Listening Comprehension and Communication

This assignment delves into various aspects of listening comprehension and communication. It examines the linguistic underpinnings of foreign language listening comprehension, explores compulsive communication and its characteristics, and discusses the role of intercultural communication apprehension in effective communication. The assignment also touches upon listener preferences in speech, factors influencing second language listening comprehension, and the mediating effect of listening metacognitive awareness on test scores.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Effective Business Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
Effective business communication skills develop the successful bonding between the
organisation and the customers. Both the speaker and the listener have to maintain the
responsibility of developing the effective communication skills to clarify and convey the
message appropriately. According to Wade and Macpherson (2016), effective communication
process generally goes far beyond the simple hearing and speech delivery. The appropriate use of
the voice modulation, message conveying method, body language, and word choices is necessary
for establishing a clarified message during a communicative scenario. The speakers need to
articulate the message in a clarified manner that will be understandable to the listener. The
consistent delivery manner is needed to be maintained as it determines the type of reaction from
the other end. This study would reflect on my communicational competency, including my
strength and weakness. The use of the five diagnostic tools would help me in understanding my
potentiality and areas of improvements. The literature study in the next section would provide
the discussion regarding the issues identified in the reports derived from these diagnosis
processes. Furthermore, an action plan would be formulated in this study to develop the
necessary communicational attributes.
1. Diagnosis and Reflection
The communication process depends on both the speaker and listener. It develops the
idea about the importance of message clarifications for establishing the effective communication.
I have conducted some of the communicational tests by using the five diagnostic tools to
measure my communicational efficiency. In this section of the study, I shall interpret the results

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depending on the scores received from these diagnosis processes. The five diagnostic tools that I
have used in this context are as follows:
1. Talkaholic Scale
2. Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA)
3. Non-verbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NS-S)
4. Tolerance for Disagreement Scale (TFD)
5. Willingness to Listen Diagnostic
These diagnostic tools helped me in recognizing my potentiality in establishing effective
communication. I shall describe the results to identify the strengths and weakness.
The first diagnostic tool was Talkaholic Scale, which measures the compulsive
communication (McCroskey & Richmond, 1993). It has been observed that some of the people
are usually driven by their talking ability that clarifies the messages in a significant way. On the
contrary, some people are driven to talk and going forward, they face the verbal difficulties.
They tend to stay quiet in presence of other people. People often confuse a ‘talkaholic’ with the
people who ‘talk too much’. However, ‘talkaholics’ are those who tend to stay quiet but respond
in a manner in several situations that could turn out to be much disadvantageous. In this
diagnosis report, I have scored myself as the ‘talkaholic’ person as I stay quiet in usual cases.
However, I speak up when it is necessary for me. McCroskey and Richmond (1995) defined that
the people who talk more by developing a positive communication trait are more likely to
become a leader. They are more competent in dealing with the perceptions of others in a
corporate environment. As per this diagnostic report, I scored 32, which indicates that I am at the
border line of being a talkaholic person. Therefore, in such situation, I speak up even when I find

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it very disadvantageous for me if I talk. However, I am not a compulsive talkaholic and I need to
make improvements in my communication process.
The next diagnostic test is Personal Report of Intercultural Communication
Apprehension (PRICA), which is measured to address the apprehensive communication,
particularly in an intercultural context. The instrument is generally used for measuring the
communication efficiency in the intercultural context that suggests the subcategory of the general
communication apprehension. Neuliep and McCroskey (1997) explained that people score higher
in this aspect are much efficient in communicating within a group associated with the people
from diverse cultural background. The estimation of the alpha reliability should be above 90
when it depends on speakers of native English. It is even observed that this reliability
measurement could be lower if this instrument is translated into other language. I am quite
efficient in communicating with the people from diverse cultural background. Even the
diagnostic report also reflects that I have scored 65, which suggests that my intercultural CA is
quite high. I do not get nervous and I can maintain effective communication with the people
from different culture. I even stay calm and attentive while communicating with these people and
it is quite effective for establishing communicational transparency in a multinational corporation.
The next diagnostic tool is Non-Verbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NIS-S), which
indicates the positive attitude or behaviour towards the other person. This diagnostic tool is
considered as the most updated measurement tool to obtain knowledge about the non-verbal
immediacy as a self-report. Neuliep (2017) implied that during the use of this instrument, it is
essential to differentiate self-reports by concentrating on the male and female parameters both
statistically and socially. I have observed that this diagnostic tool is more efficient than the other
tools as it includes more diverse items. The substantial variance is attributed to biological sex. It

