(INT102) Interpersonal communication assignment related to the need for communication and personal development

Question

Task: Students are required to write a self-reflective interpersonal communication assignment essay in the light of the skills learned over the trimester which will incorporate feedback received from peers regarding their delivery of role plays to demonstrate interpersonal skills.

Answer

Introduction

Over the trimester, the interpersonal communication course has provided me with a wide range of understanding related to the need for communication as well as guided me through personal development. It has provided me with an opportunity to role-play within the session and sustain an in-depth understanding and knowledge related to communication and associated skills and factors. It has been found in the interpersonal communication assignment that role-play is significantly one of the beneficial factors in the process of personal development as well as the enhancement of language (Manna et al. 2017). It guides individuals through affective and significant communication skills which help them interact with others in a social setting.

Reflective discussion in the interpersonal communication assignment:

Throughout the session of writing the interpersonal communication assignment, I have sustained immense growth in my micro skills which are necessary for my personal as well as professional development. Micro skills generally account for the capability to question, respond, reflect, sustained attending behaviour, affective observation, concentrate as well as influence others (Beck and Kulzer 2018). In order to sustain professional development, individual needs to focus on interpersonal communication as it guides through the process of exchanging feelings, values, information as well as an idea through verbal as well as nonverbal modes of interaction (Gelis et al. 2020). While conducting role play for the interpersonal communication assignment, I developed knowledge related to the importance of different modes of communication. It has been found that during role play, I not only evaluated the need for verbal communication but at the same time enhanced the capability to focus on the nonverbal mode of communication. In the initial stage of the interpersonal communication assignment, I lacked a basic understanding of different modes of communication as well as skills. The trimester helped me develop not only my ability to communicate in a social environment but also guided me through the process of micro-skill enhancement. During the initiation of the interpersonal communication assignment, it was difficult for me to evaluate nonverbal communication as I only focused on verbal communication that was carried out during role play. It developed a stage of barrier in interacting with others and developing a better understanding of their feelings or perspectives. During the role-play for the interpersonal communication assignment, the skill of active listening was also majorly missing which at a certain level developed a stage of ineffective communication. The feedback that was provided based on the role play highlighted the lack of active listening skills as well as the issues that were initiated due to inappropriate communication led through inactive listening. On analyzing my performance in interpersonal communication assignment I identified that a lack of confidence, as well as nervousness, was inhibiting me to sustain growth and perform better in the field. Thus to do so I focused on working on my micro skills and other modes of communication which helped me develop my confidence and perform better in role play.

I developed my ability to reflect on interpersonal communication assignment content which was entirely new for me prior conduction of the interpersonal communication session. Reflection of content is basically focused on accurately and precisely initiating active listening during communication and further reflecting the understanding to others in onwards. It guides an individual through the process of focusing and considering the content that the other person speaks based on their idea, facts, beliefs as well as data (Franco et al. 2022). In order to carry out a reflection on interpersonal communication assignment content one needs to develop active listening skills. It has been found that effective and appropriate communication skill has a significant role in the personal as well as professional development of an individual. Several research studies have highlighted that nonverbal behaviour or cues cover a larger percentage of interpersonal communication and interaction. The general population is known to communicate and interact through different ways of communication, thus it is necessary to remain focused and initiate active listening and observation towards body movement, eye contact, postures and gestures along with the tone of voice (Vrij, Hartwig and Granhag 2019). It has been evident in several interpersonal communication assignment studies that signals that are conveyed in active communication convey significant and necessary information which is generally not described in words. Nonverbal communication also provides my ability to initiate a holistic approach to watching the other person involved in active communication (Hall, Horgan and Murphy 2019). Through the role-play session, I developed the knowledge that every single gesture can explain a wide number of things or factors in communication. Another factor that was assessed and evaluated throughout the process of interpersonal communication assignment role-playing was active listening and attending skills. Active listening is known to be a process of paying attention to every word that the other person communicates despite the fact that the communication is carried out directly to an individual or to a large group of people.

