John Mcdermott Conversation

Being able to communicate effectively with more people feels good and is empowering. In “Arts of the Contact Zone,” Mary Louise Pratt tells the story of her son and how his literacy of baseball allowed him to, “start a conversation with a stranger and feel sure of holding [his] own” (485). In Richard Rodriguez’s essay, “The Achievement of Desire,” he writes how, “reading made [him] a confident speaker and writer” (527). To be able to communicate well with others and get ideas clearly across to them is a satisfying feeling; likewise, to be able to understand their ideas.

I learned that connecting with people is need and a personal fulfillment. I am, and have always been, genuinely interested in people. In William Cronon’s, Only Connect, he quotes a friend’s father advising his son, that whenever he had a conversation, “his job was to figure out what’s so neat about what the other person does” (Cronon, 1998).

People spend a significant part of their lives listening and talking, that is the main reason why conversation is regarded to be the most generalised form of talk that concerns both speakers and listeners and it is contemplated to be the essential ingredient in co-operative undertaking (Wardhaugh, 1985). Conversation is informal talk involving two or more people and interviews are a particular type of conversation. Interviews are regarded as meetings at which a journalist asks questions in order to find out the interviewee’s opinion. This is an assignment that analyses a telephone interview, so there is an absence of eye contact, body language or facial expressions that are attributes of a ‘live’

“It was around 15 or 16 I started teaching myself about social dynamics. Picture a how-to guide on ‘The Art of Conversation’, only the concept shines light on so many aspects of basic communication that go overlooked on the regular” (K. Bu, P Comm, Mar 17).

“Difficult Conversations” by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen is about the steps to take when dealing with difficult conversations. Difficult conversations can arise from any type of relationship whether is be in the workplace or with family. The fear of consequence is what leads to avoidance of difficult conversations and the goal is to reduce that fear. There are three stages in a difficult conversation, these stages include “The Problem”, “Shift to a Learning Stance” and “Create a Learning Conversation”.

As English has come to be known as the global language, it has moved toward paramount over the past decades. The majority of uses of English occur in contexts as a “lingua franca”, that is the language of heterogeneous linguistic communities whenever they wish to be mutually intelligible to speakers of other languages. Language is the unique characteristic of human so that it distinguishes human beings from other animal species. From four well-known language skills i.e. reading, writing, listening, and speaking, Rivers(1981)argues that speaking is the most frequently skill, that is used twice as much as reading and writing in our communication.As it is the means through which we express our opinionsthinking process, intentions and viewpoints. Speaking and writing usually have been considered as productive skills in comparison with listening and reading and it has been classified into two major groups: Monologue and Dialogue, that according to Nunan(1989)the dialogue focuses on the interaction with other speakers, in contrast, monologue refers to uninterrupted oral presentation. Moreover, according to the previous classification, speaking serves one of the two functions: transactional (transfer of information) and interactional (maintenance of social relationships) (Brown & Yule, 1983). As Nunan (1999) and Burkart and Sheppard (2004) argue,

Conversation as a tool and vehicle of expression of ideas, emotions and experience is of great importance. It is a great boon and blessing and one of the important means of preserving and increasing knowledge. Man can best reveal his mind, intentions, ideas, and personality through words of the mouth or talk. A man is known by his words and talk. A talk reveals a man’s inner being, his thoughts and emotions.

In this class I have learned a bounty of information that will forever enable me to better understand human interaction. I have always been the type of person that prefers to sit back and watch interaction, than to be the center of the interaction. In this way, I have always been more observant of how people interact and what motivates people. This class has taught me much about why people do the things they do and expanded my knowledge of how people interact and express themselves. Erving Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy explains human interaction so well: “the self is essentially ‘on loan’ to us from society; it is created through interaction with others and hence ever changing within various social contexts. For example, you may want to make

Communication is one of the most important and valuable skills we have developed as human beings. It is the basis for how we connect with each other globally and shape the people we are today. Without effective communication, we would not be able to build productive relationships, express our cultural values, or most importantly, voice our thoughts. As we grow, we learn and develop our unique form of communication. Whether we are strong public speakers or prefer an interpersonal approach, it is important to find what type of communication is best suited for us, so we can appropriately and effectively use communication to our advantage. There are several different aspects that make us effective communicators, and knowing our strengths and weaknesses in theses categories will give us a comparative advantage on how to properly communicate on an interpersonal level. In this paper, I will discover the type of communicator I am, what I am good at, and what I can work on, to become an excellent interpersonal communicator.

Conversation analysis is “the systematic analysis of the talk produced in everyday situations of human interaction.” (Hutchby and Wooffitt, 2008, pg. 11). However, as pointed out by Griffiths et al, conversation analysts “must not come to the the data with pre-defined idea’s about what goes on”, thus the basis of this analysis must remain context free with only ambiguous assumptions about the context.

Kwame Anthony Appiah, who is the author of the book Cosmopolitanism is also the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and a member of the University center for Human Values. Appiah believes that conversation can help end separation and boundaries people have around the world. Conversation can allow for cultural exchange, acceptance and resolve differences. After reading “Making Conversation” and the “Primacy of Practice” I believe conversation works as a positive model for resolving and managing world problems to a certain extent, depending on the individual/people you are talking to. Overall, some people you will try to converse with may be hard-headed and so stuck on their views and others will be willing to compromise. Either way, conversation opens doors to new thoughts, perspectives, and voices to unheard views.

Personally, learning how to exchange information appropriately using both verbal and nonverbal forms between the messenger and the receiver will increase my aptitude to overcome communication barriers. Communication has evolved over the years with smarter technological resources for networking globally such as social media, digital apps, virtual communications and the “cloud” a place to store all business information that is easily accessible in the palm of your hands, any time of the day. Although the evolution of communication has changed in the 21st century of business today, the most practical way to connect with others is in a social setting is by sharing human experiences through personal narratives which help to facilitate discussions.

interested in everyday conversation because the setting is generally more informal. However, in a formal setting, connectives are vital to keeping the audience

What is a conversation? A conversation is referred to as a spontaneous, impromptu, everyday exchange of talk between two or more individuals. The participants in a conversation take turns and during their turn each makes a conversational move of some kind, this is seen as a form of sociability and reflects an individual’s ability and willingness to interact with others. People gather their construction of a conversation together, cooperatively, and they deal with the gatherings of the conversation at local level, one utterance at a time (Parker 1999).

Spencer Johnson uses a story within a story to attempt to catch the reader off-guard and ready for a teachable moment. In the context of a class reunion discussion, the friends begin to catch up and share what has happened in their lives over the years. Some have had success and others have had frustration in their lives. One Character had found the story of Who Moved My Cheese and credited that story as a rich source of help and guidance in navigating the changes of life.