Once again we have come to the end of a course but this time, things feel a little different.
This class has really taught me so much more into the subject of communication. In normal communication classes, you are taught how to communicate in certain situations but never why people communicate the way they do and to look into the working mechanisms behind the words that people speak, write and type. This takes a really new spin for me on the topic of communication and I've definitely learnt so much more with regards to how i should converse with people of different cultures and genders.
Also, I feel that Dr Deng has paced the class very well in the way he started with simpler ideas like speech acts and speech events leading on to more difficult things like cmc communication and written discourse. This enabled me to not only fully grasp the true context of the ideas but to also have enough time to digest the information. Honestly, the content of this course is not simple child's play and it can get quite technical at times but it's never too much for us to handle.
Another thing, my coursemates. There was always an air of common understanding between all of us, either when we were presenting our views on topics in class or just gathering among ourselves having casual banter; we always respected each other and everybody was always willing to chip in their own views regardless of personal or communal agenda. This honesty in class is one thing that really strikes me because in a seminar, it is not only the teacher that makes the class but also the students that truly make it an event to remember.
All in all, I've really had fun in this module and I have learnt a new facet of communication that I never thought i'd discover on my own. Would I regard this course as fruitful? yes. Did I regret joining this course? Definitely not! Within these 13 weeks, I really have met some amazing people and friends.
Keep in touch friends! All the best in your communication with others.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Post 7: Computer Mediated Communication
The advent of the internet has changed the way the world communicates so greatly in the last 15 years. In the past, people could only communicate through letter writing and that took great lengths of time especially if those they were trying to contact were overseas. At present, only a few seconds is needed to send an electronic mail across continents and with the use of more and more instant messaging systems like IRC, ICQ and MSN, people are speaking to more and more people over continents easier and faster than ever before.
What does this all mean for us humans?
This new era of information technology has presented us with a new medium of communication and as we learnt in class, an entirely new language; netlingo. This is so interesting as it has both the characteristics of speaking and writing and undertakes specific writing forms to mean different things. I believe that it is of utmost importance to understand and keep up to date with how this new CMC language style evolves as internet instant messaging becomes more and more rampant. Should one not understand this netlingo, a capitalization of a word could sound rude to someone who understands it for example and many misunderstandings could arise.
We also learnt the differences in how a specific gender speaks to someone of the same and opposite gender online. This was of great interest to me as I realized that the differences are very stark. I shall not go in depth into the exact differences as they are all in the notes but it is very interesting how men and women communicate online to their own or opposite sex. I feel that the application of this new knowledge is very vast as we are now aware of the perculairities of how we humans speak and how we can react to manipulate an online conversation to, perhaps, reduce misunderstandings and to make the interaction more mutual and interesting. For example, users of dating websites and dating chat services could benefit so much for this knowledge about how the opposite sex ticks in relation to how they speak online; it is clear that the phenomenon of online dating and people getting married in real life to their online partners is increasingly becoming more rampant especially with the launch of new social networking sites like facebook and twitter.
Lastly, I feel that there is a new area in which CMC is fast expanding into, the realm of online avatar life. With the launch of Second Life (even NUS is on it), people are fast being drawn into a fantasy life online in which they can lead lives that would otherwise never have imagined. Real money is used to buy objects online and real friendships can be forged. Therefore, in this situation, the understanding of CMC is integral to the smooth facilitation of communication in this area which is fast taking over our real lives; translating it into a world where "writing looks like speech" and "speech looks like writing" holds the trump card over other mediums of language.
What does this all mean for us humans?
This new era of information technology has presented us with a new medium of communication and as we learnt in class, an entirely new language; netlingo. This is so interesting as it has both the characteristics of speaking and writing and undertakes specific writing forms to mean different things. I believe that it is of utmost importance to understand and keep up to date with how this new CMC language style evolves as internet instant messaging becomes more and more rampant. Should one not understand this netlingo, a capitalization of a word could sound rude to someone who understands it for example and many misunderstandings could arise.
