Course Concepts and Skills A Reflection

[NAME]

[NAME]

INSTRUCTOR NAME

SUBJECT

27TH June 2024

Communication: Reflection on Course Concepts and Skills

A concept from the first five modules of the course that stuck with me is the idea of informative speaking (Author 4). I encountered this concept from a classmate’s discussion post, where they attempted to explain the different ways they use to make their speeches compelling to different audience. Informative speaking is the ability to deliver information in a way that serves the audience’s specific needs and effectively captures and holds their attention. I found the concept meaningful because, in my view, it could go a long way towards strengthening social relationships both professionally and at the personal level, particularly with the generational differences that characterize the society today. The youth and teenagers may feel that their parents, guardians, teachers, or other adults they interact with do not understand them because they do not identify with the challenges they are facing today. However, by cultivating informative speaking skills, the older generation would develop innovative ways to work around generational differences to create information hunger that would enable them to build rapport with the younger ones in their care. I volunteer part time at a youth center in my neighborhood and often work closely with youth and teenagers. The skill of informative speaking would help in selecting captivating topics for the youth and teenagers, organizing speeches in an appealing way, and selecting the most appropriate delivery methods and techniques.

The job listing selected for analysis is that of a cross-cultural clinician/mental health practitioner at the Oregon Health and Science University. The job requires an employee to conduct individual, group, and family therapy to clients from diverse African backgrounds and to have an adequate understanding of the values, traditions, and beliefs of different African communities. To carry out their job effectively, the incumbent should be able to communicate effectively with people from other cultures. This requires the skill of rhetoric in communication, which is discussed in the course textbook. The job holder will need to apply logos to persuade the audience that it is important to look after their mental health as it ultimately affects their physical health (Author 8). This is particularly so for clients from cultures that hold divergent beliefs about mental health. They will equally need to apply pathos to get their audience to trust that they respect their beliefs and attitudes even when their beliefs differ from their own (Author 8). This entails being aware of, and remaining sensitive to the cultural differences that bring about differences in people’s ways of thinking, behavior, attitudes, and beliefs. Clients are likely to open up if they perceive respect and do not feel judged (ethos) (Author 8). In this case, the job holder will need to effectively appeal to the logos, pathos, and ethos of clients from diverse cultural backgrounds to ensure they can interact effectively and build a social and emotional connection with them. Thus, success for the job holder will not only depend on how well they understand the cultural differences, but how well they demonstrate rhetoric in their daily interactions and communication with clients.

The skill of persuasion is one that I would find highly relevant to my public life (Author 24). Persuasion is the ability to get one’s audience to respond to one’s message by tailoring one’s communication style and message to serve their specific needs. The ability to persuade people to take a particular stand is beneficial, particularly when working on public projects or with communities because of the diverse groups and categories of people that make up a community. The skill of persuasion requires one to appeal to their audience’s attitudes and get them to resist previously held beliefs that contradict a certain stand. I occasionally volunteer at a local non-governmental organization that conducts community-based training sessions to members of the community on different health topics. Unfortunately, since the organization’s focus from the start was on the elderly, who are more prone to chronic illnesses, it has been challenging getting the youth to participate in the training sessions. Most of them believe such health sessions are not relevant to them, yet studies have shown that more and more young people are being diagnosed with chronic illnesses. The skill of persuasion would help the program organizers to effectively appeal to the younger generations, and to convince them that they need to take charge of their lives through lifestyle changes that minimize the risk of chronic illness. Persuasion in this case would ensure education on chronic illness reaches more young people in the community, thus minimizing the incidence of such illnesses in future. It would also address the problem of low community participation rates among young people, thereby promoting equity.