Listening Helps Us Develop and Maintain Relationships, Pg.

71
Imitation Listening, Pg. 77
Ask Questions and Paraphrase, Pg. 81
Take Skillful Notes, Pg. 81

Anh Pham
Marian Lyles
CMST&101
27 November 2013
Meeting #1
In our group, the aspect that I am researching is Listening and how it could help us in our
life. The topic of the first meeting was about Intro to Human Communication and we also
discussed other topics that related to our personal experiences. We have four people in our group
which are Jonathan, Patrick, Erin, and me. This first meeting was set up at the library on from
9:15 to 9:50 on Wednesday, October 30
th
2013. The four theories or terms that I am going to use
in this paper are Listening Helps Us Develop and Maintain Relationships, Ask Questions and
Paraphrase, Imitation Listening and Take Skillful Notes.
Listening helps us develop and maintain relationships among group members. Since this
is our first meeting so we dont really know anything about each other and kind of awkward at
first. At the very beginning, we greeted with each other with a smile and How are you?
However, after the greeting we became silent. Each of us have their own things to do such as
texting, looking at our hands or looking at the reading without saying anything to each other. To
reduced the awkwardness among group members, member A constantly asking questions about
us, such as Do you guys have any plans for Halloween? or Where do you guys lived? to gain
more information about each group member. After listening to other group members answered to
those question, it helped us to keep our conversation going, reduced the awkwardness, and also
increased our interaction for the next meeting.
Listening Helps Us Develop and Maintain Relationships, Pg. 71
Imitation Listening, Pg. 77
Ask Questions and Paraphrase, Pg. 81
Take Skillful Notes, Pg. 81

Asking questions and paraphrase will help us to avoid misunderstanding among group
members. Furthermore, in our group had two members that are foreign student, so sometimes we
had difficulties to listen to each other. Because of that, it was very easy to create
misunderstanding since we couldnt hear what the other group member said. To be able to
paraphrase and ask question, we had to actively engage in the conversation. For example,
member B constantly leaning toward other group members, so that he or she would be able to
listen closely to the details and then paraphrase or ask question about the information he just
heard. Member B had a question about the papers. He or she asked, Can you guys explain more
to me about the process of writing the papers and what option are we going to choose? The
other group member responded, Oh, each person will have one or two terms that describe their
behavior during the meeting and I think we should choose option one. Member B paraphrased
it, So each group member will have their own term in one paragraph that describe their behavior
and we choose option one for our suggestion. Is that correct? The other group member nodded
to confirm that he got the right information. Therefore, by asking this question and paraphrase it
again, he or she will gains more additional information and confirm his or her understanding
toward the topic.
Imitation listening is a behavior that someone pretend to listen and understand the
content. In our group, there was a member have that behavior in our group meeting. Throughout
our meeting, member C was very quiet during our conversation. Member C constantly looked
down and nodded without making any eyes contact with other group members. Furthermore,
since our group have other group members that come from other country so they have an accent
in their speaking, so sometimes it might be hard to listen and understand. There were several
Listening Helps Us Develop and Maintain Relationships, Pg. 71
Imitation Listening, Pg. 77
Ask Questions and Paraphrase, Pg. 81
Take Skillful Notes, Pg. 81

times member C showed signs of confusion such as raising eyebrow or squinting his or her eyes.
However, member C didnt ask any question to clarify his or her confusion. That group member
just simply leaned back in his or her chair and then nodded to confirm with other group member
that he or she understood the content or listen to them. Therefore, when other group member
asked for member Cs opinion, that member pause for a while and then just said Its up to you
guys. Through this action, I assumed that member might be thinking about the option or he or
she didnt listening but didnt want to get caught by other members, so member C just
pretended that he or she agree with that option.
During the group meeting, have a skill to take a bunch of notes is very important,
especially I am in charge of Listening. Since I need to take notes on others nonverbal behaviors
and also their verbal behaviors. So instead of writing every single words out which could take a
lot of times and also make me miss out important information. So I decided to use abbreviations
such as ec for eyes contact or b/c for because. Furthermore, I also made abbreviation
code box on the right side of the note so that I wont be confuse whenever I look at my notes to
write the report papers. By doing this, it helps me to save times and not distracted from other
group members.
Through the use of listening, it helps us to develop our relationship with other group
members. According to Listening on page 80, we should come prepared to listen by having
enough rest and nutrition to be able to block out the internal noises such as hunger or fatigue.
Therefore, member C might not having enough rest or hungry so he or she might not feel like to
listen to other group members. And even if member C have problems in his or her life, member
C should put that aside and make a commitment to listen to other group members and be more
Listening Helps Us Develop and Maintain Relationships, Pg. 71
Imitation Listening, Pg. 77
Ask Questions and Paraphrase, Pg. 81
Take Skillful Notes, Pg. 81

focus in the future . So I suggest that member should sleep early and eat before our meeting so
that he or she come prepared for the next group meeting. Furthermore, instead of hiding his or
her confusion, he or she should ask a question and paraphrase to confirm his or her
understanding. Based on Listening on page 83, whether you are asking questions, paraphrasing,
volunteering an answer to a question that has been posed, or simply making a comment about
something that is being discussed, active and engaged participation in class will help you to
attend, understand, respond, and remember. So through this method, member C will understand
and memorize the information that he or she need for this project.
In conclusion, listening helps people in various ways. However, if we dont apply it
correctly then it could lead us to misunderstanding between each other. Therefore, we should
come prepare to listen to the other so that we could avoid misunderstanding among each other.