For many language learners, listening represents a major source of anguish, with apparent success in the confines of the classroom failing to be mirrored in the ordinary interactions of daily life. One contributing factor may be the continued reliance on listening texts and activities that position the learner as a bystander rather than a participant. In response, the concept of interactive listening has drawn considerable attention in ELT. What has been largely missing, however, is the application of principles drawn from the last twenty years or so of empirical research in fields such as conversation analysis which reveal how interactions actually unfold for listeners. This article identifies five core concepts that may be fundamental to further developing a robust approach to listening in interaction: participation status, meaning as action, projection, participatory listenership, and recipient design.