Learning to Listen

"Learning to Listen is a unique contribution to oral history scholarship and useful for anyone thinking about dynamics of relationships at interpersonal or organizational levels."

-- Brad H. Wright, Assistant Professor of Latin American History, Alabama A&M University, USA

"Learning to Listen is a much-needed guide written by an internationally respected oral historian, with hands-on exercises that help us engage with the difficult but important task of trying to understand another human being."

-- Anna Sheftel, Principal and Professor, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University, Canada

If the heart of oral history is the interview and the heart of the interview is listening, then how can we learn to listen, and how can we teach interviewers to listen with empathy? This book reframes listening from a natural talent to a teachable skill and presents a series of listening exercises the author created to teach students and other interviewers how to become better listeners. The exercises are suitable for people at various levels and can be used by anyone interested in improving their listening skills or teaching those skills in courses or workshops. The book also includes passages from students' listening journals where they write about what they learned about listening from that exercise. In addition to offering insights into listening the journals serve as examples of how people can write their own listening journals. Other books describe ways to improve listening, but this one offers people a series of specific exercises designed to improve their listening skills.

Martha Norkunas is an Oral and Public Historian based in Austin, Texas. She was previously Professor of Oral and Public History at Middle Tennessee State University, and before this she directed 'The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past' at the University of Texas at Austin. She served on the board of the National Council on Public History, as co-chair of the Oral History Association's International Committee from 2019-2026 and on the board of the International Oral History Association from 2016-2025.