We also learnt the differences in how a specific gender speaks to someone of the same and opposite gender online. This was of great interest to me as I realized that the differences are very stark. I shall not go in depth into the exact differences as they are all in the notes but it is very interesting how men and women communicate online to their own or opposite sex. I feel that the application of this new knowledge is very vast as we are now aware of the perculairities of how we humans speak and how we can react to manipulate an online conversation to, perhaps, reduce misunderstandings and to make the interaction more mutual and interesting. For example, users of dating websites and dating chat services could benefit so much for this knowledge about how the opposite sex ticks in relation to how they speak online; it is clear that the phenomenon of online dating and people getting married in real life to their online partners is increasingly becoming more rampant especially with the launch of new social networking sites like facebook and twitter.
Lastly, I feel that there is a new area in which CMC is fast expanding into, the realm of online avatar life. With the launch of Second Life (even NUS is on it), people are fast being drawn into a fantasy life online in which they can lead lives that would otherwise never have imagined. Real money is used to buy objects online and real friendships can be forged. Therefore, in this situation, the understanding of CMC is integral to the smooth facilitation of communication in this area which is fast taking over our real lives; translating it into a world where "writing looks like speech" and "speech looks like writing" holds the trump card over other mediums of language.
Monday, March 29, 2010
CS 1: Cross Gender Communication
To me, this lesson was the most interesting thus far as the class was split up into practically 2 factions, the boys... and the girls.
In this class, I challenged Dr Deng to explain to me why men think differently than women in terms of mannerisms and subject choice and he reasoned very succinctly. It all boils down to when we all were little primary school children and how we were all grouped or cliqued in our little "boys team" and "girls team" worlds. The very fact that we grew up unconsciously imbedding societal norms into our minds makes me feel a little bit strange as I've never seriously considered this point when trying to reason why men are from mars and women are from venus.
I've always had some problem understanding the other gender and why they act the way they do. Many misunderstandings often arise because of this lack of insight into the train of thought the other gender makes when conversing with the opposite sex.
Well, I have been watching Gossip Girl a lot lately and it is fast reaffirming what i've learnt in class. Gossip girl is a tv series following the lives of New York's richest kids in school and all the trials that they have to go through in life. This show, although some may say bimbotic, actually summerises this whole less on cross gender communication very fittingly. The boys are often seen displaying a macho and nonchalant attitude while the girls are often seen more preoccupied with their fashion and girly talk. Not that this show stereotypes these two genders fully because they also show exceptions to the rule.
However, upon thorough review of this lesson over the past 1 week, one thing the show does reflect very clearly is how men and women have spoken discourse. In class we learn that men normally are very information based while women are more relationship based. In the show, it can often be seen that the boys often seek each other out purely because they need help or want something; hardly starting a conversation because they generally want to build a strong relationship with the person. Women, on the other hand, are normally found sitting together in groups discussing the latest happenings in each other's lives (like Blair and her gang on the steps of the school in the tv series). Therefore, yes, there is some truth in the research.
However, I must say that this research does not apply to everyone. When compared to myself, I do not seem to fit the typical guy profile. This got me thinking about the different exceptions to the rule and also how i've noticed that my upbringing has helped shape the way I see things now. This will be very useful next time when i'm placed in charge of helping to mould someone's life from their younger years as what I tell or encourage them to do can have far reaching effects on their life.
Terribly interesting class we had that week and I must say, sometimes, opposites attract.
Jon
In this class, I challenged Dr Deng to explain to me why men think differently than women in terms of mannerisms and subject choice and he reasoned very succinctly. It all boils down to when we all were little primary school children and how we were all grouped or cliqued in our little "boys team" and "girls team" worlds. The very fact that we grew up unconsciously imbedding societal norms into our minds makes me feel a little bit strange as I've never seriously considered this point when trying to reason why men are from mars and women are from venus.
I've always had some problem understanding the other gender and why they act the way they do. Many misunderstandings often arise because of this lack of insight into the train of thought the other gender makes when conversing with the opposite sex.
