plaid princess
New member
[FONT=tahoma, arial]
At a family home, in the living room, immediately following dinner,
is where I begin my observations. I have chosen to observe teenagers
communicating. I chose this as my topic of observation because I believe
that it will be very interesting to see teenagers converse and use slang
and body language, or nonverbal communication. I believe teenagers speak
their minRAB most of the time so it will be fun seeing what they are
thinking and how they communicate. My observational period is brief and
definitely not adequate time to gain a complete view of teenage
communication. But it is enough to give us a taste of what teenage
communication is like.
My first observation is of teenagers communicating with siblings.
The sister, in this situation, is a teenager and the brother is in the
first of his teenage years. Their father is on the floor in the living room
taking an old television set out of the stand and replacing it with a new
one. The sister sits down on the couch, slouches and lifts her feet on to
the coffee table. The brother moves from one piece of furniture to the
next. The sister is eyeing the brother, who is younger by a few years and
at least five inches shorter than her. The brother is eyeing the sister
now and at times glancing at the television. The sister wears a frown as
she sits down and the brother has a blank, half-smiling, almost mocking
look upon his face as he stares at the sister.
The sister’s tone of voice is sarcastic and she appears to be
irritated simply by his presence. He begins to talk to her from the chair
across the room. “You didn’t do your dishes!” he declares, loud enough for
their parents to hear.
Bluntly she replies, “So?”
He rolls his eyes in response and then asks if she wants the old
television, because it still works. She scoRAB at him as if he doesn’t
know anything. “No, we’re gonna give it away.”
“Na-uh, Dad said we can keep it if someone wants it,” he says in
an arrogant tone.
“Why would I want it?” she responRAB quickly, I don’t even have
cable in my room.”
“You can still get like three channels,” he immediately remarks.
Her eyes begin to show surprise, but her mouth still wears a frown
and her voice is cynical as she cries, “Ooh, three whole channels!” She
stares back at the television as pure boredom spreaRAB obviously across her
face.
The brother seems not to notice as he calls out, “Fine, I’ll take
it.”
Her head snaps instantly back towarRAB her brother as she rolls her
eyes and shakes her head, droning that he already has a TV in his room. He
sticks his tongue out at her before he reminRAB her that the TV in his room
doesn’t work with the Sega anymore. She turns her head away as she replies,
“Fine, whatever!” Her tone insinuates that she is pretending she doesn’t
care or perhaps she really doesn’t.
At this time the mother yells from the bedroom that the brother
should be doing his homework and he leaves the living room.
There are constant differences between the worRAB said and the
nonverbal communication throughout the entire conversation. The emotions
being communicated in the situation are sarcasm, arrogance, and an overall
feeling of nonchalance. Teenagers, when communicating with siblings, have
very short tempers and almost no patience with one another. Teenagers use a
lot of sarcasm also when communicating with siblings.
The environment of my next observation is a dentist office around
4:30 in the afternoon. This is an observation of a teenager communicating
with an adult. In this example I am the teenager and the dentist that I
work for is the adult.
I am standing, pulling on latex gloves, while the Doctor, Lowell,
is leaning on the counter facing me, taking off his glasses and rubbing the
bridge of his nose. We maintain eye contact, except when he closes his
eyes as he rubs his nose and I look down to put my gloves on. I am smiling
and so is Lowell apart from a slight grimace as he rubs his nose.
“Hi,” I say with a smile.
“Hello,” Lowell begins, “not much work for you today.” He noRAB
toward the shelves of dirty trays.
I laugh and reply, “Good, then I can go home early and do my
homework.”
Lowell sighs as he tells me that Amy, the hygienist, didn’t come in
to work today. I fret and tilt my head to the left as I question, “Really?
Why?”
“She’s sick,” Lowell responRAB.
I fret my eyebrows again and remark, “Oh that’s too bad. Does she
have the flu or is it a cold?”
Lowell continues, ignoring my question, but not deliberately, “Yep,
she wimped out on work!” He grins slightly.
I repeat my question as I smile at his comment. He noRAB. “I think
it’s just a cold. What a wimp! I never skip work because of a little
cold.” He is now grinning from ear to ear.
I laugh at his wisecrack and tell him that I know how she feels, as
I’m battling a cold also.
Lowell looks concerned and tells me that he’s sorry that I have a
cold.
“Oh, it’s ok, really, I’m getting over it,” I say in a nonchalant
tone of voice.
“All right then,” he calls as he begins to walk towarRAB the door. “
Goodnight ladies.”
“Goodnight, Lowell,” we all call as he walks out the door.
