Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Throughout the semester, I explored various different types of cultures through exercises and practice in Lingro Learning. It helped deepen my understanding of the many ways of the world.

Initially, when I was presented with the Cultural Exploration section I did not understand what was going on. All of a sudden I was presented with these various people talking about how they lived their lives and it all just seemed out of place. But as I completed more and more of these assignments, I got used to them. Eventually, I was understanding how other people lived their everyday lives, and I could compare it to my own. It was interesting to learn under their pretenses and educate myself about another culture.

Engaging in Communities

I believe that interacting and engaging with any community, whether that be local or global, can help you. It assists with broadening your worldview and exposing yourself to people that you may have not met before.

Unfortunately, I did not do much community participation this semester so I do not have any artifacts to show. Although, I still did a great deal of learning about the multitude of communities across the globe.

Interpersonal Communication

I completed many oral and interpersonal communication exercises this semester. A lot of was through in-class participation when I spoke with my professor, but some of it also occurred online in Lingro Learning. Additionally, there were tests, quizzes, and projects that incorporated interpersonal elements.

I initially found oral exercises to be one of my biggest weaknesses as oral training all happens on the spot, in the moment. Later on down the line, I got more accustomed to the language. I then found the training becoming progressively easier and familiar Spanish words would pop into my head and I would immediately know the meaning. Honestly, it was a cool, yet difficult, process, and if I could do it again I would focus more of my training on the speaking side of things.

Presentational Speaking

I did not complete as many presentational speaking activities as I did regular interpersonal activities. The few that I did were done digitally through video. A great example of this would be my chapter 4 Lingro Learning project. This was a project that involved me going to 3 different locations around my campus or home and describing what I do there and how it looks.

Presenting was definitely one of my weaker Spanish skills as well. Since there is no one else to assist me, I find that it is much more difficult and thought-provoking. I feel like I do well at pronunciation and vocabulary, but I tend to struggle with conjugation and making sure I am using the right word in the right situations.

Presentational Writing

This semester I did not outwardly do any presentational writing. The closest activity would be filling in the blank for text messages/emails on Lingro Learning. Despite their differences, I still feel like these activities teach the same set of essentials.

When dealing with actual conversational writing, I grasped the concept much easier than in other sections. I think this is because there are real-world implications and context clues I can use to help me figure out what to write. Instead of being given random out-of-place questions, I was given actual situations that happen in reality, which helped me learn faster.

Interpretive Listening

I did many listening activities this semester, mostly through the “application” section on my Lingro Learning lessons. Most of these activities had to do with evaluating the pronunciation of words and choosing the correct one.

These listening exercises helped get me used to experiencing Spanish vocabulary in the spoken word rather than only in writing. Many times I would not do very well on the listening portions, so I would have to re-do them and listen again. Despite my at-the-time annoyance, I did learn that comprehending the speech through audio helped me gain context for how many of these words would sound in real situations.

Interpretive Reading

I did a few interpretive reading activities this semester, although not by traditional means. For one of my Lingro Learning projects, we had to explore a Spanish college website and evaluate the differences between them and American college sites. I chose to explore the national college of Brazil.

While on the website, I found the culture shift to be very eye-opening and I enjoyed my time clicking on all the tabs on the site. It helped me grasp how international students experience going to college and just how different Americans live. Furthermore, seeing Spanish presented in an informational way allowed me to dictate and decipher commonly used Spanish words.