1 INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION LESSON: TIA ALF04 COMMUNICATIONS

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INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION

LESSON: TIA ALF04COMMUNICATIONS

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OBJECTIVE

Given statements about verbal and non-verbal communication, identify the importance of effective communication in the education process.

Identify the components of the communications process

Identify the principles of effective communication

Identify examples of verbal and non-verbal communications

Identify communications problems that exist in the training environment

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REFERENCES

The following references were used to develop this lesson:

Air Force Handout 36-2235, Information for Designers of Instructional Systems, Vol. I-XI, 2002

Air Force Manual 36-2236, Guidebook for Air Force Instructors, 12 November 2003

Air Force Handout 33-337,The Tongue and Quill, 1 August 2004

Air Force Pamphlet 36-2241, Volume 1, Promotion Fitness Examination (PFE) Study Guide, 1 July 2003

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INTRODUCTION

This is an exciting time to be in the United States Air Force! Our mission and our operations tempo reflect the larger world around us---a world of rapidly accelerating technology and nearly unlimited access to information.

Units are successfully accomplishing more missions with fewer people thanever before, and there is a constant battle to get the job done with limited resources available. As an Air Force member with so many demands on your time, why should you care about effective communication?

This lesson answers that question. It will identify five principles of effective communication, present some techniques for more effective use of verbaland non-verbal communication, and describes common verbal and non-verbal distracters.

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WHAT DO WE MEAN BY COMMUNICATION

Communication is defined as the process of sharing ideas, information and messages with others. It includes nonverbal communications such as body language, graphics, etc. In the Air Force, most communication involves speaking and writing and is intended to direct, educate, persuade or inspire.

Any communication can be broken into three parts: the sender, the message and the audience. For communication to be successful, the audience must not only get the message, but must interpret the message in the way the sender intended.

Since communication requires effort, it should have a purpose. If the purpose isn’t clear to the audience, you will have a problem!

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WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

Communication skills are vitally important in any environment where teamwork is essential. Simply put, effective communication brings us together to accomplish things better than we can could as individuals.

Good communication skills are particularly important for instructors who must be able to communicate the objective of a lesson, provide direction, and motivate and inspire students to be successful in the learning environment.

Operators in the field use highly technical equipment in a possibly lethal environment. Miscommunication when teaching your students to operate that equipment, or in following procedures and adhering to policies, could potentially cause expensive mistakes, bring embarrassment to your organization, and in the worst case, cause accidents or even death.

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PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION (Slide 1 of 8)

Once we accept the importance of communication, we need to understand the factors that make communication succeed and those which cause it to fail.

Most mistakes are caused by ignoring one of the five FOCUS principles of good communication:

-Focused-Organized-Clear -Understanding-Supported

We will address these core principles and describe some of the common mistakes that may occur when you fail to follow them.

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PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION (Slide 2 of 8 )

FOCUSED: ADDRESS THE ISSUE, THE WHOLE ISSUE AND NOTHING BUT THE ISSUE

The first hallmark of good communication is that it is focused---the sender has a clear idea of purpose and objective, locks on target, and stays on track.

In an academic environment, writing and speaking often attempt to answer a question provided by the instructor. In this situation, the principle may also be stated as, “Answer the question, the whole question and nothing but the question.”

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Failure to focus comes in three forms:

1. Answering the wrong question. This happens when we don’t understand the material or what the audience really wants.

2. Answering only part of the question. If a problem or question has multiple parts, sometimes we work out the easiest or most interesting part of the solution and forget the unpleasant remainder.

3. Adding irrelevant information. Here the communicator answers the question, but mixes in information that is interesting but unnecessary. Though the answer is complete, it’s hard to understand---it’s like finding that needle in the haystack.

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ORGANIZED: SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENT YOUR INFORMATION AND IDEAS

Good organization means your material is presented in a logical, systematic manner. This helps your students to understand the lesson without trying to sortout what you’re trying to say.

When writing or speaking is not well organized, students become easily confused or impatient and may stop reading or listening. Even if you you’re providing useful, relevant information, the students may underestimate its value and your own credibility.

A little effort on your part will save your audience a lot of time and pain.

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CLEAR: COMMUNICATE WITH CLARITY AND MAKE EACH WORD COUNT

This principle covers two interrelated ideas. • First, to communicate clearly, we need to understand the rules of language

—how to spell and pronounce words and how to assemble and punctuate sentences.

• Second, we should get to the point, not hide our ideas in a jungle of words.

