2.2 Elements of making an effective request.
Sometimes people ponder over why their request are never fulfill, by listeners, in the way they really want. In order to make an effective request the speaker has to plan it and be prudent (Potts 2012). According to Pamela Potts (2012), “there are specific elements that, if present, will ensure that a request in effective.” The author later goes on to say; “effective means that if person accepts the request, the likelihood that they will deliver what was requested is high.” (Potts 2012). In order to improve clarity the speaker should apply six elements of making an effective request which include committed speaker, committed listener, future action and conditions of satisfaction, timeframe, mood of request and context (Brothers 2012).
Firstly, committed speaker- if the speaker wants his request to be fulfilled, he has to be committed. Chalmers Brothers (2012) claims that „a commited speaker does what is necessary to elicit a committed listener”. The speaker has to focus on conversation and the person (Brother 2012).
Secondly, committed listener- the listener should be focus on the speaker and actually listen to the requester (Potts 2012). Chalmers Brothers (2012) says that “A committed listener has solid eye contact, paying attention… and is not texting, on the phone, watching TV, eating pizza or filling out forms as he/she is listening to you”.
Thirdly, future actions and conditions of satisfaction which are connected with giving concrete detailed explanation “of the task including what standards to use tio determine if the task has been completed” (Potts 2012). It is significant to remember that what is self-evident for the speaker, may not be self-evident for his/her listener (...
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...nces”, which are called speech acts. This speech acts included “apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request” (Yule 1996: 47). During creating an utterance the speaker may have different communicative intention, which can be applied by various sorts of speech acts. The sender of the message generally expects the addressee to encode the information correctly. According to Yule, “both speaker and hearer are usually helped in this process by the circumstances surrounding the utterances”, which are called the speech event (1996: 47).
2.4.1 Speech acts: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts
Joan Cutting claims that “Austin (1962) defined speech acts as the actions performed in saying something. Speech act theory said that the action performed when an utterance is produced can be analysed on three different levels” (fig. 2) (2002: 16)
Drew, P. (1984). Speakers' reportings in invitation sequences. In J.M. Atkinson & J.C. Heritage (eds). Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis (pp. 129-151). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(2014) used the Listening Styles Profile-Revised (LSP-R). This scale was revised by Bodie, Worthington, and Gearhart in 2013 and is “…based on four factors: relational, analytical, task-oriented, and critical listening”. Relational listeners (RL) are responsive and considerate of others’ feelings. “RL captures listening as a way to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships” (Gearhart et al., 2014). Analytical listening (AL) is used to gather all of the information from the message being received before coming to a judgment (Gearhart et al., 2014).
At the beginning of the semester our class was introduced to a new term, listenability. The level of listenability is at the mercy of the speaker, not of the audience. During our semester, we were taught to harness the listenability keys of strategy, structure, support, and style in order to achieve a high level of listenability. Examples of listenability include when a speaker engages the audience by asking questions, using narratives or stories that people can relate to, and has stimulating visual support and content. These are only a couple of keys used to create a listener centered speech.
Persuasion is an important aspect of communication, certainly a significant business activity. Regardless of whether this comes in the form of a sender influencing a party or the receiver itself is being influenced. Typically, this could come in the form of a salesman or, even a manager communicating with key stakeholders, such as potential investors.
persuasion on people you need to be familiar with the structure behind a persuasive message. It is important to identify which route is beingused (central or peripheral) and understand the effect of the communicator,the content of the message, the method of communication, and the reaction by the audience. Counterarguements in making a public commitment strengthen out resistance to persuasion.
Based on this, the researchers surmised that it was possible that the change in attitude brought on by involvement was not necessarily toward a specific person or issue, but rather toward granting the requests in general.
As The Gift of Listening describes, “Opening one’s heart and listening at a deep level does not come easily and is rarely achieved simply by life experience” (Browning & Waite, 2010, p. 151) There are different aspects to being a good listener that are often difficult to achieve and lead to poor listening. One significant challenge to listening is the attention needed in order to actively listen to another person. Proper listening does not occur due to a passive process but instead it takes deliberate action and thought towards what a person in saying. Like previously stated, actively listening is achieved by sitting in a comfortable and open way and maintaining good eye contact. When a person does not exhibit these techniques good listening often does not occur. The challenge of utilizing different techniques in order to listen to others in a better way often gets blocked by barriers that make active listening unable to occur. In our society today one major barrier to listening is technology. In a casual setting, proper listening often doesn’t occur due to someone being tied to their cell phone. The millennial generation is often guilty of passively listening to others due to the mobile technology that is being used today. Many conversations occur without eye contact or full focus on what the other has to say and instead is spent staring at a
An illocutionary act is some kind of function in speaker’s mind when he/she says something. Most people do not just produce utterances without a purpose behind it (Yule, 1996: 48). We can simply say that an illocutionary act is what the speaker intends to deliver to the addressee (Kreidler, 1998: 181). For instance, the previous example “I’ve just made some coffee” might utter to make a statement, an offer, an explanation, or for some other communicative purpose (Yule, 1996: 48).