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provides the non-verbal gestures that I need to maintain while dealing with other people. The
score is expected to be 90, in which I have scored 102. This non-verbal gestures vary on the
gender based aspects. The behavioural function depends on the perspective values of males and
females. The score reflects that I have quite efficient in maintaining the non-verbal gestures. This
attribute is quite necessary to be developed for maintaining the interpersonal communication
with the various types of people.
The next diagnostic tool is Tolerance for Disagreement Scale (TFD), which is mainly
designed to for measuring the extent to which an individual can tolerate the disagreement of
other people with the statement presented. Teven, Richmond and McCroskey (1998) defined that
the scale is somewhat conceptualizing the argumentativeness between the people who are agreed
or disagreed with any particular subject matter. It is indicated the conflicting scenario occurred
during the interpersonal communication process develops the insights about the tolerance level
upon the disagreement of the people interacting with each other (Richmond & McCroskey,
2001). The diagnostic tool includes the questionnaire that is involved with the questions
regarding the orientation and feelings of the people. I have scored 52 in this TFD scale whereas it
was expected to be in the neighborhood of 85. I have high level of TFD, which indicates that I
prefer to participate in a more argumentative session. I am quite flexible in tolerating the
disagreements upon my statements. However, it is also noticeable that sometimes, I feel
disappointed if other people do not agree upon my statement. However, the higher tolerance
level in this aspect is quite helpful for me to establish an effective interpersonal communication
level.
The final diagnostic tool is Willingness to Listen Diagnostic, which measures the active
listening skills of the individual. Bodie et al., (2015) stated that listening is essential to establish

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the effective communication process by the potential employers. It has been observed that many
employers develop the training programs to improve the listening skills by providing necessary
instructions. The orientation towards listening determines the listening ability more than the lack
of the skills. At a work place, the ineffective communication generates the sense of reluctance
towards listening to the speaker. This measurement tool is thus specifically designed to diagnose
my orientation towards listening. This diagnostic tool indicates that I am quite attentive towards
any speech delivery process even if it delivered by a boring speaker. However, I mostly prefer to
be attentive towards interesting speech delivery. The diagnostic report highlights that I have
scored 70, which indicates that my active listening skill is moderate. I mostly prefer to listen
when the speech is interesting and beneficial. Even though I listen to the boring speaker, it does
not attract me much. It is thus implied that I need to make improvements on my listening ability.
Developing the preferred listening skills would be helpful for me in undertaking the fruitful
decisions and developing coordination with the people from diverse cultural background.
The above result identifies two major issues in my communicational aspects. Firstly, I
need to improvise my talkaholic level. I need to be prompt enough in discussing major problems
with my co-workers. I should be focusing on my words in a group discussion, which should not
be aggressive in nature. Therefore, it is noticeable that I lack readiness during the group
communication. Another recognized issue was in developing active listening skill. I am not a
good listener, especially, when I need to have patience towards listening to any important
conversation. It is necessary for me to listen to others at the first place and understand the entire
situation. It would be necessary for me to develop my listening skills to understand the situation
and react accordingly. Especially, in a cross cultural situation, it is essential for me to establish a

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greater listening skill to develop an effective communication within a multinational corporate
setting.
2. Literature Review
The literature study develops the insights regarding the subject matter by exploring the
subject matter. The study is based on the establishment of effective communication within the
corporate scenario. The previous section of the study helped in identifying the lack of major two
skills in communication, such as talkaholic personality trait and lack of active listening skills. It
is noticed that the compulsive person face some of the major issues that prevents from
establishing the effective communication process. On the other hand, it is also stated that the
inactive listening can become the major problem when it comes to the development of effective
business communication (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015). Especially, in a cross cultural setting,
people do not pay necessary attention as they are unable to understand the language. In this
section of the study, the conceptual analysis of these two major issues would be presented.
Furthermore, the associated issues related to these two topics will be explored in this literature
section.
2.1 Topic 1: Talkaholic Personality or compulsive communicator
A talkative personality is often perceived as the positive trait of an individual. The
friendly and outgoing nature of a person is often appreciable since these traits put others at ease,
especially in a social setting (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). A person who is much talkative is
described as the natural leaders and much confident. However, on the contrary, overly

