We all know that we can communicate both
verbally and non-verbally. It is important to realize that non-verbal
communication speaks the loudest in our communication. Even when we are
not speaking, we are communicating through our bodies. This includes our body
language, eye contact, facial expression and even our posture while we are
sitting/standing. Non-verbal communication is basically the primary means to
convey emotions, attitude or relationships with others and we often relied on
it to say things that are difficult to vocalize. For example, gestures such as pointing or demonstrating the size or
shape of something may suffice in basic interactions.
My grandmother is 85 years old and she is constantly
being admitted to the hospital due to her old age which is leading to many
illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure. A hospital stay is never pleasant.
Besides having pain, being sick, patients have to also endure needle punctures. When
patients are nonverbal, they have a difficult time to communicate with the nurses
who are taking care of them. Especially with my grandmother who only speaks
Hokkien. There was this incident with my
grandmother who was having a hard time communicating to the Filipino nurse
who was taking care of her. When she could not reached for the call button on
the side of her bed, she would yell for someone to come, but many times her
calls would go unanswered. During one of the visit with my parents, she was trying
to communicate with the nurse in Hokkien at first but the nurse did not
understand what she wanted. She then tried to look at the pillow and points to
it, indicating that she wanted it raised or she wanted to be lifted up. The
nurse tried to rotate the pillow instead as she could not understand the
nonverbal cues from my grandmother. When my grandma saw us, she immediately communicated
in Hokkien with my parents to indicate that she wanted her pillow to be lifted
up as her head was a few inches away from the pillow making her uncomfortable.
She said to me in Hokkien that it is very difficult to communicate with the
nurses in Hokkien because sometimes they could not even understand her “yes” or
“no" responses and all she could do is through her nonverbal cues like nodding
her head or pointing using her finger.
From this incident, I realized that the
difference in culture and age can be a challenge when communicating. However, even
with the communication barriers there are still ways of communicating with people
who do not understand you through the use of nonverbal cues like what my
grandmother did by looking and pointing to the pillow. Being in this course has
enable me to be more aware of the nonverbal communication detail which consists
of a complete package of expression, hand and eye movements, postures and
gesture which should all be interpreted along with the speech. With that, I am
able to identify the different nonverbal communication cues and react accordingly
to the situation, making me better at communicating.
Edited 28/2/2016
Commented on: Rati -7Cs
Sayi
Kok Zheng
Hi Steven
ReplyDeleteIts a concrete and clear post. You explain well how important about non-verbal communication.
However, maybe you can explain one situation and evaluating their verbal and non-verbal behaviour. You only talk about women and you didn’t really explain about men behaviour.
But overall, its a great post.
Hello Ya Wen,
DeleteThank you for your comment and feedback as it can really help me to improve on my post. I have revised my post and have provided with better detailed explanations. Please provide me with feedbacks and comment regarding my updated post. Thank You.
Hey Steven,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, i would like to say that i like the way your post flows. Apart from that, i also like the example you gave on non-verbal that can be interpreted in various ways. However, there are a few points where you might want to take note of.
I. Clear
- The first paragraph was clear, especially with the explanation of what is a non-verbal communication.
- Second paragraph was not so clear. For example the “But when they do get into an argument, it is the Caucasian man who would lose out because unlike men, women`s brain are said to be like spaghetti because every thought and issue is connected to every other thought and issues in some way or another”. I can’t quite get the link between how a man loses an argument over a woman’s thinking. Maybe you can explain your idea or example in more detailed.
II. Concise
- The introduction was short and sweet. However, I feel that your second paragraph was a bit too brief.
III. Concrete
- I feel that the conclusion was not concrete enough.
- As for the conclusion, I feel that you are assuming instead of observing. For example, how do you know that the Caucasian man will lose the argument? Or did you really observe him losing the argument? Maybe you can explain more to make your stand more concrete.
IV. Correct
- For example, “…failure to do so can similarly be an indication of disrespect or lack of interest” instead of “... failure to do so can similarly be an indication for disrespect or lack of interest.”
- From what I was taught, It is better to avoid starting a sentence using ‘because’ or ‘but’. For example, “But in fact she is just being polite, respectful and appropriate according to her culture. “
V. Coherent
- Your story is logical. Good job Steven(:
VI. Complete
- The introduction and content was good.
- The conclusion was kind of confusing, maybe you can relate it back to the topic.
Despite the minor errors, your blog post was interesting and good. Don't let this criticism refrain you from writing. All the best in your future posts.
HyirahhSyahirahh
Hello Syahirahh,
DeleteThank you for taking time to read my post and providing me with valuable feedbacks on how I could improve on my post. I have revised my post and have tried to explain in more details including conclusion, improve on minor errors like language structure and grammar. Feel free to provide me with further feedbacks and comment to improve on my post. Thank You.
Thanks for this effort, Steven. The post includes an interesting discussion, but it fails to address the assigned topic. Let's review that:
ReplyDelete"For this post, you need to CONDUCT AN OBSERVATION of a verbal or nonverbal interaction between two or more people, then describe it in as much detail as possible. Briefly evaluate the interaction in terms of how culture, gender or age seem to influence communication."
Do you see what you've missed? Where is the actual description of an observation? That is vital for this assignment.
Like Hyirah, I also wonder about the logic of your hypothetical scenario between a Japanese woman and a Causasian man. The way you have described the case, the woman would always defer, but after spending 17 years in Japan, I can tell you with certainty that this is not the case. It depends on the situation, which you have not included. What if the two of them are married? OR: What if the man is a student of Japanese in a language class in a university in Tokyo, and the woman is the teacher? Or: What if the woman is a company president and the man is an employee?
In short, you have ignored the most important variable: context.
Here are also a couple language problems.
1) we often relied >>> (verb tense use)
2) commutating >>> (spelling)
But these issues are minor. You need to do some serious work on this assignment. Thanks in advance.
Hello Brad,
DeleteI have reviewed my previous post and I do agreed that it is out of the assigned topic. I have revised my post. Please provide me with feedbacks on how I can improve on my updated post. Thank you.