The conversational phenomenon of listener response has attracted a great deal of attention during the past five decades from such diverse scholarly disciplines as linguistics, conversation analysis, (cross-cultural) communication studies, (interactional) sociolinguistics, and experimental and social psychology. In the history of research on listener response, two major strands of study can be identified: the lumping and the splitting approach. In listener response classification, a few researchers have looked into other criteria than the use of turn, most notably the concept of ‘floor’ and the form and/or sequential organisation of listener responses. The essay further addresses the cross-cultural study of listener approach and the gender-differentiated use of listener response. In addition to the expanding number of studies of listener responses in cross-cultural contexts, more studies of their acquisition by first and second language speakers and of their production in various sociopragmatic contexts are also expected.