Influence of Communication Apprehension †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Influence of Communication Apprehension. Answer: Introduction: A self-reflection is an important tool for every individual as it helps them in gaining an insight about them, which could be in terms of their skills, their emotions, or any other parameter for which the reflection was undertaken. This self reflection is based on the analysis of my communication skills which would help me in clarifying about the different skills which I have and which I lack. These could be assertiveness perception, active listening or verbal communications. In order to evaluate this, I would use certain diagnostic tools which have been presented to us through the tutorials. By undergoing this reflection, I would be able to improve upon my communication skills and this would be done through chalking out an action plan after conducting the literature review. In order to analyse my communication skills in different situations, I have used five different diagnostic tools. The first tool which was used by me was Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale and this depicts the manner in which the communication competence of the individuals is analysed by themselves, where they are faced with different communication circumstances and where they have a range of receivers (McCroskey McCroskey, 1998). The next tool which I used was Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension and this helps in calculating the feelings of a person towards the communication whereby the person is asked to analyse their diversified communication circumstances, along with the manner in which they would behave, when faced by one (Neuliep McCroskey, 1997). As a third diagnostic tool, I opted for Talkaholic Scale which helps in measuring the compulsive communications and helps in showing the competency of an individual on the basis of their nature of being a talkative one, or not (McCroskey Richmond, 1995). The next diagnostic tool being used for this self reflection was Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report which shows the immediacy of the individual with regards to their communication and shows the positivity of a person where they engage in non-verbal immediate behaviour with others (Richmond, McCroskey Johnson, 2003). The last tool used was the "Willingness to Listen which shows the orientation of a person towards listening, which is another important element when it comes to communication skills of a person (Richmond Hickson, 2001). After undergoing all the requirements of these five diagnostic tools, I was successfully able to analyse my communication style, along with my preferences which were highlighted from these. The first tool, i.e., Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) highlighted that I comfortable with friends and even with acquaintances but I do have a problem while communicating in the meetings. However, it also shows that even though I do not excel in public, but I am also not on the lower end of it. The second diagnostic tool which I used was Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA) which highlighted that I have low intercultural communication apprehensions, which shows that I am very comfortable in dealing with the people from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds. The third diagnostic tool, i.e., Talkaholic Scale depicted that I am not a talkaholic or a talkative person. This shows that I do not face a difficulty in keeping quite where I should and so , I am not a compulsive communicator. In the fourth diagnostic tool, i.e., in Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NIS-S), it was highlighted that I use a lot of nonverbal cues and shows that I am positive towards the other people. This shows that I can easily communicate in a non verbal manner with others, which is a difficulty I face when it comes to verbal communications, as highlighted through the first diagnostic tool. The final diagnostic tool, i.e., Willingness to Listen Diagnostic highlighted to me that I have a high willingness to listen to others as I attained a score of over 80. Based on my personal analysis, it becomes clear that I lack the confidence which is required for public speaking and that I overuse the nonverbal cues which can make the other people very awkward around me, particularly when they are not comfortable with such verbal cues. Even though my public speak anxiety lies in the middle range, but it does highlight that when it comes to public speaking, I become very anxious and prefer to even avoid it. This would become particularly problematic where my work requires me to talk to different people and give presentations. Also, an overuse of verbal cues can be taken as annoyance or could end up offending a person with smaller social boundaries and so, I need to learn to control my actions and also avoid overusing them. The reasons why I identified these two communication key issues can be further strengthened by the recent incidents which I had to bear. I am good at giving movie reviews to my friends and one of my friends asked me to give a movie review to his group of friends, as he was given this as an activity from his college. I had prepared a very good presentation and even the answers to the possible questions which can be raised by my friends group. But when I went to this group of strangers, I started mumbling and mixing up words. To make the matters worse, when the questions for which I was prepared to give the perfect answers were thrown at me, I could not even read those in front of this group, from my cue cards. My hands got shaky and cold and I just delivered my presentation somehow. Even my friend was shocked at this. And this shows that I need to work up on my public skills to avoid such situation from happening again. The other problem with my overuse of verbal skills was highlighte d to at a funeral where I was with my family members and close relatives. One of my cousins told me to control my hand gestures as I was being over the top with them, particularly given the situation and the sad environment. This not only made me conscious but also conformed with the diagnostic tool above, which shows that I use the non verbal cues quite often. Public speaking is a very common issue which is faced by not only students but also by the general population. As per North and Rivers (2001) the individuals, when are faced with the public speaking anxiety, more than often face a number of symptoms when dealt with a public speaking situation and this includes discomfort, confusion, sweating, palpitations, muscle tension and even gastrointestinal discomfort. Byrnely, Cross Spanos (1993) had highlighted that around eight five percent of the general population reported some or other level of anxiety when it came to public speaking. In this regard, Rossi and Seiler (1986) shed the light that stage fright and public speaking was something which was being studies and investigated since the middle of 1930s. Public speaking is often linked to the anxiety which one faces, and which denotes the state of apprehension and uneasiness, or a fear which results from the anticipation of something which is deemed as threatening. Scovel (1991) highli ghted that when the anxiety was facilitated, it results in positive effect over the performance of the learners and where the anxiety is too much, it results in poor performance. Speaking is deemed as a difficult task which leads to anxiety as per Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1991) and this is particularly true for the students when they have to speak in class for the anxious students. Such students face difficulty in making a differentiation between the structures and sounds and even in apprehending the