This is a very short description about effective communication. The concluding section talks about barriers to communication that small groups often encounter. This reading is short enough that it could be done in-class as a spring board for discussion.

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Strengths

The reading is short. It gets to the points quickly, and it is easy to understand. It outlines clear barrier to effective communication for small group work.

Concerns

In order for this to effective, the students or the instructor will have to take the next step to applying these principles to own class or situation. It does not have a “how to” section.

Recommendations for use

Students should read the entire article, but actually create a list of communication barriers from the final section. In small groups, the students should share their list of communication barriers. The group should then choose the most likely three barriers that their group will face. As a group, they should then choose a strategy for overcoming each of the three barriers they identified. Finally, the groups should share out what they discovered with the entire class.