EVALUATING MY COMMUNICATION SKILLS

My communication self assessment outcome was exciting to me because of the nature  of the test. It was fascinating to me to not be sure of the category we will eventually arrive as i answered the questions as sincerely as I could. My communication anxiety level recorded low, my verbal aggressiveness scale recorded moderate and my listening profile style recorded me as one who is "people oriented". As I saw each outcome, I sought for what I could do to make a better target for myself from wherever I currently may have found myself.

Amazingly, the two people whom I asked to assess me are my husband and my secretary. The two of them scored me on the same category in all three communication areas. But much more interesting is that they did not differ from the categories that my self assessment placed me.

 The interesting disparity amongst all three of us comes in degrees within the level for both communication anxiety and verbal aggression levels. My self assessment revealed that my communication anxiety is on 31, my husbands' revealed 30 and my secretary revealed 26. The verbal aggression places me on 61 in my self evaluation, 62 in my husband's and 66 in my staff's.

What I think I of the disparity in comparison to what I have learned in this course, I think understanding culture dimensions in communication came to play. Enculturation in particular is my explanation. Enculturation is the process of transmitting a group's culture from one generation to another. Husbands are well respected in my social context ( Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2011).  It is obvious that I can only be viewed as less aggressive with my husband and more, with my secretary; also my husband thinks I have a little bit of communication  anxiety and my secretary thinks I have much more less anxiety. Worthy of note is that my self evaluation came midway of the other two people.

This week's evaluation makes me realize that I am not far from who I think I am in comparison to who I am viewed as. Also, that effective communication is much more that what we say.

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  
Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

• "Communication Anxiety Inventory
   
• "Verbal Aggressiveness Scale"  
• Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
  
  "Listening Styles Profile-16"
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