Modes Of Communication 06/05/2013

It is interesting how you could be doing things in your teaching practice by instinct, then you discover that these things actually have a name..Although, the term "Modes of Communication" is new to me, I've been practicing those modes in my profession without realizing that I've been doing the right thing. In this blog entry, I'll be talking about the three modes of communication and their importance, how are my previous sessions integrating them, how I would like to apply them professionally in my Arabic sessions, how would a distance learning environment impact my practice.

The three modes of communication are the Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational. The interpretive communication mode is when students listen, view, or read an authentic text and answer questions to assess their comprehension. The interpersonal mode is when students engage in communication about a particular topic which relates to the interpretive text. In the presentational mode students share their research, ideas, and opinions with an audience through speeches, drama, skits, videos, posters, radio broadcasts, etc.

As educators, we always want the best for our students. It is our duty not to just give our students information, vocabulary, and grammar tools but to engage them in the culture of the language. Deepening their understanding beyond speaking, listening, reading, and writing is what makes us unique educators. In addition, creating life long learners who take their new language beyond the classroom and into the world and using it for personal enjoyment and enrichment is what differentiates a teacher from a connected teacher.

 In my institute, we offer a variety of classes. I will demonstrate on a class called "My Life". This class has two sections, themes and media. In our themes section, students are given vocabulary words that are related to the theme, a paragraph, and some questions (Interpretive communication). After going through the materials, students try to form sentences using the vocabulary that they have learned (Interpersonal communication). They are asked after that to present what they have learned to the rest of the groups (Presentational communication). In the media section, students watch a youtube video and learn the vocabulary presented in it (Interpretive), form their own sentences (Interpersonal), and present them in some sort of presentation form to the rest of the groups (Presentational).

After learning about this topic in the ClassRoad course, I now have a solid ground to plan and structure the lessons in a professional manner. I would also like to balance between the three modes and give the students enough time to practice each one. In addition, I would like to connect the students more to the culture of the language and to its communities. I would like my students to make comparisons and connections with their environment and their own cultures. Furthermore, I want my classes to become more effective by adding the human-to-human interaction which is encompassed in ten words "Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom."

The only issue with the distance learning environment is missing the human connection. But with Skype and google hangouts and other social media, I think that this is no longer a huge issue. We can easily integrate the three modes of communication in our distance learning environments without any limitations.