriers to effective listening.

To improve listening at the responding stage:

• ask appropriate clarifying and follow-up questions and paraphrase information to check understanding,
• give feedback that is relevant to the speaker’s purpose or motivation for speaking,
• adapt your response to the speaker and the context, and
• do not let the preparation and rehearsal of your response diminish earlier stages of listening.

Active listening refers to the process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cognitive listening practices and is characterized by mentally preparing yourself to listen, working to maintain focus on concentration, using appropriate verbal and nonverbal back-channel cues to signal attentiveness, and engaging in strategies like note taking and mentally reorganizing information to help with recall.

Listenable Messages and Effective Feedback

Listening is not just about receiving messages—it also depends on how clearly messages are sent. A passive view of listening overlooks the fact that speakers play an active role in facilitating comprehension, and listeners continue the process by providing feedback to others and to themselves.

Creating Listenable Messages

Many listening challenges could be reduced if speakers created listenable messages—oral messages designed to be easily understood (Rubin, 269). While most communication is spoken, not all spoken messages are delivered in an oral style. Problems arise when written conventions slip into oral delivery. For instance, reading dictionary definitions or research quotes word-for-word often leads to verbal stumbles that distract listeners and block comprehension.

This usually isn’t an issue in casual conversation, where we naturally use an oral style. But in prepared messages like speeches, we tend to slip into written patterns because most of our training emphasizes writing, not speaking. As a result, many students are left to figure out effective oral style through trial and error. Developing the ability to craft spoken messages distinct from written ones is therefore a key skill for effective public speaking.

Since not every speaker will succeed in creating listenable messages, listeners must sometimes mentally restructure or clarify what they hear. Still, as speakers, we can make messages far more listenable by following a few basic strategies:

• Use short, active sentences.
• Incorporate personal pronouns (“I want to show you…”).
• Organize ideas clearly with patterns such as problem–solution or compare–contrast.
• Guide listeners with transitions and markers (“first,” “next,” “in summary”).
• Draw on examples relevant to shared experiences.

These techniques help align oral delivery with how audiences actually process spoken language, making listening less of a challenge and more of a shared exchange.

Figure 5.4.1 Conference Feedback

Giving Formal Feedback to Others

Effective feedback benefits both the giver and receiver. Positive comments can build confidence, while constructive negative feedback can clarify perceptions and lead to improvement. Poorly delivered criticism, however, risks damaging self-esteem and creating communication problems. Since performance reviews, peer evaluations, and group assessments are common in academic, professional, and civic settings, learning to provide competent feedback is an essential skill.

Guidelines for Giving Feedback

• Be specific. Avoid vague comments like “eye contact.” Instead, describe what you observed: “You looked at your notes more than the audience during the first 30 seconds.”
• Be descriptive. Add detail to make feedback clearer and more useful.
• Be positive. Frame comments in a supportive way to avoid defensiveness. For example, replace “stop fidgeting” with “try keeping your hands on the podium to appear more confident.”
• Be constructive. Go beyond praise. “Good job” is nice, but not helpful. Instead: “Your explanation of the marketing strategy was clear; you could apply the same approach to the crisis plan section.”
• Be realistic. Feedback should focus on what can be changed. Telling someone to “lose the accent” is unhelpful; suggesting strategies for clarity or audience adaptation is better.
• Be relevant. Keep comments tied to the task. Compliments like “nice smile” may be kind but aren’t useful in most formal feedback settings.

In short, effective feedback is clear, respectful, and actionable. It focuses on behaviors that can be improved rather than traits that cannot, ensuring that feedback builds competence and confidence rather than undermining them.