Selective Listening Exercise: 

Assignment Details

Communication is essential in every aspect of life. To research career paths and potential positions, network, and share your skills, you need to use both verbal and nonverbal communication skills. The following are three different activities for you to complete with your family or friends. Please follow the instructions provided within the description of each exercise. After you have completed these activities, summarize your findings in an APA-formatted paper.

Your paper should include the following:

• A description of each exercise
• A discussion of the results of each exercise
• Research on the importance of listening skills in the communication process, using at least 3 non-course-related sources
• APA formatting

Summary Paper Details

Selective Listening Exercise: You will need to complete this exercise with another person. Create a list of like items (e.g., a list of fruits). This list needs to be at least 15 words long (the longer the better). In this list, you will repeat certain words. For example: Banana, Orange, Apple, Peach, Banana, Figs, Pear, Plums, Figs, Berries, Melons, Figs, Cherries, Limes, Pear, Tangerine, Lemon, Pear. Give the other person 30 seconds to write down as many of the words as possible. What were the results? What conclusions about listening can you draw from this exercise?

Vacation Exercise: You will need to complete this exercise with another person. One person will tell the other person that he or she would like to go on a vacation somewhere. While that person has an idea of what he or she would like in this location, they do not know where to go. They will then tell the other person aspects of the location in as vague a way as possible. This conversation should last at least 5 minutes. At the end of the conversation, the other person will suggest a place for the first person to visit. Discuss how a listener can pick up on the queues from the speaker to understand the intended message. Discuss how being vague in your message can lead to misunderstandings.

Poor Listening Habits: Everyone is guilty of not listening effectively from time to time. Below is a list of 5 poor listening habits. Look through this list. Which of these habits are you guilty of? How would you react if someone you were speaking to committed one of these bad habits?

• Jumping to conclusions
• Interrupting the other person before he or she has finished what he or she wanted to say
• Thinking about your reply instead of listening to what the other person is saying
• Changing the subject to something you want to talk about
• Providing advice when it is not asked for