Strategies Of Assertive Communication In The Teaching Profession

Abstract

The aim of the study is to collect and interpret empirical data to outline the perception of students about the role of assertive communication in inter-human communication and into the teacher-student communication. In pursuit of this intention, we organized and conducted three exploratory workshop activities based on the focus group. The concepts of didactic profession and assertive communication are delimitated from the perspective of the latest theories. There are presented arguments concerning the importance of integrated development of some teaching competence to the students who are trained for teacher profession such as: communication skills, self-assertion and self-management. The research focuses on several essential dimensions of assertive communication, namely, initiating communication, self-esteem, defending one's own rights, expressing positive and negative emotions. Its results give us insights into the students' personal perspectives on building the teacher-student relationship, on the concrete self-assertion strategies they use consciously, on handling conflicts and injustice situations, and on the techniques used to manage emotions in the context of didactic relations. Starting from the types of assertive behaviours manifested by students in communication a structure of training and personal development needs of students is being developed, as well as a series of educational strategies that can meet the expectations of future teachers.

Keywords: Assertivenessself-assertiondidactic professioneffective communication

Introduction

Wagner (2014) describes new abilities that pupils and students need for their career in the present days, sustained education and citizenship in an increasingly challenging world. He calls them the Seven Core Survival Skills: Critical thinking and problem solving; Collaboration and leadership; Agility and adaptability; Initiative and entrepreneurialism; Effective oral and written communication; Accessing and analysing information; Curiosity and imagination.

Friedman, in an interview with Tony Wagner (Wagner, 2014), states that more important than the intellectual quotient are the curiosity quotient (CQ) and the passion quotient (PQ) that must be developed and cultivated, thus giving the student the chance to explore his own areas of interest and expression. We consider that in order to create a favourable frame to stimulate intelligence, emotion, curiosity, passion, the student must first build a positive self-image, high self-esteem and assertive communication abilities in order to assert himself/herself both empathically and firm, unique, independent and innovative. Therefore, the teacher can successfully exercise his/her power of influence, based on the authority derived from expertise and reference (Johns, 1998), namely, the one derived from the meticulous preparation and the one derived from the capacity to efficiently manage interpersonal relationships. Using these sources of social influence, the teacher displays the ability to listen carefully and empathically, encourage and set limits, help the student discover his/her own talents, support teams to find solutions and identify new problems and strategies of intervention. It is highly important that the teacher guide pupils/students as an activating authority that generates responsibility, independence, assertiveness and applied projective thinking.

Nowadays, social competences have become so important because of the influence they have on the personal and professional lives of individuals. For example, the social skills and competences of children and adolescents strongly affect their success of school adaptation and popularity. Thus, popular children and adolescents tend to be calm, outgoing, and friendly. They act pro-socially and are rarely disruptive or aggressive in the interpersonal relationships they have. In addition, they tend to have better perspective-taking skills than their peers who are less socially competent (Tufeanu, 2014).

Lazarus (1973) analyses assertiveness and defines it as being the ability to influence the others, and Cornelius and Faire (1996) consider assertiveness as the choice of the individual in communication that helps him/her sustain his/her position without blaming or treating the other person as an enemy. Assertive behaviour promotes positive, direct, politely and goal-oriented behaviours, while maximizing the power and efficiency of social interactions. The essential skills and attitudes that form this sphere and are part of assertiveness are: to say “no” when the situation asks for it; advancing the request as a favour; expressing positive and negative feelings; initiating and sustaining a conversation; manifestation of the power of persuasion; the attitude of defending his/her own rights without breaking the rights of the others; self-esteem and desire to affirm. It is highlighted through these attitudes the individual has to display that assertiveness is about expressing and clarifying your own points of view, self-respect and it means to make yourself heard. Between being passive and aggressive, assertiveness involves negotiating with others and implies maintaining verticality, balance and in the same time respecting the wishes and rights of the others.

As Fontana (1988) argues, communication facilitates interpersonal interaction and expression of one’s own feelings and recognition of others’ feelings. Both at children and adolescents, both at students and teachers it is necessary to stimulate the release of feelings, whether positive or negative. Difficulties that occur in this direction are related to both negative and positive feelings. Communicating to others the negative feelings they cause can spark a conflict, so many people, avoiding contradictory discussions, repress their feelings. Bringing to the attention of the others the negative feelings they incite can spark a conflict, so that many people, while avoiding contradictory discussions, repress their feelings. In this case, the middle solution, that also removes uncertainty and passivity, but also arrogance and aggressiveness, is the open recognition of behaviour that causes dissatisfaction and the attempts to find ways to solve the situation.

To counteract the negative effects that derive from these deficiencies in the abilities involved in assertiveness, teachers should get involved by giving students support in recognizing their own feelings and the feelings of the others. In this way, students can be determined to look more closely at their own behaviour, choose the right words and actions to convey their emotions and decide on how to respond to the feelings of the others. Assuming and sustaining the rights to act according to one’s own will, without harming others and being more open and honest to others offer self-confidence, which gives a greater freedom and satisfaction in relation to one’s own person and the others. The defending, recognizing and claiming of one’s own rights, accepting responsibilities and respecting the needs of others together with the wish to affirm and prepare for social success are very important components of the sphere of assertiveness.

