Assignment | Interpersonal Communication

Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
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Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is a general process that involves exchange of information,
ideas and feelings between two or more people. The process of communication can be verbal or
non verbal. Verbal is more expressive it is most common method of conversation and non verbal
is mailing, messaging or conveying messages through other medium. The communication or
interpersonal communication is done with friends, family, business corporate, stranger or any
other person may differ in style or talking (DeVito, 2019). The difference may be not only in the
style of conversation but also in the body language. The non verbal method of communication
may also include facial expression, body language or it can be indirect transmit of information.
Interpersonal communication is dyadic in nature but is often extended to bigger groups like
friends and family.
The book is about conversation between 6 friends who are talking and conversing in
various methods. They are striking verbal and non verbal method of communication. In short
provides basic linguistic analysis of conversation that is building a theory of the aesthetics of
conversation. The aesthetics of conversation is gathered by analyzing spontaneous talk among
friends. It tries to explore issues like pacing, turn-taking, storytelling, and humor. All the phases
of conversation is noted when the participants turn their interest to different topic or they change
place or may be when participants' conversational styles differs (Xu, & Mao, 2016). Deborah
Tannen's analysis of the Conversational Style was first published in 1984. The revised edition is
of the analyzing conversation became the hallmark and foundation of her extensive body of
work. This includes discourse analysis, monograph Talking Voices and her well-known popular
note from book You Just Don't Understand.
The careful examining conversation of six speakers for a period of two-and-a-half hour
Thanksgiving dinner conversation, the writer analyzes the features of the speakers'
conversational styles. She describes aspects of 'high-involvement style' which have a positive
impact when it is used with others who are sharing the same style but at the same time it can also
show negative impact when the style differs while conversing. The book is written in an
accessible and non-technical style that is very appealing to most of her readers including scholar
and students (Cuddy, Tannen, Su, & Beeson, 2018). The written analysis in the fields of
linguistics, anthropology, communication, sociology, and psychology has given more intense
understanding of the ways by which a conversation can be molded. The book provides and

Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
insight about the effective use of different conversing style to make the conversation more
interesting.
I have similar situation when I in conversation with my friend. I remember that some
time back I and my four group members were discussing a very popular global topic. The boy
language, gesture eye contact was all going in the positive directional when suddenly a very
strong comment was passed by one of the members. This comment was not a very normal one
and it actual produced a ripple in the conversation targeting sentiments of one the other member
as it directly targeted his origin. The whole situation changed in a second of time and there was a
pause of at least 60 seconds. Then the whole group was divided in to two different debate
groups. Each group had their own points to prove the existence of the discussion. The whole
scenario is very similar to what the reading excerpt has in her. The use of humor, pacing,
storytelling, and turn-taking can be felt in that conversation (Xu et al., 2019).
The methods that define how to manipulate the conversation when being in group or in
between two people can be studies in this book. The methods by which a friend or a non formal
communication can be done are clearly mentioned. Different methods have been analsysied with
example, excerpts and also by giving same situations to the reader. The book is probably more
for the academic studies than the layman At times it become difficult to approach and involve in
reading. Those who are interested in the dynamics interaction of human its lessons are
indispensable. The book is fantastic for those who analyze daily conversations deeply (Dubois,
Bonezzi, & De Angelis, 2016). Deborah had tried to make it interesting and relevant to analysis
the concept of aesthetics of conversation with friends.
I am an introvert and to take part in dual conversation or getting involved in multiple
level conversations was very difficult for me. I take time to understand and figure out what to say
that is okay with the ongoing conversation. My pacing is very slow and I have very less of
involvement. Last when I was in conversation it was my senior from whom I was discussing
about the scope of this study and future planning. I remember that all the time my senior was
speaking and I had no clue when should intervene. Only I was involved in asking relevant
question in the conversation it looked more of formal conversation than a friendly one (Boxer, &
Placencia, 2018). This breaks the whole flow of communication and makes the pother person

Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
feel that I am talking to him only for a purpose. The communication skill is very important to
have a social life. The changing scenario of the world is pushing us to be more online than being
offline. This makes the habit of social conversation difficult for everyone of us.
The interpersonal communication is relational in nature. Please starts to relate with each
other when they start to converse among themselves. It either builds a relationship of break one.
The relationship depends on the way communication which is interdependent on the relationship
we have with the other person (Gareis, 2017). That is like how we talk to our boss is not similar
to how we converse with our friends or family. While being in conversation we are either
exchanging message, or making noise or giving feedback. It depends on different methods how
we want to interact with the other person and how the other person wants to receives our
interaction. Interpersonal skills are an important aspect for maintaining meaningful personal
relationships not only at the workplace but also in the family. A Poor communication within
team, friends or employer may lead to business loss, friendship loss and other social and mental
problem (Valkenburg, & Walther, 2017). If someone is unable to put their thoughts clearly than
the other person on the other side may perceive it in absolutely different level. This can bring in
frustration and disconnect the person with everyone else. It may lead to suffer for short or long
period.
Developing awareness of interpersonal skills can position everyone for long term
friendship, promotions and opportunities as may be the scenario. It also boosts current happiness
and job satisfaction. Improved interpersonal relation is always seen as a door for opportunity and
may lead to better career and business at work place. Not only the person who has started the
conversation but also the person on the end has the responsibility to maintain the soft skills, and
the hard skills. It has been seen and been also researched that people with good interpersonal
communication skills build a healthy relationships with everyone around them (Neubaum, &
Krämer, 2017). The importance is can be measure on the social interactions level with colleagues
and friends. They develop confidence and have an appealing persona. Effective interpersonal
skills not only help in the workplace for well-functioning, but also in personal life for making a
social presence in the world around the person.

Assignment on Interpersonal Communication
Reference
Boxer, D., & Placencia, M. E. (2018). Introduction: Closeness and conflict.
Cuddy, A. J., Tannen, D., Su, A. J., & Beeson, J. (2018). Leadership Presence (HBR Emotional
Intelligence Series). Harvard Business Press.
DeVito, J. A. (2019). The interpersonal communication book. Instructor, 1, 18.
Dubois, D., Bonezzi, A., & De Angelis, M. (2016). Sharing with friends versus strangers: How
interpersonal closeness influences word-of-mouth valence. Journal of Marketing
Research, 53(5), 712-727.
Gareis, E. (2017). 21 Intercultural friendship and communication. Intercultural
Communication, 9, 457.
Neubaum, G., & Krämer, N. C. (2017). Opinion climates in social media: Blending mass and
interpersonal communication. Human Communication Research, 43(4), 464-476.
Valkenburg, P. M., & Walther, J. B. (2017). Merging mass and interpersonal communication via
interactive communication technology: a symposium.
Xu, S., Yang, H. H., MacLeod, J., & Zhu, S. (2019). Interpersonal communication competence
and digital citizenship among pre-service teachers in China’s teacher preparation
programs. Journal of Moral Education, 48(2), 179-198.
Xu, Z., & Mao, H. (2016). Deborah Tannen and Anna Marie Trester: Discourse 2.0: Language
and new media. Intercultural Pragmatics, 13(2), 315-323.