Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Instructions

Exploring Culture

The Spanish and Hispanic communities around the world each have their own customs and practices that make them who they are. Over the course of this semester, I have learned about many more practices that helped build on my understanding of these cultures and communities. Learning about preferred sports, foods and professions within different Hispanic cultures allowed me the opportunity to make a deeper connection with the people, language and culture I was learning about.

Throughout the semester, I watched videos that were provided by my professor. One video that I remember featured school-age children in Spain who were discussing what they would like to be when they grow up and why, the boys in the video picked professions that they thought were appropriate for their gender and so did the girls. The video opened my eyes to the notion that other countries experience stereotypes based on profession just as the United States does. There was also an article that I read and it opened my eyes to ideals within Hispanic culture as well. This article discussed family structures within Hispanic communities and I gained knowledge about who provides emotional or financial support within these families, who are considered the caregivers and who is considered the authoritative figure, as well as how children respect their family members. Many of the views that Hispanic communities share about their families are comparable to views shared between citizens of the United States. These examples showed me that although people and countries can be miles apart and feature differences, there are also similarities that are present between these countries.

Link to article that I read discussing family structures in Hispanic culture: https://oureverydaylife.com/importance-of-family-structure-in-hispanic-families-9890197.html

Engaging in Communities

It is important to engage in my immediate community and the global community surrounding me because it offers me insight into how others think and challenges me to make connections with those people. There is not one way of thinking or of doing, communicating with others allows me to see other positions or viewpoints throughout the world.

One significant way that I was able to engage with the community around me during this semester was through discussion boards where I wrote a reflection and I was able to respond to other reflections written by my peers. These discussion boards provided me the chance to view other opinions and thoughts about specific topics such as food, family, jobs and language within Hispanic cultures and other cultures. I enjoyed identifying differences in my own customs, the customs of my peers and Hispanic customs.

Interpersonal Communication

This semester, I completed two TalkAbroad conversations with a woman from Mexico. I completed 4-6 discussion boards with my peers. I also completed oral assignments with my professor in which I had to have a conversation in Spanish.

During my TalkAbroad conversations with a native Spanish-speaking partner, I was able to listen to and learn communication styles from someone in a different country. My partner was from Mexico and she did a great job at articulating her words so that I was able to understand. One thing that was difficult at times during these conversations was understanding certain words used in her questions, another small challenge was formulating my sentences correctly in response to her questions. I overcame these challenges by going through a review process in my head, breaking down each word in her questions then forming my responses. I did well with my use of vocabulary and forming my questions in order to obtain the response that I was looking for, I did this by setting up a plan prior to the meeting of how I wanted to direct my conversations. I would not do anything differently next time because these conversations helped me become more comfortable with using the Spanish language in real time.

As I completed discussion boards and oral assignments with my instructor through the semester, I was able to connect what I was learning real-world scenarios. The discussion boards did not feature any difficulties because they were based on writing my personal thoughts about certain topics. I was able to reflect on what I already knew and what I gained knowledge on through the videos or articles provided to us. The discussion boards allowed me to express my perspectives on different topics as well as read and respond to the perspectives of my peers. I excelled at creating connections between what my peers experienced and the things I have experienced through language learning. Completing the oral assignments with my professor did pose some difficulties as I had to get comfortable with speaking in Spanish and figuring out how to communicate in another language other than English. I also had difficulty with using the correct grammar. I overcame this difficulty by preparing questions that could be asked of me and thinking about my possible responses to these questions in the days prior to the conversations. This helped me by setting myself up to respond readily and not get stuck on how to form a sentence that is comprehensible during the conversations. I excelled at my pronunciation of Spanish words and knowledge of my vocabulary. In the future, I would focus more on my grammar and sentence formation prior to these conversations.

Presentational Speaking

This semester, I had to complete an audio assignment. The audio assignment was short and was a clip of me pronouncing Spanish vowels, consonants and words to show my professor my understanding of these components.

The communication assignment described above did not pose much difficulty to me. I pronounced everything well except for one or two components. Next time, I would slow down on the pronunciation of certain components that I missed so that I am sure it is the correct pronunciation.

Presentational Writing

The only times I briefly displayed my writing abilities within the Spanish language was during discussion boards when I would write a few sentences in Spanish that explained what I was discussing and through our learning extension, Lingrolearning.

This form of presentational writing did not present much difficulty. I was able to get my point across in Spanish. I can say that I could do better at challenging myself with what I write in Spanish. The sentences that I wrote were basic level sentences and I believe I could grow more as well as become more confident with my communication if I take the time to practice writing more intricate Spanish sentences.

Interpretive Listening

I was able to watch a video through a link provided by my professor that features children in Spain discussing what they want to be when they are older and the video highlights job stereotypes.

The video was not hard to follow. The children in the video were speaking in basic terms. What I found most interesting about this particular video is that the answers that the children were giving, based on what they would want to be when they grow up and what jobs they believe the opposite gender should or should not be interested in, were not far off from what American children would answer. It made me realize how universal stereotypes are when it pertains to what society thinks men or women should be doing.

Interpretive Reading

I read many articles throughout the semester that were related to my Spanish learning. Some articles featured information about healthcare systems in Spain or Hispanic countries, different Spanish or Hispanic foods, preferred sports Spanish-speaking countries and familial values.

While reading these articles, I gained insight on what many Spanish-speaking people consider significant or valuable to them. One thing I found interesting is that Spain offers a fair, public healthcare system to their citizens and this allows all if not most citizens guaranteed healthcare without having to worry about costs or other possible issues. With each of these reading assignments, I formed a relationship between my culture, country and family with that of Spanish or Hispanic people. I found similarities in ideals and I found differences in how Spanish-speaking countries do things compared to America. I enjoyed expanding my mind and learning about Spanish/Hispanic culture because it helped me internalize the value of what I learning in the language.

Link to article that I read about the healthcare system in Spain: https://www.expatica.com/es/healthcare/healthcare-basics/healthcare-in-spain-101467/?utm_source=301&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=2020-04-01