Learning to Listen: With Significant Others - Softcover

Bohlken, Dr. Bob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930643232 ISBN 13: 9780930643232

Publisher: Images Unlimited Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

How well you listen affects personal relationships and workplace communication. High level listening skills are part of every day decision-making, collaboration, and business growth. Through more than 25 listening activities found in the book, participants can practice and learn effective communication skills. They will gain a better understanding of their own listening behavior and preferences and the listening behavior and preferences of others. Ideal for businesses and corporations and their employees for use in strengthening listening skills. It is also a resource guide for school and church counselors and marriage preparation directors.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Bohlken, Ph.D. Communication Professor Emeritus, retired from Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO in 2000 after a 30 year tenure. His academic areas of expertise include Listening, Semantics, Interpersonal Communication/Non-Verbal, and Communicative Credibility and Trust.

Dr. Bohlken holds a B.S. in Language Arts Education with Distinction, Nebraska State College, Peru; Master of Arts Degree in Communication (Thesis: Comparison of Writing and Spoken Narrative Language Styles), University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Doctor of Philosophy in Communication (Dissertation: A Descriptive Study of the Relationship Between the Communication Variable of Interpersonal Trust and Speech Teacher Effectiveness at the College Level, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Dr. Bohlken is a life member of the International Listening Association and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006. Additionally, he is a member of the International Society for General Semantics, Missouri Folklore Society, and the National Communication Society.

He is a life member of the International Optimist Club of Maryville, the Nodaway County Historical Society and the St. Gregory Catholic Church. He is actively involved in numerous community service efforts and serves on the Nodaway County Senior Center Senate.

Dr. Bohlken has been a member of the American Legion for 60 years and is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is an army veteran of the Korean War and the Cold War (1953-1956).

He and his wife, Mary Riley Bohlken, have been married for 55 years and are the proud parents of two children - Katy Gumm and Dan Bohlken and four grandchildren - Bobby and Brandon Gumm and Faith and Alex Bohlken.

Dr. Bohlken writes a human interest column for the weekly Nodaway News Leader and is the author of two children's books and five leisure reading, human interest books. He has written numerous articles for academic journals, presented at numerous academic conferences and continues to present communication workshops and lectures to civic organizations and schools.

Review

Dr. Margarete Imhof, Department of Educational Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany: Emeritus Bob Bohlken has published a very special book for readers with the goal to improve on their interpersonal listening skills and attitudes and who consider to do this specifically in interaction with a close relative or friend. The approach which Bohlken takes is explicitly non-academic, but nonetheless based on a profound personal knowledge of the intricacies and challenges involved in listening. The presentation of listening skills and attitudes is framed by a theoretical model which identifies discriminative, comprehensive, critical, and emphatic listening as mutually interdependent but still distinct forms of listening which ask for specific skills. Though guided by theory, Bohlken uses his talent to present abstract concepts in a conversational manner using everyday language with clear relevance to everyday experience. The style of the book does justice both to the underlying research and to the needs of the reader who might be a novice in listening theory and practice. Each concept is presented with a language rich in metaphors and, wherever feasible, with a story to anchor the information in an accessible and often humorous image. In addition, and this is the strong point of the book, Bohlken offers a wealth of practical, reflexive and observational exercises. These exercises strongly encourage the reader to exchange the ideas presented in the text with a significant other and to actively explore different perspectives. Going through these practice ideas will support the reader to fathom the concepts in more depth and to better grasp how listening in its various facets work and what listening skills can do for you and your relationships. However, Bohlken's book does not give the reader easy;, clear-cut normative advice. Bohlken extends an invitation to the reader to consider and to reconsider habits and communication patterns, to reflect upon strengths and weaknesses and to think of consequences, effects, and alternatives. It is interesting that the core of the instruction model of the book contains the idea of mutual feedback: Listening skills will most likely develop when communicators ask for feedback of a significant other from step one onwards. Evaluation: The book is very probably not a stand-alone textbook for an academically oriented course on listening. However, the practice ideas and the challenges for reflection may be useful and insightful additions for any learners. The book is recommended for all those who seek to improve their listening skills in their everyday relationships and who are looking for a point of departure to seriously explore their own habits and attitudes in interpersonal communication and, in particular, listening. The ideas and exercises presented in the book have the potential to spark fruitful discussions. In the hands of an instructor, the concepts and practice exercises can certainly be adjusted to the needs and comprehension level of a group of learners. --Prof.Dr. Margarete Imhof I have read the book and think it is important. Thank you for sharing. A wonderful addition to listening literature. --Dr. Pamela Cooper, Program, Director, Communication Studies

Edition details

• Publisher: Images Unlimited Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0930643232
• ISBN 13: 9780930643232
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 74