Blog #1

Hi class my name is KJ Walker, and the concept I will be focusing on in this particular blog is dialogic listening. Dialogic listening is very similar and reminiscing of active listening, but the difference is that dialogic listening focuses and emphasizes on a conversation as a shared activity, and active listening is more structured and focuses the attention solely on the speaker. Both are critical to communication as a whole, but like mentioned previously I will be focusing on dialogic listening. I decided to connect this idea of dialogic listening to a recent personal experience. So, on Sunday night I had a really fun, exciting, and intriguing hour long conversation with this girl I really care about. Then I went to class on Tuesday and we were talking about dialogic listening in the lecture, and that's when I realized that I had taken part in a conversation that would fall under the category of dialogic listening. The specific conversation I had would be considered dialogic listening because the conversation was a shared activity between myself and her; we both spoke a good amount, and no one dominated the conversation. Secondly, we were both open to talk about whatever, and this made the conversation even more enjoyable and comfortable. Thirdly, we were focusing on the present and what is currently going on in our lives at the present moment. We did discuss some events that happened in the past, and we discussed our future endeavors, but as a whole the present was the main focus. Fourthly, we both told stories and explained things, and the listener at that moment would paraphrase to show the speaker they were active in the conversation. I truly enjoyed this conversation with her, and I'm confident we will have more conversations like this moving forward. It was really cool, refreshing, and I actually learned some things about communication. Lastly, the concept of dialogic listening is important because as human beings we all have taken part or will take part in dialogic listening because we communicate everyday of our lives. So, it's important to be able to identify that, and be able to know how to listen and speak more effectively, so the conversation as a whole can go more smoothly.