Listening Instruction in Selected Colleges and Universities

Research on the significance of listening in higher education consistently points to the critical role that listening plays in the lives of college students. College students have been found to spend as much as 52% of their time listening (Barker, et al., 1980; Perras & Weitzel, 1981), and proficiency in listening is a stronger factor than reading skills or academic aptitude in the achievement and retention of college students (Conaway, 1982; Brown, 1987). Likewise, Newton (1985) has provided evidence that first-year college students who completed a listening skills course earned significantly higher grade point averages than did first-year students who did not take the course. In light of such evidence of the importance of listening, are colleges and universities, like business and industry, addressing these skills in the curriculum?