Listening as a positive communication process

Communication scholarship is inherently interdisciplinary, and the study of listening by those claiming Communication Studies as their home is no different. This article traces the study of listening as a positive communication process from its roots in understanding how students comprehend lecture-based discourse to current explorations of its constitutive potential. In particular, it traces three strands of communication-focused listening scholarship: the study of what listening is, the study of what listeners do, and the study of how listening creates the very contexts that allow its operation.