UGB331: Critical Reflection on Communication Skills Development

This report, submitted for the UGB331 module, details a student's critical reflection on their communication skills development. The report begins with an introduction emphasizing the importance of reflective practice for personal and professional growth. The main body, presented as a reflexive practitioner storyboard, recounts a personal incident where the student struggled with communication due to shyness. The narrative describes the student's journey, including the guidance received from a tutor, who provided techniques for improving listening, speaking, and the balance between the two. The student also discusses the use of books and articles to gain further insights into communication. The conclusion summarizes the importance of communication skills and the steps taken to overcome the initial challenges. The report references several books and journals supporting the concepts discussed. The student's reflection provides valuable insights into the process of skill development and self-improvement.

UGB331 Applying Critical
Reflective Practice

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Part C: The Reflexive Practitioner Storyboard............................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Reflection on the past activities is the best way to a person for avoid conducting such
practices in the future which was negatively affected our life in the past. The reflective practice
always gives great contribution in order to develop our skills and abilities (Hu and Liu, 2018). A
reflection on one of my key incidences has been added below.
MAIN BODY
Part C: The Reflexive Practitioner Storyboard
In this dynamic and modern world, each person should have very appropriate skills of
communication, and without having these skills, no person cannot perfectly interaction with
other people in the market place. My incident is completely based on the commutation.
Basically, when I was in my kid and teen stage, on that time I felt very shy while talking with
people. On that life cycle stages, I had not proper skills of communication, so was not able to
perfectly communicate someone. Due to having high shy attribute, I was felt very uncomfortable
while interacting with any person or colleague, and that’s why I was decided to not participate in
any conversation. It means, I have faced many difficulties and problems in my daily live. On the
other side, my many friends, classmates and colleagues also had very fun and joke on me in the
academic session because of poor skills of communication. This is the main reason that, now I
properly understood the actual value of well-developed communication ability. While learning or
studying in academic session, we have always required to interact with many people for
resolving different doubts and questions, but due to my weakness, I was not able to properly
interact with my classmates and colleagues for studying together to achieve better markets and
results.
One day when I was a teen, I met with one of my tutors, who was really helped me for
properly overcome weakness relating to poor communication skill (Salam, Iskandar and Ibrahim,
2017). Basically, that tutor was told me that, currently there are many effective ways simply
available in make place, any person can simply use these all ways in its daily life in the context
of improving own skills of communication. That tutor was really played an excellent or positive
role to me, and I was really lucky that I found that tutor who believes in helping learner for

overcome their weaknesses. During that incident, my tutor told me that, people value and respect
only those persons who has well-developed techniques of interaction and talking, in which there
are effective communication skills are the only solution to a person for overcome weakness of
poor interaction value. Tutor told me that, current corporate businesses and companies also
focuses on hiring only those people in the workplace, who really has well-developed skills of
communication, and then I understood the actual value of communication in this dynamic world.
Many people are not able to develop their different skills and abilities, due to lack of proper
guidance of tutor, coach or trainer. So, I was lucky that I had a tutor who played an excellent role
to me in the context of improving communication skills.
When I was teen, I asked to father that why I felt very low, shy and uncomfortable while
interacting with someone, then my father told me that, I also had faced this same issue when I
was in your age, so this issue is genetic in our family. So, this same thing I had shared with my
tutor, and tutor told me that, of course this is genetic issue to you, but this is not that type of issue
which no one can overcome (Charoensap-Kelly and et.al., 2016). Tutor told me that, you are able
to resolve this issue by improving your skills of communication, and after improving them, you
cannon feel shy while talking with someone, you will be very confident while interacting with
people or colleagues. Then, I told that, ok tutor, I am ready to put own huge efforts in order to
improve these skills, so kindly share those ways and methods with me which I can be adopted
and used for improving own interaction values. After my request, tutor was be fully ready to
inform me about those ways, and then after adopting informed or suggested ways and methods in
own daily life, I was succeeded in developing own skills of communication.
In that incident, tutor told me that, first you should be focused on listening that what
another person actually wants to says, because listening is everything to a person for improving
its skills of communication. listening is very important to make a conversation very effective,
because most people in across the world always gives higher priority to speaking in the
comparison of listening, and this is the main reason that you should focus on listening. Basically,
when we listen somebody properly, then we can simply know that what another wants to say us.
So that, on the basis of my tutor’s suggestion, I was firstly started to listening people carefully,
and in just few days I was be able to see the positive changes in me, because after listening
people carefully, I was enabled to give them appropriate replay. Before implementing that advice

