Law - Sociology

Question

Communication problems can often surface when barriers or “blocks” to listening occur, whereby the intended listener may be:

a.) Taking a mental holiday: The person is daydreaming or focused on thoughts that have nothing to do with the current conversation.

b.) Judging: The person is focused on your clothing, tone of voice, posture, or hair style and is ignoring the conversation.

c.) Rehearsing: The person is busy thinking about how to respond to your comments and is ignoring what you are currently saying.

How have you felt when you were on the receiving end of distracted listeners? Reflecting upon this week's readings & web links, what sort of things might you be able to say or do to improve communication when distraction occurs?

This is what I have so far, I need 200 words minumum. (below)

While interacting with distracted listeners, there can be various issues which can cause deviance from the topic. In order to improve communication when distraction occurs, it is important to improve the process of interaction and voicing opinions of the listeners. Voice modulation and ensuring that the content is credible is necessary. Also, the aspect of being open to healthy criticism is an important part of identification of the reasons for distraction. This can also be achieved by effective feedback. Topics of interests of the audience and recreation can be enabled to prevent the onset of distraction

Answer 1

First, you are ignoring the first part of this question. How have you felt when speaking to distracted listeners? You prof is attempting to personalized the situation here. You aren't being asked a simple regurgitate the information question. This is an attempt to have you bring your theoretical learning into a real life setting. Every one who has ever taught is well aware of how this feels and must deal with ways to break down the barriers to being heard. In practice individuals find that simple things like physical movement, involving the listeners, and inserting humor often engage the distracted listener. One of the most effective ways to engage a listener in what you are saying, regardless of the topic, is to know your audience and to use examples and metaphors within your talk that resonate with them. Although being open to criticism can help you to improve future performance, it does nothing to engage a given listener in the moment. What do your experiences tell you? Do your experiences reflect what you have learned through readings? Do your personal experiences provide you with insight that the readings didn't cover?