Running head: Application Paper

Application Paper # 2
Carlos Garcia
COMM122
March 29, 2015
Sister Burk

Application Paper

A scientist called William Osler (2010) once said, Observe, record, tabulate,
communicate. Use your five senses. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to
smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert (p. 46). Interpersonal
communication is a conjunction of elements that make it as whole complete and
effective, whenever and whichever is perform it. I will focus on two imperative and
sometimes forgotten elements by society; the art of listening and the power of non-verbal
communication. In order to fully understand these concepts and apply them in a real life
context, I will refer to my personal life, my interpersonal communication classes and my
work environment. Ultimately, the objective of this essay is to set realistic and smart
goals, and prove through different communication skills my ability to communicate
efficiently and effectively with others in any situation or circumstance.
As it is commonly known by many of us, that effective public communication
consist on deliver a message in a clear and neat way. Nevertheless, there is more than
only speaking in order to be an effective communicator; it is also about how I listen and
receive a message from others, in other words, effective interpersonal communication
consist on how I deliver and receive a message. The fact of listening to someone does not
necessarily mean that you are listening effectively. According to Floyd (2011) Effective
listening involves listening with the conscious and explicit goal of understanding what
the speaker is attempting to communicate. Real listening goes beyond our mere
understanding of that action, and requires real effort in order to break all possible barriers
during this process receiving a message.
In the process of listening to someone, we have probably experienced some
barriers, affecting the sense and meaning of such message. In class we discussed three

Application Paper

main elements that could significantly break this process. The first is noise, which is
basically everything that distract the receiver from the message such as the environment
noises, people talking, devices etc. A good example of this is when we get distracted by
our smartphone or laptop while we are in class listening to the instructor. The second
barrier is called pseudolistening and selective attention. This occurs most of the times,
and it is when we choose literally what to listen and what to ignore. We listen a certain
thing or message according to our desire or interest about it, in other words, we filter
information as we decide what is important to us and what is not. The third one is
information overload. This barrier occurs when we get overwhelmed by information in a
certain lapse of time. This information can be provided by all individuals surrounding us
and electronic devices making us less able and willing to listen effectively. After
identifying these barriers, I feel more confident and respectful while I am listening to
others as I try to reach that connection with my audience and receiver of my message.
The other second and fundamental element in this essay is about how nonverbal
communication affect our lives every day and how understanding this principle can bring
huge changes and results in my personal and professional life. We already know that
nonverbal communication can be noticed by others, and it comes as a natural reaction of
how we feel and how we want to show and express ourselves without words to others. In
my IC class, we enjoyed watching a great TEDs speaker that made a fantastic analysis
about this concept of nonverbal communication. Amy, the speaker, rhetorically asked,
Do our nonverbals govern how we think and feel about ourselves? (2012). Personally,
this was a question that really made me ponder about how the things that I cannot see, are
reflecting to others what I feel and think about myself, and basically it is gradually

Application Paper

affecting my behavior and my personal and professional relationships. This type of

language is as powerful as the verbal one, which declares who I am, and what do I want. I
consider that half message we deliver every day, we do it through our body language and
other nonverbal ways. As the website skills you need states, Interpersonal
communication not only involves the explicit meaning of words, the information or
message conveyed, but also refers to implicit messages, whether intentional or not, which
are expressed through non-verbal behaviors In other words as I was saying, half of the
message we display through words and the other half part we do it by implicit body
movements or gestures. The key of this element is to learn how to control ourselves and
know how our body deliver the message we want to give to others. It is crucial to me
learn this concepts, in order to find connection with my audience, and also control my
fears and weaknesses as I communicate.
After learn that listening is as important as speak, I will set a time frame goal to
ensure that I will not only listening but hear every message delivered to me, and do not
get distracted as I have done before. I also will keep practicing my internal and implicit
language through nonverbal communication. In this way, I will be aware of which
position I have facing any situation and what things I must change in order to provide a
better environment for an effective communication. For this purpose, I have decide to
film myself speaking to others and also to myself in order to see shortcomings in my
proxemics, and eventually improve these as well.

Application Paper

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REFERENCES

Cuddy, A. (2012) TEDGlobal.

http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are/
transcript?language=en#t-421886
Floyd, K. (2011) Interpersonal communication. NY. McGraw-Hill Humanities
(2011) Skills that you need. Retrieved from http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/nonverbalcommunication.html#ixzz3VvbyITA8
Osler, W. (2010). A way of life. USA: ReadaClassic.