Consider a time when you and a communication partner failed to communicate competently. Describe what happened in the situation and what went wrong in both your and your partner's communication. Based on what you have learned so far about competent communication, what could you and the other person do to communicate more competently if you could go back in time and redo the interaction?

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The Answer is Answers to this question will vary, as the student is required to reflect on his or her personal experiences and personal knowledge and theories about communication. Ideal answers will demonstrate self-reflexive ability and critical thinking abilities. At this point, most students will not have an especially strong sense of how to improve their communication competence, but they should demonstrate an awareness of concepts such as appropriateness, effectiveness, the difference between process and outcome, and ethics. They may be able to demonstrate how lack of agreement about the meaning of symbols contributed to miscommunication and how the ability to adapt one's communication to the expectations and needs of the other person would improve their competence. This question can be used early on in the term and again later on in the term to assess students' progress as their understanding of communication in general, as well as of specialized areas (interpersonal, group, organizational) in communication research, deepens.

Consider a Time When You and a Communication Partner Failed