Question

Communication is essential in every aspect of life. To research career paths and potential positions, network, and share your skills, you need to use both verbal and nonverbal communication skills. The following are three different activities for you to complete with your family or friends. Please follow the instructions provided within the description of each exercise. After you have completed these activities, summarize your findings in an APA-formatted paper.

Your paper should include the following:

• A description of each exercise
• A discussion of the results of each exercise
• Research on the importance of listening skills in the communication process, using at least 3 non-course-related sources
• APA formatting

Summary Paper Details

Selective Listening Exercise: You will need to complete this exercise with another person. Create a list of like items (e.g., a list of fruits). This list needs to be at least 15 words long (the longer the better). In this list, you will repeat certain words. For example: Banana, Orange, Apple, Peach, Banana, Figs, Pear, Plums, Figs, Berries, Melons, Figs, Cherries, Limes, Pear, Tangerine, Lemon, Pear. Give the other person 30 seconds to write down as many of the words as possible. What were the results? What conclusions about listening can you draw from this exercise?

Vacation Exercise: You will need to complete this exercise with another person. One person will tell the other person that he or she would like to go on a vacation somewhere. While that person has an idea of what he or she would like in this location, they do not know where to go. They will then tell the other person aspects of the location in as vague a way as possible. This conversation should last at least 5 minutes. At the end of the conversation, the other person will suggest a place for the first person to visit. Discuss how a listener can pick up on the queues from the speaker to understand the intended message. Discuss how being vague in your message can lead to misunderstandings.

Poor Listening Habits: Everyone is guilty of not listening effectively from time to time. Below is a list of 5 poor listening habits. Look through this list. Which of these habits are you guilty of? How would you react if someone you were speaking to committed one of these bad habits?

• Jumping to conclusions
• Interrupting the other person before he or she has finished what he or she wanted to say
• Thinking about your reply instead of listening to what the other person is saying
• Changing the subject to something you want to talk about
• Providing advice when it is not asked for

Answer 1

A description of each exercise

Selective listening exercise enables one to check if the listener can listen well and comprehend enough to catch the key points. Vacation exercise shows how one can find the barriers in communication arising due to the use of vague words leading to confusion. Poor listening habits illustrate the key features of the reason why one suffers from the inability to properly listen.

A discussion of the results of each exercise
Selective listening exercise emphasizes the importance of listening carefully, each and every word for the repetition of certain words mean that the listen must be able to catch the entire speech. Vacation exercise serves the purpose of showing why people must use definite words to avoid misunderstanding. Poor listening habits advises on the parameters one should get rid of to be a good listener.

Research on the importance of listening skills in the communication process,
The importance of communication process is immense. From business activities to personal endeavors whatever include another human being, must follow a strong discourse of communication. Effective communication has two parts- listening and speaking. Listening is more important than speaking, and the barriers of listening must be diminished to avoid misinterpretation and conflicts.