General Purpose

As we discuss in the lesson Listening Comprehension: Identify Speaker's Point of View all speakers have a perspective on the topic of the conversation. Related to that perspective, there is often a reason the speaker is participating in the conversation or giving a presentation. There are three main reasons a speaker has for sharing information.

Here is that list of the main reasons that are most common:

• Explaining - Simple exchange of information
  • A description
  • A process
  • A sequence of events
  • A comparison
• Persuading - Trying to convince the person listening that something is true
  • Presenting only your opinion
  • Contrasting with an opposite opinion
  • Selling a product
• Entertaining - Keeping attention and making the topic interesting and fun
  • Encouraging an emotional reaction to what you say

A speaker may combine purposes in order to communicate more effectively with the audience. For example, children's shows often combine entertainment with explanations. This keeps the child's attention through humor, interesting characters, and dramatic stories to ultimately teach them a principle or value.

We explore these ideas in more detail in the lesson Listening Strategy: Recognize Organizational Patterns.

Here is an example. Watch this video and identify what the main purpose is. What do you think the secondary purpose is?

Purpose of Specific Statement

On a smaller scale, it is also important to recognize the purpose behind an individual statement. Pragmatics is the word we use to describe how the context (spoken and cultural) can influence the meaning of what is said. While sometimes the meaning of a statement is clear, others are dependent on an understanding of language patterns and cultural norms. In this section, we will talk about a few of these pragmatic purposes.

Inferential Listening

Inferential Listening means that the listener needs to make some inferences or draw some conclusions based on the information that is heard. Paying close attention to the choice of words, expressions, phrases, and even tone of voice can help determine a speaker's purpose, especially when it is not evident at first glance. One example of this is indirectly expressing skepticism or a skeptical attitude by sometimes exaggerating the information we present and using our tone of voice to express our emotions.  Again, we discuss this in more detail in the lesson Listening Strategy: Inferences.

Bias

Another purpose the speaker might have in stating something is to persuade. To accomplish this, sometimes speakers state their opinions by making a judgment or sharing a preconceived idea about something or someone. In other words, they use bias. Bias means having a tendency to be in favor of or against someone or something and stating that opinion without necessarily showing evidence or support. Thus, the information presented becomes subjective, meaning that it is influenced by our feelings, which renders our message and our purpose less accurate. 

It is important to be able to recognize and be aware of bias as we determine the accuracy of the information presented or received. Here are some forms bias takes in speech:

Generalizations or broad statements. Biased statements sound similar to, 'Everyone likes chocolate.' While many people like chocolate, there are others who may not. A more accurate way of saying this without showing bias could be, "Most/many people like chocolate. Pay attention to words like everyone, all, every, etc. In addition, verbs that make it difficult to verify the information show bias. Example of biased verbs are feel, think, believe, etc. 

Ex: Everyone thinks that chocolate is the best dessert. 

This statement is a generalization because it refers to a very broad category and it uses the verb think which signals the speaker's opinion. However, it is very difficult to verify if the information is accurate. 

Exaggerations are overstatements which make things sound better or worse depending on the audience or purpose. They are used to emphasize and opinion.

Ex. Our neighbors bought enough chocolate for a lifetime.  

For a lifetime is an exaggeration that shows that we think our neighbors bought a lot of chocolate.

If our goal is to persuade others, it is important to share our opinions. It is equally important to appeal to our audience's emotions without using generalizations and exaggerations because they can weaken our argument by making it less accurate and less credible. An example of biased information are the news outlets (see image below on the different news outlets and their tendencies). In the world of news, there are many perspectives on the same subject depending on political views and affiliations. It is important to be aware of such a bias so that we can get the full picture and form our own informed opinions. You can read two pieces of news on the exact same event, but get a different version of it depending on the news outlet's opinions and perspectives.