meaning of simple words. There have been numerous literatures where it has been identified that there is an emotional predisposition towards public speaking as a reason for anxiety (Beatty, 1988; Beatty, Balfantz Kuwabara, 1989). Dunbar, Brooks and Miller (2006) highlighted that communication skills were a necessary part of the students to be successful in not only their college life but also at their work places. Woodrow (2006) identified two kinds of anxiety reactions, the first one was the psychological reasons and the second one was cognitive reaction. In the first kind, the body reacts, for instance, high heart rate, stammering or fidgeting. And in the se cond one, the brain reactions are increased, for instance, thinking irrelevant thoughts or such thoughts which are self-depreciating. The thoughts of an anxious person, shows negative thoughts, which leads to the person having a high level of anxiety. Jones (2004) highlighted that there was a need to facilitate this anxiety by helping the anxious person in learning the manner in which that particular hurdle could be overcome. So, once the job gets done, he identified, that the anxiety ended. Where the person is able to push them, for doing the task which they are anxious about, it could result in helping them in tackling their anxiety. Ohata (2005) identified that these facilitating effects would motivate the learners and would depend upon their perceptions and attitudes. Ohata also identified communication apprehension as a form of anxiety where the speaker forms a negative self perception which leads to their anxious behaviour. Woodrow (2006) based her study on inferring the anxiety in the oral communications. She identified that people would get butterflies in their stomach before speaking in public, or before giving a formal presentation and thus, there was a need to learn the manner in which the audience can be addressed with out fearing for something which might never happen, and even if it happens, would not have a devastating impact, as is being feared upon by the speaker. Marinho, Medeiros, Gama and Teixeira (2017) highlighted through their research that public speaking competence was a must for the business life and that this was a major element for the professional life of an individual to be successful, as fluent communication skills helps in establishing creditability. Similar results were attained in the research of Russ (2012) where they stated that with good communication skills, the interpersonal workplace relationships were enhanced with the staff, which included the key managerial personnel. Hence, the literature associated with public speaking clearly shows the need for harnessing this skill, if a person wants to succeed in their college life, and even in their future business life. Pease and Pease (2004) stated that the majority of researches agreed on the fact that the words are only used to convey the information and for negotiations, the body language is used. The non verbal communication shows what goes on in ones mind. So, a movement of hand shows the real feelings of an individual. For instance, if a person taps his table on the table, it shows that the person is waiting for something. Gamble and Gamble (2013) viewed that nonverbal communications were the actions done by human, which includes their appearances, space, smell, time, sound and even the use of objects. These can also be used to clarify the words or to make them change their meaning, for instance by winking at the end of a sentence. Butland (2012) identified the nonverbal communications as being complex, with different meanings. So one person could perceive a certain thing from an action, and the other one can perceive something else. Navarro and Kartins (2009) highlighted that at times the people are not even aware that they are communicating in a nonverbal manner and is done unconsciously. Gamble and Gamble (2013) also stated that these are even used to show displeasure when the deep emotions are not expressed through words. A slumped over posture and a scowl on your face can suggest that you are unhappy wile your clinched fist and tense muscles can communicate just how unhappy you might be. And so, in order to save from another person judging the first one, there is a need for the first person to learn and control the nonverbal communications, as there can be situation where the person speaks something but their gestures portrays something else, thus creating a conflict in the other persons mind, and resultin g in an un-surety and a lack of confidence towards the first person. Once these two communications had been prepared, I had to develop an action plan for the next six months, so that I could take the requisite steps towards overcoming the issues highlighted above. The first one in this regard is that I need to maintain a personal journal where I would track down whatever I did each day for the next six months. This would help me throwing a light on how I behaved and the progress I made after taking steps towards improving upon my public skills and the misuse of nonverbal skills. This journal would also help in pinpointing the issues which I am still facing and the things which I need to work upon for the future, particularly in my work life. I would also take up regular interaction with strangers and each week, I would try to interact with a minimum of one stranger and talk to them for five minutes. This would help me in getting over my communication apprehensions. I am also going to ask a person for being my mentor, so that they can oversee my progre ss on monthly basis. In this regard, I would ask (insert subject teacher name) to be my mentor for the next six months as (he) teaches communication skills and can best help me in this matter. I would also undertake a habit of writing a memo every week for the first two months, based on a book I read related to improving my shortfalls. In the last two months, I would communicate with my mentor to give a chance to speak before a crowd in the university itself, on weekly basis so that I could address my fears. Also, I would be attending the cultural fest being organized by my relative next month, where I would get a chance to interact with a number of people and would try to control my nonverbal communications on one hand, and would be working on improving upon my verbal communications without being anxious. The success of this would be measured by my friend (insert name of friend) and my (father/ mother) who would analyse my communications and give me feedback on whether there has been an improvement from the present day. These activities have been effectively chalked out through the use of Gantt chart, covering the action plan which I would follow for the next six months. Gantt Chart depicting Action Plan Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-17 Journal Memo Mentor Presenting before crowd Cultural Fest Weekly interaction with strangers The best manner of evaluating my overall progress, after the completion of six months, I would ask my fellow classmates to give me feedback, along with the other subject teachers and the guidance counsellors as they are in the best situation to give me the feedback. Apart from this feedback, I would also request them to give me the suggestions and the shortfalls which they think are still present, and which I may have failed in analysing here, so that I could improve upon these, not just to have a better corporate future, but also to have a personal growth. References Beatty, M. J., Balfantz, G. L., Kuwabara, A. Y. (1989). Trait-like qualities of selected variables assumed to be transient causes of performance state anxiety. Communication Education, 38, 277-289. Beatty, M.J., Friedland, M. H. (1990). 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