communications skills project

COMM 120

Student Sample

COMMUNICATION SKILLS PROJECT

DUE IN CLASS ON _______________________

TOTAL POINTS AVAILABLE: 35

You are to fill out the following worksheet that analyzes one aspect of your

communication skills over the course of this

semester. Please follow the steps below.

Choose one problem that you currently have with communication with one person in

your life.

THE PROBLEM

1) Who the person is you have chosen?

Bob Cooke

2) Briefly describe your relationship with that person

(

How do you know them? What

is your relationship like?)

Bob is my brother

–

in

–

law. He has been married to my sister for the past 17 years. We

have a cold and distant relationship.

3) Describe (with examples) the communication problem you are having with t

hat

person.

The problem I am having is that Bob does not seem to want to talk to me. I try to talk to

him and he is busy, makes excuses in order to avoid me, walks away or simply ignores

me. For example, when I was at his house for dinner last Sunday, I t

ried to talk to him

and he told me he was busy, walked into the garage and started working on his car. He

closed the door when I tried to follow him in there.

2

4) Write out a sample dialogue, a typical conversation you have had with that

person

that illustrates the problem you are having.

name

statement

Nancy

:

Hey Bob, it’s great to see you! How are things going?

Bob

:

I’m doing fine. I’m actually really busy right now.

Nancy

:

What are you up to?

Bob

:

I’m working on my car pro

ject. I don’t have time to talk

Nancy

:

But I haven’t seen you in a while and I just want to catch up

Bob

:

I have to go.

Nancy

:

But Bob, I really want to talk to you

Bob

:

Why don’t you help your sister in the kitchen? I’m going in the garage

Nancy

:

Can I come with you?

Bob

:

(walks into the garage and slams the door)

________: ______________________________________________________________

________: ______________________________________________________________

________: _______________________

_______________________________________

5) Choose ONE communication topic from this class that relates to the problem you are

having (circle it):

distorted self concept, self fulfilling

prophecy, perception checking,

non

–

inclusive

language, difference be

tween hearing and listening, why humans are poor listeners,

types of nonlistening, how to become a better listener,

Self Disclosure

, Knapp’s

Stages of Relationship Development, Johari Window,

Communication climate,

Confirming and disconfirming communicatio

n, Defensiveness, Defense

mechanisms, Preventing defensiveness in others(Gibb cat

egories), Conflict styles

.

3

6) Relate that topic (the same one circled in #5) to the communication problem you have

described in #3.

I chose self disclos

ure because I believe this topic from class relates to the problem I

am having. Self Disclosure is the process of revealing personal information about

yourself. One of the characteristics of self disclosure is that it is necessary for

relationship growth.

I feel like my relationship with Bob is cold and distant because

he is uncomfortable with self disclosure. We also learned in class that unbalanced

self disclosure can make one partner in the relationship uncomfortable. I certainly

have felt uncomfortable

in the relationship due to Bob’s lack of self disclosure.

7) How could the problem be improved? (what can YOU do to help solve the problem,

even if it is not you that is primarily at fault

I think I may be approaching Bob at a bad time. I should ask h

im to go out for a beer

with me on a day of his choosing so it is a time when he is not busy working on his car.

I can also ask my sister if she knows what I might have done to cause Bob to want to

avoid me. If the problem is that Bob is uncomfortable with

self disclosure, I should

certainly respect his feelings. I can also gradually self disclose a little bit about myself.

Since self disclosure is reciprocal, Bob may also begin to self disclose a little bit also.

4

8) Write ou

t a sample dialogue, how the conversation might go in its

improved form.

name

statement

Nancy

:

Hey, Bob, Its great to see you! How’s it going?

Bob

:

I’m fine. I’m actually busy right now

Nancy

:

Oh, well in that case, maybe we can chat later in

the week

Bob

:

I guess that would be alright

Nancy

:

What evening works best for you?

Bob

:

Well, Heather works late on Thursdays, so that is probably best

Nancy

:

That works great for me. I’ll meet you at Hooley’s

around 6:00

and I’ll buy you

a beer

Bob

:

Ok, th

at will work for me

Nancy

:

I’m looking forward to hearing more about your car project.

________: ______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

GRADING

Descr

iption of problem: ____ (out of 5)

Relation to topic from class: ____ (out of 5)

Dialogues: ____ (out of 10)

Analysis: ____ (out of 5)

Writing: ____ (out of 5)

Thought/effort: ____ (out of 5)

TOTAL POINTS: ________ (out of 35)

minus points (late) _______

_

TOTAL: _________

98% A+ 34 93% A 32

90% A

–

31

88% B+ 30

83% B 29

80% B

–

28

78% C+ 27 70% C 24

60% D 21

59% and below F 20