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loquacious folks are often perceived as the opinionated and disrespectful. The conversation with
these people is often revolving around the latest exploits, which have the negative influence on
others. In most of the cases, these people interrupt others and redirect the attention back onto
them once again. Cornelissen and Cornelissen (2017) defined that compulsive talking is a
mixture of two completely distinct traits. First, a person can be highly verbal and second is the
person fails to accurately read the social cues (Sidelinger & Bolen, 2015). The compulsive
person face some of the major issues that prevents from establishing the effective
communication process. The compulsive communicators usually face some of the considerable
issues during any group discussion. These issues are highlighted below:
2.1.1 Issues faced by the compulsive communicators
A talkaholic person or a compulsive communicator usually faces some of the
considerable challenges in a corporate setting. Goodman-Deane et al., (2016) stated that a
talkaholic person often stays quiet when it is necessary to speak up. It is always important to
present the speech when there is the advantage to open up. Secondly, it has been observed the
compulsive communicator often talk too much even when it is unnecessary. Therefore, it would
be effective to change the subject and invite others to in the conversation. This method would
help in diverting the mind of the talkaholic person for preventing the unnecessary speeches.
Third, as implied by Tong and Walther (2015), in spite of knowing the advantage of being quiet
in a situation, a talkaholic person tends to speak. This trait can be disadvantageous if the simple
situation is led towards more complexity. In order to mitigate this issue, it would be beneficial if
people can interact in a larger group. In such discussion, a communicator lets other to speak first.
It minimizes the risks of the disadvantageous situations that might be influenced by the
compulsive communicators.

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The next issue with the compulsive communicator is their nature of talking more than
they should talk. According to Macht and Nembhard (2015), maintaining the balance is
necessary while communicating with others. If people tend to talk too much, it might make
others reluctant to listen to their stories all over again. Therefore, it is necessary to share the
observation with the talkaholic person. The appropriate communication with them would work to
some extent in pointing out the ineffectiveness of this trait. Bao and Le Ha (2016) pointed out
another issue with the compulsive communicator that indicates their struggling nature to stay
quiet. In some of the cases, the compulsive communicator feels that they are compelled to stay
quiet, which is against their nature. It might bring down their morale. During such situation, it
can be helpful to ask for their opinions and making the interrogative statements. Another most
identified issue is the lack of conscience. The compulsive communicator does not always think
of what is right and what is wrong (Ahmadi, 2016). Their impulsiveness sometimes may create
the considerable challenges in the business scenario. Hence, it is necessary to develop their
knowledgeable aspects to develop a balanced and appreciable communication skill. In some of
the aspects, it is also noticed that a compulsive communicator or a talkaholic person has the zero
ability of listening to others. They often do not pay attention to the conversation and tend to
interpret the situation on their own way. This issue can be bigger disadvantage in a corporate
setting, especially when they need to communicate with the people from diverse cultural
background (Brink & Costigan, 2015). The organisation can provide the adequate training
program for developing this listening skill.
These specific issues in a talkaholic person can turn out to be much disadvantageous in a
multinational corporation setting. In the next section of the study, the discussion of another issue
that is identified through the diagnostic tests would be presented.

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2.2 Topic 2: Inactive Listening Skills
According to Masalimova, Porchesku, and Liakhnovitch (2016), the inactive listening
determines the incapability of an individual to focus on any particular conversation. In some of
the cases, it has been observed that the individuals listen to the communication process, but do
not pay much attention to understand it in details. The inactive listening can become the major
problem when it comes to the development of effective business communication (Vandergrift
and Baker, 2015). Especially, in a cross cultural setting, people do not pay necessary attention as
they are unable to understand the language. Furthermore, this trait can be observed when the
speaker cannot create the interesting speech delivery in a conversation process. The following
issues are identified in a person who is an inactive listener.
2.2.1 Issues faced by the Inactive Listener
Active listening skill is conceptualized as the efficiency that can be developed with the
effective practices. There are some of the considerable barriers associated with the inactive
listening. These are as follows:
1. The inactive listeners try to listen to more than a conversation at a time as they do not pay
attention at the first stage (Lakshmi, 2017). For instance, if someone keeps the television
or radio on during a conversation, it would distract from paying attention in a speech
delivery. It is necessary to stay focused during the communication.
2. When the speaker is boring, the inactive listener feels reluctant to pay attention to their
speeches (Schmidt, 2017). The physical appearance of the communicator needs to be
interesting for attracting the other people.

