Blogpost #1: Strengths and Challengers in Communication (Draft)

Communication takes place in our daily life. In order to be an effective communicator, we must understand that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use of this understanding as a key to communicate with others. For this blog post, I will be describing my strength and challenges in communication, as well as two objectives that I hope to achieve by the end of this course.

Firstly, my strength will be that I have the tendency to observe one’s non-verbal cues. An example would be during a conversation, I tend to be more aware of the speaker’s facial expression and whether they are displaying signs of boredom or excitement. Another non-verbal cue I would be aware of is their tone of speech, as the tone of the speaker can give away their level of interest in the current topic.

Next, I will be describing the two challenges that I face while communicating. Firstly, I have the habit of staying in my comfort zone. I find myself preferring to talk about topics that I am more interested in which can limit my conversation with others. Secondly, it has been a period of time since I last presented in front of a crowd after graduating from polytechnic. Since then, I grew more timid and this led to a drop in my presentation skills. An example would be during the composition module in trimester one where I had to present to the class. I was unable to present confidently and fluently despite being well prepared beforehand.

Lastly, I will be stating the two objectives that I would like to achieve by the end of this module. One, I would like to improve my presentation skills which will be useful not only as a student but also when I enter the workforce where presentation skills are a necessity. To obtain this goal, I will be more aware of my own non-verbal cues when I interact with my classmates as practice. Two, I would like to be able to step out of my comfort zone. In order to accomplish this, I will be interacting more with my classmates who may have different perspective and interest from me and discuss about their interest more than my own.

Comments

  1. Unknown17 May 2017 at 03:27

    Hi Syuu Lynn. I think that having good observation skills about someone's non-verbal cues is definitely a great asset to have. Many times, we may accidentally offend others due to our negligence towards non verbal cues. This skill may actually save you from slip ups when interacting with your peers or superiors. Presentation skills can definitely be improved through practice. You may want to control your breathing before the start of any presentation. I know for a fact that looking in between your audiences eyebrows definitely helped in my presentation a great deal. Thanks for the insights!

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  2. Unknown17 May 2017 at 04:29

    Hey Shulynn. That was a good blog post and I can relate to some of the topics that you mentioned. I do agree that observing someone's body language is a good skill to have because not a lot of people tend to see how someone act and behave towards others.

    Additionally, regarding the challenges you faced, including myself, tend to have trouble talking out of their "comfort zones" when meeting someone that you are unfamiliar. An example on how to break the ice would be to ask them questions such as " How's your day/afternoon?" , "Wanna grab a bite?". Always be the person to start the conversation and after getting to know he/she better, you would tend to converse more naturally and have common topics to talk about.

    Furthermore, to improve on presentation skills, it would be best to practice talking in front of the mirror to slowly boost your confidence. To take a step further, you can practice in front of a small audience such as your family members and then talking to a bigger crowd. I hope that these tips would help you improve on your communication skills and I wish you all the best!

    -Alfin

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