ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview and orientation to the text. Readers will learn how listening is a critical life competency and a critical component of the communication process. Upon completion, they will be able to describe how listening definitions and models have changed over the field’s history. The book’s organizing model, the Worthington Fitch-Hauser model of listening (Listening MATERRS) is proposed as a means for understanding listening processes as well as the relevance of listening in various contexts. The book’s three sections are introduced: the cognitive processes associating with listening, the social functions of listening, and listening in specific contexts.