Business Communication Chapter 8 Homework Everyday Conversations Small Talk Introducing People Apologies

DeVito Interpersonal Messages, 4e Instructor’s Manual

1

Chapter 8: Conversation Messages

Chapter Overview

This chapter examines the principles of conversation, conversational disclosure, and

some everyday conversation situations.

Conversation is defined as the informal exchange of messages between two people or

a small group. There are five principles of conversation, including that conversation: (1)

can be viewed as a developmental process consisting of a series of stages: opening,

feedforward, business, feedback, and closing; (2) is a cooperative process; (3) is best

viewed as dialogic; (4) is a process of turn-taking, and (5) is usually and ideally a polite

interaction.

Chapter Objectives

1. Explain the stages of conversation, conversation’s dialogic nature, and the roles of

turn-taking and politeness.

2. Define self-disclosure, disclose with recognition of its rewards and its dangers, and

3. Communicate effectively in making small talk, introductions, and apologies and in

giving compliments and advice, as well as responding to advice.

Student Objectives

Content Objectives:

To understand the process of conversation

To explain the principles for satisfying conversation

Skills Objectives:

DeVito Interpersonal Messages, 4e Instructor’s Manual

2

To communicate your feelings and respond to the feelings of others effectively

Skills Evaluation

1. Objective: To open, maintain, and close conversations more effectively.

Students in pairs and unrehearsed should discuss a class topic assigned to them for

5-7 minutes, including the five stages of conversation. They will be evaluated on

following and being sensitive to the completion of each stage.

2. Objective: To open, maintain, and close conversations more effectively. Use

the following issues as problems for students to initiate, maintain, and close a

conversation:

(a) Request a recommendation for a job from an employer who is known for being

strongly opinionated, but first—you want to learn his opinion of you.

illness.

(g) Explain to your apartment mate that you just totaled his car.

(h) Clarify with a realtor that you want a French country style home, now that you

have been shown a modern house, an arts and crafts style house, and a Greek

revival style house.

(i) Explain to your Japanese host that you cannot eat sushi if it has raw fish in it.

(j) Let your grandmother know that you appreciate her giving you the coveted

antique family watch, but your sister is jealous and it’s causing friction between

Chapter Outline

I. Five Principles of Conversation

A. The Principle of Process: Conversation Is a Developmental Process

2. Feedforward

4. Feedback

3

5. Closing

B. The Principle of Cooperation

C. The Principle of Dialogue: Conversation Is Dialogic

D. The Principle of Turn Taking: Conversation Is a Process of Turn Taking

1. Speaker Cues

3. Back-Channeling Cues

4. Interruptions

E. The Principle of Politeness: Conversation Is (Usually) Polite

II. Conversational Disclosure: Revealing Yourself

A. Influences on Self-Disclosure

B. Rewards and Dangers of Self-Disclosure

1. Rewards of self-disclosure

2. Dangers of self-disclosure: Risks ahead

4. Guidelines for making self-disclosures

6. Guidelines for resisting pressure to self-disclose

III. Everyday Conversations

A. Small Talk

B. Introducing People

C. Apologies

D. Complimenting

1. Giving a compliment

2. Receiving a compliment

E. Advising

Teaching Strategies

 Appropriately Stated. Refer to the “Interpersonal Choice Point” situations

 Turn-Taking. Assign a group of five students to hold a discussion in front of the

class on a topic of local relevance (could be school or community related—

DeVito Interpersonal Messages, 4e Instructor’s Manual

4

 Cinema Conversation. Play clips of conversations from movies. Discuss with

the class the stages of the conversation you observed and turn-taking cues.

 Research It! Students should observe several informal conversations between

men and women in groups. The observers should note how many topics are

 What Would You Do? Discuss Ethical Messages, “The Ethics of Gossip” in your

text. Have students identify school-related situations regarding gossip (examples:

 Making Apologies. Use the Skill Building Exercise at the end of the chapter as

the basis for small group and follow-up class discussion on the ethics of excuses.

 Practice Hand Shaking. Have students and their classmates use the “Six Steps

Activities for Student-Based Learning

Giving and Receiving Compliments

Have all the students sit in a circle. Let one student volunteer and compliment the

person to his or her right. The person receiving the compliment practices how to receive

the compliment and continues to give the person to his or her right a compliment.

Online Versus Real-Life Conversations

Before class, assign students to observe either an online or real-life conversation. For

the students assigned with the online task, ask them to go into a chat room and observe

the different ways that people initiate interactions. What type of small talk do people

engage in? What kinds of topics do they discuss? In addition, ask them to interact with

DeVito Interpersonal Messages, 4e Instructor’s Manual

5

For the students assigned to the real-life conversation, ask them to attend a new place

where they would feel comfortable: church, supermarket, bar, etc., then ask the

students to observe how people interact. Additionally, challenge the students to meet

someone new. Have the students to bring their observations to class. As a class,

discuss some of the ways that people converse. How do conversations differ online

compared to real life? How are they similar? Did the conversations follow a similar

model as discussed in our text?

Wish I Had Said

Students write about a time in which they said something they later regretted. For this

activity, students will assume that they said something they wish they hadn’t; explore

Google+ Hangout Session

Demonstrate how to set up a Google+ account for students. Then, assign students to

small groups and ask them to complete a team building problem-solving project such

as:

DeVito Interpersonal Messages, 4e Instructor’s Manual

6

Using Verbal Messages Effectively and Critically Skills

Evaluation Form

Class: _____________________ Section: ______________ Date:

___________________

Student Name: __________________________________ Skills Evaluation: ________

Names of

discussion

participants

Speaker: turn–

maintaining cues

Speaker: turn–

yielding cues

Listener: turn–

requesting cues

Listener: turn–

denying cues

Listener: back–

channeling cues

1.

2.

3.

Totals

4.