Comm 1010 Communication Skills Journal

Alayna Pulley
COMM 1010
Steve Fifield
Spring Semester 2024
Communication Skills Journal

Throughout the Communications 1010 class, I have learned many different concepts that have
helped me better understand communication, and how communication affects and works in
society. During the class, we completed 6 journal entries that log the process and growth of my
knowledge throughout the semester. As the journal entries progress later into the semester you
can see my understanding of communications develop. These journal entries are self-reflective
and are meant to connect real life with textbook content. Some journal entries included
self-assessment which I reflect and expand on while others included thinking outside of the box
about how communications play a role in my life. Looking through these journal entries it is
fascinating to see the way my understanding and knowledge of communications developed.
Communication Competence
After taking each of these assessments I identified my strengths and weaknesses as a
communicator. Through these assessments, I was also able to highlight communication skills I
want to further develop and work on. Throughout chapter one of the textbook, I learned the
importance of communication and what a significant role communication plays in society and
day-to-day life. Communication is used in all aspects of life as we go to and from our jobs,
school, and social lives. After completing the assessments, I identified areas I find strength as a
communicator. The first area of communication I feel competent in is when I am conversing with
a new acquaintance, I feel very relaxed. This strength has come through practice in my job as I
have had to train many different people. This example is a form of Interpersonal
Communication. Of all the communication forms, I feel most confident in Interpersonal
Communication. Communicating in a setting with few people is where I feel most relaxed and
self-assured. Other areas I find strength in as a communicator are talking with a small group of
friends, talking with a small group of strangers, and talking to acquaintances.
My weaknesses as a communicator are talking in a meeting with strangers, engaging in a group
discussion with people who make me tense or nervous, and I dislike participating in group
discussions. In my life, I have had experience giving a presentation at work, speaking in front of
large groups, and addressing my classmates. These types of settings make me nervous, and tense
and I find to not be a good communicator in these types of environments. Mass Communication
and Public Communication are two forms of communication that I find to be weaker in. My
Overall takeaway from these assessments is that I am good at Interpersonal Communication, and
I struggle with Mass Communication and Public Communication. To improve my
communication competence, I will keep putting myself in uncomfortable situations like Mass
Communication and Public Communication. I am confident if I keep putting myself in these
situations, I will become competent in the areas of communication that I struggle with.
Perception & Self

Overall, I believe that family has significantly impacted my life perception of others more than
culture and social influences. Our childhoods have a tremendous impact on every single one of
our lives. During childhood, we are mostly around our parents and therefore observe the way
they act and their mannerisms. In childhood, we learn basic manners, experience emotional
development, and understand our feelings and how to express them. What we learn is based on
how our parents present and teach us information. For example, if a parent displays attribution
error frequently around their child, their child is likely to develop displays of attribution error
too. After learning about the perceptions of others I would like to improve on fundamental
attribution error moving forward.
Social influences impacted my self-perception heavily as a teen. In the generation of social
media, we are constantly comparing ourselves to others around us and in the media. Now my
self-perception is impacted mostly by my family. This changed because I stopped using social
media and started focusing on real life. Moving forward I would like to improve on
self-presentation. Improving self-presentation is a good strategy because it helps learn new skills,
accomplish new things, and create change. Overall, my main takeaway from this chapter is that
many of us are quick to judge others but we should first check ourselves before we proceed with
our judgments.
Verbal and Nonverbal Messages

Being ethical when communicating is an important part of civility. Ethics values honesty and the
truth. When communicating if we are not being ethical, we are lying or deceiving the person we
are communicating with. When we consider ethics whether verbally or nonverbally
communicating, we are more cautious and considerate about how we communicate. Overall, it is
important to think before you communicate if what you are saying is ethical.
Regarding gender, diversity, power, privilege, race, etc. Everyone is equal and therefore should
be held to the same ethical standard. In society, we do commonly see specific people of power
not being ethical and not being held to the same standard everyone else is. In my own life, I have
seen the need in society to be ethical when communicating. Nowadays we see news sources
especially not reporting ethically. Without having truth and honesty when communicating we are
spreading confusion, lies, and are deceiving those around us.
Listening Skills
Overall, I would consider myself to be an effective listener. There are also times when I find
myself not being an effective listener for several varied reasons. Sometimes I tend to be a
time-oriented listener and try to rush a conversation. I commonly am a time-oriented listener at
work because I am trying to hurry to accomplish my text task. I would consider being a
time-oriented listener to not being an overall effective listener because you are trying to rush the
conversation and not relate and take in what the other person is saying.
Most of the time I would consider myself to be a people-oriented listener. With friends and
family, I take time to listen to them and respond appropriately to the emotions they are feeling.
Overall, I am there to listen to my friends and family and not try to interject comments, or
solutions, or cut them short of time. Because of this, I would consider myself to be an effective
listener because I take the time to hear people out. In the future, I would like to improve on being
an effective listener in my work environment. Taking the time to address people's needs and
feelings at my work would overall help improve my listening skills and make me a more
effective listener.
In my personal life, being a people-oriented listener has made me more empathetic and positive.
When you care about people and their problems and diligently try to help them in whatever way
they need it overall makes you a happier person. Being a people-oriented listener has helped me
develop friendships and closer relationships with my family because I am willing to hear them
out and be emotional support in their lives.
Interpersonal Communication
In my own life, I tend to be a good “people person” and maintain healthy relationships with those
around me. One specific relationship I struggle with is an assistant manager that I work with.
This past week as I went through work, I tried to apply the information I had learned in chapter
six into the relationship with my assistant manager at work. I commonly disagree with my
assistant manager for a variety of reasons, so this week I applied the accommodating conflict
style into the way I approached my assistant manager. This theory changed the way I approached
my assistant manager and overall reduced tension in our relationship.
Applying this style of conflict resolution to this specific relationship helped me set aside my own
needs to try to accommodate my assistant manager. After applying this concept, I noticed the
relationship was smoother between the two of us. This week helped me realize that different
types of conflict resolution styles are appropriate for different relationships. Overall, this past
week applying concepts I learned about interpersonal communication and conflict resolution
styles helped me improve weak relationships.
Final Summary
Based on everything I have learned throughout this class my biggest takeaway about
communication is that it is one of the largest components and skills in life. Communication is
vital to sustaining society and developing relationships. Without communication, society would
decline, and our world would be unrecognizable. Communication is the component by which our
world is held up. With efficient communication, we can all excel in various aspects of life such
as work and at home. After completing this class I have seen how my communication skills have
developed and grown.
An example of this is with one of my coworkers who I tend to disagree with. Learning about
Attribution and Interpretation in this class helped me better understand where my coworker came
from and why she thinks the way she does. In implementing this way of thinking, me and my
coworker are more able to make decisions. One thing I learned about myself from this class is
that I tend to judge a person a great deal based on their first impression. In my work, I constantly
meet new people, and through this class, I learned that people are not always what you think, and
people communicate in numerous ways. Some people's communication skills are better than
others but that is not to be judged by me.
Moving forward I am going to show more empathy to people and judge less. I tend to quickly
judge people based on their first impression when I do not know them. In this class, I learned
about culture, personality, and perception. In improving my communication, I will consider these
concepts when communicating. Everyone communicates uniquely and has various cultural and
personal aspects to themselves.
Reference Page
Jones, Richard Jr. (2013). Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication
Studies.

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Alayna Pulley

Communication Skills Journal

Perception & Self

Verbal and Nonverbal Messages

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