Professor R. S. White teaches at the The University of Western Australia.

Originally published in 1986. This collection of essays explores the concept that listeners and readers, far from being passive recipients in the communicative process, are active in selecting, interpreting and creating from the disparate signals they receive.

Introduction Graham McGregor and R.S. White 1. Hearers' Intentions John Pellowe 2. Comprehension and Context: Successful Communication and Communicative Breakdown Lesley Milroy 3. Resolving Misunderstandings Claire Humpreys-Jones 4. Listening Outside the Participation Framework Graham McGregor 5. Heading You in My Own Voice: Woman as Listener and Reader Linda Anderson 6. Analysing the Reader: A Critical Survey of Recent Psychoanalytical Theories of Reading Norbert H. Platz 7. The Nature of Listening in Reading Poetry: A Conversation R. A. Lumsden and John Pellowe 8. Shakespeare and the Listener R. S. White 9. Listening to Her Self: Women's Diaries Rebecca Hiscock 10. Listening to a Silent Presence: Notes on Collaborating Over a Translation Desmond Graham and Trude Schwab 11. Tom Stoppard and the Politics of Listening Neil Sammells 12. The Dogma of Authenticity in the Experience of Popular Music Michael Pickering