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Effective
and Ineffective
Interpersonal Communication Skills
The following role-play presented by students in the Department
of Speech Communication. It illustrates both effective and ineffective
communication skills that are part of our everyday interactions. This
role-play is representative of an activity that might take place in
an interpersonal communication class, and it shows skills that students
learn by the completion of SPC 103.
The role-play will be divided into three parts for easier viewing.
Following each section, click on the comments to read about the skills
presented in that section.
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Part 1:
Effective and Ineffective Communication:
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Perception Checking:
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Amy notices that Jentia's nonverbal message, evident
in the tone of her voice, contradicts the verbal message "I'm
okay."
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Amy's perception is that not everything is "okay"
with Jenita.
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She effectively checks her perceptions by asking
Jenita about it.
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Listening:
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Amy demonstrates the use of effective listening
skills by doing the following: maintaining eye contact with the
speaker (Jenita), using back-channeling cues (head nods, "uh-huh")
to show she is listening, paraphrasing what Jenita says to make
sure that she understood the message correctly, and finally asking
questions for clarification.
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Self-Disclosure:
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Jenita self-discloses to Amy about the problems
she is having with her mother.
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In return, Amy reciprocates the self-disclosure
by telling Jenita about problems she has had with her mother in
the past.
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It is assumed that for this type of interaction
to take place, Amy and Jenita must have some type of established
relationship with each other.
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Perceptions:
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Jenita makes inferences about Roy based on her
observations of him in class and the fact that he is late for
the group project meeting.
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Because Roy sleeps in class and is late today,
he must be a social loafer using us for a good grade on the
project.
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As observers, we do not know how many times
Roy has slept in class, why he is late, etc.
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By creating all of these inferences and perceptions
of Roy, Jenita is creating barriers to communicate with him before
he even has a chance to show up.
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Part 2:
Effective and Ineffective Communication:
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Part 3:
The following is occurring in this scene:
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Listening:
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Perception Checking:
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By now, Roy has more or less received the message
that Jenita has a problem with him. He chooses to check his perceptions
by questioning her about it and trying to clarify what she thinks
of him and why.
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Roy also uses perception checking to try and figure
out if his perceptions of Jenita are accurate.
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Checking perceptions is an effective way of reopening
the lines of communication and breaking down communication barriers
that may be occurring.
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Conflict:
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A conflict develops between Roy and Jenita regarding
their perceptions of each other, and which one of them is right.
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With neither one of them listening to each other,
they cannot solve the conflict effectively.
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Amy acts as a mediator in the conflict trying
to get Roy and Jenita to calm down and recognize that this problem
needs to be solved so they can work together.
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Language Barriers:
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Within the conflict, the language Roy and Jenita
use cause greater barriers to effective communication.
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They both refer to each other in stereotypical
ways and make generalizations about each other. Roy says Jenita
is the "typical" woman, and Jenita says Roy is the "typical"
male looking for a free ride.
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Conflict resolution:
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When Roy and Jenita finally listen to each other
and realize their perceptions are wrong, they are able to effectively
resolve the conflict.
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Solution: They will be more honest with each other
and be careful not to pass judgment on the other person.
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