Students may be quick to judge. Incorrect language can cripple your credibility andlimit acceptance of your ideas. Acceptable English is part of the job, so commit to improving any language problems you may have. Developing strong language skills is a lot like developing strong muscles—steady commitment produces steady improvement. Always remember that progress, not perfection, is the goal.

Using language correctly is only half the battle. Speakers can cripple themselves with complex terminology, big words and lots of passive voice. These bad habits make it hard to understand the message.

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UNDERSTANDING: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE AND ITS EXPECTATIONS

If you want to share an idea with your students, it helps to understand their current knowledge, views, and level of interest in the topic. It’s easy to see how notknowing your audience can lead to communication problems. You may evenhave seen others make this mistake.

There are two reliable methods for gathering student information. Used together,they can be extremely useful.

1. Organize information you already have about the students. Knowing variables such as age, sex, grade, and experience can help you relate to your students. If one or more of these variables may divide you from your students, give special attention to ways of emphasizing your similarities and reducing differences.

2. If you have not taught the group before, check with someone who has.

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Two important questions that may help you understand your students are:

“What do the students already know about my topic?”

“What do they need to know?”

One of the greatest difficulties an instructor faces is not to talk up or down to students. Only by carefully analyzing the needs and characteristics of your students can you be certain that you’re teaching at the appropriate level.

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SUPPORTED: USE LOGIC AND SUPPORT TO MAKE YOUR POINT

Support and logic are the tools used to build credibility and trust with students.

When needed, an instructor uses supporting material such as related experiencesand reference materials to provide further explanation on the particular subject. This provides the student with a sense of assurance that you do know what you are saying and that they can trust the information that you are providing them.

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VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS (slide 1 of 9)

This section presents sometechniques that can help yoube a more effective verbal andnon-verbal communicator.

A good lecturing voice has threeimportant characteristics; it is reasonably pleasant, it is easily understood, and it expresses differences in meaning.

Technically we can label these properties as:

QualityIntelligibility Variety

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QUALITY

Quality refers to the overall impression a voice makes on others. Most people have reasonably pleasant voices suitable for lecturing. A pleasing quality or tone is the basic component of a good speaking voice.

Some voices have a full rich quality, others are shrill and nasal, still others may have a breathy and muffled tone or quality. Physical qualities of voice may be difficult to change. For example, your voice may become more breathy when you are excited, tense when anxious, or deep and rich when serious.

Students can often tell by tone of voice if the instructor is happy, angry, sad, fearful, or confident. Similarly, vocal quality can convey sincerity and enthusiasm.

Don’t become so concerned about the basic quality of your voice that you pay little attention to the effect that attitude and emotion has on it.

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INTELLIGIBILITY

How intelligible your speech is depends on several factors. Attention to articulation, pronunciation, and volume, as well as avoiding vocalized pauses,stock expression, and substandard grammar can make your voice moreintelligible.

• Articulation, or enunciation, refers to the precision and clarity of speech. Good articulation is chiefly

the job of the jaw, tongue, and lips. Most articulationproblems result from laziness of the tongue and lips or failing to open the mouth wide enough. You should over-articulate rather than under-articulate speech sounds. What sounds like over-articulationto you will be heard as crisp, understandable wordsand phrases by your students.

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• Pronunciation refers to the traditional or customary way that words sound. Standards of pronunciation differ, making it hard at times to know what is acceptable. Dictionaries are useful but as they become outdated, they should not be adhered to excessively. Generally, educated people in your community, as well as national radio and television announcers, provide a good standard for pronunciation. Examples of common faults include accent misplacement; saying “de-vice” instead of “device”, or omitting sounds; saying “guh’mnt” for “government.”

More common pronunciation faults include:

adding sounds by saying “ath-a-lete” for athlete

sounding out silent letters by saying “mort-gage” instead of mortgage

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Jim Nabor's, Gomer Pyle character was famous for omission. He left out part of the word “surprise” each time he said his now famous, “Saprise, Saprise, Saprise.” Still other omissions include the ever popular “nucular” instead of “nuclear” and “probbly” rather than“probably.”

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• Vocalized pause is the name we give to “uh,” “um,” and “ah,” often used at the beginning of a sentence. While a few vocalized pauses are natural and do not distract, too many impede the communication and learning processes.

• Stock expressions refer to phrases such as “OK,” “like,” and “you know?” Avoid overusing these expressions, as they serve no positive role in communication and only convey a lack of originality by the speaker.

• Substandard grammar has no place in the teaching lecture. It only serves to reduce teacher credibility with students. Research shows that even people who have used substandard grammar all of their lives can, with diligent practice, make significant improvements in this area in a relatively short time.