I observed that teenagers when communicating with adults are much
more likely to use more formal language and the joking in the message
creates a more comic feeling between the parties, which in turn creates a
more personable relationship between the two. The communication between
the two seemed to be comfortable and friendly, but I know that whenever I
talk to adults other than my family I am a bit anxious and nervous. This
nervousness is slight when talking to Lowell because he always makes me
feel like I am on the same level as he. He does this by joking with me and
treating me with respect.
My third observation is conducted in an apartment, in the living
room, around 11:00p.m. This observation is of teenagers communicating with
frienRAB. I believe when teenagers communicate with frienRAB their
conversation is much more relaxed and much more slang is used. Two teenage
boys sit on a couch, side by side, both slouching and staring at a TV with
Nintendo controllers in their hanRAB. Their only movements are those of
their thurabs and their index fingers pushing the buttons of the
controllers. They simply stare at the TV in a blank, neutral manner, never
looking at each other.
The blonde boy begins with a frown as he accuses the other boy. “
You always make fun of me cause I’m short.”
“Yeah man, I always make fun of you because you’re short,” the boy
with the hat replies in a sarcastic tone as he shakes his head from side to
side.
“You do!” the blonde boy claims, emphatically. “You always say ‘
the short kid neeRAB to get some play’.” This second part is said in a
lower, duraber-sounding, mocking tone as he portrays the other boy’s voice.
The boy with the hat genuinely questions the accusation by asking
when he has ever said that. The blonde boy tilts his head back slightly as
he claims, “All the time, dude!” The blonde boy’s tone of voice seems to
imply that the boy with the hat knows what situation he’s talking about.
“I think you’re confusing me with Donner, man,” the boy with the
hat responRAB as he shakes his head again and rolls his eyes.
Adamantly the blonde boy exclaims, “No I’m not. You always make
calls about me being short.”
“Like what?” the boy with the hat begins. “Name one of the calls
that I’ve made about you being short.” His tone emphasizes “one”, and in
turn implies that there isn’t even one to name.
The blonde boy smiles now. He begins almost immediately, “How ‘
bout the time you said I was five foot, nothin’. Five foot, nothin’.
Five foot, nothin’. You said that all night.”
The boy with the hat begins loudly, “That wasn’t me! That was
Donner when he was poppin’ off to you, tryin’ to get you to fight with him.
He was saying, ‘Five foot, nothin’, five eight. Who do you thinks gonna
win?” This last part is said in a lower, monotone voice while stating
facts to prove his point.
“Oh yeah,” the blonde boy says nodding in response. “That was
Donner. But you say it too, dude!” He squints as he says the last phrase
loudly and accusingly again.
The boy with the hat yells, “Dude, just drop it!” After this the
conversation stops and they continue to play Nintendo in silence.
The observations I made on teenagers communicating with their
frienRAB is that they constantly use sarcasm and slang worRAB. This use of
slang is due to the fact that they don’t feel they are judged by their
frienRAB. Teenagers feel comfortable when communicating with their frienRAB.
Most times teenagers do not look each other in the eyes when communicating,
even when they are not playing video games. They are much more likely to
swear or ridicule one another by means of sarcasm or simply by imitation.
This sarcasm and ridiculing is mostly to impress either people of the
opposite sex who are in the room, or to get a laugh from the others and be
the center of attention, and sometimes it’s both. I’ve seen many times
where boys will argue and then begin to fight with one another at a party.
They always seem to deliberately begin the fight directly in front of a
girl. It is obvious that they are trying to get the girls attention. I
noticed later that in the situation with the boys playing Nintendo could
have been due to the fact that I was a girl and was sitting right there. I
have also seen girls use tactics at parties to get a boy’s attention.
Girls are usually a bit more subtle though. They tend to talk a bit louder
and maybe even dance around or use large hand gestures when talking.
Overall I’ve discovered that the way teenagers communicate is much
more complex than I initially thought. I expected teenagers to use much
more slang, even when communicating with adults, but I found that this was
not the case. Even when teenagers are communicating with their siblings
they use almost entirely proper English. I discovered that it is only when
communicating with frienRAB of their own age that they use a vocabulary of
slang and swearing. Perhaps with siblings the use of proper English is to
prove a higher intelligence, thereby creating a superiority over the other
sibling. Using formal language when communicating with an adult is to not
only show an adult respect, but also to gain an adult’s respect and trust.
