hu127- assignment #2 ch1-15

MEKONG SCHOOL OF ENGLISH

REFLECTION PAPER

An Assignment

Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of

The Requirement for Subject Course

HUMAN COMMUNICATION (HU 127)

SUBMITTED TO

LECTURER: MR. NORNG SOKHA

GROUP: MC3

1. Mr. PHENG CHAMNAB ID: 4101110550

2. Ms. LY PHANNY ID: 4101110391

3. Ms. MOM SOKCHEA ID: 4101110684

4. Ms. NGEAT SOPHANY ID: 4101110621

5. Ms. PORT CHANNA ID: 4231110637

6. Ms. REAM SINETH ID: 4231110625

7. Ms. YOEM SARETH ID: 4101110100

2 MAY 2012

YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2011-2012

Cambodian Mekong University HU127

Lecturer: Norng Sokha of 14

Human Communication

(HU127)

I. Introduction

a. Rationale

Human Communication (HU127) is a course which is a part of humanities that

required students to learn and know as it was viewed significantly due to the great

importance of communication in the society and among human beings.

Communication is the process of sharing ideas, information, and message with others

in a particular time and place. It includes writing and talking, as well as nonverbal

communication (such as facial expressions, body language, or gestures), visual

communication (the use of images or pictures, such as painting, photography, video,

or film), and electronic communication (telephone calls, electronic mail, cabal

television, or satellite broadcasts). And communication is a vital part of personal life

and is also important in business, education, and any other situation where people

encounter each. Furthermore I think that human communiation is a way or solutions

for people to communicate better. In our daily life, we are affected by our own

communicaiton. We communicate with other to exchange the news and come to

understand other people feeling. In my opinion, human communication is a useful

subject, because it can make our relationship with family, friends and others people

more stable. So we needs to study this subject to make our life more better.

b. Course Description

Human Communication is an introduction course related to basic theories and

concepts in the study of communication existed in the world of human beings who

were viewed as the most intelligent kind of creatures in the earth, and it is the course

which designed to facilitate the knowledge of students in the field of process and

patterns of communication in a variety of contexts: personal, public, and other

significant aspects. And it divides into two parts; they are Principles of Human

Communication and Context of Human Communication. In principle part was

contained eight chapters which can tell us detail about the process of human

communication, person perception, verbal message, nonverbal message, listening,

conflict and negotiation, ethic and communication, and relationship in process. And



contexts part also tells us detail about interpersonal communication, intercultural

communication, interviewing, small-group communication, public communication,

organizational communication, and mass communication.

c. Course Objectives

In the course objective the whole course aims at facilitating students to

recognize communication as a transactional process, define perception and explain

influence on human communication, distinguish verbal and nonverbal message,

practice effective listening and critical thinking skills, build intrapersonal and

interpersonal communication skills, identify conflict and negotiation, and identify the

common elements to all communication events.

d. Expected outcome and Thesis Statement

In education sector Human Communication is interesting subject among all

subjects in this sector. In our daily life Human Communication is vital aspect of

personal life and is also important in business, education, and any other situation

where people encounter each. So after I finish this course, I expect that I can take all

of my knowledge to use in my daily life and can get lots of advantage from it too.

And I think that this subject were still important subject for all learners. Furthermore I

also aspect that all people who study this subject will get a lot of advantage from this

subject, and they can take it to use in their daily life properly. So what have we

learned from this subject?

The Human Communication course has been divided into fifteen chapters.

II. Body

In Chapter 1, it views about human communication which refers to the

processes of creating a meaning between two or more people. It also talks about the

meaning of communication and the importance of communication. It presented a

model to help us conceptualize the relationships between the components of human

communication. For example all human being, both communication in our model

originate and perceive message. Moreover it discussed about the part of a message in

terms of the kind of stimuli transmitted: verbal and nonverbal, intentional and

unintentional. We learned that though all senses are potential channels for receiving

stimuli: face-to-face communication, organizational communication, electronic or

computer, and mass communication. And it show about the interference have two



parts, there are technical interference and semantic interference. It also discuss about

the seven points of communication context, there are Interpersonal communication,

Intercultural communication, Interviewing, Small group communication, Public

communication, Organizational communication, and Mass communication. Moreover,

it was express about the other points like communication ethics, communication

technologies and the effective of communication. Furthermore, it also show the fifth

points of an outcomes of effective communication, such as understanding, pleasure,

attitude influence, improved relationships and action.