Problem Statement

The competences necessary for survival define a set of competences that a graduate should accumulate during his/her studies so that he/she can maximize his/her potential and achieve economic, social and familial progress. In this set of competences, must be found creative abilities to develop flexibility, originality, sensitivity towards problems; social abilities that stimulate communication, co-operation, empathy, assertiveness, self-expression, self-esteem, a set of abilities that give people the belief that they can take their lives in their own hands, that they can produce results that will have an impact; abilities to exploit interdisciplinarity, to innovate in different fields of interest - exact sciences, art, literature, etc. An important condition for acquiring these competences is providing the context in which the students demonstrate that they master these skills.

Some of the already mentioned abilities can be evaluated for the teaching profession in formal and non-formal contexts, others in pedagogical practice, others will be assured by their transfer to certain social contexts of the student and will be highlighted in the self-assertion strategies and the professional and social innovation projects that they will implement. In the teacher-student relationship there are deadlocks and difficulties due to the deficiencies existing in the assertive communication.

The teacher who assumes responsibility as a trainer and aims to maximize the potential of the student must develop the skills to communicate firmly and openly, to ask with conviction and persuasion, to refuse and to set democratic limits and rules express constructive emotions and express a high self-esteem that generates perseverance and progress. Students preparing for the teaching career should be integrated into structured programs for the development of assertive communication skills.

Research Questions

A series of questions guide our analytical approach: What is the extent to which students know and understand the concept of assertive communication? What are, according to the student’s future teachers opinions, the implications of the presence, respectively the absence of assertive communication in the exercise of the teaching profession? To what extent the student’s future teachers believe that they have specific competences for assertive behaviour? Are there assertive communication techniques in the repertoire of behaviour of the students future teachers? And if the answer is positive, what would that be?

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the study is to collect and interpret empirical data in order to outline the perception of young people about the role of assertive communication in inter-human communication in general, in teacher-student communication in particular.

Research Methods

To achieve the proposed aim, we organized and conducted three exploratory workshop activities based on focus-groups (Evanghelidis, 2005; Zappas, 2008; Whittake, Pegorie, Read, Birt, & Foldspang, 2010), a set of 11 semi-structured questions being the framework on which the debate was built for each of them (Krueger & Casey, 2005; Agrabian, 2004; Bulai, 2000; Chelcea, 2004; Iluț., 1997; Morgan, 1998; Vaughn & all, 1996). Previously, starting from a suggestive didactical movie (Reputeagency, 2005), there has been a briefly update of the theoretical information on assertive communication and assertive behaviour. Students of the 3rd year of the National University of Arts “George Enescu” Issy who attended the pedagogical module for the teaching career within the Department for Teacher Training were invited to participate in the workshop on the topic “Assertive Communication - an Effective Teacher Tool”. To our invitation 28 persons responded: 11 students from the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, 8 students from the Faculty of Music, Instrumental Interpretation specialization and 9 students from the Faculty of Music, Music Pedagogy specialization. All participants agreed to participate and disseminate the data of the workshop. The workshop 1, the one with the students of the Faculty of Visual Arts, was carried out 120 minutes, the Workshop 2, the one with the students from the Faculty of Music, Instrumental Interpretation specialization was carried out 45 minutes, the Workshop 3, the one with the students at the Faculty of Music, Music Pedagogy specialization lasted 50 minutes.

Findings

Conclusion

This paper aims to support the development of assertiveness as a solution to the contemporary educational challenges and presents the results of a qualitative scientific research based on the focus group method. These results provide insights into the students’ personal perspectives on the understanding of assertive communication, on the conditions of building the efficient teacher-student relationships, on the existing self-assertion strategies they use consciously – the expression of feelings, the defending of rights, or the manifestation of independence. As for the definition of assertive communication, it can be seen that students understand assertiveness in terms of clear and courageous communication of the verbal message as well as the formulation of a request. There is no mention of the ability to refuse and to set limits, the constructive expression of negative emotions, or the affirmation and defence of one’s own rights. In the teacher-student communication, students identify as imperative those assertive behaviours that facilitate learning and active involvement: creating positive emotions in the classroom, supportive attitudes, recognizing students’ needs, behaviour between aggressive and passive and non-discriminating. However, it is not specified how the teacher can manifest himself as an authority that exercises influence with assertive behaviours of self-assertion. Regarding the assertive strategies used by students in relation to teachers, three types of behaviours are identified

• The expression of positive and negative feelings is difficult, most of them being accustomed to not express them, to internalize negative emotions in particular and to express them only in a relational intimate context. We also encounter methods of expressing negative emotions, such as the “sandwich method” or “self-control that reduces aggressiveness”.

• Protection of own rights in the teacher-student relationship is not manifested, the attitude is one of acceptance and there is no challenge. Negotiating or empathic self-asserting strategies are used in non-formal relationships, predominantly being the aggressive reactions or those of abandonment, resignation.

• Independence is correlated to self-confidence and personal projects, responsibility and personal decision.

We take notice that students express independently, are capable of taking responsibilities and decisions, but the step towards assertiveness requires action not only for their own benefit but to bring a change for the group, community, society at the same time. In conclusion, the courses comprised in the psycho-pedagogical training module familiarize students with the notion of assertiveness, help them understand new behavioural patterns, but it is necessary to implement personal development modules that generate the transition from awareness to practice and transfer into the everyday life of the assertive communication strategies. In this way, in the role of teachers, they will be able to act as authorities exercising the power to motivate, arouse interest, stimulate learning and shape autonomous, creative, and capable children at community level.

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