UNIT- IV

Assertive/ Positive Communication:

What is assertive communication?
Assertive communication is the ability to express positive and negative ideas and
feelings in an open, honest and direct way. It recognizes our rights whilst still respecting the
rights of others.
It allows us to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions without judging or
blaming other people. And it allows us to constructively confront and find a mutually
satisfying solution where conflict exists.
So why use assertive communication?
It is helpful to have a curious attitude when communicating with others and to show
an interest in what the other person is saying. Asking questions shows interest and also helps
to keep the conversation going. Some of the skills that are useful for communicating openly
are:
 Being attentive.
 Listening carefully.
 Letting the speaker finish what they want to say.
 Being aware of a person’s facial expressions, tone of voice and body language. These
give clues to how the other person might be feeling.
 Asking some questions and restating what the person has said. This helps you
understand what has been said and gives the other person a chance to explain if their
meaning was different.
 Noticing how others respond will help you know if the conversation is going well or
not.
The advantages of assertive communication
There are many advantages of assertive communication, most notably these:
 It helps us feel good about ourselves and others
 It leads to the development of mutual respect with others
 It increases our self-esteem
 It helps us achieve our goals
 It minimises hurting and alienating other people
 It reduces anxiety
 It protects us from being taken advantage of by others * It enables us to make
decisions and free choices in life
 It enables us to express, both verbally and non-verbally, a wide range of feelings and
thoughts, both positive and negative
Why is positive assertiveness important? Being positively assertive can help you:
 Become a better leader
 Reduce conflict
 Reduce frustration
 Relieve stress
 Increase the quality of your relationships both at work and in your personal life
 Get more of what you want in life

What is Assertiveness?
  Philosophy of personal responsibility.

 An awareness of the rights of others.

 Being honest with yourself and others.

 Having the ability to communicate directly but not

 at the expense of other people.

 Having confidence in you and being positive.

 Ability to behave in a rational and adult way.

 Being able to negotiate and reach workable

 Solutions.

 Having self respect and respect for other people.

Assertive training:

Assertiveness means standing up for your personal rights - expressing thoughts,

feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate ways.

Assertiveness training is a structured intervention aimed at improving the effectiveness

of our communication skills in all these areas and involves a number of components:

 Understanding the underlying principles of assertiveness.

 Recognizing the different styles of communication.
 Identifying specific situations in which we would like to become more assertive.
 To prepare, rehearse or role play a different, more assertive response.
 Transferring that behaviour into 'real life' situations.
Developing Your Assertiveness
Some people are naturally more assertive than others. If your disposition tends more
towards being either passive or aggressive, you need to work on the following skills.
Value yourself and your rights
 Understand that your rights, thoughts, feelings, needs and desires are just as important
as everyone else's.
 But remember they are not more important than anyone else's, either.
 Recognise your rights and protect them.
 Believe you deserve to be treated with respect and dignity at all times.
 Stop apologizing for everything.
NEGOTIATION;

Why Negotiate?
It is inevitable that, from time-to-time, conflict and disagreement will arise as the
differing needs, wants, aims and beliefs of people are brought together. Without negotiation,
such conflicts may lead to argument and resentment resulting in one or all of the parties
feeling dissatisfied. The point of negotiation is to try to reach agreements without causing
future barriers to communications.
Negotiation Principles

 An everyday activity.
 A process of attempting to resolve issues through agreement.
 Positional bargaining.
 Principled negotiation.
 Focus on interests, not positions.
 Separate the people from the problem.
 Aim to achieve a wise agreement.
 Aim to get effective implementation.

Stages of Negotiation:
In order to achieve a desirable outcome, it may be useful to follow a structured approach
to negotiation. For example, in a work situation a meeting may need to be arranged in which
all parties involved can come together.
The process of negotiation includes the following stages:
1. Preparation
2. Discussion
3. Clarification of goals
4. Negotiate towards a Win-Win outcome
5. Agreement
6. Implementation of a course of action

ALLOPHONES

DEFINITION:

Allophones are the different realizations of a phoneme depending on the phonetic

environment the phoneme occurs in. The production of any of the contextual variants of a
phoneme does not convey differences in meaning, thus, they are non- contrastive

 PHONEMES are the basic sounds - the significant , non-predictable ones.

 The different ways the phonemes are realized in various positions are called
ALLOPHONES -predictable, and non-significant.