In Chapter 2, it talks about Person Perception. It presents about person

perception as it is an active process in which communicators selectively perceive,

organize, and interpret what they experience. It focuses on four main points involve:

perceiving people and objects, forming impression, some variables involved in

accurate perception and improving perception and communication. Moreover, it was

express detail on each point above too. Firstly, it was detail about the perceiving

people and objects. It was divided into different point such as: two kinds of filters,

culture and perception, selective perception, organization, interpretation and perceiver

or context. Secondly, it talks about the forming impression contained three parts:

looking at yourself is mean how we form our perceptions about ourselves, looking at

others is mean we find ourselves making several judgments about others and all at

once, and about the social roles are work roles, student roles, gender-linked roles and

marital roles. Thirdly, it was presented the some variable involved in accurate

perception. It has thee generalizations: some people are easier to judge others, certain

traits are easier to judge than others, and people are better at judging who resemble

themselves. And the last one is talk about the improving perception and

communication, about the awareness that your own perceptions may be inaccurate,

and empathy-seeing and feeling things as other does. Thus, more accurate person

perception always makes for more effective communication.

Chapter 3 is talk about the Verbal Messages, it express about the two kinds of

verbal message are intentional and unintentional. And it focuses on four aspects

involve: Words and meaning, Message encoding, Language and thought, and Words

in action. We began by words and meaning, so in this point is talk about symbols and

references, denotation and connotation, and private and shared meaning. And



Message encoding, that encoding means refer to the process of putting thoughts into

words. Then, it talks about language and thought. We can consider about language

problem are abstract language, inferences, dichotomies, euphemisms, and equivocal

language. And we explained words in action, we examined sexist language,

differences between males and females in their use language (these seem to be

context-bound), powerful and powerless language languages and metacommunication

(is communication about communication) is potentially a means of improving one’s

relationships.

In chapter 4, it presents about the Nonverbal Message. It has two kinds such

as: intentional nonverbal message and unintentional nonverbal message. And it

focuses on five main points involve: interpreting nonverbal message, spatial and

temporal cues, visual cues, vocal cues, and deception. The categories of

communication has: verbal/vocal (communication through the spoken works), verbal/

nonvocal (words are involved but no speaking takes place), nonverbal/vocal (groan or

vocalization), nonverbal/ nonvocal (involved only gestures appearance). We saw that

assumption about nonverbal cues that have misunderstandings in intercultural

communication. Visual cues from facial expressions, eye contact, body movements,

touching, and physical appearance and the use of objects were analysed. Vocal cues

are another source of information, and we spoke about volume, rate and fluency,

pitch, and quality, as well as about gender differences.

In chapter 5, it talks about Listening. It refers to the active process of

receiving, constructing mean form, and responding to spoken and/ or spoken and / or

nonverbal messages. In this section we discuss the type of listening and provide

practical tips for improving listening competencies. And we talk about five elements

involve: why listen? , Importance of listening, what is meant by listening? types of

listening, and how to improve listening? Firstly, it talks about why listen? One study

showed four communicative behaviors-writing, listening, speaking, and reading. So

listening was second only to reading as the least arousing of the four activities.

Secondly, the importance of listening helps build and maintain relationships, can help

us determine whether the person we are talking to is being deceitful. Thirdly, it is

actually a complex process involving four elements: Hearing, Attention,

Understanding, and Remembering. Thus, a suitable definition of listening would be

“the selective process of attending to, hearing, understanding, and remembering aural



symbols”. Fourthly, is talk about the types of listening. Probably any list would

include at least four types of listening. There are four types are pleasurable listening,

discriminative listening, critical listening, and empathic listening. These four are not

mutually exclusive or exhaustive but merely representative. And last one, How to

improve listening? To improve listening, it would base on some elements such as:

listening effectively, pay attention, listening for main points or ideas, use your spare

time, and Arabic listening.

In chapter 6, it shows about Conflict and Negotiation. Conflict is expressed

struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceived incompatible

goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals. And it

has four points are levels of conflict, stages of conflict, escalation and resolution, and

conflict resolution. It also discuss about the important elements of conflict, there are

expressed struggle, interdependent, perceived incompatible goals, perceived scarce

resources, and perceived interference. Moreover, it expresses detail to Levels of

conflict has four points such as: intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict,

intragroup conflict, and intergroup conflict. And then, it talks about the series of six

phrases that are commonly believed to be connected to conflict. There are latent

conflict, emergence, escalation, de-escalation, resolution, and reconciliation.

