The process of acquiring language is often depicted as a tiered process of oral development: listening and speaking; and, literacy development: reading, and writing. As infants we first learn language by listening, then speaking. That is, regardless of culture, or dialect we are first immersed in language in this oral context. It is only after one acquires facility with spoken oral language does one move to the next tier of language--literacy. Simply put, one's spoken vocabulary, for example, cannot exceed one's listening vocabulary. Similarly, one's writing vocabulary cannot exceed one's reading vocabulary. This article explores the role of listening in the language arts and provides insight into critical listening development.