Why are effective communication skills important for me?
In my 21 years of life, there are a few bad events (in which I regret) that had occurred as a result of poor/ ineffective communication. Misunderstandings, misinterpretation, not being able to ‘listen’ or express myself effectively are the main reasons that had led to arguments and conflicts. Thus, I hope that with this module, I would be able to better express myself be it at an interpersonal level or to a wider range of audience that includes interviewers, colleagues, bosses, strangers etc.
Prior to this semester, I attended summer school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Since it is an international summer school, the students that were enrolled in were of different nationalities, backgrounds and cultures. Although English was the common language of communication, our differences complicated things. For instance, even though we spoke the same language, the different accents and knowledge of the language made it slightly hard to communicate.
I must admit that this module was not ranked in the top few spots in the list of modules I plan to take this semester. Although there are many good recommendations for it, the seemingly heavy workload was daunting. But, after exploring the course website, I have come to know that skills being taught in the module such as building interpersonal communication skills, business letter/ email/ resume writing, job interview skills are those that I want to improve on as they are essential skills that would allow me to succeed futher in life.
With all that said, having effective communication skills are important as it helps us to get our ideas and intentions across better.
I could understand from your blog that you have undergone so many problems in terms of communication. But I think your blog failed a little bit to bring the actual importance of effective communication. You have mentioned your problems in communication and how this module is going to help you in that. But I think there is no need to give a brief comment on how this module is important to you. So that is why your blog is not up to the point. There are some grammatical errors in the blog especially in the last paragraph. The connectivity between the second and third paragraph is missing. You could have also concentrated much on preciseness. Anyways nice effort from your side. I hope I would see better blogs from you in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou draw the reader closer to your writing by telling them personal story. But you could have made a stronger connection between your story and the significance of effective communication. You can also place more focus on the main topic by elaborating more on what difference would it make if there were effective communication during your summer exchange program :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experiences at at very personal level (: I think these are very concrete examples on importance of an effective communication in different contexts, specifically culturally!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could refine the last paragraph by relating it more to the question of why effective communication skills are important for you when you go about your daily life, instead of discussing about what we will learn in this module? I feel that this could better link the main topic in question to your concrete examples to give a more structured post.
Overall, good effort Joanna(:
Hi Joanna, appreciate your frank sharing. I'm glad the evenful experience from your summer school prompted you to explore the topic of communication on a more personal level. Sharing with you this quote from Martin Luther King, "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you took that first step, Joanna. Don't worry too much about the heavy workload - you can be sure that I'm with you all the way.
Thanks for the effort, Joanna.
@Yazhini: To start off, I do not really have that many communication problems. I do not quite agree with your comments. I mentioned the importance of the module to me as it the module addresses effective communication. But I do agree with you that there are some errors in my post. I will proof-read in future before posting my entries (:
ReplyDelete@Linh: Hi Linh. Thanks for your comments. I agree that I should focus more on the main topic. I'll post better entries in future(:
ReplyDelete@Lucinda: Hey lucinda ! Thanks for your comments! I agree that my blog entry was slightly out of the main point. I'll post better blogs in future ! (:
ReplyDelete@Ms Lim: Hi Ms Lim. Thanks for your comments. I'm also very happy that I had taken the first step. This module has indeed been really enriching ! (:
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