Furthermore, escalation and resolution, the emergent conflict may then, and often

does, escalate to a higher level of intensity. The model offers five basic styles of

conflict resolution: (1) avoidance, (2) competition, (3) compromise, (4)

accommodation, and (5) collaboration. Plus it present about the Negotiation. It has

identified the following six predictable steps in the negotiation process: (1) analyzing

the negotiation, (2) planning for the upcoming negotiation, (3) organizing, (4) gaining

and maintaining control, (5) closing the negotiation, and (6) continuous improvement.

It also discuss about the negotiation strategy and tactics, it has two parts, assumption

and principled negotiation. It then discuss about the five points of techniques for

conducting “principled negotiation” were also discussed.

In chapter 7, it has focused on the Ethics and communication. Ethics mean the

study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by

person. This chapter we began by looking at some of the major ethical principles.

First is talk about the gold mean, it is Aristotle “morality is to be found in

moderation”. Second, the categorical imperative is a command or obligation to act



(imperative) that is absolute (categorical)-one with no exception condition. Third,

utilitarianism is a doctrine that place primary value on the outcomes or consequences

of our action rather than our moral intentions. And the last one is about justice and the

veil of ignorance. Justice is a fair procedure, by which we can agree on common

ethical principles, and veil of ignorance is a principle of justice or fairness that insures

protection of those whose position is weakest. We then turned to several fundamental

issues in ethics. We discuss lying and misrepresentation, secrets, disclosures and

privacy, whistleblowing, and leaks.

In chapter 8, we explored about the Relationships in process. We begin by

looking at the major variables of human attraction. We discussed proximity,

similarity, and situations. And then, we talk about several of the characteristics that

define all our relationship. It focuses on context, time, information sharing, trust, and

Affection and control. The next part we examined a theories of relationship

development, it has two parts such as: a theory on the life cycle of relationship, and a

theory of relationship dissolution. Moreover, it presented about the maintaining

relationship. It shows the positivity, openness, assurances, network, and tasks. We

also considered recent findings about the people behaviours and strategies people use

to maintain satisfying relationships. And in our final section, on family

communication, we looked at gender development, divorce, the family as a system of

communication rules, and at the variables of cohesion and adaptability to change, as

well as at stages of development in family that have children.

In chapter 9, we concerned about Interpersonal communication. In this chapter

we focus on the many variables that play a part in the dynamics of close interpersonal

relationship. Intercultural communication encompasses many kinds of relationship

from the most cultural to the most long-lasting. It can occur within a group of people

(in family, friend…) or occur between two people.

First, the social setting – Relationship are influenced by Norm and roles. Norms are

rules, whether implicit or explicit, about behaviours. Roles effect how we will

respond to each other. For example: child-parents, student-teacher. Second, we

express about the dialectics of relationships. It focuses on Autonomy/connection,

certainty/uncertainty, openness/closeness. And the third point they show assessing

the quality of n interpersonal relationship. The quality high relationship, information

about the other person is primarily psychological. We discussed the benefit of self-



disclosure-trust and people can choose to self for soluble problem. One more it can

make us intimacy, affiliation and commitment, Dominance, status, power.

In chapter 10, it talks about Intercultural communication. Intercultural

communication is a communication between members of different cultures. They

know about the cultural as learned, distinctions among cultures. There have three

approaches to studying culture-social science approach, interpretive approach, critical

approach, mass migration and diaspora. Dimensions of cultural difference was

contained individualism- collectivism, high-and low, context culture, power distance,

Masculinity- femininity uncertainty Avoidance. Moreover they discussed the

principles and problems of communication- has two kinds massage (verbal message

and nonverbal message), the relationship (norm and role), the benefit and values-

ethic value, Adaptations to a new culture. Next point we study of Barriers to

Intercultural understanding, and it connected with the ethnocentrism, stereotyping,

group polarization. And at the end we show the effects of Intercultural

communication. It has many kinds, such as effects on individual, society, political

effects, and cultural effects.

