Communicating Success
Trevor Sargent

Teaching Without Teaching
Recently, I have found myself in the rather curious position of being asked to "teach" in certain settings in ways that, on the surface at least, do not seem to be related to the fact that I am an EFL teacher. In fact, on occasion I have been told quite explicitly not to teach English, as the students are often studying on their own or, elsewhere, or just don`t want another language lesson. At the same time, it has also been made clear that I should teach something.
One way I have found to meet the requirements of this kind of situation, is to give presentations on the nature of communication and the kinds of skills and attitudes that facilitate effective communication, and then set up exercises to practice those skills, and raise awareness of personal attitudes. There are a number of texts on some form of communication written specifically for ESL/EFL learners, but generally their business-orientation makes them somewhat unappealing to the general audiences I have been working with (O`Connor et al, 1992; Lees, 1983). Thus I have turned to a whole new source of material. These are books on communication written for native speakers (Gordon, 1980; Katz & Lawyer, 1994; McKenna, 1998; Lange & Jakubowski, 1976). It should be pointed out, that this kind of material is not explicitly intercultural--it is an introduction to how the more effective communicators in the West, communicate in English. However, even though a surprising amount does transcend cultural differences, I aim to help non-native EFL learners to better develop their abilities to communicate effectively in English in an international setting.
While these books may be a bit too difficult for the average EFL/ESL learner, they provide an excellent resource. The content is serious, but engaging as well. There are often exercises and role plays that can be adapted to demonstrate and clarify some learning objective. Although games and puzzles can sometimes seem a bit too childish for adult learners, in this context where they are employed to illustrate key ideas, they can provide some comic relief that also helps to underline an important point.
Lessons involving this kind of material often present learners with a three-fold challenge. First of all they have to think about what they will say--their opinions and ideas, secondly, they a have to think about how to say those things in their foreign language--English, and thirdly, they have to practice a meta-cognitive exercise of observing how they actually interact and communicate with the others in the group or class.
Rational and Intuitive Approaches
There are at least two different ways of looking at the use of communication skills--one rational and the other more intuitive (Yeatts and Hyten, 1998). The rational approach looks at overt behaviors in terms of verbal and non-verbal behavior. The verbal behavior involves the precise construction of sentences for speaking, such as assertive I-messages, and for active listening, such as reflecting and paraphrasing. In addition, the rational approach looks at various steps that can be walked through if the communication has a specific purpose such as problem-solving, conflict management and negotiation.
The intuitive approach looks at attitudes and awareness. The particular attitudes we hold in any given situation, and our awareness of our feelings and emotions are central to being able to guide communication toward any given goal. Two areas that can be explored here are trust and perception. A climate of trust enhances the communicative situation and conversely, an absence of trust can make it very difficult. How we perceive the world also affects the accuracy of our communication, and hence its effectiveness.
In terms of teaching, I have found it beneficial to look at both rational and intuitive approaches. The rational approach is generally more language based--looking at the paraphrasing involved in active-listening and the construction of assertive I-messages--and gives a lot of opportunity for role playing. The intuitive approach can be somewhat more interesting, however, and some books have specific exercises to raise awareness of faulty perceptual habits. And that can lead to a certain amount of "Eureka!" type insights that students seem to find very enjoyable and even entertaining.
In practice, it is impossible to focus on one approach to the exclusion of the other. Rational skills and formulas are based on certain values and are only effective when accompanied by corresponding attitudes--or else they become manipulative. And attitudes and awareness can only be expressed through certain behaviors. As background material for both approaches, Maslow`s (1970) hierarchy of needs and the Johari Window (Luft, 1969) also provide interesting discussion points as well as substantial background for understanding key concepts behind motivation theory, need satisfaction and self-disclosure that are the underpinnings of both the rational and intuitive approaches to communication skills education. The concepts themselves are often novel, but are not particularly complex or difficult to understand and don`t require a very sophisticated grasp of the language to be able to understand them or to put them into practice.
Super-Squirrel
There are many examples I could give of the kinds of exercises that can be