Well, I have been watching Gossip Girl a lot lately and it is fast reaffirming what i've learnt in class. Gossip girl is a tv series following the lives of New York's richest kids in school and all the trials that they have to go through in life. This show, although some may say bimbotic, actually summerises this whole less on cross gender communication very fittingly. The boys are often seen displaying a macho and nonchalant attitude while the girls are often seen more preoccupied with their fashion and girly talk. Not that this show stereotypes these two genders fully because they also show exceptions to the rule.
However, upon thorough review of this lesson over the past 1 week, one thing the show does reflect very clearly is how men and women have spoken discourse. In class we learn that men normally are very information based while women are more relationship based. In the show, it can often be seen that the boys often seek each other out purely because they need help or want something; hardly starting a conversation because they generally want to build a strong relationship with the person. Women, on the other hand, are normally found sitting together in groups discussing the latest happenings in each other's lives (like Blair and her gang on the steps of the school in the tv series). Therefore, yes, there is some truth in the research.
However, I must say that this research does not apply to everyone. When compared to myself, I do not seem to fit the typical guy profile. This got me thinking about the different exceptions to the rule and also how i've noticed that my upbringing has helped shape the way I see things now. This will be very useful next time when i'm placed in charge of helping to mould someone's life from their younger years as what I tell or encourage them to do can have far reaching effects on their life.
Terribly interesting class we had that week and I must say, sometimes, opposites attract.
Jon
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Communication Systems: Components and Representation
This was an interesting lesson for me. For weeks, we have been studying only the micro aspects of intercultural communication; how to speak, how to write and so on.
However, this particular lesson gave me insight into what was the bigger picture. Intercultural communication is not just about how one person in a particular culture can converse with another person from another culture. There is a larger picture involving different macro socio-psychological values of the different cultures. I feel that understanding this portion of the module is of paramount importance as it helps me to identify behavioural differences between the cultures not just on a personal basis but on the differing cultures as a whole; identifying significant characteristics only particular to each culture investigated.
For example, power distance. Different cultures practice different power differences and we have to be aware of those values when conducting ourselves in front of people from different backgrounds. For example, Austria has a very low power distance value and hence, us Singaporeans, who have a very high power distance value, can easily make the mistake of snubbing their people of authority by saying that they should treat everyone the same way and that they aren't as powerful as they think.
A good example of this would be the Thai people recently underingoing some political problems. The Thai people have a moderate power distance of 64 as in the 1980s, however, it is safe to say that the Thais are fast changing their attitudes to government and moving in the direction of higher power distance values; seen by the throwing of their own blood in front of the government office just a few days ago. Therefore, it is important to not only know the small micro differences in the cultures but also the larger more established trends that the culture follows or changes across time.
There are other parts to the whole macro picture including uncertainty avoidance, infividualism vs collectivism and masculinity vs feminity. And these are all integral to allow the individual to fully grasp the true concept of intercultural communication.
The above example just struck me as very shocking and I feel that it is a true representation of how we can use the information learnt in this module to try to comprehend others and the world a little better.
However, this particular lesson gave me insight into what was the bigger picture. Intercultural communication is not just about how one person in a particular culture can converse with another person from another culture. There is a larger picture involving different macro socio-psychological values of the different cultures. I feel that understanding this portion of the module is of paramount importance as it helps me to identify behavioural differences between the cultures not just on a personal basis but on the differing cultures as a whole; identifying significant characteristics only particular to each culture investigated.
For example, power distance. Different cultures practice different power differences and we have to be aware of those values when conducting ourselves in front of people from different backgrounds. For example, Austria has a very low power distance value and hence, us Singaporeans, who have a very high power distance value, can easily make the mistake of snubbing their people of authority by saying that they should treat everyone the same way and that they aren't as powerful as they think.
A good example of this would be the Thai people recently underingoing some political problems. The Thai people have a moderate power distance of 64 as in the 1980s, however, it is safe to say that the Thais are fast changing their attitudes to government and moving in the direction of higher power distance values; seen by the throwing of their own blood in front of the government office just a few days ago. Therefore, it is important to not only know the small micro differences in the cultures but also the larger more established trends that the culture follows or changes across time.
There are other parts to the whole macro picture including uncertainty avoidance, infividualism vs collectivism and masculinity vs feminity. And these are all integral to allow the individual to fully grasp the true concept of intercultural communication.