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VARIETY

Variety is the spice of speaking. Students tire quickly when listening to an instructor who doesn’t vary delivery style or has a monotonous voice. However, just because a voice is intelligible and of good quality, it still may not appeal to students. You may vary your voice and, at the same time, improve your communication by considering the vocal fundamentals of rate, volume, force, pitch, and emphasis.

• Rate. The rate at which instructors deliver their message undoubtedly affects the learner's ability to absorb information. On average, instructors speak at a rate between 120 180 words per minute.

An excitable instructor may speak at a rapid rate all the time, while the passive instructor may talk in a slow drawl. The enthusiastic and confident instructor, though, will vary the rate of delivery to emphasize ideas and feelings. A slower rate may be appropriate for presenting main points, while a more rapid rate may be better suited to support material.

The experienced lecturer also knows that an occasional pause punctuates thought and emphasizes ideas. A dramatic pause at the proper time may express feelings and ideas even more effectively than words can.

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• Volume is important to the lecturer. Always be certain that all students can hear you. Nothing hinders a lecture more than some students unable to hear what’s being delivered. On the other hand, the volume of speech should not be too loud if conducted in a small room. A bombastic or overly loud speaker tires out listeners very quickly.

• Force or vocal energy is needed at times to emphasize and dramatize ideas. A drowsy audience will quickly come to attention if the instructor uses force effectively. Suddenly reducing the amount of force can also be as effective as a rapid increase. By learning to control the force of your voice, you can add emphasis and improve communication.

• Pitch is the vocal highs and lows. All things being equal, a higher-pitched voice carries better than a low-pitched one. On the other hand, students tend to tire faster when listening to the higher-pitched voice. If your voice is within normal limits—neither too high or too low—work for variety as you speak. Try not to become firmly entrenched in your habitual pitch level.

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• Emphasis applies to all forms of vocal variety, and any change in rate, volume, force, or pitch will influence emphasis. The greater or more sudden the change, the greater the emphasis will be. As a lecturer you must use emphasis wisely, avoiding overemphasis and continual emphasis. Be cautious; emphasizing a point beyond its real value may cause you to lose credibility with your students.

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NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS (slide 1 of 11)

Even if the voice, vocal quality, and articulation are perfect, an effective speaker must also attend to non-verbal communications skills. Communication experts tell us that over half of our message may be communicated nonverbally.

Although some nonverbal meaning is communicated through vocal cues, eye contact, body movement, and gestures also carry a lot of meaning. As an instructor, you need to know how physical behavior improves and enhances learning.

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EYE CONTACT

Eye contact is one of the most important aspects of nonverbal communication. Nothing will enhance your delivery more than effective eye contact with your students. Eye contact is important for three reasons.

1. Lets the students know you are interested in them

2. Allows you to receive nonverbal feedback from your students. You can determine if you are being understood, and which points are making an impact and which are not. You can then adjust your rate of delivery or emphasis, rephrase or summarize certain points, or add more supporting data.

3. Enhances your credibility

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To achieve effective eye contact, you must do more than merely look in the direction of your listeners. You must have a genuine desire to communicate with them. The old advice of looking over the tops of your listeners’ heads or attempting to look at everyone in class systematically, simply does not equate to effective eye contact.

Furthermore, looking at only one part of the audience or directing attention only to those students who seem to give you positive feedback, may cause you to ignore large parts of the audience.

Make it evident to each person in a small class that you are interested in them asindividuals and eager to have them understand the ideas you are presenting. In thisway you will establish mental as well as sensory contact with your listeners.

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BODY MOVEMENT

Body movement is one of the important factors of dynamic and meaningful physical behavior. Good body movement is important because it catches the eyes of the listener and helps hold the attention needed for learning to occur.

Movement can also represent a change in your lecture delivery; it is a convenient way of punctuating and paragraphing your message. Listeners will know you are done with one idea or line of thought and are ready to transition to the next.

Finally, aside from its effects on listeners, movement helps you as a lecturer byworking off excess energy that may add to your nervousness. Movement helps putyou at ease.

Effective body movement can be described as free and purposeful. You should befree to move around the class. You should not feel restrained to stay behind the podium or lectern, but should move with reason and purpose. Use your movement to punctuate, direct attention, and otherwise aid learning.

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GESTURES

Gestures may be used to clarify or emphasize ideas in the lecture. Gestures canbe described as the purposeful use of the hands, arms, shoulders, and head toreinforce what is being said. Fidgeting with a paper clip, rearranging and shuffling papers, and scratching your ear are not gestures. They are not purposeful and theydistract from the verbal message.

