Short Critical Thinking Activities

Running head: CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY 1
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY
Name
Institution

CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY 2
CRITICAL THINKING
Critical Thinking Activity (Are You A Good Listener?)
Introduction
Listening is one of the vital aspects of communication. The quality of communication and
understanding depends on the recipient's listening skills. The difference in listening skills is the
reason why a group of people can receive the same communication, and each gets a different
message. Listening affects the effectiveness and ease of communication; some behaviors from
listeners promote the effectiveness of communication while others block effective
communication. Good listeners have some defining characteristics, and these can be evaluated
using the activity questions answered immediately after the introduction.
Listening skills assessment
Question
Response
Yes No
1. When in a group of people, do you talk more than you listen? ×
2. When talking with someone, do you frequently interrupt before he or she completes a
statement?
×
3. In conversations, do you tune out and think ahead to your response? ×
4. In a typical conversation, can you paraphrase what the speaker has said and repeat it? ×
5. When talking, do you frequently state your opinion before the other parties have
made their case?
×
6. Do you continue doing other tasks when someone is talking to you? ×
7. Do you ask for clarification when you don’t understand what has been said? ×

CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITY 3
8. Do you frequently tune out and daydream during meetings? ×
9. Do you fidget and sneak glances at your watch during conversations? ×
10. Do you find yourself finishing statements for people who don’t move the
conversation along fast enough?
×
Discussion
During communication, a good listener will talk less and listen more. Talking too much
interferes with communication and may deter the delivery of the message. The best listeners
focus on getting the message, concentrating on the message being delivered rather than talking
when the speaker is trying to communicate (Goetsch & Davis, 2015).
Good listening is characterized by patience. This means that the listener has time for the
speaker, is not distracted, and is not distracting others (Sullivan, 2000). The calmness implies
that they came prepared to listen, and they attach importance to the message.
Feedback is characteristic of good listening, and it can manifest in several ways,
including questions, compliments, additional information, comments, and critique. A good
listener can, therefore, be identified by the kind of questions they ask, whether they are relevant
or not (Jones, 2016). A good listener keeps an open mind and is willing to learn. For effective
communication, the listener needs to preserve the judgment of both information and speaker as
much as possible (Webmaster, 2016). Judgment is a barrier to communication.
Based on the listening assessment questions and my responses, I found myself to be an
above-average listener, given that two of my responses were contrary to what is expected of a
good listener. Being a victim of completing people’s statements when they seem to be slow; this
module has taught me such behavior shows impatience and should not be witnessed from a good