University of Maryland, College Park
Department of Communication

COMM 470 – LISTENING

Professor: Andrew D. Wolvin, Ph.D.
Office: Skinner 2111
Phone: (301)-405-6521
Fax: (301)-314-9471
E-mail: awolvin@umd.edu

Course Objective

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

  1. Articulate the process and the role of listening as a communication function.
  2. Critically conceptualize and evaluate research in listening.
  3. Listen more effectively at various levels of the process.

Nature of the Course

Research indicates that the majority of our communication time is spent in listening; yet not enough educational training is devoted to developing effective listening skills and attitudes. The aim of this course is to equip you to understand listening behavior from various perspectives and to enable you to understand your own listening behavior.

Text

Wolvin, Andrew D. and Coakley, Carolyn Gwynn. Listening. (Fifth Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Personal Listening Profile. Chicago: Inscape Publishing, 1995.

Course Policies

Standards: The instructional standards in this course are high, appropriate to a 400-level course. Quality, consistent class participation and individual work are expected.

Classroom Procedures: You are expected to exemplify active, participative listening behaviors throughout each class period. Plan to attend all of the class sessions. Please arrive on time and stay through the entire class. Please turn off your cell phone and refrain from distracting behavior that could interrupt good classroom communication.

Academic Integrity: The University of Maryland has a nationally-recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity for all students. As a student, you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. All assignments submitted to your professor must be your own work. It is important that you be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information, please see http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.

Tentative Schedule

Unit I: INTRODUCTION

  1. Introduction to the Course.
  2. Watson-Barker Pre-Test.
  3. Listening As Communication (Read Text, chs. 1, 2, and 3 and “Models of the Listening Process”).

Unit II: THE PROCESS OF LISTENING

  1. Listening: Motivation and Purpose. Reception.
  2. Listening: Attention. (Read Text, ch. 3)
  3. Listening: Perception. (Text, ch. 3)
  4. Listening: Verbal Meaning. (Text, ch. 3, 4).
  5. Listening: Nonverbal Meaning (Text. ch. 3, 5)
  6. Listening: Cognitive Structuring (Text, ch. 3)
  7. Listening: Response (Text, ch. 3, 6)
  8. Listening: Variables (Text, ch. 4)
  9. Listening Models. (Prepare YOUR model of the listening process. The model should reflect the components of the process and the major variables which affect the process. It should be a creative, original, sophisticated model which illustrates your thorough, conceptual understanding of the listening process. Prepare a short briefing to explain your model to the class and prepare a written explanation of the model to submit. The model will be evaluated according to five criteria: (1) Does the model illustrate the complex nature of the listening process? (2) Does the model account for the major components involved in listening? (3) Does the model account for the major variables which affect the listening process? (4) Does the model differ from other models? (5) Is the model presented clearly? The model is your midterm project, designed to pull together your theoretical understanding of the process of listening which has been developed through the text and through class discussions and activities. Note: This is to be a model of the listening process, not of the communication process.)

Unit III: LISTENING TAXONOMY.

  1. Developing Listening Competencies
  2. Listening Taxonomy: Discrimination. (Read text, ch. 5 ).
  3. Listening Taxonomy: Comprehension (Text, ch. 6)
  4. Listening Taxonomy: Therapeutic (Read Text, ch. 7)
  5. Listening: Critical (Text, ch. 8. Bring to class examples of motivational appeals–pp. 347-351–to which you have be
  6. Listening: Appreciation (Text, ch. 9)

Unit IV: LISTENING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

  1. Listening Roles and Responsibilities. (Read text, ch. 10.)
  2. Listening Research. Listening Portfolio.
    Prepare a listening portfolio which includes:
    1. Your goals and objectives for improvement as a listener;
    2. A journal of listening experiences which details at least one entry for each of the five levels of listening. Describe the experience, discuss how you responded as a listener, and detail what you learned about yourself as a listener from the listening experience. See text, pp. 98-100, for examples of listening journal entries;
    3. A log–a list by time of your listening experiences for an entire day;
    4. A list of all of the listening assessments that you have taken throughout the semester–the instrument and your score. Write an interpretation of what this profile tells you about you as a listener;
    5. The completed Personal Listening Profile;
    6. A report of an interview with a professional listener. Interview a professional listener–a counselor, therapist, interviewer, customer service representative, attorney, court reporter, minister, etc., in an informational interview. Set up the interview and prepare a series of questions that you’d like answered about how this professional does listen. Focus your questions on listening techniques, roles, problems, importance, and what the individual feels is the role of listening in his/her field. Ask what techniques this person has found to be helpful in functioning as a listener. After you have completed the interview, write up a report of the interview which (a) identifies the interviewee and his/her position; (b) briefly describes the interview, including a list of the questions that you asked; (c) summarizes thoroughly the interviewee’s observations on listening. You do not have to submit a verbatim transcript of this interview; and
    7. An essay in which you establish thorough, sophisticated criteria–standards of excellence, benchmarks–for what is a competent listener and evaluate yourself according to the criteria you set up. Prepare to share your interview with a professional listener with the class.

Unit V: LISTENING RESEARCH

  1. Listening Research and Listenability.
  2. Listening Research.
    Review research on a listening variable that interests you. Write a paper that offers a literature review summarizing some of the current research on this variable. Include a bibliography of the research you review. Please use APA style. Prepare a short informal briefing to share your review with the class.
  3. Listening Research (continued).
  4. Listening Research (continued).
  5. Listening Research (continued).
  6. Listening Research (continued).
  7. Watson-Barker Post-Test. Wrap-Up.