CHAPTER III Listening

JLISTENING IS no longer considered a peripheral aspect of the communica-tive process. During the past three years a large body of research dealt with this topic; relatively few of these studies are considered in this chap-ter. For example, 36 master's theses on various aspects of listening were completed during this period. The mere quantitative increase would, in itself, be of little importance if there had not also been an improvement in quality. Happily, research on listening showed a greater degree of creative excellence than was reported in previous three-year periods. This is not to say, however, that a completely satisfactory level of research has yet been reached. There is still a regrettable amount of work that is done in a slovenly, careless, and indifferent manner on minor and unimportant questions. However, the better studies compare favorably with good re-search in any field. Bibliographies A bibliography of 743 references was compiled by Duker (1961). Lists of 107 master's theses and of 128 doctoral dissertations together with clas-sifications and comments were separately published by Duker (1962, 1963). Extensive bibliographies and reviews of research on hearing were contributed by Pollack (1961), Wever (1962), and Small (1963). Because of the continuing increase of material on listening, there is need for an annotated bibliography. This could serve as a guide to sources that would meet specific needs of research workers, since an examination of all the material available is becoming an impractical task for an individual investigator. Teaching Listening The basic assumption that listening is a teachable skill, accepted by many investigators, was challenged by Petrie (1961). In an experiment involving 712 college freshmen as subjects, he found that a group receiving four hours of training in listening along the lines generally advocated showed no greater improvement in listening skills than did two groups without such training. Petrie concluded that not enough is known about listening to warrant the kinds of precise generalizations on which are based most present-day programs of listening instruction in industry