Assignment 1
Communication Inhibitors
Please note that your final paper in WRTG 394 is a research-based report. The work you do for
this first writing assignment might lead to an excellent topic on which to write your final paper.
Overview:
For this assignment, you are asked to collect real-life examples of barriers (inhibitors) to
communication that occur in your work or community environment. The examples of communication barriers that you collect can be from documents, conversations (face-to-face or digital), email messages, or meetings.
This assignment consists of four parts:
Part I:
Think about your work or community and come up with 3-4 real-life examples of barriers (inhibitors) to written and verbal communication that occur in that environment. The communication examples you come up with can be from documents, conversations (face-to-face or digital), emails, or meetings.
Then write one or two detailed paragraphs of 100-125 words each in which you describe the
following:
your workplace or community setting you have chosen to analyze
the communication barriers in that setting that you are describing
other details you think might be relevant to the context
Various types of communication inhibitors, and examples of them, can be found in the four
articles that are available to you through eReserves. These communication barriers include but
are not limited to the following:
connotative meanings of words organizational barriers
personal censors and filters nonverbal barriers
noise (real and semantic) competitive barriers
audience expectations lack of writing purpose, organization, support or clarity
communication structure (or lack of) artificial voice
direction of communication forced collaboration
physical barriers faulty level of technicality
cultural barriers faulty level of formality
experiential barriers faulty direction
perceptual barriers poor timing
motivational barriers excessive subjectivity
emotional barriers linguistic barriers
Part II:
After you've collected at least 3-4 communication barriers and have identified the inhibitors they represent, define the inhibitors in a bulleted list. The definition you provide should identify the general characteristics of the inhibitor and how it works to impede communication. The
definitions should not mention your specific work environment.
Please consult the video on this assignment and the two sample student submissions to this
assignment in order to see a demonstration on how this part might be written.
Part III:
Analyze these 3-4 communication inhibitors as they apply to your workplace or community
environment. List them in a table with three columns:
the communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase
the name of the inhibitor(s) at work in the sample
a justification of your selection of the inhibitor(s)
Again, please consult the video on this assignment and the two sample student submissions
to this assignment in order to see a demonstration on how this part might be written.
Part IV:
using a scale of 1 to 100 (with a score of 75 considered average), rank your organization's
communication effectiveness. Justify and explain the score you award. Your justification
should be one to two paragraphs, about 175-250 words total.
Please continue to the next page for additional instructions.
Reading Material to Draw Upon for this Assignment:
For this assignment, you will want to draw on the following reading materials about
communication inhibitors in the eReserves area of LEO.
“10 Barriers to Communication”
“Communication Barriers”
“Physical Barriers in Communication”
“The Barriers to Effective Communication”
The items are available as eReserves in our class in LEO.
You can access the articles by taking the following steps:
Format:
click Content
select Class Resources
select eReserves
select the icon for eReserves in the middle of your page.
in the list of items that appears, locate the articles and download them
Your text should be single-spaced.
The following page has a template to use in completing this assignment.
- Description of community setting, including a description of the 3-4
communication inhibitors that occur in that setting.
- Definitions of the 3-4 inhibitors:
III. Table of the 3-4 communication samples and the inhibitors they represent:
The communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase
The name of the inhibitor(s) that the example represents
A justification of your selection of the inhibitor
- Short paragraph rating the organization’s communication effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 100 and justifying the ranking:
