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Active or empathic listening is a basic social work practice skill. Past research involving this skill has focused primarily on the relationship between level of empathy and ultimate outcome. Little research has focused on the more immediate effects of this verbal procedure. Focusing on the short-term affective impact of two types of active listening, this article describes a series of replications of an analog experiment. The results, which replicate across experiments, across dependent measures, across client situations and affect, and across experimenters, suggest that differently worded active-listening responses may lead to different short-term client affective outcomes. The implications of these results for future social work research and practice are discussed

AbstractTraditional approaches to mediation treat active listening skills like formulation (reflecting, mirroring) as neutral means through which mediators may come to know the issues of concern to disputants. This study investigated the use of formulation through the microanalysis of a mediation session and a therapy session. The analysis shows that formulating is a nonneutral means of communication that allows the mediator to (1) transform disputants' statements, (2) select or ignore disputants' issues, and (3) invite or discourage disputants' contributions to these issues. Formulation apparently plays an important function in the reformulation of dispute narratives.

Are you as good a listener as you would like to be? If not, this article will show you how to effectively restate, respond to feelings, respond to non-verbal cues, and to summarize. All of these techniques are essential to becoming a good listener.

Draws attention to the importance of listening skills.
Approximately three fourths of the business day is spent engaged in some
form of communication. Effective listening is central to enhanced
communication but managers do not always listen because active listening
is not a natural process. It requires both mental and physical effort on
the part of the listener. Intra‐organizational listening can become a
powerful competitive tool. Suggestions for improving listening skills on
an organizational and an individual level are provided.

Two experiments are presented that serve as a framework for exploring auditory information processing. The framework is referred to as polychotic listening or auditory search, and it requires a listener to scan multiple simultaneous auditory streams for the appearance of a target word (the name of a letter such as A or M). Participants' ability to scan between two and six simultaneous auditory streams of letter and digit names for the name of a target letter was examined using six loudspeakers. The main independent variable was auditory load, or the number of active audio streams on a given trial. The primary dependent variables were target localization accuracy and reaction time. Results showed that as load increased, performance decreased. The performance decrease was evident in reaction time, accuracy, and sensitivity measures. The second study required participants to practice the same task for 10 sessions, for a total of 1800 trials. Results indicated that even with extensive practice, performance was still affected by auditory load. The present results are compared with findings in the visual search literature. The implications for the use of multiple auditory displays are discussed. Potential applications include cockpit and automobile warning displays, virtual reality systems, and training systems.

Describes efforts to teach peer counseling to adolescents living in a children's refugee camp in Subotica, Serbia, during 1993, & establishment of the "Peer Link Club," an international organization of adolescents/young adults trained to implement & teach peer counseling. The process involves learning the skills/techniques of active listening & problem solving in order to counsel other young people with traumatized pasts. Almost all of the children in camp had a parent or other close relative harmed in the war. Difficulties involved in getting the wary adolescents to begin communicating are described, as well as the progressive increase in group cohesion & sharing that occurred during the course of the workshop. Strategies used to create a context for relationship building are examined, along with the use of role-playing to teach participants how to engage in active listening & deal with stressful conversations. The project enabled young people to begin the long process of overcoming the impact of war & reviving their interrupted adolescence. Graduates eagerly carried the project to other refugee camps. J. Lindroth

Instructors constantly encourage students to learn and process
information. Brock and Cameron assert, "Individuals process
information, learn concepts, and solve problems in different ways"
(1999, 251). Some students learn by listening, others learn by
taking notes, more learn by seeing, and still others learn by doing
and saying. Yet in many college class-rooms, the dominant teaching
method is the traditional lecture. While lecturing may be a
necessary teaching technique, it is often insufficient for teaching
a large number of students with varying learning preferences.

Abstract

Untapped Resource: Persons With Disabilities


Educating the Community


How to Deal With Unsanctioned Solicitations by Groups


Meetings Management


'Next Steps' Should Be Key to Every Meeting


Ask for Volunteer Help in Updating Procedures Manual


Active Listening Tips


Volunteer Management Study


Volunteers Want Their Time Used Effectively


Creative Recruitment Idea


Target New Year's Resolution Makers


Ideas Worth Exploring


Need Help With a Project? Don't Be Afraid to Ask


Useful Publications


Brochure Points Out How Businesses Can Help


Partner With Us!


Consider This Your Invitation….


Effective Management Practices


Just Sending E‐mail May Not Be Enough


Crisis Prevention Tip


Volunteer Opportunities Abound at Hospitals


Throw a 'Clean‐out Day'


Professional Resource


Your Local Volunteer Center: More Than a Clearinghouse


Giving Volunteers the Tools to Succeed


Public Speaking Workshop Prepares Volunteers


Written Communications


Use Humor to Get Your Volunteer Newsletter Read


Recruiting Mentors


Mentors Provide Consistency, Positive Influence


Look Before You Leave


Team‐building Exercise


Exercise Compels Cooperation


Seven Ways to Cater to 'Senior' Volunteers


Making Use of Special Talents


Utilize Volunteers With an Aptitude for Computers


Recognizing Veteran Volunteers


How About a Volunteer Sabbatical?


Professional Advice


How to Tell Your Supervisor You're Pregnant


Crisis Management


Don't Forget to Cover Fire Drill Basics


Models to Follow


Rescue Squad Serves as Model for Recruitment/Retention


Write Effective Instructions


Meetings Tip


Overcome the 'Perfectionist' Syndrome


Nurture First‐time Volunteers


Willingly Give Committee's Report at Meetings


Creative News Release Idea


New Year's Resolution


Volunteers Recruiting Volunteers


Identify Colleagues Who Might Want to Volunteer


Be an Ambassador for Your Cause


Seize Opportunities to Tout Your Charity's Accomplishments

Those who would organize across or within academic tiers must not be deterred by the legal challenges. In addition, we must resist the urge to address problems individually by always working toward that next job; acknowledge our common cause; recognize that our talents in listening, learning, teaching, and persuading already prepare us to be organizers; reassert faculty governance through active organizing; and thereby model professional responsibility for peers and the students who would become our peers.