Peer Review

Listening and Critical Thinking

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Reviewed:: Jan 2, 2021 by ICT Literacy

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This chapter on listening and critical thinking provides post-secondary students with a strong gounding in listening principles and practices. It is chapter 5 (free sample) of Human Communication textbook by Pearson et al., McGraw Hill.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

This open access text can be used to teach fundamental listening skills that can augment learning. The principles covered in resource can be used to help students learn to hone the ability to focus on details and develop short-term and long term memory. Finally, it can be viewed as a good tool to support a unit on critical thinking particularly in a speech communications course. For instance, instructors can ask students to read the chapter sections as homework, and blog their reflections as they answer the text's discussion questions,"try this" insets, and other text sidebar prompts as they read. The instructor can review the concepts by having students act out the listening behaviors in different situations.

Technical Requirements:

pdf file

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Describe the listening process and identify the primary features that distinguish listening from hearing.
Discuss three reasons why listening is important in our lives.
Define and discuss examples of active, empathic, critical, and enjoyment listening.
Analyze barriers to effective listening, including internal and external noise, perceptions of others, and yourself.
Use strategies for critical thinking to evaluate both the communication situation and the message of the speaker.
Describe differences in listening behaviors between men and women.
Adapt general strategies for effective listening to specific situations including the workplace, the classroom, and mediated environments.
Engage in ethical listening behaviors

Target Student Population:

College lower division, communication studies majors, language majors, general education students, pre-service teachers

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

reading skills and basic information literacy skills

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: This textbook is well written and thoroughly discusses listening skills, noting both physical and behavioral aspects. Coverage is very good; the chapter explains barriers to listening, critical thinking, and verbal and nonverbal communication. The chapter is well summarized and referenced. Definitions of key terminology are highlighted in the margins and help the reader to easily identify central points that need to be grasped. Students and teachers can learn from the text without other resources, and material is applicable to several courses. The text is a pfd without links.
Concerns:: Images are captioned but no attribute is listed.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: Learning objectives are clear, and align with ICT literacy standards, especially in terms of acquiring and critiquing information. The chapter sequences the content well to build knowledge; content is accompanied by relevant examples. The resource is replete with teaching tools, tips, and activities that can be used to supplement lecture and class discussions. A chapter review and comprehensive study guide are provided. An online component is also available for interactive learning opportunities and may be useful for online learning formats.
Concerns:: The term ICT literacy is not explicitly used.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The resource is well organized and visually appealing. The text uses tables and graphics to effectively convey important components of the material. The sidebar questions and activities promote engagement. The text appears to be ADA-compliant except for the images because it is an earlier pdf version.
Concerns:: The text itself is not interactive. Reviewers were unable to access some of the online material

Other Issues and Comments:: Overall, the resource is easy to read and does an effective job of breaking down and defining the elements of active listening as it relates to critical thinking. It is a high quality product that can be used to augment most communications studies curriculum.
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