Another strength of mine as a listener is the ability to ask questions and to keep myself engaged in the conversation. For me, asking questions are important because they clarify information if I do not understand and allow for asking for more information. On the other hand, it is important to not ask too many questions because then I am taking over the conversation and not listening. As a financial advisor, I have daily potential client meetings where listening is critical and allows me to take away key information. During these conferences, I ask the prospective customers questions and based off of their answers, I evaluate a possible financial outcome for their present and future. If I do not listen and pay strict attention to each client’s detailed an...
Giving the speaker your undivided attention can help you focus on the important key elements of the message being sent, it allows you to ask questions that will enhance the communication process. Active listing can enhance relationships because it shows you actually care about what the other person has to say; people feel cared for when someone cares enough to listen and pay attention to what they have to say. It can also help you calm a person who is feeling very upset about a situation. Active listening is an important part of customer service, people with great customer service listen to a customer, ask clarifying questions, empathize, and offer potential solutions. Thus, calming an upset customer or showing them their business is appreciated (Janasz, 2006,
proposition – acceptation, question – answer. Since the reaction to any of these language acts
Listening is a big part of communicating well with others. Take time to carefully listen to what others are saying, and also take time to observe their nonverbal communications. A good listener does not interrupt the person while their talking. they make eye contact with the person speaking. they provide the speaker with their full attention, avoid unnecessary distractions, and try to understand the other persons point of view by being empathetic.
One of the main aspects in communicating is listening. An effective listener is one who, not only comprehends how the speaker feels but, also understands what they are stating. Building a strong connection between the speaker and the listener is one of the first steps to become a good listener. By building this connection speakers should first be in an environment with open minded listeners, it makes them feel more comfortable to state their opinions, feelings and ideas. Listeners should avoid being judgmental. The individual does not have to agree with the ideas, values or opinions of the speaker; however, to fully understand them, one must put aside their criticism. Speakers will believe that they can trust the listeners with their information when they know that they will not be judged. Miscommunication happens frequently, listene...
“Speech act” is a term coined by Searle, who, being a disciple of Austin, perfected the theory, presented in his book How to do things with words, published in 1962. Speech acts are defined as what we do when we speak with words (Austin, 1962), such as performing a request, ordering or refusing. The concept of speech acts was first proposed by philosophers of language as Austin (1962) and Searle (1969, 1975, 1976), and subsequently, the concept was adapted to studies of sociology, psychology and applied linguistics. Austin notes that some statements are in their own right acts, which he called “performative” statements. By issuing a performative statement the speaker, rather than state or describe something actually performs an act. For example, statements like “I do” in a wedding ceremony said by the couple and “I name this ship Queen Elizabeth” (P. 49), the speaker explicitly performs a speech act. In light of this verbs such as to do and in this case to name, belong to the category of performative verbs as far as Austin is concerned. Austin believes that every speech act has three dimensions: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary. Locution is where the literal meaning of the statement is taken as the overall meaning of what is being communicated. “I’m thirsty” is a statement that expresses that the speaker is thirsty. The illocution has to do with the value that speaker gives to the locutionary act. I’m thirsty can be expressed and understood as simple the physical state of the speaker but it can also refer to a request being made for something to drink. The speaker has added an illocutionary meaning or illocutionary force to his statement. The perlocutionary aspect deals with the effect the statement has on the listene...
The first phase in the listening process is attending. Attending is willfully striving to perceive selected sounds. The most important factor of attending is preparing to be physically and mentally ready to pay attention. We should focus mainly on attending to the message rather than encountering inner thoughts and feelings. In my day-to-day life, I try to get ready to attend even though it could be difficult at times. For instance, the other day when I was home, I had an argument with my mother and I started back talking her. But I realized that I should look directly at her and situate myself correctly. After she finished speaking, I understood what she had meant and that was when I saw an improvement in myself because it made it look like I was interested in what she was saying. To advance your attending skills, another important factor is making the shift from speaker to listener...