Practice Dialogical Listening (^51)
the speaker can readily make eye contact with you puts more pressure on you to pay
attention and give nonverbal feedback.^35
• Movements. Avoid distracting behaviors such as fidgeting, shuffling papers, or playing
with your pen. Instead, give nonverbal feedback in the form of smiles at amusing
anecdotes or nods in support of a major point to further increase your involvement
and provide additional interactions with the presenter.
Attentive listeners may actually help the speaker become more interesting. An old
campus legend tells of a boring professor who always stood at the lectern and read his
notes. His students decided to act as if he were fascinating whenever he moved away
from the lectern. If he moved, ever so slightly, they all leaned forward a bit, made eye
contact, and gave supportive feedback. According to the legend, the professor eventually
was walking back and forth across the front of the room, speaking animatedly.
Give Verbal Feedback
“Where can I get more information?” “One article I read presented very different
information.” “How is he defining that word?” Questions and comments such as these
arise as you listen. Question-and-answer periods provide opportunities to co-create
meanings. Here are a few of the most common types of feedback:^36
• If you are confused, ask clarification questions to gain more information. Examples:
“Could you go over that third step again?” “What’s your threshold level for
‘poverty’ ”?
• Closed questions ask for brief, specific answers. Use them to gain precise
information or to verify your understanding. Here are some examples: “Did you
watch the documentary about dolphins?” (answer yes or no); “When was that law
passed?” (answer a specific date).
• Open questions invite longer answers that could be developed in a variety of ways,
as these examples show: “What do you think is the best new source of energy?”clarification questions
requests to clear up
confusing ideas
closed question request for
a brief, specific answeropen question giving oppor-
tunity for a range of answers
or a more lengthy responseAsking questions or making
comments are good ways
to create a dialogue with a
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