Language Blog

LANGUAGE BLOG

Part 1.

I found the experiment difficult because, I felt ignored during the tree-way conversation. Jazmine and Justin, my partners in this experiment, seemed talkative to me. I felt as if they communicated well with each other, but felt restrained when they communicated me. They spent extra time re-phrasing questions to me, in order to obtain feedback. It was difficult for me to express myself. I mostly nodded my head responding to simple questions, but found it difficult to ask questions of my own. I just gave up and listened to my partners’ talk, while folding my arms in frustration. If verbal communicators and non-communicators represented different cultures, the verbal communicators would have the advantage communicating complex ideas. Verbal communicator’s would have the attitude of being superior to non-communicators. Individuals in our culture that have difficulty communicating are immigrants. They often speak limited or no English at all, and have difficulty communicating their ideas to English speakers. Individuals that interact with immigrant have difficulty communicating with immigrants, and often hold the erroneous belief that they are second class and uneducated. I felt second class to Justin and Jazmine during this experiment. I knew what I wanted to convey, but had difficulty expressing it to my partners.

Part 2.

I was not able to last the full 15 minutes using only speech for communication. It was difficult for me, because I often alter the tone of my voice when speaking, as well as use body language. I raise my eyebrows when speaking to convey disbelief and nod my head when in agreement. My partners felt that my speech was very mono tone, lacked emotion, uninteresting and was awkward. This experiment proves that speech and non-speech language, are both essential techniques in communicating effectively. There are people that have difficulty reading body language. If Justin asked me to taste food and I verbally told him it was delicious, but my face frowned when I responded, and he offered me more food, then he did not read my body language. My body language indicated that the food was not tasty, although I verbally replied that it was. The adaptive benefit of reading body language is essential in communication, as well as certain fields of work. Law officers often read a person’s body language as an aid in alerting them of illegal activity. I can’t think of an environmental condition where not reading body language would be a benefit. Verbal and non-verbal communication are both essential in the method of communicating.