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3. The lack of active listening limits the knowledge about the customer needs and demands.
While dealing with the customer services, the individual needs to pay attention to the
demands for fulfilling their expectation level (Xu, 2017).
4. The active listening leads to self discovery. When the listener is paying attention during
any conversation, it helps in strengthening the perceptive values. Without paying
attention to the communication process, it is quite difficult to understand the
requirements (Wade & Macpherson, 2016).
5. When an individual is not paying attention to what others are saying, it would create the
sense of disturbance on the speaker. The speakers would not be interested anymore t
communicate with the person.
6. The inactive listener often misses out the major concerns in a corporate setting
(McCroskey et al., 2014). Due to such reluctance in listening, they misinterpret the
conversation.
7. In a cross cultural setting, the development of the inactive listening skill is important.
People from the different lingual background present their concerns which are needed to
be observed much patiently. If the individual does not pay attention to their speeches, it
would be difficult to develop a dynamic work scenario.
8. Active listening is much necessary to become an efficient leader. A good leader actively
listens and then interprets the situation in a significant way (Stern et al., 2014). The
inactive listening skills would affect the entire organisational scenario.
The above issues identified in the individuals with inactive listening skills need to participate
in a training programs for improving this trait. The discussion provides the insight about the
significance of listening skills that create the opportunity of a good leader. However, many of the

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organizations develop the separate training programs to improve the active listening skills of the
individuals.
2.3 Gaps in the Literature
The literature study provides the insights about the effective business communication by
recognizing the underlying issues. In spite of delivering the adequate information about the
subject area, the literature study is somewhat limited. The lack of the updated information based
on the subject area is quite insignificant for the study. On the other hand, the literature study does
not provide any suggestive scenario that could improve the organisational functionalities through
the effective communication process. Moreover, the lack of in-depth analysis of the different
research areas has also made this study limited.

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3. Action Plan
The action plan suggests the development of my active listening skills and promptness in
communicating with others. It is necessary for me to identify the major issues and work on
improving such area of concern accordingly. The following action plan would help in developing
my attributes within a scheduled time.
Action Plan
Activities Start Date End Date Duration
1. Identification of the areas of
improvements by analyzing the
diagnostic report
01/06/2018 03/06/2018 3 days
2. Presenting the proposal to the
organisation regarding the required
training session and waiting for the
approval
03/06/2018 04/06/2018 2 days
3. Selection of the people require
training
04/06/2018 06/06/2018 2 days
4. Starting the training session 07/06/2018 18/06/2018 10 days
5. Keeping the track of their learning
progress
19/06/2018 22/06/2018 3 days
6. Identifying the result and making
necessary improvements
22/06/2018 26/06/2018 5days
7. Presenting the final report 27/06/2018 29/06/2018 2 days

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Table 1: Action Plan
(Source: Created by the Author)
The above action plan suggests the need for the training programs to develop the active
listening skills and promptness in responding back in a conversation. I would involve the people
who are compulsive communicators and those who are inactive listeners. The association of the
business managers would be helpful in such context. The entire action would be completed
within a month. I need the approval from the upper management to select the people who
actually need this training period. After the approval I shall develop the proper training scenario
in which the people would invest their time for their improvements in the communication skills.
I shall even use some of the measurement tools and conduct the examinations to keep the track
of the progress. The success of the training process would help these individual to develop an
effective communicational transparency within an organisational setting. However, I believe that
the business managers are present in providing adequate support to us for developing our
communicational skills. In a multinational corporation, people from diverse cultural background
work together to meet the same organisational goals. Therefore, the establishment of the
effective communication would help in establishing the cohesiveness among the employees. I
have gathered knowledge about some of the basic requirements while communicating with the
other people in an organisation. The appropriate use of the voice modulation, message conveying
method, body language, and word choices is necessary for establishing a clarified message
during a communicative scenario. The speakers need to articulate the message in a clarified
manner that will be understandable to the listener. The consistent delivery manner is needed to
be maintained as it determines the type of reaction from the other end. The action plan focuses
on such objectives to develop the efficiency level in a business communication context.

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Moreover, the improvement in the communicational efficiencies would help an individual to
develop their professional and personal skills as well.

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