The Final Blogpost

I think it has changed a little in the sense that there are more aspects to effective communication skills than only interpreting nonverbal cues, forging good relationships with people and developing myself as a good listener and speaker which I touched on in my first blogpost. Having effective communication skills also mean that we excel in written communication such as business correspondence and formal reports, enhancing our job search communication like constructing resumes, job application letters and performing at job interviews and strengthening our oral communication like delivering oral presentations.

I think the skills that I have attained in this module are invaluable. For instance, before I attended this module, I did not know how to construct a job application letter nor write a resume. By attending this module, I was able to write both job application letter and resume easily and efficiently. This module also allowed me to perform at job interviews by equipping myself with the questions that an interviewer would ask and let me discovering more about myself by identifying my personal traits, interests and values. By knowing all these things, I would be more confident when I go for any interview and allow me to know what I am looking for in a job. By learning about business correspondence, I would be able to write a business letter and know how to construct a memorandum and appropriate letters in different situations. By learning how to do a formal report in a team, it allowed me to develop empathy, prioritize my time, enhance my communication skills with my team mates and realize the power of teamwork. By learning about how to deliver oral presentations, it equipped me with the skills like persuasive skills, voice and pitch control and to cope with nervousness and stress of presenting in front of an audience.

Therefore, the module gives me an invaluable and unforgettable experience as it has taught me many skills that I do not possess or have not discovered before.

Blogpost 6 : Biodata

I am currently a 3rd year undergraduate in the National University of Singapore (NUS), pursing a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. My active involvement in Co- Curriculum Activities allowed me to develop my leadership and interaction skills as there were immense opportunities to interact with my peers and organize training programs for them. I was the Vice-Head prefect as well as the Vice president for the National Police Cadet Corps in my secondary school. Recently, I was involved in the Science Orientation Week for Faculty of Science in its Freshmen Orientation Project as a member of the logistic committee. Cheerful, lively and responsible are usually the first impression that I give others. I am also an outgoing, humorous and active person with a never-say-die attitude in life.

Blogpost 5: Reflecting on the Research Project Experience

For this post, look at Appendix 2 of the skill builder Documenting Reports 6: Peer Review. Use the questions there as a
guide for writing about one aspect of your learning experience, be that your success in teamwork, communication amongst
your group, problems encountered, etc.

I think that one valuable experience learnt from doing my research project was the ability to communicate efficiently among my project mates in the group. In the beginning, when we were choosing a topic to do our report, we had very different opinions and it was quite difficult to choose whose idea was more feasible to be developed. Hence, discussing with each other about the advantages and disadvantages of our ideas for the project allowed us to choose the topic for our project. Therefore, communication is a catalyst to help us speed up the process of choosing the topic.

I remembered that there was one incident where we had a miscommunication with each other. I was supposed to do the findings and interpretation for question 6 to 8 for our report but I thought I was doing question 8 to 10. Thus, I did the findings and interpretations for the wrong questions. In the end, we were not able to hand up our findings and interpretation on time due to my mistake. I should have confirmed with my project mates which questions I was supposed to do. Therefore, efficient communication is also important for us to avoid making silly mistakes like what I have done.

Communication is also essential for us so that we can empathize with our project mates if they have tests coming up. By telling us about it, we could assign him/her simpler tasks to do like checking for grammatical errors or compiling the different sections in the project. In this way, he/she could still be involved in the project and be able to study for his/her test.

In conclusion, having the ability to communicate efficiently among project mates allow us to catalyze the process of choosing a topic for the project, avoid miscommunication and empathize with one another. Thus, it is one valuable learning experience that I have gained while doing the report.

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (Blog Post #4)

It is the first time for June to attend a Hari Raya celebration in Faizal’s house. Due to the hot weather, June wore only spaghetti strap and a pair of shorts to his house. In addition, it was a joyous occasion so June decided to buy some food to his house. June bought a packet of drumsticks and headed straight to Faizal’s house.

When Faizal opened the door, he was shocked to see June dressed so skimpily. He scolded June for her carelessness but forgave her for it as it was the June’s first time attending such a celebration. Then, when Faizal’s parents saw June in shorts, they shook their head and were really angry and Faizal was scolded by his parents. June felt sorry for her stupid mistake of dressing casually instead of dressing to the occasion. The misery did not stop right there for June. June presented the food to Faizal’s parents and to their utter disbelief, it was not Halal as they cannot find a Halal sign on the packaging. Faizal’s parents got so furious that they asked June to go home immediately. June felt so disappointed at her own actions that she cried and left the house.

