Listenable Messages and Effective Feedback - Study Notes

Core Concepts: Listenable Messages and Listening Process

  • Listenable messages are orally delivered messages that are tailored to be comprehended by a listener. Definition attributed to Rubin (1993):
    Listenability=oral-based discourse+considerateness\text{Listenability} = \text{oral-based discourse} + \text{considerateness}
  • Listening involves more than passively receiving messages; it includes message construction and feedback to keep the listening process moving.
  • The challenge arises when written conventions are transferred to oral delivery, making messages unnecessarily complex for spoken reception.
  • Common classroom observation: attempting to deliver a direct quote or a dictionary definition verbatim can create fluency hiccups (unintended pauses, verbal trip-ups) that impede comprehension.
  • Everyday conversation tends to be more impromptu and naturally oral; prepared, written-style messages require adaptation because we receive more training in reading than speaking.
  • Learning goal: speakers should craft messages in an oral style to facilitate listener comprehension; listeners can help repair or restructure messages through feedback.

The Oral vs Written Style and Its Implications

  • Most communication is oral, but many messages prepared for reading transfer unwritten conventions to speaking, causing misalignment with listening expectations.
  • When people are trained to write before speaking, they may struggle with cadence, emphasis, and fluency in an actual oral delivery.
  • Public speaking success depends on composing messages in an oral style rather than a written one, and listeners benefit when speakers do so.

Creating Listenable Messages: Strategies for Speakers

  • To create listenable messages, adopt the following practices:
    • Use shorter, actively worded sentences.
    • Use personal pronouns (e.g., "I want to show you…").
    • Use lists or other organizational constructions (e.g., problem-solution, pro-con, or compare-contrast).
    • Use transitions and markers to help navigation:
    • Time markers like "today"
    • Order indicators like "first, second, third"
    • Previews like "I have two things I'd like to say about that"
    • Reviews like "So, basically I feel like we should vacation at the lake instead of the beach because…"
    • Use examples relevant to you and the listener's actual experiences.
  • These practices help adapt messages to listening audiences and support the listening process.

Being Able to Compose in an Oral Style: Importance for Public Speaking

  • Many lack explicit instruction in oral-style message creation, so they should expect some messages to be less listenable and work to mentally repair or restructure them.
  • Strategies for listeners also help speakers by informing how to adjust messages for comprehension.

Giving Formal Feedback to Others: Why It Matters

  • Effective feedback benefits both speaker and audience: positive verbal and nonverbal feedback can boost confidence; constructive negative feedback can provide perception checking and lead to improvements.
  • Poorly delivered feedback can harm self-esteem and self-efficacy, so competence in feedback is important in academic, professional, and civic contexts.
  • In modern work environments (team-based), peer evaluations are common to assess performance.
  • Students are often asked to complete peer evaluations after speeches for self-improvement and accountability.

Guidelines for Giving Feedback to Others (1–6)

  • 1. Be specific.
    • Vague comments like "eye contact" are not actionable because they lack direction.
    • Better: provide a concrete observation, e.g., "You looked at your notes more than you looked at the audience during the first 30 seconds of your speech."
  • 2. Be descriptive.
    • Add detail to make feedback useful, e.g., replace "not enough eye contact" with a concrete description of behavior.
  • 3. Be positive.
    • Write feedback as if you are speaking to the person; avoid harsh phrasing such as "stop fidgeting" or "get more sources"; frame comments to maintain a constructive tone.
  • 4. Be constructive.
    • Combine praise with a concrete suggestion. Example:
    • "You explained our company's new marketing strategy clearly for an engineer audience, but the section on the crisis communication plan wasn't as clear. Consider breaking it down the same way you did with the marketing strategy to improve clarity for non-PR listeners."
  • 5. Be realistic.
    • Avoid phrases like "don't be nervous"; acknowledge common challenges and offer practical strategies or shared experiences (e.g., breathing exercises).
    • Note: comments about accents may reflect listening effort rather than a fixable flaw.
  • 6. Be relevant.
    • Feedback should relate to the assignment, task, or context.
    • Irrelevant comments (e.g., remarks about appearance) are not useful in formal feedback.

Guidelines for Giving Feedback to Yourself (Self-Evaluation)

  • Self-evaluation helps improve communication competence, but can be risky if overly harsh or if performance was actually effective.
  • The key is a balanced, context-sensitive appraisal that informs future improvements.

Self-Evaluation Guidelines (1–4)

  • 1. Identify strengths and weaknesses.
    • Avoid excessive nitpicking; focus on what is noticeable to the audience, not just what stands out to you.
    • Example: a student fixated on how his face looked red, which may not have been salient to the audience.
  • 2. Evaluate within the task context and guidelines.
    • Don’t overanalyze delivery at the expense of content; align evaluation with the requested task (e.g., delivering complex technical content in a concrete way).
  • 3. Set goals for next time.
    • Concrete goals provide benchmarks for progress and confidence building.
  • 4. Revisit goals and assess progress regularly.
    • If a goal isn’t met, analyze reasons and plan a retry; if achieved, build on that success for future goals.

Practical Notes: How to Create Listenable Messages (Recap)

  • To create listenable messages:
    • Avoid long, complex sentences.
    • Use personal pronouns.
    • Use lists or other organizational structures.
    • Use transitions and markers to guide listeners.
    • Use relevant examples.

Getting Integrated: Contexts for Feedback

  • We commonly give informal feedback in relational contexts (affecting self-esteem and relationships).
  • Formal feedback also occurs in academic, professional, and civic contexts (performance evaluations, project critiques, etc.).
  • When giving feedback to others, aim to be specific, descriptive, positive, constructive, realistic, and relevant.
  • When giving feedback to yourself, follow the self-evaluation steps: identify strengths/weaknesses, evaluate within task context, set goals for next time, and revisit progress.

References and Copyright Notes

  • Rubin, D. L. (1993). Listenability = oral-based discourse + considerateness. In A. D. Wolvin & C. G. Coakley (Eds.), Perspectives on Listening. Norwood, NJ: Alex Publishing Corporation.
  • Licenses and Attributions: 5.4 Listenable Messages and Effective Feedback (http://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/5-4-listenable-messages-and-effective-feedback/) from Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing is an adaptation of a work whose original author and publisher request anonymity and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) license. © 2016, University of Minnesota. UMGC has modified this work and it is available under the original license. © 2025 University of Maryland Global Campus. All links to external sites were verified at publication time. UMGC is not responsible for external site content.

Key Points

  • The transcript highlights the importance of listenable messages, strategies to create them, and structured approaches to giving feedback to others and yourself.
  • Core idea: listenability is enhanced when messages are orally accessible and delivered with considerateness and clear structure.
  • Practical emphasis on concrete, actionable feedback and self-improvement practices.