What are your main take away lessons from the assigned reading this week? Describe and explain.

This week’s reading was quite extensive and very informative. Among the main takeaways is how culture tends to affect communication. Adler et al. (2014) assert that norms and cultural values tend to shape communication in a variety of ways. Different customs tend to make communication between groups to be both interesting and challenging. In case communicators are not aware of such differences they might end up viewing people from different cultures as unusual.

Another important takeaway lesson is the importance of developing intercultural communication competence. Adler et al. (2014) have identified the ingredients of enhancing intercultural communicative competence as increased contact, open-mindedness, tolerance for ambiguity, knowledge, and skill, patience and perseverance. This issue attracted my attention since it seems just as a minor outline, but it is very important given that people have to interact and communicate in the light of diversity that exists in our society. It is favorable to possess a wide range of behaviors and skills that would help an individual to act appropriately given the situation at hand. On most occasions, it is necessary to enhance midcourse corrections in an individual’s approach when dealing with strangers.

In chapter four of the text, I appreciate the topic on the power of language. This is because language has been outlined as a tool that helps us to satisfy basic functions such as making requests, solving problems and scribing ideas. To a greater extent, language also acts as a reflection of our attitudes. This includes things like feelings of control, responsibility, commitment, attraction, hatred and passion among others (Adler et al., 2014). This is a very informative piece since it gives input on something that is very applicable in life. Through the language that people use you can easily tell how they feel, how they view you and what they want among other things.

How will they affect the way you communicate?

The aspects learned from this week are likely to affect the way I communicate. For one, I will completely change the way I communicate with people from different cultures. This means not taking the lead at all times while conversing. In case people respond differently to conversion based on how I expect, I should not be judgmental. Instead, I ought to give it time and see their point from a different perspective.

There will be a need to develop competence in intercultural communication. This is because it will enable me to communicate with people from different diversities without losing the meaning of what is actually being discussed. Specifically, I will have to change my perspectives on tolerance for ambiguity and perseverance during “difficult” communication. This would make it easy to communicate with strangers regardless of their cultural backgrounds.

Understanding how language reflects on our attitudes will also affect how I communicate. This is because I will start looking beyond what people actually say and assess the words further. Observing the facial expressions will be critical too. This will help in understanding what people feel exactly without them having to spell it out. This will make it easy for the communication to flow.

In what ways do the concepts in the videos and readings relate to your professional life in education?

In the video Tim Gunn’s Vocabulary, Tim uses “big” words to express some of his emotions. This can be related to my professional life in education. I have realized that the moment you use some big words while describing something, people tend to pay attention since the word strikes a chord. It becomes easier for them to remember even after some time has elapsed. The concept gives more emphasis on the power of language as expressed in chapter 4 of the reading. The video on “weird or different” has also highlighted on something pertaining to how culture affects communication. People from different cultural backgrounds are likely to express themselves in a different manner while they are communicating about something similar. This is why as a professional in the education sector; an individual ought to develop intercultural communication competence in order to ensure that the aspect of diversity does not come in the way of effective communication. This is something that has been emphasized in chapter 3 of this week’s reading.

Reference

Adler, R., Rodman, G., & DuPré, A. (2014). Understanding human communication (12th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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