From the above scenario, we have several things to take note. One is to know the culture and values of others. For June’s case, she should have asked Faizal whether wearing spaghetti strap and a pair of shorts is alright. She just takes it for granted that it is okay. In Malay tradition, girls should dress decently instead of skimpily because it is a sign of disrespect for the elderly. Secondly, she should have called and asked Faizal whether it was alright if she bought food that is not Halal. For Malays, they only eat food which are Halal. Halal means permissible. An animal or poultry has to be slaughtered in a ritual way known as Zibah then it can be considered Halal. If she had called and clarified with Faizal, this incident would not have happened. Lastly, June should not leave the house, instead she should apologize to Faizal and his parents and everything will be fine. In this way, it would repair the bad feelings between them.

Potential Research Project Topics (Blog Post #3)

I would like to do a research on whether the problem of students coming late for classes in NUS is solely due to the frequency of bus 95. I have thought about various other reasons regarding this problem. One could be due to the low frequencies of buses and MRT, another could be due to the attitudes of students or it could be because the lessons are too early for them. However, I’m more interested in researching on whether the frequency of bus number 95 has any reason for students to be late for their classes. Being a student of NUS, traveling from my house to school which includes waiting for bus number 95 is a daily routine. Although there is another alternative, bus number 198, the more convenient bus to science faculty and other faculties is still bus 95. However, there is one main problem: students waiting at the bus stop in Buona Vista will take the bus to school and since the bus is single decked, a lot of the students have to wait for quite some time to get to board another one if they missed it due to too many passengers. Therefore, I am thinking whether this is the main reason that caused students to be late for classes in NUS.

An attitudinal survey is needed because we need to see are there other reasons that contribute to the students being late or is it solely the frequency of bus number 95. Some people are late because they stay quite far away from school while others are late because of their attitudes. For instance, some people feel too lazy to wake up 15 minutes earlier to travel to school. By having concrete evidence through survey, we can know the real reason behind people being late. Then we can come out with solutions to solve the problem such as informing the Land Transport Authority about this problem and see if they can increase the frequency of bus 95 or construct a double-decker bus which can fetch more commuters. It will definitely benefit the students and lecturers. The objective of the report is to inform the LTA about this pressing issue.

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Blog Post #2)

I still remembered vividly that there was once my brother and mother had a heated argument at home. They were quarrelling about my baby nephew’s feed. My mother was supposed to come home and prepare fish porridge for the baby but she was late. The baby’s feed was supposed to be at 6pm sharp but she reached home only at 6.30pm. The baby was fed baby cereal at 6pm instead because he was hungry. The maid told my brother about it and my brother was furious. After work, he came home and confronted my mother about the incident. He wanted to know why my mother was late. My mother explained to him that she was at my uncle’s house discussing my uncle’s renovation plans and was not able to reach home on time. Then, my brother suggested letting the baby eat his baby cereal on Thursday and Friday as this will be the two days when my mother will be busy. However, my mother did not see that my brother was accommodating her. She thought that my brother was accusing her to be late every time. That was why he wanted the baby cereal to be given to the baby every Thursday and Friday. This caused my brother to explode and he started shouting at her, saying that he was trying to solve the problem but she did not think so. She argued that since she would reach home on time in the future, why should he fix the two days for the baby to be fed with the cereal. My brother said that my mother’s time management was always lousy and by fixing the feed, the baby would have his dinner on time. However, my mother was angry and insisted that she would still prepare the feed on Thursday and Friday. This caused my brother to slam the door as he went out of the house.

In what way can he explain to my mother such that she will not misinterpret what he meant?

The possible causes are personality conflict and misinterpretation: e.g. my mother’s stubbornness and my brother’s hot tempered nature and also my mother’s misinterpretation of his goodwill.

Effective Communication Skills (Blog Post #1)

Being able to communicate effectively in everyday life is very essential for me. Having effective communication skills such as interpreting nonverbal communication cues allows me to know how the listeners feel about the things that I am talking about. For instance, when a listener is scratching his head and looking puzzled, it shows that he does not get your message. In contrast, when the listener is nodding and giving a sign of approval with a thumb up, it shows that he agrees to what you are saying and likes the message that you brought across to him.

Having effective communication skills also allow me to forge good relationships with friends, clients and family members. It allows me to be able to resolve conflicts easily too. For example, when I know that my friend is angry with the derogatory words that I used, I can repair the bad feelings by apologizing to him. Furthermore, having effective communication skills allow me to avoid cultural conflicts. For instance, when I’m eating with my Japanese friends, it is perfectly fine for me to burp when I finish my food because it means I appreciate my food but if I’m eating with other ethnic friends then it will be rude if I burped.

Besides being good at conveying messages to my listeners, it allows me to be a good listener as well. For example, when my lecturer is speaking, I will sit up straight and not slouch so I can be attentive and not fall asleep. It is also very distracting if my mobile phone is on because someone might call or SMS me so I will switch off my mobile phone when I am in class. By being a good listener, I will be able to evaluate and examine the messages that are conveyed. It also allows me to sieve out important information and ideas from the speaker’s speech.

Therefore, having effective communication skills are definitely important in my life. It allows me to be able to interpret nonverbal cues, forge good relationships with people and also develop myself as a good listener and speaker.