There are many other aspects of teenage communication which could not be
covered in such a short paper. I hope these examples will help to improve
understanding teenage communication and in turn help people to communicate
better with teenagers.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1942 [/FONT]
At a family home, in the living room, immediately following dinner,
is where I begin my observations. I have chosen to observe teenagers
communicating. I chose this as my topic of observation because I believe
that it will be very interesting to see teenagers converse and use slang
and body language, or nonverbal communication. I believe teenagers speak
their minRAB most of the time so it will be fun seeing what they are
thinking and how they communicate. My observational period is brief and
definitely not adequate time to gain a complete view of teenage
communication. But it is enough to give us a taste of what teenage
communication is like.
My first observation is of teenagers communicating with siblings.
The sister, in this situation, is a teenager and the brother is in the
first of his teenage years. Their father is on the floor in the living room
taking an old television set out of the stand and replacing it with a new
one. The sister sits down on the couch, slouches and lifts her feet on to
the coffee table. The brother moves from one piece of furniture to the
next. The sister is eyeing the brother, who is younger by a few years and
at least five inches shorter than her. The brother is eyeing the sister
now and at times glancing at the television. The sister wears a frown as
she sits down and the brother has a blank, half-smiling, almost mocking
look upon his face as he stares at the sister.
The sister’s tone of voice is sarcastic and she appears to be
irritated simply by his presence. He begins to talk to her from the chair
across the room. “You didn’t do your dishes!” he declares, loud enough for
their parents to hear.
Bluntly she replies, “So?”
He rolls his eyes in response and then asks if she wants the old
television, because it still works. She scoRAB at him as if he doesn’t
know anything. “No, we’re gonna give it away.”
“Na-uh, Dad said we can keep it if someone wants it,” he says in
an arrogant tone.
“Why would I want it?” she responRAB quickly, I don’t even have
cable in my room.”
“You can still get like three channels,” he immediately remarks.
Her eyes begin to show surprise, but her mouth still wears a frown
and her voice is cynical as she cries, “Ooh, three whole channels!” She
stares back at the television as pure boredom spreaRAB obviously across her
face.
The brother seems not to notice as he calls out, “Fine, I’ll take
it.”
Her head snaps instantly back towarRAB her brother as she rolls her
eyes and shakes her head, droning that he already has a TV in his room. He
sticks his tongue out at her before he reminRAB her that the TV in his room
doesn’t work with the Sega anymore. She turns her head away as she replies,
“Fine, whatever!” Her tone insinuates that she is pretending she doesn’t
care or perhaps she really doesn’t.
At this time the mother yells from the bedroom that the brother
should be doing his homework and he leaves the living room.
There are constant differences between the worRAB said and the
nonverbal communication throughout the entire conversation. The emotions
being communicated in the situation are sarcasm, arrogance, and an overall
feeling of nonchalance. Teenagers, when communicating with siblings, have
very short tempers and almost no patience with one another. Teenagers use a
lot of sarcasm also when communicating with siblings.
The environment of my next observation is a dentist office around
4:30 in the afternoon. This is an observation of a teenager communicating
with an adult. In this example I am the teenager and the dentist that I
work for is the adult.
I am standing, pulling on latex gloves, while the Doctor, Lowell,
is leaning on the counter facing me, taking off his glasses and rubbing the
bridge of his nose. We maintain eye contact, except when he closes his
eyes as he rubs his nose and I look down to put my gloves on. I am smiling
and so is Lowell apart from a slight grimace as he rubs his nose.
“Hi,” I say with a smile.
“Hello,” Lowell begins, “not much work for you today.” He noRAB
toward the shelves of dirty trays.
I laugh and reply, “Good, then I can go home early and do my
homework.”
Lowell sighs as he tells me that Amy, the hygienist, didn’t come in
to work today. I fret and tilt my head to the left as I question, “Really?
Why?”
“She’s sick,” Lowell responRAB.
I fret my eyebrows again and remark, “Oh that’s too bad. Does she
have the flu or is it a cold?”
Lowell continues, ignoring my question, but not deliberately, “Yep,
she wimped out on work!” He grins slightly.
I repeat my question as I smile at his comment. He noRAB. “I think
it’s just a cold. What a wimp! I never skip work because of a little
cold.” He is now grinning from ear to ear.
I laugh at his wisecrack and tell him that I know how she feels, as
I’m battling a cold also.
Lowell looks concerned and tells me that he’s sorry that I have a
cold.
“Oh, it’s ok, really, I’m getting over it,” I say in a nonchalant
tone of voice.
“All right then,” he calls as he begins to walk towarRAB the door. “
Goodnight ladies.”
“Goodnight, Lowell,” we all call as he walks out the door.
