Discussion 2

What are your main take away lessons from the assigned reading this week? Describe and
explain.

Language and communication are means humans use to express their different traits depending
on their cultures.

Some of the take away lessons from the reading in this week are discussed below:

Cultural heritage: understanding each other and accepting our differences and diversities. The
video ‘12 pairs of legs’ brings out the need for an appreciation of our collective humanity and the
potential within it that makes us beautiful. We should celebrate our heartbreaking differences and
not the glorious disabilities that we have

Generational gap and prejudice or prejudgments: with the widening influence of social media in
our lives, the personal touch from interactions has been replaced by instant gratification derived
from social media. Consequently, spending much time with electronic devices has impacted
negatively on the productivity of the younger generation.

Racial differences: there is need for a huge appreciation for a people’s heritage, our mixed
identity and how we relate with each other.

Varying conversational styles between men and women: Speech reveals much about the male
and female reasons for conversing. There is a need for a change to be accommodative of the
other gender in our conversations

How will they affect the way you communicate?

Before dismissing a stranger as weird in their way of expression, I will firstly accept that we are
different culturally and be more accommodative.

Before dismissing someone because of the generational gap between us, it would be wise to
acknowledge that we have varying outlooks on life and have been brought up in different times
which spells out varying appreciation for things. If an employer, I would first reach out to the
younger employees to make them feel valued and bring the best out in them before writing them
off as unproductive and after instant gratification.

I will be more careful in my speech not to come out as the stereotypical male or female who is
inconsiderate in speech but rather strive to live by the principle of free speech and the need to
minimize hateful and discriminatory messages.

In what ways do the concepts in the videos and readings relate to your professional life in
education?
Much of the information in the videos and reading directly reflect what goes on in my
professional life and education in a number of ways. Firstly, spending much time on social media
reduces productivity in class and poor grades are the result. The more the screen time the worse
our attention span becomes and that explains it all.

Secondly, the generation gap with lecturers is very evident and it often results in
miscommunication. Prejudgment and prejudice affect the relationship with other leaners as well
who are of different age groups especially the older ones.

On communication and speech, slang very much features in our communication, and profane
language becomes evident. The videos have pointed out the need for being sensitive to others
and living by the principle of free speech and the need to minimize hateful and discriminatory
messages
Reference

Adler, R.a. (2016) Understanding Human Communication (13th Edition). Oxford University
Press