Chapter Summary

The listening process has four components: hearing, listening, interpreting, and retaining. The purposes of listening are to build knowledge, gain information, form an opinion, be entertained, and show interest. To effectively communicate a message to an audience, the seven "Cs" of communication should be used: clear, complete, concise, coherent, correct, courteous, and considerate. These will help the audience listen to the message more effectively.

Listeners are engaging in either a passive or an active process. Passive listeners have difficulty concentrating on the speaker's message because their attention shifts to other thoughts. Active listeners give the speaker their full attention and pay attention to the details of what is being said. External and internal noises, which are known as listening barriers, must be ignored in order to be an effective active listener. Two other listening barriers are boredom and bias. Listening skills can be improved with practice. It is the listener's responsibility to evaluate a speech based on its content and delivery.

Online Links

How Stuff Works (Page 47)
www.howstuffworks.com

International Listening Association (Page 59)
www.listen.org

Oregon State University Academic Success (Page 67)
http://success.orst.edu/index.cfm

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