Book: Listening Process, Functions, and Competency by Debra Worthington & Margar
Book: Listening Process, Functions, and Competency by Debra Worthington & Margaret Fitch-Hauser
This assignment is designed to give you hands on experience with different listening techniques. You will choose ONE of the observations/experiments listed below to perform and write about. You will need to be familiar with the listening concepts from the text and from the course content we have covered. You will turn in a one-page synopsis/response to your experiment/observation uploaded to canvas
Observations/Experiments
1.Observe the “cocktail” listening effect at a gathering of two or more
people. The cocktail listening effect is when someone is talking to one person but trying to listen to something else (Example: watching television and talking to someone). What do you see happening? For this exercise, please be an observer…don’t be one of the people involved…you won’t be able to properly observe if you are involved.
2.Ask only questions for a full ten minutes and avoid being drawn into the conversation. Record the reactions of the other person. Did they enjoy the experience? Did you have difficulty not being drawn in to the conversation?
3.Give only positive attending behaviors (nodding, smiling etc.) and positive verbalfeedback: (“Yes, I understand” ,“I agree” etc.) to someone for five minutes. Observe their behavior. Did they talk more, less? Did the conversation continue, stop? What was their reaction?
4.Select a good friend and use your active listening skills. Resist giving advice. Didyou succeed in using all of the skills? Was the transaction useful to the friend? Was it difficult for you to not give advice?