Training soft skills with software

Most trainings of communicative behavior focus on fostering the
observable speech productive behavior (i.e. speaking). The
individual cognitive processes underlying speech receptive behavior
(hearing and understanding utterances) thus are often neglected.
This is due to the fact that speech receptive behavior cannot be
accessed in the midst of a conversation and that its training is
very time-consuming. Computer-supported learning environments
employed as cognitive tools can help to foster speech receptive
behavior. This article discusses the fostering of speech receptive
behavior and the possibilities of using software for this purpose.
The computer-supported learning environment CaiMan which is based
on these ideas is presented. Finally, seven factors of success for
the integration of software into the training of soft skills are
derived from empirical research.