NSE - Interpersonal Communication: Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is "the ongoing, ever-changing process that occurs when you interact with another person" (Gamble and Gamble, Building Connections, 3)  Essentially, when you communicate with friends, family members, co-workers, and significant others, you are engaging in interpersonal communication.  Throughout your time here at Valencia, you will continue to expand the network of people that you communicate with; in addition to the people in your personal space, you can now expect to interact with Valencia students, faculty, staff and administrators. Therefore, it is important that you understand the foundation of communication.

Let's start by learning about the communication process and what happens when people interact. Click the play button below to watch "The Communication Process" video below. 

Here is the good news: communication is a skill that can improve with practice.  Therefore, regardless of your perceived skill level, you can evolve into a great communicator.  

So what is a great communicator? Author Kory Floyd suggests that a competent communicator is one who communicates "in ways that are effective and appropriate in a given situation" (25).  He offers that competent communicators have five characteristics in common. Review each of the characteristics and their respective descriptions below.  

 Based on the information above, answer the questions below. 

By pausing and reflecting on your strongest and weakest characteristics, you're one step closer to becoming a competent communicator.  Such reflection is key to enhancing your self-awareness. All of the other characteristics are important, but we will we will focus our attention on self-awareness.  After all, it quite difficult to improve on the other characteristics if you are not aware of your current conversational behaviors and how they impact other people.  

To proceed to the next topic, click the "Self-Awareness" tab above.