Teaching Listening: What Do We Do? What Should We Do?

Historically, more time has been spent on teaching speaking than listening, even though listening is the communication activity in which we spend most of our time. Difficulties in teaching include the lack of a single definition or model of listening. Additionally, since listening is both cognitive and behavioral, effectiveness is often evaluated by what students know as opposed to what students do. This article provides a comprehensive look at what is known about teaching listening in both the college and corporate classrooms. Finally, it proposes the educational concept of Teacher Research to develop further theories on how to teach listening more effectively.