Gestures will be most effective if you make a conscious effort to relax your muscles before you speak, perhaps by taking a few short steps.

Good gestures should come at exactly the time, or slightly before a point is made verbally. Poor timing results from attempting to “can” or preplan gestures.

Finally, good gestures are versatile. A stereotyped gesture will not fit all subjects and situations. As with all aspects of communication, gestures must fit the intended message.

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COMMON NONVERBAL QUIRKS

Numerous studies have shown that people remember less than 10 percent of what is verbally presented, but first impressions are largely based on nonverbal communication such as how you dress, carry yourself, and use gestures and other body language.

Most of us have quirks when we are put in the limelight. The key is to be aware of yours and don’t overdo them. Keep yourself in check, and as always, seek feedback.

The following screens identify the more common quirks. Do any hit home for you?

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• Life raft. This is the speaker who clings for dear life to the podium or lectern. Their ultimate fear is leaving the comfort and security of that piece of wood in front of them, so they hold onto it with both hands in desperation. Walking about the room is incomprehensible to these speakers.

• Fig leaf. This is the speaker who, recovering from the above habit, is now venturing out in front of the audience, but is still not quite sure what to do with those pesky things called hands. He or she wants to run back to the safety of their life raft, but instead may lay one hand over another at the end of stiff arms, with hands resting…where a fig leaf would be. Do you get the picture?

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• Hand washer. This is a speaker who stores all nervousness in their hands. While they speak, they wash and they wash. You may think with all that friction they would suffer thermal injury to their palms, but they’re indestructible. Too bad you missed their message while you focused on the quirk.

• Caged tiger. Listening to these speakers is like watching a tennis match. These speakers continually pace from one side of the room or stage to the other, never even stopping to check their pulse. They expend so much energy that their lecture qualifies as aerobic exercise. Their calorie expenditure goes up even higher when they combine this technique with hand washing.

• Rocker. Rockers are caged tigers on the road to recovery. They still have some residual fear of standing still and simply talking.

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• Pocket maniacs. These folks should consider sewing their pants pockets shut because whenever they speak they start counting the change from their last trip to the soda machine. Many of these speakers are trying desperately not to be hand washers or fig leafers and end up jamming their hands into their pockets. They are often oblivious to the new distraction and annoyance they inflict on their audience. These speakers may find that holding something will help them refrain from this habit and also prevent them from “hand washing.”

• Pen clickers. These speakers are related to the pocket maniacs. They have to be doing something with their hands. All pens, pencils, and other similar objects should be removed from their possession before they get up to give a presentation because the temptation is just too great. They are compelled to manipulate and click any pen in their possession, which does not make for high marks on student critiques.

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By themselves, these quirks won’t make you fail as a speaker, but they can create problems if too severe. Students may begin to focus on the quirk insteadof your message. Again, most of us have done some of these things at one timeor another. Try to be aware of your own mannerisms, keep them in check and make sure they don’t become habit and detract from your message.

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SUMMARY

Given statements about verbal and non-verbal communication, identify the importance of effective communication in the education process.

Identify the components of the communication process

Identify the principles of effective communication

Identify examples of verbal and non-verbal communications

Identify communications problems that exist in the training environment

Now that you have completed this lesson on communications, test your knowledge with the following quiz.

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1. Any communication process can be broken into which of the following parts?

A. Sender, message, and audience

B. Sender, channel, and receiver

C. Sender, message, and feedback

D. Sender, channel, and message

QUIZ

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QUIZ

2. “Answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question,” defines which principle of effective communication?

A. Organized

B. Clear

C. Focus

D. Supported

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3. What are three important characteristics of a good lecturing voice?

A. Articulation, pronunciation, and volume

B. Quality, intelligibility, and variety

C. Volume, rate, and variety

D. Force, pitch, and emphasis

QUIZ

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4. Non verbal meaning is communicated through _____________, ____________, and ___________.

A. eye contact, body movement, and gestures

B. body movement, gestures, and signals

C. eye contact, physical behavior, and nervousness

D. visual aids, delivery, and gestures

QUIZ

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QUIZ

5. Which of the following refers to the instructor who clings for dear life to the podium or lectern?

A. Rocker

B. Caged tiger

C. Fig leaf

D. Life raft

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6. The factors which might detract from the intelligibility of your speech are __________.

A. substandard grammar

B. stock expressions

C. vocalized pauses

D. All the above

QUIZ

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CONGRATULATIONS!

You have completed the lesson on

Communications

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1 INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION LESSON: TIA ALF04 COMMUNICATIONS