skill to address. It refers to recalling details,
following directions, paraphrasing, identifying the
main idea, devising goals, and enjoying music or
poetry. With respect to general listening,
miscommunication problems often arise when the
listener does not give full attention to the speaker.
Wheless (1998) reports: ―By some estimates, 60
percent of the errors made in business can be directly
or indirectly attributed to poor listening‖ (¶ 2).
Students often exhibit poor general listening skills in
the classroom. Teachers frequently give instructions
regarding an assignment, later to repeat the same
instruction multiple times to different students, and
then have the assignment submitted with the
instructions not having been followed.
Aspects of the Common Core State Standards for
listening suggest that students should be expected to
learn how to ask, answer, and clarify questions from
information presented orally; to determine the main
ideas and supporting details of an orally read text; and
to interpret information and delineate speaker
arguments and claims to analyze for accuracy
(Common Core, 2012). As such, critical listening is
closely allied to critical thinking and high-level
comprehension skills; it refers to distinguishing fact
from opinion, judging the logic of an argument,
making comparative judgments, and detecting bias
and propaganda. Critical listening skills closely
resemble those skills suggested for the reading
comprehension curriculum. Devine (1978) suggests
that ―when one examines specific areas of listening
and reading, such as critical reading and critical
listening, the same kind of breakdown into separate
processes or subskills is appar