Erin K. Burton
ENG/135
Communicating
Effectively
When
we enroll in school, we are immediately taught that there are three “R”’s.
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Already, we see that communication is not
correct. While yes, reading beings with an ‘r’, it is the only word that begins
with the correct letter. If we listen, we still hear the same sound with the
next word, ‘writing’, it does not begin with the same familiar ‘r’. Lastly, the
word Arithmetic throws in an entirely different complication with the three ‘r’’s
that we are to learn in school. Not only
does it not begin with the letter r, it forces us to listen closely to catch
the miscommunication. We are sent to
school to learn how to communicate in the real world through various methods,
however we are exposed to even more forms of communication when we are in the ‘real
world’.
Walking
through the grocery store aisles we are bombarded with communication
methods. We hear people engaged in
individual conversations, sometimes in multiple different languages. We see
flashy labels on cans, boxes and jars of items that the store wants us to
buy. If we pay attention, we see that
even the way items are placed on shelves or displays; we see that the stores
often really want us to pay attention to those items. Often times, we’ll hear jingles playing over
the loud speakers that put the thoughts in our heads that we need that
particular item immediately.
In
order to communicate effectively, I believe that people must have the ability
to pay attention to the forms of communication that are being used around
them. During an individual conversation
at the grocery store, we must be able to focus on the words being used, the
intention and mannerisms that the individual is using and still maintain constant
supervision of our surroundings. The
person that we are talking with must also do the same thing. The words that are being used are one way to
communicate effectively and we must command a working knowledge of whatever
words we choose to use in our sentences.
Non-verbal communication is just as important
as verbal communication. The mannerisms, gestures or body language that we see
and utilize during our conversations are another form of communication. We may hear the individual saying - “yes, I
would love to come over for dinner on Tuesday night” however, if they are
standing there shaking their head no or moving backwards, we may interpret that
they do not want to come over for dinner.
