Communication theories

There are many theories that involve communication to help improve interactions. They are structure of interaction, listening skills and communicating cycle, SOLER principles, group structures and group information. The two theories I am going to discuss are the structure of interaction and SOLER principles.

Structure of interaction

In a structure of interaction normally there are three steps procedures which are beginning, middle and end. A particular theorist view was not stated in my research which is why it has been explained in scenarios of the structure of interaction. The format style is having a starting point by acquainted, starting off a conversation creating the right atmosphere for the communicator to feel comfortable in creating the right emotions.

Showing characteristics of being friendly calm and interested in what the communication is going to be about. The middle part of the interaction is about the more revelation of the interaction. The middle contains the most important pointers for a communication as it involves listening, expressing and understanding. These aspects have to be considered so that the interaction is successful between two people. Finally the end of the conversation is all about showing that they have listened to each other.

I will be observing a teacher from my care setting to see if she uses the whole structure of the interaction with the children. This kind of theory will be effective to any care setting at is all about communicating with people around and how to make a base trust before interacting about the important factors. The Welfare of the child promotes care values with the children as ever child has the right to express themselves and can speak first. Because of this theory the teacher also makes to manage the child behaviour and can lead to positive expectations of communication between the child and the teacher.

An example of care value is when a teacher asks a child in soft tone what they like or enjoy about nursery. The child may find it comfortable with the teacher because they know each other already so staring a conversation like in the theory are easy for the teacher. Children learning and development also support the theory as the child are learning to relax with the teacher and as they do they have a conversation about the activities that are going around nursery. The child can then listen to what the teacher has to say and express them effectively for the teacher to understand how well they fell. When ending conservation with the chid, the teacher will keep the child relaxed so that they don’t feel threatened.

The Equality of opportunity is also a theory that the teachers gives each individual time to communicate with them about how they like the nursery and what activities they want to do first. Equality is taken into consideration in this theory as the same amount of opportunity to all the children are given to speak to the teacher. The teacher also needs to bear in mind that they in care value they need to take consideration in anti discrimination so that the teacher is not discriminating any children on the basic of religion, race and culture.

The teacher should be able to have conservation with all the children without ignoring anyone so that they can recognise the needs of children behaviour. The teacher should keep all the things discussed with the child so they keep private under the value of confidentiality. If the teacher discusses a child development with other colleague negatively then it is not right and they are breaking someone’s confidentiality. The teacher should try to handle the situation themselves and help the kids as they want to be. However, confidentiality is broken if sharing a child development with the doctors or nurses so that it could help improve the child interaction with other children.

The theory is very important in following the steps to interaction with the children. If the theory is somehow ignored by the teacher then it would be very hard for both the child and the teacher to interact with each other. This will have more effect on the child because they may be not confident to share / express their feelings which can withhold information with the teacher. If there is a lack of expression when communicating with each other then there would also be a lack of understanding of child development in the nursery.

SOLER principles

SOLER communication is an acronym that helps guide service provider within care settings when discussing information that may be particularly sensitive to the service users. It is a non-verbal communication listening techniques and it can be very effective depending on the situation and the individuals involved.

Egan presented many ‘basic skills like micro skills that can help improve an interaction by creating a feeling of involvement or understanding presence when working with another person’. He also thought that it is important that service providers show that they care and empathise with the people that they are caring for in order for them to create a good relationship.

The SOLER acronym stands for;

Squarely – this is mainly to do with body orientation. When facing individual they need to face squarely so that the person is felt that they are involved in the communication. Within the care settings the service provider should sit either facing the service users or sit to the side depending on the situation.

Open body- this is seen as being non- defensive so therefore service providers should not sit with their arms folded, legs crossed etc as sometimes these can be seen defensive. The carers body language should not show any insecurity as the service user may see this as a ‘physiological barrier’. Body language has an involvement in this as it is all about the carer keeping a sense of understanding by having a more open atmosphere.

Leaning forward- it shows that the person you are having conservation with showing respect, interest and commitment but keeping In mind that personal space is kept so that they don’t feel threatened.

Eye contact- it is about keeping a suitable eye contacts with the service user or while having a conservation with people. Having eye contact conveys interest and as a result the service users are more likely to share information with the service provider. However, eye contact varies in different cultures as they keep eye contact to be portrayed as a disrespectful which is why it is avoid.

Relax- it is about how you are able to maintain your body language and how relaxed you are. This is because it is important to maintain a relaxed appearance and manner in order to make the service user feel the same way. According to Egan the service user should be relaxed and be completely natural so that the service user does not feel threatened.

Within my care setting I have will be observing the teacher whether she uses these techniques or concepts during the interaction with the children. The theory is very effective in promoting communication in some organization as it supports the idea of how the teacher communicates with the children. When talking to the children the teacher use open posture by using hands gestures so that the atmosphere becomes more relaxed. The teacher needs to vary her eye contact with the child as she does not want them to feel uncomfortable or any fear. The teacher also needs to take into consideration when speaking with the children as she needs to vary her tone depending on the situation. The teacher starts communication at first by welcoming the students with a smile and then asks how their day was. This helps the student to start speaking to their teacher.

Care values need to be promoted when using these theories such as the children learning and development. The teacher may discuss many things as to which the child can focus on some things that the child can improve. This can make the child feel they are being taken care while improving with their attitudes and learning how to improve on themselves.

SOLER communication is very important in the care settings as it has the main concepts in order to keep a calm environment. The teacher makes sure that when discussing they face each other so that they are not being too dominating, they use definite body language of open posture by keeping a fixed face to face communication, the teacher only lean in when something is said to be private so that it is kept confidential. Eye contact is seldom use as some teacher don’t communicate as often.

If the theories are not being focused in the care setting then there may be uneasiness for some of the people. The most important is that children need comfort and attention for them to feel comfortable. If the teacher does not use an open posture and has a very bad tense atmosphere around then the child would feel uncomfortable resulting in communication less and would not build an effective relationship with the teacher.

If the teacher does not lean in at appropriate times the children may feel that interest is lost in the conservation as the teacher is leaning back at times. This may have a negative effect on the children as they might think that the teacher does not like them. The teachers need to make an eye contact with the students; if they don’t make an eye contact then it would be very hard for the teacher to measure whether the children are paying attention which can mean that concentration of the child can be lost which can lead to lack of understanding to the matter.