Preparing Our Educators

The importance of words: effective communication involves understanding language

Dr. Nikol Bowen discusses her research, "Culture and Communication: Beyond Counseling."

ATHENS, Ohio (Sept. 29, 2010)--Dr. Nikol Bowen, the latest faculty addition to the Counseling and Higher Education department, presented her research, “Culture and Communication: Beyond Counseling,” at the year’s first CEHS Faculty Research Forum on Sept. 24.

Bowen kicked off the presentation with a bang, blasting “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt and “Tie My Hands” by Lil’ Wayne to begin her presentation while passing around a copy of the lyrics. After playing the music, Bowen challenged the listeners to reflect on the songs’ lyrics and the emotions they felt while listening.

“Sometimes we hear things on the radio and we don’t think about the intent behind the music,” Bowen said. “Think about how all your senses come into play when you’re communicating with someone.”

Bowen’s message is that teachers have the responsibility to get their students to think about what they are hearing and saying. As Bowen demonstrated with the music, words can have profound power, especially on the youth, so it is important to help them use and interpret words wisely.

“I’m trying to convince people that we really have to start teaching our children how to communicate,” Bowen said.

Bowen then discussed her time at a psychiatric treatment facility, where she helped patients analyze their conversations in order to make them better communicators. She divided words and actions into the categories of passive, assertive and aggressive; then, looked at what behaviors, consequences and triggers caused patients to act in those ways.

By mapping out their actions and finding their “boiling points,” patients were able to see where they were being too passive or too aggressive, thereby allowing them to find a middle ground. Patients were able to create goals related to communicating their needs, generated from a reflective process that took into account their diverse life experiences.

“The goal was to get clients to think about how they talk,” Bowen said.

Bowen seems to have met her goal--her findings showed an acquisition of awareness in talking about talking, and learned to practice this process in the real world. She plans to incorporate motion into the process; Bowen gave a sneak peek by concluding with a demonstration of a “dance” done on conversation mats that forced participants to analyze how the conversation was making them feel.

The CEHS Faculty Research Forum provides faculty members the opportunity to present
their research findings to interested students and faculty as well as answer their questions. Forums are held Fridays at 12 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.cehs.ohio.edu/news-events/events.htm.

Story by R. Devin Hughes.