of tutor, I was not able to listen people carefully (Overby, 2018). But still, no person can
perfectly interact with people with just careful listening, and then I asked to tutor that, what
should I do now to make my communication skills fully developed, and then tutor has informed
about some more ways or strategies of the development of communication competence.
After informing me about the value of listening in a conversation, that tutor told me that
that speaking also very important in any communication, and we always need to try for speaking
someone in very proper and polite manner. The main reason behind the last statement of tutor
that, when we speak with polite as well as proper words, then we can simply put very positive
impact on people who are the part of our conversation (Nicolson, 2016). So, after knowing this
method of improving communication skills, I was started to change my speaking tone to make it
very impressive and polite, and after days I had enabled to speak with somebody in fully polite
manner. But during improving own way of speaking, the tutor told me that, developing ways of
speaking and listening are not enough to interact with some in proper manner, because there is a
perfect balance between speaking and listening is also very important. I that situation, I was be
focused on making a perfect balance between speaking and listening, and I had got better results
in that time period.
After following these ways and suggestions of tutor, I asked to my tutor that, so which
way now I should follow to make my skills of communication more effective, then tutor told me
that currently there are many books, journals and articles simply available in the market place
which has fully based on ‘how to develop own communication skills’. Tutor told me that I
should read these all books, journals and articles, so I was started to find out most appropriate
books, journals and articles to me. After few efforts I had succeeded in found them, and started
collecting information about how communicate with someone with full confidence and without
shyness & uncomfortably (Chen and et.al., 2016). Basically, there are many authors and
specialists of communication skills has shared their point of views and opinions on these skills in
the books and journals, so these all sources were played a very positive role to me for developing
skills of communication. After reading those books and articles, I was succeeded in learning
many new aspects and factors relating communication and interaction. For example; I have learnt
that body language highly matters in a conversation, in which if we have proper body language,
then we can simply put very positive impact on people. On the other side, if we have ineffective

body language, then we cannot impress people by our interaction values, and that’s why I was
taken the decision of improving own body language for performing very well in a conversation.
That incident where I was not capable to interact with somebody due to having poor
skills of communication skills now completely changed my life, because when I was felt very
uncomfortable and shy while taking with people, then it had decided to change my that
behaviour anyhow (Brundiers and Wiek, 2017). Due to lack of appropriate interaction values, I
was not able to take help from colleagues in academic session for solving any question, task or
exercise, and after this incident I felt survive in this dynamic world without having ineffective
skills of communication. So, after many efforts and practices of development, now I have well-
developed skills of communication.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that we should always have proper skills of communication, because
they enable use for systematically interacting with people in market place. After incident of
feeling unfordable and shy while interacting with someone, I had taken different productive steps
in order to overcome this issue of poor communication skills.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Brundiers, K. and Wiek, A., 2017. Beyond interpersonal competence: Teaching and learning
professional skills in sustainability. Education Sciences. 7(1). p.39.
Charoensap-Kelly, P., and et.al., 2016. Evaluation of a soft skills training program. Business and
Professional Communication Quarterly. 79(2). pp.154-179.
Chen, M.M., and et.al., 2016. A multifaceted mentoring program for junior faculty in academic
pediatrics. Teaching and learning in medicine. 28(3). pp.320-328.
Hu, G. and Liu, Y., 2018. Three minute thesis presentations as an academic genre: A cross-
disciplinary study of genre moves. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 35. pp.16-
30.
Nicolson, D. J., 2016. Academic conferences as neoliberal commodities. Springer.
Overby, M. S., 2018. Stakeholders’ qualitative perspectives of effective telepractice pedagogy in
speech–language pathology. International Journal of Language & Communication
Disorders. 53(1). pp.101-112.
Salam, M., Iskandar, D. A. and Ibrahim, D. A., 2017. Service learning support for academic
learning and skills development. Journal of Telecommunication, Electronic and
Computer Engineering (JTEC). 9(2-10). pp.111-117.