As per the interpersonal communication assignment active listening guides you through the process of attentive response towards the speaker in order to understand and evaluate the information they deliver and further reflect on it. It initiates an interactive phase where both speaker and listener are actively associated in effective communication (Brown, Yu and Etherington 2020). Attending skill highlights the need to be physically present for the person with whom active communication is initiated and maintained. As per the interpersonal communication assignment it instructs towards the process of undivided attention as well as initiating nonverbal communication with the help of body language, postures, gestures as well as eye contact. Initiating active listening as well as attending skills provided me with the ability to understand the communicator or speaker in a better manner as well as develop trust and understanding (Yurko and Styfanyshyn 2020). It also provided me with the ability to evaluate the provided information as well as ensure my undivided attention.

The role play session as well as the interpersonal communication course for the interpersonal communication assignment guided me through the fact that communication is essential in every field such as in business, organization, social work or personal life. It has been found that communication in the workplace plays a significant role in initiating employee engagement, enhanced productivity as well as job satisfaction. It also has a major role in motivating and encouraging employees to meet organizational goals and work demands (Lee, Li and Tsai 2021). It has been found that communication within a social group or community helps in understanding individuals based on their diversity as well as perspective towards a certain matter. Thus it can be said basis the interpersonal communication assignment that it is necessary to initiate active communication using micro skills while assisting a client or individual within a society or community to provide the best service they need. Also while communicating within a community or in a workplace it is necessary to focus on both open-ended and closed-ended communication as it helps an individual sustain authentic, in-depth and descriptive responses (Hameleers, Bos and De Vreese 2017).

Conclusion:

Thus in order to conclude my reflective interpersonal communication assignment essay, it can be stated that the trimester on interpersonal communication based on role-play provided me with an understanding related to different communication skills as well as their need. It helped me sustain personal as well as professional development which is a necessary aspect in my field of work.

References:

Beck, K. and Kulzer, J., 2018, February. Teaching counselling microskills to audiology students: Recommendations from professional counseling educators. In Seminars in Hearing (Vol. 39, No. 01, pp. 091-106). Thieme Medical Publishers. doi: 10.1055/s-0037-1613709

Brown, T., Yu, M.L. and Etherington, J., 2020. Are listening and interpersonal communication skills predictive of professionalism in undergraduate occupational therapy students?. Health Professions Education, 6(2), pp.187-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpe.2020.01.001

Franco, R.S., dos Santos Franco, C.A.G., Severo, M., Ferreira, M.A. and Karnieli-Miller, O., 2022. Reflective writing in the teaching of communication skills for medical students—a systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2022.01.003

Gelis, A., Cervello, S., Rey, R., Llorca, G., Lambert, P., Franck, N., Dupeyron, A., Delpont, M. and Rolland, B., 2020. Peer role-play for training communication skills in medical students: a systematic review. Simulation in Healthcare, 15(2), pp.106-111. doi: 10.1097/SIH.0000000000000412

Hall, J.A., Horgan, T.G. and Murphy, N.A., 2019. Nonverbal communication. Annual review of psychology, 70(1), pp.271-294. Available at: https://osf.io/4baq3/download

Hameleers, M., Bos, L. and De Vreese, C.H., 2017. “They did it”: The effects of emotionalized blame attribution in populist communication. Communication Research, 44(6), pp.870-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650216644026

Lee, Y., Li, J.Y.Q. and Tsai, W.H.S., 2021. The role of strategic internal communication in workplace discrimination: A perspective of racial minority employees. International journal of strategic communication, 15(1), pp.37-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2020.1855591

Manna, R., Bylund, C.L., Brown, R.F., di Ciccone, B.L. and Konopasek, L., 2017. Facilitating communication role play sessions: Essential elements and training facilitators. Oxford Textbook of Communication in Oncology and Palliative Care, p.351. Available

https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AQ7xDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA351&dq=role+play+and+communication+&ots=J3QvSLtyZD&sig=T8CGM2M0syvOGqItL7dRSJydN1U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=role%20play%20and%20communication&f=false

Vrij, A., Hartwig, M. and Granhag, P.A., 2019. Reading lies: Nonverbal communication and deception. Annual review of psychology, 70(1), pp.295-317. https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/d8b6f1f5-816c-005b-1dc1-e363dd7ce9a5/39111c59-c979-455f-82ba-829a0efcb867/Psychology%20article%20-%20Reading%20lies.pdf

Yurko, N. and Styfanyshyn, I., 2020. Listening skills in learning a language: the importance, benefits and means of enhancement. Publishing house «European Scientific Platform», pp.38-46. Available at: https://publishing.logos-science.com/index.php/books/article/view/187