Understanding Human Communication
Papers should be a minimum of 1 ½ pages and no more than 2 pages, word processed, double spaced. Place your name and the date in the upper right corner. You will be graded on content (how well you focus on the assignment), organization and development of your ideas, and the quality of your writing: sentence construction, grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. You are asked to keep a listening diary and then answer the questions. The text is required for this assignment. I used page numbers from the 11th edition, so they may vary depending on the edition you are using.
ASSIGNMENT
First, keep a listening diary for four hours. You might choose to look at 15 minute intervals or you can keep track by the listening tasks you engage in during the four hours. Over the course of that time period you were probably engaged in informational, critical, or supportive listening (pp. 143-159). Important: the situation must be current as it is difficult to recreate what happened in the past making the assignment less effective.
- Briefly explain or describe the circumstances or the situations you were in during the time you kept your listening diary.
- What was your dominant personal listening style during that time period? (Page 141.)
- What types of ineffective listening did you engage in? Are those typical of your listening behavior? (Pages 136-140.) Identify the types and give examples from your behavior.
- Did you engage in informational listening? Please explain the informational listening you did. Which techniques did you use? (Page 143-148.)
- Did you engage in critical listening? (Pages 148-150.) Please explain the critical listening that you did. What type or types and what was/were the situation(s) that required it? Assess your listening behavior: what good listening behaviors, and what poor ones, did you exhibit? Why? What factors influenced your listening behaviors?
- Identify which style(s) of supportive responses you used from the list in the text? Please provide examples. Comment on the effectiveness of your responses. (Pages 152-158.)
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses as a listener. In which situations were you most attentive? Why? In which situations were you less attentive? Why?
- In what ways were the communication situations affected by your listening behavior? What did you learn about yourself?
- Based on your analysis of this situation, state at least five personal goals for becoming a better listener; be specific.
Answer Preview-Understanding Human Communication
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