The above example just struck me as very shocking and I feel that it is a true representation of how we can use the information learnt in this module to try to comprehend others and the world a little better.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Written Discourse
This is just a reflection.
As china opens up more and more to business opportunities, correspondance with them is going to increase hundred-fold or more. Hence, the need to understand why people of different cultures write the way they do.
Whether we are chinese or not, there is a need for the chinese to understand, say, the singaporean manner of crafting arguments or letters and for foreigners to understand how the chinese write their own letters and articles.
In this class, we have learnt many new styles of writing totally unheard of before we attended the class. Arabic methods of writing, chinese style of writing and western habits in writing. All these writing styles differ from one another and it is imperative that we, as a globalized people, understand the underlying meanings in the way different cultures pen their ideas and thoughts.
For example, in class, Dr Deng went through a very good example of writing. It was interesting to see how an indian professor could mark an indian students paper so highly when all were could see were the errors in the writing style. We picked out all the errors we could find and realized that in the end,
don't use your own cultural writing methods as the yardstick to judge other people's work.
I think that is the most important take away from the class and as china starts to being a powerhouse in the world of business, perhaps this class will have far fetching effects on my future.
As china opens up more and more to business opportunities, correspondance with them is going to increase hundred-fold or more. Hence, the need to understand why people of different cultures write the way they do.
Whether we are chinese or not, there is a need for the chinese to understand, say, the singaporean manner of crafting arguments or letters and for foreigners to understand how the chinese write their own letters and articles.
In this class, we have learnt many new styles of writing totally unheard of before we attended the class. Arabic methods of writing, chinese style of writing and western habits in writing. All these writing styles differ from one another and it is imperative that we, as a globalized people, understand the underlying meanings in the way different cultures pen their ideas and thoughts.
For example, in class, Dr Deng went through a very good example of writing. It was interesting to see how an indian professor could mark an indian students paper so highly when all were could see were the errors in the writing style. We picked out all the errors we could find and realized that in the end,
don't use your own cultural writing methods as the yardstick to judge other people's work.
I think that is the most important take away from the class and as china starts to being a powerhouse in the world of business, perhaps this class will have far fetching effects on my future.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Reflection on Spoken Discourse
In the beginning of the lesson, we first touched on the issue of spoken discourse.
I was wondering to myself,
"why is it so important to note their AHHs, mmmhhmm, yeh oh yeh yeh, shi shi, dui dui dui dui dui dui dui?"
Being good at communication does not only mean speaking well to people face to face. The world has globalized so much and now it is as cheap as ever to call a friend or client from one end of the earth to another.
In this lesson, I have learnt that American and Dutch people have different phone openings and that if I were to contact my clients in America or Holland. I can be sure to adopt their way of speaking over the telephone in order to communicate better with them. Understanding their listener responses of "ahhhsss", "mmmhhmms" and "shi shi shis" gives us a deeper insight as to how the opposite person interprets the information I am communicating over to them through the phone. Without body language to judge, other than tone of voice, this is perhaps one of the most mitigating factors to consider if the other party would like a repeat of what you have said or not.
Being able to understand how to open, interpret listener responses and close cross cultural phone conversations can be one of the greatest skills to learn perhaps in vocations like telemarketeers or phone operators. To be able to open correctly with the right set of lines could mean bridging a gap between the caller and the receiver. To be able to interpret listener responses would mean better transmission of information in terms of conciseness and lesser repeat sales pitches. To be able to close correctly would be leaving a lasting positive impact on the caller or receiver or to be able to escape the long lengthy sales call the quickest and most polite way possible.
In the second part of the lesson, we touched on english and chinese narratives.
The point that touched me most was that there were stark differences between how English speakers write and Chinese speakers write. And I agree with Lee (2003) who said that these differences were due to different cultural backgrounds and perceptions of narratives. Though I've honestly never read a chinese book in my life, it was a little unsurprising for me to find out that the chinese normally had a moral to their stories while the english speakers normally wrote for entertainment. Just thinking back on the history of china up to the revolutionary period gives one a sense of societal education that is imbued into every chinese citizen. Whereas for the english speakers, there is not so much emphasis of using text narratives to conduct societal education. So yes, not only do cultural backgrounds affect how stories are written but also history and governance.