Phones, phonemes and allophones.

As a starter:
  Phones are speech-sounds;
 phonemes are groups of sounds which speakers usually think of as "one sound";
 allophones are the variations within each group.
In any one language or dialect there are usually rather more sounds than speakers
are aware of. For instance, in many types of Southern British English the GOAT vowel the
words "code" and "cold" are usually different from each other. Can you hear the difference?
 code - cold
 lip – pill
What is an Allophonic variant?

For example, [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones for the phoneme /p/
in the English language. The specific allophone selected in a given situation is often
predictable from the phonetic context (such allophones are called positional variants), but
sometimes allophones occur in free variation.

A phoneme is a set of allophones or individual non-contrastive speech segments.

Allophones are sounds, whilst a phoneme is a set of such sounds. Allophones are usually
relatively similar sounds which are in mutually exclusive or complementary distribution
(C.D.).

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech. Allophones are variations in the
realization (or sound) of phonemes, like the different pronunciations of the phoneme 't' in
the word 'tar' and the word 'letter', where the 't' allophone (sound) is softened to a 'd' sound.

PHONEMES are realized as ALLOPHONES:

PHONEMES ALLOPHONES
significant non-significant
unpredictable predictable
contrastive distribution complementary distribution
broad transcription /.../ narrow transcription [...]

ACTIVE LISTENING

INTRODUCTION:

As a leader you are in a position to field complaints from one employee about
another. How (and how well) you understand what you are told will affect how you respond
and what, if anything, you decide to do next. In order to understand you probably need to
listen. Really effective listening is often called Active Listening.
 While listening is an integral part of effective communication, few students are taught
how to listen effectively. Many students believe that hearing what is said is the same as
listening to what is said. In reality, they are distinctly different.

‘Hearing’ is a physical yet passive act involving the process and function of perceiving
sound. ‘Listening’ is hearing the sounds with deliberate intention. Therefore, unlike hearing,
listening is a skill that improves through conscious effort and practice.

Benefits of active listening:

Expressing your thoughts, feelings and opinions clearly and effectively is part of the
communication process. Such expression is complemented by actively listening to and
understanding the messages others are trying to get across to you. Indeed, good
communication and understanding are made possible by active listening.

The way to improve your active listening skills is through practice. You should not
allow yourself to become distracted by things that may be going on around you. Try to make
a conscious effort to hear not only the words, but to truly hear what the other person is
saying.

Genuine active listening will:

 Encourage the speaker to keep talking

 Indicate that you are following the conversation
 Set a comfortable tone
 Signal to the speaker that you are attentive and interested.

Although you may not necessarily agree with others, you should come to appreciate
the many experiences and perspectives that people can share. Importantly, if a
misunderstanding has occurred, active listening will enable communication to be clarified
before any further confusion arises.

To help you improve your skills, implementation of some active listening strategies
will help you to reduce the potential for stress and tension, elicit greater openness, and build
rapport with your lecturers, tutors and fellow students.

Five key elements of active listening:

he key elements of active listening listed below will help you listen to the other person
and increase the likelihood that the other person knows you are listening to them.

1. Pay attention

 Ensure you face the speaker

 Give the speaker your undivided attention and acknowledge their message
 Don’t look at your watch, phone, other people or activities in or beyond the room
  Refrain from side conversations (even if they are whispered).

2. Show that you are listening

 Be aware of your body language—crossed arms can make you seem closed or
negative
 Encourage the speaker to continue by ‘short’ verbal comments
 Ensure your posture and demeanour are open and inviting
 Offer some facial expressions, such as a nod or a smile.

3. Provide feedback

 Ask related and relevant questions

 Reflect on what has been said by paraphrasing
 Seek clarification
 Summarize the speaker’s comments.

4. Respond appropriately

 Assert your opinion(s) respectfully

 Avoid attacking the speaker verbally or otherwise putting them down
 Avoid interrupting the speaker unnecessarily
 Respond openly and honestly, with an appropriate tone of voice
 Treat the other person as you would want to be treated.

5. Defer judgment

 Avoid making assumptions

 Be empathic and nonjudgmental
 Consider the communication from the perspective of the speaker
 Let the presentation run its course
 Listen to the entire message before interjecting with your own comments.

Active listening has several benefits:

 First, it forces people to listen attentively to others.

