Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
Discussion boards and LingroLearning activities were the driving factors to learning about and exploring cultural perspectives. Through videos, articles, and research, I was able to understand more and expand what I previously knew about Spanish language and culture.
These assignments helped in my understanding of culture because the information provided me with actual details and examples of what other cultures looked like and consisted of. I don’t think that there was anything challenging my worldview based on what I learned about Hispanic culture. Instead, I found a respect and admiration for Hispanic culture in how they value community, celebration, and family. I didn’t have any misconceptions of Hispanic culture, I have always thought of it as something filled with music, dance, celebration, cultural food, and family. I learned about celebrations, holidays, norms/ stereotypes such as siestas, different types of greetings, and so on. All of which added to my knowledge base on culture, none of which challenged an idea I had prior.
Exploring-Culture-Artifact-1Engaging in Communities
Community is important and valuable. Social media has allowed for the expansion of engagement in global community which brings people together and forms unity. Engaging in immediate community is important to bring understanding amongst differences and similarities. Community is what we lean on to feel included, cared for, and for support. Culture can bring people together, but so can common interests, values, language, or simply location. All is important to understand one another and increase kindness and the willingness to care for one another.
We learned about this through discussion boards about culture, celebrations, and the difference in attitudes in the US versus Hispanic cultures. Further, LingroLearning allowed for research and information about what is admirable. This relates because those characteristics that are deemed admirable bring people together. I learned that in Hispanic culture, community is extremely important. This is something that differs from Hispanic culture and the mainstream culture in the United States. My main takeaway is that it is important to engage in and be active in community because this understanding of one another is vital for communication as well as learning from each other. We are all here and the more we know, the more we can help each other.
Engaging-in-Communities-ArtifactInterpersonal Communication
An example of interpersonal communication included the midterm and final oral exams, Flipgrid video posts and comments, and discussion board conversations and comments. These were helpful to recall which forms of verbs and nouns to use and which grammar aligned with different educational and situational settings. The oral exams were the most intensive, but the other commenting communication modes were helpful to apply the knowledge we were learning.
This was an activity that I chose to include because it shows my growth. I am able to string comprehensive ideas and responses through a conversation. While the professor’s speaking part was pre-recorded, my responses were not, which was the best we could accomplish in an online course. It was difficult to understand the questions and information and then come up with a response that made sense. It is easier for me to read questions and respond because I am a beginner and it takes less processing time. However, this video example shows improvement. I hope to be able to come up with better answers in a shorter amount of time, with less errors in the future. For the oral exams, I improved from the midterm to the final. I was able to understand and respond to more questions and create more complex and creative answers.
Presentational Speaking
Some presentational speaking that was done this semester mainly included Flipgrid presentations and posts. This recording was one explaining our favorite person, someone we admire.
I completed this presentation by writing it out first, practicing, and then presenting without notes. I did not “stick to the script” completely but that shows the improvisation and growth achieved. I don’t need a script to be able to speak or come up with phrases that are comprehensive to the audience. I was challenged by being able to remember certain vocabulary, but I overcame it by simply studying and repetition. I would be more creative next time and come up with more interesting sentences, however, hopefully that comes in the future!
Presentational Writing
I did not encounter any professional writing tasks in Spanish 101 in this summer semester online course according to the modes of communication description.
Interpretive Listening
This semester, there were listening activities in LingroLearning, quizzes, and through Flipgrid conversations (instructional). Some was instructional information, some was some that we had to view as a presentation.
In class, there were instructions or presentations that I viewed. For the most part, I was able to understand the information or discussion. However, I would usually replay the video more than once. I sometimes struggled with pronouns and which form to use or respond with, it would always take me a few extra moments to recall. Throughout the semester, that became easier and I would have to replay videos less. Outside of class, I listened to Spanish music, primarily Bad Bunny. It was still difficult to piece together what certain phrases or parts meant, however, I could pick up some words or grammar that I was then able to generalize the main ideas of parts of songs. My takeaway from listening experiences was that the more you listen and immerse yourself in the language, the easier it is to not only write and speak for yourself, but listen and understand others. Both are important and essential.
Interpretive-Listening-ArtifactsInterpretive Reading
I read articles about life in Spain and Argentina for cultural exploration research assignments and discussion posts. I also visited websites for research on famous people in Argentina. These were mainly for Contraseña LingoLearning assignments for information about culture, the way of life and work life, and statistics about social media.
For some assignments, it was necessary to research in Spanish and then compare to the information that was provided in English. It was challenging to understand the phrases at first, but as the semester went on, it became easier. More context and knowledge about grammar and sentence structure improved my comprehension. The major takeaways I got from reading was that Spanish culture is rich, different from here in the United States, and the more you read, the easier it is to understand. I grew throughout each reading assignment by simply being able to understand more. I was able to string together more complex ideas and sentences instead of having to look up words in the dictionary or the conjugation rules, etc.
Interpretive-Reading-Artifacts