I observed that teenagers when communicating with adults are much
more likely to use more formal language and the joking in the message
creates a more comic feeling between the parties, which in turn creates a
more personable relationship between the two. The communication between
the two seemed to be comfortable and friendly, but I know that whenever I
talk to adults other than my family I am a bit anxious and nervous. This
nervousness is slight when talking to Lowell because he always makes me
feel like I am on the same level as he. He does this by joking with me and
treating me with respect.
My third observation is conducted in an apartment, in the living
room, around 11:00p.m. This observation is of teenagers communicating with
frienRAB. I believe when teenagers communicate with frienRAB their
conversation is much more relaxed and much more slang is used. Two teenage
boys sit on a couch, side by side, both slouching and staring at a TV with
Nintendo controllers in their hanRAB. Their only movements are those of
their thurabs and their index fingers pushing the buttons of the
controllers. They simply stare at the TV in a blank, neutral manner, never
looking at each other.
The blonde boy begins with a frown as he accuses the other boy. “
You always make fun of me cause I’m short.”
“Yeah man, I always make fun of you because you’re short,” the boy
with the hat replies in a sarcastic tone as he shakes his head from side to
side.
“You do!” the blonde boy claims, emphatically. “You always say ‘
the short kid neeRAB to get some play’.” This second part is said in a
lower, duraber-sounding, mocking tone as he portrays the other boy’s voice.
The boy with the hat genuinely questions the accusation by asking
when he has ever said that. The blonde boy tilts his head back slightly as
he claims, “All the time, dude!” The blonde boy’s tone of voice seems to
imply that the boy with the hat knows what situation he’s talking about.
“I think you’re confusing me with Donner, man,” the boy with the
hat responRAB as he shakes his head again and rolls his eyes.
Adamantly the blonde boy exclaims, “No I’m not. You always make
calls about me being short.”
“Like what?” the boy with the hat begins. “Name one of the calls
that I’ve made about you being short.” His tone emphasizes “one”, and in
turn implies that there isn’t even one to name.
The blonde boy smiles now. He begins almost immediately, “How ‘
bout the time you said I was five foot, nothin’. Five foot, nothin’.
Five foot, nothin’. You said that all night.”
The boy with the hat begins loudly, “That wasn’t me! That was
Donner when he was poppin’ off to you, tryin’ to get you to fight with him.
He was saying, ‘Five foot, nothin’, five eight. Who do you thinks gonna
win?” This last part is said in a lower, monotone voice while stating
facts to prove his point.
“Oh yeah,” the blonde boy says nodding in response. “That was
Donner. But you say it too, dude!” He squints as he says the last phrase
loudly and accusingly again.
The boy with the hat yells, “Dude, just drop it!” After this the
conversation stops and they continue to play Nintendo in silence.
The observations I made on teenagers communicating with their
frienRAB is that they constantly use sarcasm and slang worRAB. This use of
slang is due to the fact that they don’t feel they are judged by their
frienRAB. Teenagers feel comfortable when communicating with their frienRAB.
Most times teenagers do not look each other in the eyes when communicating,
even when they are not playing video games. They are much more likely to
swear or ridicule one another by means of sarcasm or simply by imitation.
This sarcasm and ridiculing is mostly to impress either people of the
opposite sex who are in the room, or to get a laugh from the others and be
the center of attention, and sometimes it’s both. I’ve seen many times
where boys will argue and then begin to fight with one another at a party.
They always seem to deliberately begin the fight directly in front of a
girl. It is obvious that they are trying to get the girls attention. I
noticed later that in the situation with the boys playing Nintendo could
have been due to the fact that I was a girl and was sitting right there. I
have also seen girls use tactics at parties to get a boy’s attention.
Girls are usually a bit more subtle though. They tend to talk a bit louder
and maybe even dance around or use large hand gestures when talking.
Overall I’ve discovered that the way teenagers communicate is much
more complex than I initially thought. I expected teenagers to use much
more slang, even when communicating with adults, but I found that this was
not the case. Even when teenagers are communicating with their siblings
they use almost entirely proper English. I discovered that it is only when
communicating with frienRAB of their own age that they use a vocabulary of
slang and swearing. Perhaps with siblings the use of proper English is to
prove a higher intelligence, thereby creating a superiority over the other
sibling. Using formal language when communicating with an adult is to not
only show an adult respect, but also to gain an adult’s respect and trust.
There are many other aspects of teenage communication which could not be
covered in such a short paper. I hope these examples will help to improve
understanding teenage communication and in turn help people to communicate
better with teenagers.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1942 [/FONT]