Communication Competence

Communication Competence 1

Abstract

Communication competence is something that affects people everyday. It is very broad and is, in fact, too broad to discuss every aspect. Therefore, this work will be focused specifically on communication competence in family communication and how parents affect the child during the developmental stages. Communication competence can be linked to Mead's symbolic interactionism theory. Throughout our paper, the concepts of symbolic interactionism are applied to communication competence. The goal of this paper is to better understand the importance of effective communication during the developmental stages of children, and further show the vitality of symbolic interactionism to development.

Communication Competence 2 In this research, three main topics are discussed. First, the research focuses on the phenomenon of communication competence and a clear definition will be given so that the reader gains a mutual understanding of the term communication competence. The topic will be narrowed down to its importance in family communication and the research will focus on the importance of parents communicating affectively to their children. Secondly, Mead's theory of symbolic interactionism will be discussed. Each concept of this theory will be explained and the paper will then exhibit the relation between communication competence and symbolic interactionism. The last section of the paper will discuss what was found through research, and hopefully help the reader understand the importance of communication competence. After discussing communication competence, symbolic interactionism, and explaining the link between the two, a hypothesis will be given. How does communication competence correlate with the leadership role of the adult? We discovered two different perspectives of the concept. "Communication competence for the cognitive perspective is the ability of the individual

Communication Competence 3 to demonstrate knowledge of the appropriate behavior in a given situation. Communication competence from the behavioral perspective is the ability of the individual to perform the appropriate communicative behavior in a given situation" {Flauto, 1999, 0.90). In a home, a parent must not only demonstrate that they have knowledge of appropriate communication behavior to their child, but they also must portray this behavior by their actions. According to the study, in order to be an effective leader, you must be a competent communicator. Leadership is a main aspect of communication competence. Parents direct operations, activities, and performances of families in many cases. A study researched the role of parent-child conversation and its role in shaping a child's cognitive development (Laible, 2004). Therefore when a child converses with an adult, the internal thought originates from the social interaction. This is due to a mutual understanding and meaning given to the conversation by the caregiver and the child. The child, in turn, internalizes their conversations, and further guides his social skills (Laible, 2004). "When parents verbally guide a child in creating descriptions of social, emotional, and moral experiences, caregivers are
Communication Competence 4 likely teaching children about socio-emotional concepts, including the causes and consequences of emotions, what type of behaviors are socially acceptable, and how they evaluate moral and emotional experiences" (Laible, 2004, p.979). The style the parent uses to communicate with the child has an effect on their recollection of past experiences (Laible, 2004). Some parents are very elaborate and provide rich descriptions of past experiences. This type of parent also asks open ended questions about a child's memories (Laible, 2004). On the other hand, some parents provide little support and detail of past experience. "Researchers on autobiographical memory have found empirical support for the idea that elaborative parents have children who have more comprehensive and detailed memory of their past experiences than children of repetitive parents" (Laible, 2004, p.980). Interpersonal relationships are influenced by communication competence. The interpersonal relationships a child forms are determined by the child learning to develop relationships by the competence demonstrated by the caregiver. "Multiple regression analysis indicated that concept oriented family communication significantly
Communication Competence 5 predicted whether a young person develops the interpersonal competence necessary in managing interpersonal relationships" (Koesten;Anderson, 2004, p.99). How a child organizes and shapes his or her thoughts is formed through the interpersonal relationships he or she have with their parents (Laible, 2004). This implies that if a child has close relationships with his or her parents then he or she will develop skills to form successful interpersonal relationships in the future. Much of the bond between the child and parent, as said before, relies on the communication competence of the parent. There are many concepts that set parents back from being competent communicators in family environments. This research will discuss three communication competence barriers between a child and a parent. Reluctance is one of the concepts researched in this study. It is said that a large aim of reluctance is to remain vague about true feelings of another individual ( ). If a parent is hesitant about telling their child they did well in school it is because they think that the child will feel at ease and stop excelling. This cognitive process performed by the parent prevents he or she from communicating efficiently to his or her child. If a child sees the parents communicate in a positive manner then it is likely that the child will internalize what they see (Laible, 2004). Many do not have the ability to express the positive feedback toward others. This implies that they never received encouragement from parents during the developmental years ( ). This research is simply saying that if a child does not have parents as competent communicators, then it will more than likely affect their competence as they develop and communicate in society. Communication competence of a parent seems to become less affective to children if communication between parents is insufficient. The concept to this research study is focusing on disintegration of their parents' marriage. One study claims that parents should stay married for their children no matter what the circumstances (Masci, 2001). Critics claim that this study is unscientific and argue that bad marriages often end up doing more harm than good to the whole family and claim that couples in troubled marriages should divorce rather than raise children in a household permeated with anger and tension (Masci, 2001). Another study focused on how positive communication between parents and children can help children with their self-image. Its main focus was adolescent girls. "Results from the study found that adolescent girls' positive relationships with both parents relate to healthier eating, both concurrently and longitudinally. Interactions of the pubertal and the experience with the parent appear to be important for understanding eating problems in early adolescents" (Swarr;Richards, 1996, p.636).