In chapter 11, it shows about Interviewing is conversation with a purpose and

is more than dyad communication and may involve more than two people. In this

chapter provides information on how to prepare for job interviews and includes a new

discussion of the worst mistakes that interviewees make during job interviews. It also

expresses detail on the course outline. It has five points to discuss, firstly standardized

and unstandardized interviews. Standardized consists of a set of prepared questions

from which the interviewer is not allowed to deviate, and unstandardized interview

allow the interviewer as well as the respondent considerable latitude. Secondly, it

talks about a type of interview questions. It focuses on four types such as: open versus

closed questions, primary versus probing questions, leading versus neutral questions,

and the loaded questions. Thirdly, refer to the types of inadequate responses have five

types involved: no answer, partial answer, irrelevant answer, inaccurate answer, and

Over verbalized answer. Fourthly, we talk about interview structure was contained

opening of the interview, body of the interview, and Conclusion. And finally, we

explored on the Nondirective interview technique has three parts such: Interviewer

empathy, Helpful hints.



In chapter12, it discusses about Small-group communication. This chapter is

about the kind of communication that takes place in small groups, particularly in

problem-solving, or task-oriented, groups. We discuss about types of small group

have four elements are casual or social groups, learning or education groups, work

groups, and self-directed work team. And it expresses about the group dynamic, it has

six points involve conformity pressure, social influence, and the quality of group

problem solving, the role of a group member, cohesiveness, and phases of group

development. Moreover, we also discuss about the group structure has four points;

there are group size, communication networks, virtual groups, and leadership. And

then it talks about the correlates of effective groups. It has four points are idea

development and problem solving, constructive conflict, patterns of decision making,

and Testing the group’s effectiveness.

In chapter13, it is talk about the Public communication. This chapter is

designed to help you improve your public communication abilities. And we defined it

is face-to-face communication. And it is the process of understanding and sharing

meaning with an audience. As one person is generally identified as the source or

speaker, and other are recognized as receivers or listener. We begin with a

consideration of the speaker apart from his or her message, and we discuss about the

source credibility, dimensions of credibility, and deliver. And then we identify the

four aspects of Credibility. (1) Competence: skilled, qualified, reliable, experienced,

authoritative, etc. (2) Trustworthiness: honest, fair, sincere, friendly, and honorable...

(3) Dynamism: bold, active, energetic, strong, empathic, and assertive. (4) Co-

orientation: sharing of values, beliefs, attitudes, and interest. Beside this, it present

about the audience, it has two points to discuss are Audience analysis and Listener. In

audience analysis, we focus on four stages are Captive and voluntary, Demographic,

Interest in and knowledge, and Attitude, beliefs and values. And we discuss about the

message, it focuses on Organization, Materials of support, Visual aids, Language,

Economy of language, Humor and satire, Appeals to fear, how much change to

attempt? , One side or two sides? , Climax order or anticlimax order? , Stated or

implied conclusions? , and speak first or have the last say?

In chapter14, it talks about Organizational communication. This chapter also

focuses on three points. First, a definition of organization is often defined as a

collection of individuals who, through a hierarchy of ranks and division of labor, seek



to achieve a predetermined goal. Second, it expresses about the organization culture.

It is the social or normative glue that holds an organization together. It consists of

values and beliefs that some groups or organizational come to share. And third, we

discuss about the importance of communication, it has six points to discuss are

supervisory communication, downward communication, upward communication,

horizontal communication, communication and organization change, and informal

communication.

In Chapter 15, which is the last chapter of the book, it mentions about mass

communication and new technologies. This chapter was divided into two parts are

Mass communication, and the new technology. Mass communication is the audience

is relatively large, heterogeneous, and anonymous to the source. In this chapter we

focus on four main points. First, it talks about the first definition; it was divided into

five points more: mediated encounters, the audience, the communication experience,

the source of communication, and delayed feedback. Second, we discuss about the

process of mass communication. In this case we detail on four parts: (1) the

gatekeeper is a person who selecting, changing, and/or rejecting message. We also

discuss about the gatekeeper’s work and gatekeeper’s choices. (2) it refer to

gatekeeping and ethic , all the issues about truth telling, lying, and misrepresentation;

secrecy, privacy, and disclosure; leaks and whistleblowing, (3) it express about the

message flow, it focuses on hypodermic needle model and opinion leaders & the two-

step flow model. And (4) it talks about the active audience. And third, we explored

about some effects and outcomes, it is most closely related to the concept of message

flow is the study of how the mass media disseminate information. It has four points to

discuss: The diffusion of information, Attitude influence, Social learning through role

models, and Social learning and media violence. Furthermore, we present about

technology. We saw the implications of the new communication technologies; the

convergence of computing, telecommunications, and media, computer-mediated

communication, new alternative media, effects on interpersonal communication,

technological literacy and the digital divide, prospects for a global human community.

