Self-Assessment 2

Interpersonal Communication has become of the best and life-changing courses for me. It is an ideal course to understand other people and self through communication, and informs the ways to better social relationships through communications. While I thought I knew much about interpersonal communication before taking this course, I have learned a lot, becoming a much better communicator than before, and understanding my strengths and weaknesses.

Regarding strengths, I have optimal intercultural communication skills and great listening skills, among others. After growing up, schooling, and working in multicultural environments, I have developed a tolerance for differences and ambiguity and open-mindedness mentioned by Adler et al. (61). I believe that intercultural communication is critical and requires patience and utter tolerance to be fruitful. Also, I have understood through the course that I bear relational listening, which helps me to identify nonverbal cues in communication since I can easily develop an emotional connection. For instance, last year, I noted a colleague who was sorrowful despite them saying they were okay. After a friendly talk, she explained her marriage was facing a divorce, and that she needed someone to talk to. I noted this only accounting for her nonverbal cues.

Concerning weaknesses, I have noted that sometimes I do fall victim to social categorization, where the type of communication depends on the person I am talking to. For instance, I do prejudice that people over the ages of 50 do not quite understand some current trends. This stereotyping often happens automatically, and I only hope to resolve it soon. I also tend to be defensive when something concerns people I hold dear, such as family members. In week 9, defensiveness was termed as a negative interpersonal communication habit, which Dr. Gottman describes as a cause of relationship demise.

At the beginning of the course, I hoped that I would develop patience in my communication processes. I had challenges with problematic communications, and I often became upset, impatient, or almost lost temper. Through an understanding of multicultural communication and the importance of embracing and practicing multimodality, I have an above-average score, which is a remarkable achievement towards my previous communication goal.

Works Cited

Adler, Ronald B et al. Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal Communication. 14th ed., Oxford University Press, 2018.