Looking at how culturally different people write narratives can also translate into how these people view and lead their lives. Life, to me, is one big narrative story about yourself and I feel it is then easier to interpret the actions of culturally different people by understanding how they write. Though stereotypical the view, but at least it is an insight into reason.
I was wondering to myself,
"why is it so important to note their AHHs, mmmhhmm, yeh oh yeh yeh, shi shi, dui dui dui dui dui dui dui?"
Being good at communication does not only mean speaking well to people face to face. The world has globalized so much and now it is as cheap as ever to call a friend or client from one end of the earth to another.
In this lesson, I have learnt that American and Dutch people have different phone openings and that if I were to contact my clients in America or Holland. I can be sure to adopt their way of speaking over the telephone in order to communicate better with them. Understanding their listener responses of "ahhhsss", "mmmhhmms" and "shi shi shis" gives us a deeper insight as to how the opposite person interprets the information I am communicating over to them through the phone. Without body language to judge, other than tone of voice, this is perhaps one of the most mitigating factors to consider if the other party would like a repeat of what you have said or not.
Being able to understand how to open, interpret listener responses and close cross cultural phone conversations can be one of the greatest skills to learn perhaps in vocations like telemarketeers or phone operators. To be able to open correctly with the right set of lines could mean bridging a gap between the caller and the receiver. To be able to interpret listener responses would mean better transmission of information in terms of conciseness and lesser repeat sales pitches. To be able to close correctly would be leaving a lasting positive impact on the caller or receiver or to be able to escape the long lengthy sales call the quickest and most polite way possible.
In the second part of the lesson, we touched on english and chinese narratives.
The point that touched me most was that there were stark differences between how English speakers write and Chinese speakers write. And I agree with Lee (2003) who said that these differences were due to different cultural backgrounds and perceptions of narratives. Though I've honestly never read a chinese book in my life, it was a little unsurprising for me to find out that the chinese normally had a moral to their stories while the english speakers normally wrote for entertainment. Just thinking back on the history of china up to the revolutionary period gives one a sense of societal education that is imbued into every chinese citizen. Whereas for the english speakers, there is not so much emphasis of using text narratives to conduct societal education. So yes, not only do cultural backgrounds affect how stories are written but also history and governance.
Looking at how culturally different people write narratives can also translate into how these people view and lead their lives. Life, to me, is one big narrative story about yourself and I feel it is then easier to interpret the actions of culturally different people by understanding how they write. Though stereotypical the view, but at least it is an insight into reason.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Reflection on Speech Events
Just some reflections i've had over the past week after our last lesson on Speech Events.
The NUS career fair was over last friday and being in my final semester, the need for a job after graduation never seemed more important than it does now. With tons of Human Resource staff all exalting the positives of their individual companies, a sense of eagerness filled the air as final year students all moved from booth to booth collecting as many brochures as their arms could manage (although some were spotted just flirting with the pretty HR ladies instead).
When I first entered the class last week, I was honestly lost as to the difference between speech acts and speech events. All these functional terms that sound alike do no help to assist me in my understanding. But I got them eventually. A speech act is basically a subset of a speech event, with many speech acts making up the entire speech event. Speech events are also not only governed by how we use speech but also by externalities like setting, message form and participants.
So. I've gone home and then begin to plough through the mess of brochures on my desk, seiving out the ones i like and the ones that perhaps did not suit me as well into two neat piles; after which placing the ones that were not lucky enough to get picked on the coffee table in the living room for my parents perusal. I began to read through the ones I did like and I thought to myself,
"jobs= interviews, interviews = ................................SPEECH EVENTS!"
Ah. the interview is a speech event! Thus, I began to reflect on how I could use Dr Deng's lecture to my benefit to get the dream job I desired.
Breaking down the interview into a speech event made planning more transparent and systematic.
