Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Instructions
Exploring Culture
Some products and practices that helped me gain understanding of cultural perspectives were my textbook, online assignments through VHL, and assigned videos. Through these, I learned not only about the language itself, but different Spanish speaking cultures as well. I grew to understand the differences and comparisons of our cultures this semester.
These products and practices helped me better my understand of the values and attitudes in the Hispanic culture as well as in my own by exploring them both further through comparing and contrasting family dynamics, greetings, social habits, and sports. These practices challenged my worldview by forcing myself to relate to different cultures; being so used to contrasting them. This challenged me by working through any stereotypes or misconceptions I have had engrained in me, and caused me to view the world from a new perspective.
Engaging in Communities
The value of engaging in our immediate communities in addition to the global community is immeasurable. It is so important to engage in both our immediate and global communities. Without doing this, we cannot grow as a whole, and division is inevitable.
Personally, I have been on many mission trips in my life growing up in church. One year, my family and I traveled to Managua, Nicaragua to serve the underprivileged communities in the area. This was an incredible experience as a teen to see and experience a different culture while serving their community. We were able to build a church, while also providing clothing, shoes, food, and medication. It truly was a life changing experience for me. It was interesting to learn more about Spanish cultures this semester, and connect it with what I experienced while visiting different countries over the years.
Interpersonal Communication
This semester, we had several interpersonal communication activities. From discussion boards following assigned videos to being partnered up with a fellow student for an all Spanish interview; we learned how to collaborate with one another in learning the language.
We used the reading and writing form of interpersonal communication within our discussion board assignments. We were able to take our own perspectives and share with the class, while opening ourselves to other perspectives of fellow classmates. I grew with each activity, learning more about Spanish speaking cultures; and at the same time, learning about those of fellow students. It was difficult at times to relate to certain cultural habits and practices, but afterwards I was able to realize we were all more alike than different. I feel like I excelled in making connections from my own personal life and American culture, mainly because I truly enjoyed that aspect of the assignment. I learned so many new things about other cultures, and even in my own class. Next time I think I would do things differently by responding to more people than assigned to engage in more conversation.
Presentational Speaking
This semester, we were assigned to have interviews via zoom with fellow classmates. During these interviews, we were to speak in Spanish only, while pretending to have a conversation as if we just met.
This was very challenging for me; I have significant testing anxiety, and the thought of someone else listening to me speak and also being recorded was very stressful. I grew to overcome this obstacle by the second interview by preparing more heavily and practicing with my partner. I think we excelled at collaboration and fluidity. Next time, I would try to prepare even further to make the conversation more natural.
https://m3a.vhlcentral.com/sections/1072201/activities/284356
Presentational Writing
This semester, we virtually presented blog responses to assigned topics in our discussion boards. This gave each of us the oppurtunity to share our perspectives, while also discussing individually with one another in the reply section.
Author: GRACE COUICK Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021 3:05:22 PM EDT Subject: Discussion board two
Universities here in the United States differ significantly from those in Spain! I think it would be amazing to study there temporarily, but I am glad I have gotten to attend school in the United States due to being in the dental field. I have never studied outside of the country, but I definitely wish I had when I was younger. I think it would be such an amazing experiance being submerged in a completely different culture (and language) while also getting an education.
I am actually planning to do a dental mission trip to Kenya next year (as I am a recent grad of dental hygiene school); it would definitely be an educational experiance seeing conditions that I would have preiously only seen in a text book because of the difference in level of care! The trip also consists of continued education courses as well so it will be an amazing experiance to serve the local people who would have otherwise never recieved that standard of care, while also furthering my education.
In this presentational writing, we were to compare and contrast universities in the United States with Spain. This was a very interesting project because I had never learned about the differences between the two. It was was difficult to compile as many similarities as there were differences. I think next time I could improve by doing further research and lengthening my comparisons.
Interpretive Listening
This semester we were assigned to watch different videos, all in some regard to Spanish speaking cultures. After watching each video, we then discussed with the class through our own posts, followed by a reply to at least one other student.
For example, one video depicting a night out in a club showed how young people may greet each other with something as intimate as a kiss. We spent a discussion comparing and contrasting these types of greetings with what we are accustomed to in the United States. It would be challenging to go from an American culture to another country where you are greeted in such a way. It is very interesting how different something as simple as a greeting can be among cultures. The closeness that so many hispanic cultures share is very compelling; I definitely think it is something we could learn from as Americans. Throughout each activity, I feel like I have grown to understand how differently people live around the world- but at the same time how we are all so similar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWaBQ-ZUm-c
Interpretive Reading
An example of interpretive communication activities I read during this course would be the websites listed in the learning resource tab on our blackboard page. These gave us additional insight on learning the spanish language along side our assigned work.
Specifically, superespanol.com was used to understand further the pronunciation of words and the proper tense. This helped me immensely with my confidence speaking the language aloud. Taking a foreign language course online is very challenging because you are essentially teaching yourself; often times the correct way to pronounce certain words can be unclear. This site really helped me overcome the difficulty of pronunciation uncertainty. This reading helped me grow as a beginner in the Spanish language.