Verbal And Nonverbal Communication And Listening Skills Paper

People communicate with verbal ways by speaking ideas, stating opinions, and expressing thoughts. People communicate nonverbally by their facial expressions, vocal expressions (sigh), and physical expression. A person can also communicate nonverbally by eye contact, by making eye contact with other people you are showing them that they have your attention and you are listening to what they are saying, or vice versa. Some physical expressions a person can make are gestures, and smiles. These physical expressions can help a group or person feel more at ease while speaking. Nonverbally I think I show more facial expressions than any other way discussed. I’ve been told you can tell how I’m feeling by the looks on my face. I think eye contact is another nonverbal way I communicate. When speaking to other people I always make eye contact so that they know they have my full attention, I also sometimes nod when talking to people if I am in agreement with them. I think by doing that the person I am speaking to knows I am on the same page as them.

Knowledge of nonverbal communication can greatly help your communication with others. By knowing nonverbal cues you can understand the persons true feelings more while speaking to them, you can also have a better understanding of what they are trying to say. You may know when members of a group are getting bored with the subject, or when members or getting frustrated with other members. By being able to pick up nonverbal cues you may be able to address problems before they start. My score on the Student Listening Inventory was an 85. According to my score I perceive myself to be an adequate listener in the classroom, but learning more about listening and listener skills can improve my overall listening effectiveness. I have a few things I need to work on to become the listener I want to be and know I can be. Improving my listening skills can help me in every aspect of my life.

Having better listening skills will also help me with communicating with people better and being able to learn more from speaking to people from different cultures. My strengths I found are I devote my full attention to people when they speak, I factor in my knowledge about others cutlers when speaking to them. By devoting your full attention to people when they speak you are getting the full understanding of what they are saying or trying to say. I also have strengths with providing positive nonverbal feedbacks, as well as watching the speakers facial expressions and body language. By giving a speaker positive nonverbal feedbacks, such as eye contact and nods, you are showing them not only do they have your attention but you are agreeing with them.

You also can give the speaker more confidence in themselves. My major weaknesses are paraphrasing the speaker’s main ideas, I confirm with speakers my understanding of his/her message before I make a conclusion. Confirming with the speaker about my understating of his/her message before I make my conclusion can help me better my listening skills. It can also help me better understand the point they are trying to get across. Another weakness I have is when I have an emotional response to a speaker or message, I try to set aside my feelings and continue listening. I have a hard time with setting aside my emotions about certain subjects. I need to work on putting my emotions aside and be able to listen to what the speaker is saying instead. For example if I am arguing with a person I let my emotions get the best of me and I will block out anything a person says to me. I need to work on that because me blocking out what a person has to say puts a strain on the relationship at hand.

The changes I can make is putting my emotions aside and giving the speaker my full attention. To do this I may have to take a step back when something is bothering me and take a break from the conversation to write down things that are bothering me then go back to the conversation. Before conversations I can try writing down things that may bother or distract me so that I have a clear mind when going in to the conversation. I also need to listen to speakers more and write down words I do not know, and try to summarize what the speaker is trying to say, and then speak to the speaker about what I think they are trying to say before I make a conclusion.

By doing this it will help improve my listening skills because I’ll need to focus more on what they are saying while writing it down. To improve my listening skills I think I just need to pay more attention to the person speaking and put all distractions away. I tend to get too distracted when people are speaking with either my phone, or the TV, or background noises. I think I am going to turn off my phone, or put on silent while listening to someone speak and try to ignore background distractions. Making all of these changes can help me become a better listener and help me focus on the speaker more.