Communication Module

By the end of this module, you will:

• Develop some understanding of some key features of effective communication.
• Consider how these features apply to community engagement
• Apply your knowledge about effective communication to case studies involving local and international communities.

While you will know this to be true in your experience, an example can illustrate the potential for mismatch between what’s said and what’s heard. Suppose one of your professors writes you a letter of reference for graduate school. If the professor uses very supportive language in the introduction (“I strongly recommend this student for your program”) but then justifies their recommendation with the following examples: (“The student has good attendance, always passes in their assignments on time, and is quite courteous to classmates and to members of the community.”).

Such reasons raise questions for a selection committee about what your letter writer is really saying. Why? In light of a committee’s reasonable expectation for concrete and supportive details about your intellectual virtues, how these are manifest in your contributions to the class, and why they make you competitive for an advanced degree, the absence of these details says something. The committee might conclude that the letter intends to be supportive but wonder if the absence of concrete examples of relevant excellence illustrates that the letter writer doesn’t know (or doesn’t remember) you well enough to give details. Either way, notice that something intended to be a positive recommendation functions as a negative one. Thankfully professors who agree to write for students will generally do a good job. But the practice of trying to say something positive while saying something negative instead remains widespread and is something we should all be on guard to avoid. The general lesson that also applies to community engagement is to try to say what you mean and to take the time to do it well.

If the first lesson is about a mismatch between what is said and what is heard, the second lesson is that nonverbal behavior besides what one says or writes can also impact your message. Body language matters, in other words. To use an example in the context of community engagement, if a classmate tells you that they like your project choice but you notice them quickly rolling their eyes as they say this, you will reasonably become skeptical about the truth of their assertion. Alternatively, if you saw them smiling and giving thumbs up to a third party, you’d likely conclude that they really meant it.

Communication can be complicated. One reason is that what is appropriate and effective often depends on the relationships, resources,  and power dynamics of the people involved, as well as the wider historical and socio-cultural context. Other factors include people’s individual preferences, knowledge, and understanding of the purpose of any given communication. Your professor is likely to have at least some relevant background knowledge about these factors and how they might be relevant for communicating with your community partner. For example, some community partners who receive a lot of emails and phone calls every day may need more than 24 or even 48 hours to respond, or they may need to confer with members of their community or organization before they can provide you with the information you are seeking. 

Given that communication within a class can also be complicated, your professor will probably spend some time helping you create guidelines for student-to-student communication. Both within your class and when your class is communicating with the community partner,  it will be helpful to determine some things in advance. You might want to find out, for example, whether email, telephone, or in-person communication is preferred, who should be copied on any emails, and how often communication should take place.

Effective communication also involves ethical issues, namely, our responsibility as listeners and receivers of other people’s messages. This is particularly important in social contexts marked by differences in power. One problem that may arise in these contexts is called testimonial injustice, which arises when a speaker is not believed or taken as seriously, when others would be, because of a prejudice on the listeners’ part. It may occur, for example, when the statements of lower-income women or Black men are taken less seriously in courts, police stations, or healthcare settings than the same statements given by higher-income women or white men would be. These patterns occur due to listeners’ conscious or unconscious social prejudices and beliefs about the reliability of statements from different demographic groups. 

In your experience with community engagement, testimonial injustice could occur if the statements of some community members who do not speak English well are discounted by members of your class or if some students’ statements are not taken seriously by community members or by other students, due to one of their social identities. Testimonial injustice not only prevents effective communication from occurring; by unjustly compromising the speaker’s capacity and authority, it also shows that the act of communicating involves ethics and justice.

These activities may be done individually, with classmates/group members, and/or with community partners. There is a set of questions and topics for before or at the beginning of the community engagement and another set that can be used during and/or after the experience. The questions are a labeled below for their suggested use.

1. Thinking about the different modes of communication (spoken, written, nonverbal) and listening, what are your strengths? In which area(s) would you like to practice and improve during this community engagement experience?
2. Describe a time when you had a successful communication (in any mode) with another person or group when there was a potentially challenging issue, such as a different language, different mode of communication, different understanding of the purpose of the communication, or different social identities and statuses. What did you do to make it successful? What did the other person(s) do?
3. Describe a time when communication (in any mode) went awry with another person or group you were interacting with in an academic, work, or community setting. Reflect on any issues that may have hindered your communication, such as differences in language, mode of communication, understanding of the purpose of the communication, or social identities and statuses. What could you do differently in the future to communicate more effectively [and allow people of all social identities and statuses to be heard]?

There are multiple ways to communicate verbally: in person, on Zoom or Google Meet, in a telephone conversation, via text, in email, in English or in another language.

1. Describe your most frequent and preferred way(s) of communicating verbally.
2. If the verbal communication preferences of the community partner are different from yours, what are some ways that you could/might need to adapt your communication?
3. How might your social identities and previous experiences inform your verbal communications with the community partner and your class/group?

1. What are some verbal and nonverbal ways that you and the community partner can show respect for one another throughout the experience?
   a. What are your expectations about forms of address, such as formal titles and gender pronouns, that might be preferred by the community partner?
   b. How will you communicate your preferences?
   c. How might your social identities and previous experiences inform your nonverbal communications with the community partner and your class/group?

1. Consider these additional, practical questions about how, and how often, you and your class/group will interact and communicate with the community partner during the experience:
   1. What is your professor’s role in communicating with the community partner?
   2. Will there be a designated community partner liaison from your class/group? If so, describe how you understand that role and who will fill it. Besides your professor, who will be included (cc’d) in email communication with the community partner? If communication takes place in another mode, how will it be shared with the rest of your class/group?
   3. How will students within your group communicate with one another outside of class? Who will be included (cc’d) in email communication within your group? If communication takes place in another mode, how will it be shared with the rest of your group?
   4. If a problem arises that involves another person, whether a student in your group or the community partner, who will you inform and how will you communicate about this issue?
   5. If a last-minute emergency arises, you become ill or are otherwise unable to keep a commitment to the community partner, who will you inform and how will you communicate about this issue?

1. Describe a time during this community engagement experience when you were really successful communicating. What did you or others do to resolve any challenges and make the communication successful with:
   a. The community partner
   b. Your class/group 
2. Reflect on a time during this community engagement experience when communication was less successful in some way. What happened, and what did you or others do that affected the communication with:
   a. The community partner
   b. Your class/group

1. Give an example of how you and/or your class/group communicated with the community partner to do at least one of the following:
   a. Deliberate (engage in careful, thoughtful consideration or discussion)
   b. Negotiate (participate in a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement)
   c. Build consensus (work together to achieve unanimous agreement)
   d. Use conflict productively (advance a shared goal while openly and respectfully disagreeing)
2. How will you and your class/group communicate with the community partner after the class interaction/project has concluded? In consultation with your professor and the community partner, make a plan for sharing and discussing the results of the experience. The plan should also explain how any written communication between your class/group and the community partner will be handled after the interaction/project has concluded.

1. Thinking about the different modes of communication (spoken, written, nonverbal) and listening during this community engagement experience:
   a. Give an example of how you used your strength(s) in one of these areas.
   b. In which area(s) did you practice and improve the most during this community engagement experience?
   c. Is there anything you might have done differently or would do differently in the future?
   d. How did your social identities and previous experiences inform your verbal and nonverbal communications with the community partner and your class/group?
2. After hearing the answers of your peers and reflecting on your own answers, what have you learned about how you can be a more effective communicator?