1. Genre: Interview
2. Topic: Why I should be given the job
3. Purpose: To hire me if the interviewer found me suitable
4. Setting: Probably an office or a lunch meeting of sorts
5. Key: Formal in an office and semi-formal over lunch
6. Participants: Interviewers and me. (maybe simon cowell)
7. Message Form: Face to face interaction and writing in the form of portfolio or resumes
8. Act sequence:
a. I greet interviewer
b. Interviwer greets me and offers me a seat
c. Some informal conversation begins
d. I begin to tell him why I want the job so badly
d. Interviewer reads and inteprets verbal and non-verbal communication
e. Question and Answer
f. End of interview
9. Rules for Interaction:
a. Politeness
b. Self-confident
c. Approachable
d. Do not use negative language
e. Listen actively
10. Norms of Interpretation
a. The Interviewer's facial expressions, tone and wording determines the Interviewee's persuasion methods; if negative, changes to the method is needed.
b. Especially over a lunch interview, acceptance of any invitation during lunch with thoughtfulness is considered to be positive and well-mannered
The above is just a simple breakdown of an interview speech event but can be tailored specifically to each job interview I attend in the future. Different job scopes have different interview requirements, for example, in the sales line, a positive demeanour and confidence in speaking tone is important as opposed to an engineering job where tenacity, accuracy and reliability are true factors.
Thus, not only has this course taught me how to interact between cultures but the course content can be translated into other factors of my life as well and this is one of the best takeways a student could have; transferrable life skills.
The NUS career fair was over last friday and being in my final semester, the need for a job after graduation never seemed more important than it does now. With tons of Human Resource staff all exalting the positives of their individual companies, a sense of eagerness filled the air as final year students all moved from booth to booth collecting as many brochures as their arms could manage (although some were spotted just flirting with the pretty HR ladies instead).
When I first entered the class last week, I was honestly lost as to the difference between speech acts and speech events. All these functional terms that sound alike do no help to assist me in my understanding. But I got them eventually. A speech act is basically a subset of a speech event, with many speech acts making up the entire speech event. Speech events are also not only governed by how we use speech but also by externalities like setting, message form and participants.
So. I've gone home and then begin to plough through the mess of brochures on my desk, seiving out the ones i like and the ones that perhaps did not suit me as well into two neat piles; after which placing the ones that were not lucky enough to get picked on the coffee table in the living room for my parents perusal. I began to read through the ones I did like and I thought to myself,
"jobs= interviews, interviews = ................................SPEECH EVENTS!"
Ah. the interview is a speech event! Thus, I began to reflect on how I could use Dr Deng's lecture to my benefit to get the dream job I desired.
Breaking down the interview into a speech event made planning more transparent and systematic.
1. Genre: Interview
2. Topic: Why I should be given the job
3. Purpose: To hire me if the interviewer found me suitable
4. Setting: Probably an office or a lunch meeting of sorts
5. Key: Formal in an office and semi-formal over lunch
6. Participants: Interviewers and me. (maybe simon cowell)
7. Message Form: Face to face interaction and writing in the form of portfolio or resumes
8. Act sequence:
a. I greet interviewer
b. Interviwer greets me and offers me a seat
c. Some informal conversation begins
d. I begin to tell him why I want the job so badly
d. Interviewer reads and inteprets verbal and non-verbal communication
e. Question and Answer
f. End of interview
9. Rules for Interaction:
a. Politeness
b. Self-confident
c. Approachable
d. Do not use negative language
e. Listen actively
10. Norms of Interpretation
a. The Interviewer's facial expressions, tone and wording determines the Interviewee's persuasion methods; if negative, changes to the method is needed.
b. Especially over a lunch interview, acceptance of any invitation during lunch with thoughtfulness is considered to be positive and well-mannered
The above is just a simple breakdown of an interview speech event but can be tailored specifically to each job interview I attend in the future. Different job scopes have different interview requirements, for example, in the sales line, a positive demeanour and confidence in speaking tone is important as opposed to an engineering job where tenacity, accuracy and reliability are true factors.
Thus, not only has this course taught me how to interact between cultures but the course content can be translated into other factors of my life as well and this is one of the best takeways a student could have; transferrable life skills.
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