Session Five Overview
Assignments Due for Session Five
1. Read Interpersonal Communication chapter 6.
2. Read Bridges essays in chapters 4: What are the Functions of Nonverbal Communication?
3. Complete the assignments that correlate with the reading.
Session Five Documents
Read each of the assigned chapters in Interpersonal Communication and Bridges Not Walls. Then, answer the following questions with thorough explanations. Each question should, on average, take 1 – 2 pages to answer with a final page count of no more than 8 double-spaced pages. Don’t hesitate to do additional reading outside of the two texts if you need more clarity on the concepts discussed. If you do consult other works, be sure to correctly cite these sources in your reference page along with the two main texts for the course.
Interpersonal Communication – Chapter 6
In this exercise, you are going to explore how we use verbal language. When we have a message to convey to someone, it’s easy to focus so much on what we intend to say that we forget to work hard to make sure we say it in a way that the receiver can understand. On pages 164-173 of the text, there is a discussion of six different ways we create communication barriers in our attempt to be understood. For this assignment, first provide an accurate definition of each of these six language barriers (bypassing, lack of clarity, allness language, static evaluation, either/or polarization, and biased language) and then provide an example of how these might happen. Come up with your own examples and do not use the ones mentioned in the text. Then after each example, explain how you might correct each barrier once you realized it. Do this for each barrier.
Bridges Not Wall – Chapter 4 – What are the Functions of Nonverbal Communication?
Nonverbal communications that help control the interaction between people are known as regulators. For example, when you want to break into a conversation, you may use a preliminary gesture such as leaning forward or tilting your head forward to indicate your intention. This essay talks about different ways regulators
are used in daily life to indicate to others how you want them to behave or what you want them to do. For this assignment, identify three specific ways that we commonly use regulators (come up with ones not mentioned in the essay) and explain how each regulator is employed, under what conditions and the desired effect. Create a paragraph of explanation for each regulator.
