Page 222 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

RUBRIC

Table 8.2 Performance Levels for Listening

Level 5—High Quality Listeners

1. Are self-motivated in every context, regardless of benefit, and focus on maximizing others’ messages.
2. Will vary the sequencing of classifying and comprehending to specific contexts; expand word meaning to

increase the effectiveness of both the sender and listener.
3. Navigate easily in the language of the sender, leveraging each key word, and selecting the most important

details.
4. Prepare by obtaining the appropriate knowledge for a given sender and use this knowledge to effectively

compare and contrast their new information with this knowledge.
5. Correctly interpret the politics, emotions, and values of the sender and clearly frame the context for the message.

Level 4—Effective Listeners

1. Seek long-term benefit for themselves and others; recalls accurately and give meaning to meet each other’s
purposes.

2. Understand the meaning of the message by effectively classifying the information into their existing framework,
processing the language being used and thinking critically about implied relationships.

3. Comprehend language keys and phrases, and carefully select important specifics to build a story.
4. Have continual interest in expanding horizons, seek background knowledge in preparation, and know how to

evaluate, compare, and contrast new information.
5. Understand the context of the sender’s values and signals, so that they can place meaning to nonverbals.

Level 3—Maintenance Listeners

1. Will listen when it is to their immediate benefit; they can obtain most of what is being conveyed.
2. Know what they want to collect; discard what they don’t want; fit in what they do want, comprehending a portion

of the message relevant to the listener’s goals.
3. Understand the importance of key words and will collect specifics for building a strong information base.
4. Will find short-cuts to obtain the minimal information necessary to make some sense of the message.
5. Have some understanding of the sender’s values and catch the essential signals made by the sender.

Level 2—Survival Listeners

1. Will listen when critical needs are identified so they can apply it to their immediate needs.
2. Selectively choose information that is relevant for immediate critical use; they can fit information within the

current defined structure and bring meaning to what is relevant to the current context.
3. Will focus on only the most prominent words of the sender and collect the most obvious details presented.
4. Operate with a surface knowledge and see only blatant similarities and contrasts.
5. Only explore the motivation of the sender when it directly impacts critical areas or matches personal values.

Level 1—Novice Listeners

1. Only listen when directed; find anything beyond momentary concentration difficult.
2. Have little structure to classify incoming information; find comprehension extremely difficult; must have the

sender slow down the process of communicating and repeat much of the message.
3. Are unfamiliar with the sender’s language and have difficulty distinguishing any specific details from context.
4. Have little background knowledge and make little, if any, connection between the message and prior knowledge.
5. Have little background understanding of where the sender is coming from and miss most signals.

216 Foundations of Learning