 Second, it avoids misunderstandings, as people have to confirm that they do really
understand what another person has said.
 Third, it tends to open people up, to get them to say more. When people are in
conflict, they often contradict each other, denying the opponents description of a
situation. This tends to make people defensive, and they will either lash out, or
withdraw and say nothing more. However, if they feel that their opponent is really
attuned to their concerns and wants to listen, they are likely to explain in detail what
they feel and why. If both parties to a conflict do this, the chances of being able to
develop a solution to their mutual problem becomes much greater.

Signs of Active Listening:

 In active listening, the speaker must feel heard. Listeners can utilize several
techniques to accomplish this end.
Non-Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
 Smile
 Eye Contact
 Posture
 Mirroring
 Distraction
 Head nods
 Leaning forward toward the listener
Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
 Positive Reinforcement
 Remembering
 Questioning
 Reflection
 Clarification
 Summarization
 “Mm-hmm”
 “I see”
 “How strange”
 “Tell me more”
 Any other statements that encourage the speaker to continue.

LISTENING AND RESPONDING:

What is listening?
Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the
sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our
ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to
convert these into messages that mean something to us.
Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people
need to work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically
poor listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus.
How we Listen:

 Listening v. Hearing
 Selecting
 Attending
 Understanding
 Remembering
 Responding

Listening Barriers:
 Self Barriers

 Self focus
 Emotional noise
 Criticism
 Processing rate
 Information Overload
 Receiver apprehension

 Context Barriers

 Barriers of time and place

 Noise

Responding Skills:

 Be Descriptive
 Be Timely
 Be Brief
 Be Useful
 Be Active
Responding with Empathy:

 Emotional Intelligence
  Understanding Your Partner’s Feelings
 Ask Appropriate Questions
 Paraphrase the Content
 Paraphrase Emotions

FOUR REASONING SKILLS :

1. Spatial :
It is defined by Howard Gardner as a human computational capacity that provides
the ability or mental skill to solve spatial problems of navigation, visualization of objects
from different angles and space, faces or scenes recognition or to notice fine details.
What is spatial ability?

Spatial ability is the capacity to understand and remember the spatial relations
among objects. This ability can be viewed as a unique type of intelligence distinguishable
from other forms of intelligence, such as verbal ability, reasoning ability, and memory skills.
Spatial ability is not a monolithic and static trait, but made up of numerous
sub skills, which are interrelated among each other and develop throughout your life.
2. Logical reasoning:

Logical reasoning is the process of using a rational, systematic series of steps

based on sound mathematical procedures and given statements to arrive at a
conclusion.
A logical reasoning test is a type of aptitude test that is widely used by corporate
employers to help assess candidates during their recruitment process. Logical reasoning
aptitude tests are designed to measure your ability to draw logical conclusions based on
statements or arguments, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of those arguments.
These tests are designed to assess your logical reasoning ability using the information
provided. A logical reasoning test is a fundamental part of any assessment. Below follows an
overview of the most commonly used logical reasoning tests:
 3. Numerical:
Numerical reasoning ability is one of the most basic skill areas, one that exists in
small children well before they are taught mathematics in school. Numerical reasoning tests,
also known as data interpretation or numerical critical reasoning tests, involve evaluating
situations and drawing conclusions from the data provided to assess one or several of the
following:
 Critical thinking ability
 Basic or general arithmetic operations
 Ability to perform estimates
 Ability to analyze graphs and other data
 Level of speed in making analyses or assessments
 Level of concentration in solving problems
It’s considered to be one of the most basic skills needed in today’s data-driven marketplace,
and without strong numerical reasoning skills, it would be difficult to succeed in many jobs
today. Many fields benefit from this type of testing, including most clerical and
administrative jobs, jobs found in the craft and technical field at any level, and even positions
in police or fire departments, or in the military field.
4. Verbal reasoning:
Verbal reasoning is understanding and reasoning using concepts framed in
words. It aims at evaluating ability to think constructively, rather than at simple fluency or
vocabulary recognition.

Verbal reasoning involves listening and reading. Demonstrating verbal reasoning

requires speaking and writing. Verbal reasoning -- one of four basic cognitive reasoning skills
-- encompasses almost all learning tasks considered part of a formal education. Even
mathematics, which is a nonverbal skill, requires some verbal reasoning because it's generally
taught through oral or written instruction. When most people discuss learning, they're talking
about the ability to use verbal reasoning skills.

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