Importance of Communication and Listening in Professional Practice as a Teacher

This study mainly focuses on my personal experience as a teacher with respect to my communication as well as body language. It elaborates based on my experience on how good communication and listening has supported me in attaining positive outcome in my profession.

Law / Mediation
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
This study mainly focuses on my personal experience as a teacher with respect to my
communication as well as body language. It elaborates based on my experience on how good
communication and listening has supported me in attaining positive outcome in my
profession.
Discussion
From my professional experience as a teacher I have understood that communication is a
procedure to exchange information from one individual to another in the form of writing,
speaking, or listening. In this context, I, as a teacher communicate with students and other
staff members to express my perspective or thoughts1. However, with the gradual
professional, I have realized that listening is a decisive part of communication, wherein I
need to respond or act as per the information received from the students and other teachers.
Thus, it helps me in recognizing if my students have been able to understand my instructions.
According to Wrench2, there is a significant difference between hearing and listening, as the
former occurs unintentionally, involuntary, or effortlessly. On the other hand, listening can be
considered as an intentional act, which is voluntary and non-accidentally. With respect to this
information and the professional experience that I have received I can assert that an
individual must focus on certain elements while listening to another person. These include
non-distraction, significant feelings while listening, positive body language, and relationship
with the person, and ability to sort issues. I have witnessed these abilities of listening during
professional practice as a teacher, which led me to conduct productive work in a reasonable
manner. In initial stage of my classes, I faced issues with respect to understanding the way
1SkillsYouNeed.com, ‘What is Communication?’ (Communication Skills, 2018)
<https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/what-is-communication.html> accessed 13 October 2018
2James S. Wrench, ‘The Importance of Listening in Effective Communication’ (Thinkstock, 10 January 2017)
<http://brewminate.com/the-importance-of-listening-in-effective-communication/> accessed 13 October 2018
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can effectively communicate and teach the students. Hence, I shared this problem with the
senior teachers and principal. After this event, they provided me certain suggestions and said
that I need to maintain eye contact, maintain good body posture and gesture, listen carefully,
and ask questions to the students randomly. I have eventually received positive outcome. I
was able to communicate and understand the problems of the students. I was able to resolve
their issues, which finally resulted with positive outcomes, as they were able to obtain good
grades during the examination.
Based on my professional experience as a teacher, I have realized that good communication
and listening provide certain benefits to an individual. I was able to develop decision making
power by listening adequately within the class. I have found that through effective
communication and listening, the students are able to clear their doubts. Furthermore, clear
conception lead to more productivity and success3. From my professional experience, I have
realized that I need to maintain four major behaviors at the time of communication, which are
genuine, empathetic, reflective, and respectful in nature. Fundamentally, at instances, I have
also found that certain factors such as day-dreaming, judging, distractions and parallel
processing among others have created a blockage in listening as well as communication4.
With the purpose of establishing a goal, I need to listen and communicatie in an effective
manner. However, I have identified that misunderstanding, faking attention, noise, fear, and
distractions among others can initiate a situation, wherein the students may be unable to
connect with the instructor or teacher. It is a moment, which creates the non-communicative
environment. At the same time, it can also initiate conflict and negative result of
communication. For that reason as a teacher, I need to avoid the above mentioned factors so
3Shirley Taylor, ‘Why Are Communication Skills Important?’(Leading with Heart,
2013)<https://shirleytaylor.com/shirleys-articles/why-are-communication-skills-important/> accessed 13
October 2018
4Srikanth Radhakrishna, ‘Effective Listening: 10 Barriers and How to Overcome them’ (Bright Hub Project
Management, 24 Oct 2014) <https://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/122339-effective-listening-
10-barriers-and-how-to-overcome-them/> accessed 13 October 2018
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that the process of interaction can be effective, which will help in attaining positive outcome.
It will lead me towards the good communication and listening. Simultaneously, chance of
positive outcome also arises, which will initiate rational conclusion for both parties in a
process of communication.
As per my observation as a teacher, it can be stated that body language plays a major role in
communication. I have found that the position of the body, facial expressions, eye
movements, breathing as well as physical moments includes the mouth, arms, legs, especially
voice. According to the Amos5, the body of a human being conducts certain activities such as
regulating, substituting, conflicting, accenting, complementing, and repeating. Through these
activities, the identity of a human being has been developed. Hence, positive perception of
the above mentioned factors can initiate optimistic and positive result of communication.
Concurrently a peaceful environment will create based on these body language factors. Thus,
it can be asserted that the body parts of a human being are the reason, which initiates positive
and negative result in communication. Appropriate knowledge regarding the body parts uses
within a communication can introduce good communication and listening. These above-
mentioned conditions can be identified as the reason behind the good communication, which
can resulted as positive outcome from the communication. Both listener and receiver can
receive benefits from above mentioned activity during the period of communication.
For instance, one of my students was having serious issue relating to his body language. He
was masculine in nature due to which he used to get involved in several conflicts. This was
mainly because of his stern facial expression along with harsh tone of voice. However, this
was changed when he started listening to various audio books. This increased his listening
capability, which helped him to attain positive outcome.
5Julie-Ann Amos, ‘The Role of Body Language in Communication’ (The Basics, 14 Jan 2013)
<http://www.bodylanguageexpert.co.uk/role-body-language-communication.html > accessed 13 October 2018
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Conclusion
Based on the overall discussion of my professional experience as a teacher, it is apparent
body language plays a major role in communication. At the same time, listening also plays a
crucial role, as, without proper listening, an individual cannot communicate efficiently.
Hence, using body language as well as listening is the main reason, wherein an individual can
receive positive output from his or her communication.
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Bibliography
Websites
James S. Wrench, ‘The Importance of Listening in Effective Communication’ (Thinkstock, 10
January 2017) <http://brewminate.com/the-importance-of-listening-in-effective-
communication/> accessed 13 October 2018
Julie-Ann Amos, ‘The Role of Body Language in Communication’ (The Basics, 14 Jan 2013)
< http://www.bodylanguageexpert.co.uk/role-body-language-communication.html > accessed
13 October 2018
Robert M. Krauss and Ezequiel Morsella, ‘Communication and Conflict’ (Columbia
University, 2001) <http://www.columbia.edu/~rmk7/PDF/Confl.pdf> accessed 13 October
2018
Shirley Taylor, ‘Why Are Communication Skills Important?’(Leading with Heart,
2013)<https://shirleytaylor.com/shirleys-articles/why-are-communication-skills-important/>
accessed 13 October 2018
SkillsYou, ‘What is Communication?’ (Communication Skills, 2018)
<https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/what-is-communication.html> accessed 13 October
2018
Srikanth Radhakrishna, ‘Effective Listening: 10 Barriers and How to Overcome them’
(Bright Hub Project Management, 24 Oct 2014) <https://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-
management/122339-effective-listening-10-barriers-and-how-to-overcome-them/> accessed
13 October 2018
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