Despite increases in the selevitivity, speed, volume, and visual nature of

communication, the new media were seen primarily as extensions of existing media.



III. Conclusion

To sum up, in this course, we have learned in detail about the Process of

Human Communication, Personal Perception, the Nonverbal Message, Listening,

Conflict and Negotiation, Ethics and Communication, Relationships in Process,

Interpersonal communication, Intercultural Communication, Interviewing, Small-

group Communication, Public Communication, Organizational Communication, and

Mass Communication and new technologies that push us how to communicate with

the difference of context properly.

IV. Reflection

Taking the human communication’s book that was written by Stewart L.Tubbs

and Sylvia Moss, we encountered both positive and negative things dealing with what

contained in the whole book.

a. Reflection to the course

First of all, let’s us show about the positive things. Human Communication is

a very interesting subject among others which belong to humanities. It has many

positive points. It can provide us a lot of knowledge, like we can know the meaning of

human communication, the process of communication, improve general knowledge,

know about culture of other countries in the world, and know about communication

ethic. Furthermore, we can know the kind of communication and we can great the

communication with other people around us. We can receive good ideas and can

know the resources of communication. Moreover it provided us new words and new

technology by this book. It make us became a good person that has original cause in

speaking, understanding the state in society, the important of human resource, the

important in speaking, listening, the kind of messages, and teach us about the

communication in organization too.

Besides, through the whole course, we also suffered a lot of difficulties which

we considered as the negative things of the course. Firstly, it’s all foreign language

and has many difficult words that are the cause of hard to understand. Secondly, every

each chapter is very long and complex. Thirdly, most of example is in other aspect in

other countries. So it’s very hard to understanding too.



b. Reflection to Teacher

Apart from encountering positive and negative things from the course, we also

realized both of these things with our lecturer. Of course, let’s us start with the

positive things our lecturer has made. According to the survey among students who

attended this course, they said that the lecturer is very popular and joker man. And he

has enough ability and experience to teach this course to the students. So we can get

either knowledge or enjoyment. Moreover, he is friendly, helpful, polite and kind.

Because he always talk to all students with a good smile and try to explain the course

to make easily for students. And he still explains the students which is not clear with

the course even if he finished his time. Moreover, when he was absent, he always

gives us an extra class to complete the time for us. In short all his teaching, he always

add the joke with the course. So all students felt very enjoy with him, no one felt

annoy with him or his time.

Coming after the positive, our lecturer also has some negative things. First of

all, he has many absents for last month. Second, he doesn’t have much time or enough

time for the students to ask him. After lecturer time, he always takes to the tutor time.

Third, he is too polite, so he can’t manage or control all the students when they make

annoy.

All in all, even though some problems occurred in the whole course which we

considered as our challenges and obstacles, but those things could not defeat our high

willingness to learn at all. In contrast, they acted as the drives which pushed us to

learn harder and do more research to fulfil our desire in absorbing more and more

knowledge as much as possible from this course.

V. Application

Human communication is a very popular and very important subject. After

finished the human communication course, we expect that we can get the advantage

from this subject. So we’ll take our knowledge which we got from this course to use

in our daily life, real working environment or other related aspects. It is important to

make a communication, to improve our communication in social or environment

around us, and to make our life more easily. For example in working sector, if we

want to find a good job and high salary, so how do we find it? It’s real that you want

to make a communication to find it beside your knowledge, and you must make a



good communication with people around you. Moreover if you were a good

communicator, so you will be a good person in working too. And in workplace or

organization, it’s very good for whole organization if we have a good communication

to each other. Like between employee and employee, between employee and

employer, etc. Furthermore, in daily life we need to take a communication with

people around us, to make friendlier with them.



Reference

Buston Burr Ridge, IL. (et al). Human communication (9th

ed.). (pp. 479-519).

New York San Francisco St. Louis Bangkok Bogotá Caracas, Kuala lumpur

Lisbon, London, Madrid Mexico City, Milan Montreal, New Delhi, Santiago Seoul,

Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Toronto.

The end!

hu127- assignment #2 ch1-15

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