Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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198 CHAPTER 8

The potential for computer crime is staggering, and that fact is now

recognized in legislative and enforcement circles. But most of the

preventive work so far initiated is privately organized and paid for.

Hundreds of companies have sprung up in recent years peddling advice

and technology to counteract the new breed of high-tech criminals.^1

What are

Barriers to Listening?

There are several reasons why people are poor listeners. One reason

is that the complex human mind can comprehend many more words

per minute than speakers can produce. Listeners can process more

than 400 spoken words per minute, yet the average speaker only pro-

duces between 125 and 175 words per minute. This time lag between

slower speaking rates and faster rates of thinking is known as the

speech–thought differential. Stated in a different way, the listener

needs only 15 seconds of every minute to comprehend the spoken

message. The resulting time lag creates special problems. In this excess

time, listeners’ thoughts may begin to stray. Can you recall a time

when you began listening to a speaker but soon found yourself think-

ing about lunch, an upcoming test, or a date? This tendency for our

thoughts to stray poses many problems for the speaker trying to con-

vey an understandable message, especially if the subject matter is

complex.^2

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3. Underline and Annotate Textbooks. In the introduction to this unit, I
   mentioned that underlining was an ineffective learning strategy. The
   purpose of underlining is to identify main ideas and supporting details
   (e.g., examples, facts, and illustrations). When underlining is done
   without determining the main points, or if too much material is under-
   lined, both relevant and irrelevant information is highlighted. There-
   fore, it is often difficult to make sense of the underlining, because
   everything appears to be important. It is not necessary to underline
   each word in a sentence to capture the idea in a passage. One way
   to test for successful underlining is to read through underlined pas-
   sages to determine whether the main ideas have been identified. You
   accomplish this task by determining whether you have answered the
   questions asked in the textbook or answered the questions generated
   from the headings in the text. Sometimes you find that it is necessary
   to underline more information.

(^1) From Barlow, H. D. (1984). Introduction to Criminology (3rd ed.). Boston: Little, Brown,
p. 252.
(^2) From Gronbeck, B., et al. (1992). Principles of Speech Communication. New York:
HarperCollins.