Glossary of terms
- Active listening
- A term coined by Gerard Egan (1986) to stress that we need to listen to different things - words, non-verbal cues, 'sour notes' and the wide context. Egan suggests that communication is 8% words, 56% facial cues and 36% other non-verbal cues.
- Candidate
- Refers to the person undertaking the Practice Learning Qualification.
- Critical Incident Analysis
- A focused, detailed, written account analysing and reflecting on a specific incident/interaction in practice.
- Learner
- Refers to the student undergoing the practice learning experience.
- Empathy
- The capacity to positively convey (using verbal and non-verbal communication) an understanding of another person's feelings.
- Evaluation
- An appraisal of the positives and developmental requirements of a learner's practice.
- Feedback
- Doel et al (1996) suggest there are different stages in giving and receiving feedback.
- Group communication
- The variety of verbal & non-verbal means used among a number of people where the issues of power, differences, and rules of speaking are more complex than between two people.
- Ground rules
- An agreed series of statements between participants in a meeting or group designed to create a sense of safety and certainty in how each person will behave towards each other in the setting.
- Non-verbal communication
- Facial expressions, eye-contact, posture & movements; clothing & artifacts, proximity & touch which are used in combination to convey thoughts & feelings (without words) to another person.
- Para-language
- How we speak - pitch, volume, sound, speed and to the ways words can have a number of meanings depending on context.
- Phatic communication
- The 'small talk' that lubricates all communication and is often used to start and to end interactions between people.
- Politically correct language
- A term (sometimes used in a derogatory way to undermine anti-oppressive practice) referring to language which aims to convey anti-oppressive values.
- Practice learning experience/practice learning opportunity
- In some settings this is also called a placement or a practicum, and it refers to the period of time a learner with a service delivery agency working directly & indirectly with service users.
- Reflective diary
- Also known as a learning log or reflective journal, used by a learner to record their thoughts, feelings, concerns, questions and actions during a period of practice learning (or other educational experience)
- Speaking
- One of the processes, using words, used to convey meaning between human beings which is influenced by rules, power, culture and non-verbal cues.
- Special communication
- Some situations of difference require additional or different measures in order to ensure meaning is conveyed and received accurately e.g. where English is a second language, where an individual has a learning difficulty, between an adult and a child
- Supervision
- The formal and informal time set aside by an educator for a learner to discuss, review and evaluate the learner's experience and progress in practice
- Working agreement
- Sometimes called a 'contract', this is a written document which sets out the boundaries, roles, procedures for assessment and learning objectives/workload for a learner during a period of practice learning.
- Written communication
- Agency records and reports, assignments, supervision notes, process recordings, and critical incident analyses are all written documents which are used for learning and assessment purposes during a period of practice learning.
References
- Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality, Harmondsworth: Allen Lane.
- Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power, Cambridge: Polity.
- Cree, V.E., and Macaulay, C. (eds) (2000) Transfer of Learning in Professional and Vocational Education, London, Routledge.
- Doel, M., Shardlow, S., Sawdon, C. and Sawdon, D. (1996) Teaching Social Work Practice, Aldershot: Arena.
- Douglas, T. (2000) Basic Groupwork, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
- Ekman, P. (2003) Emotions Revealed: Understanding Faces and Feelings, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
- Fiske, J. (1990) Introduction to Communication Studies, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
- Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge, London: Tavistock.
- Henley, N.M. (1995), Body Politics revisited: What do we know today?, in Kalbfleisch, P.J. and Cody, M.J. (eds) Gender, Power and
- Communication in Human Relationships, Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Hochschild, A. (1983) The Managed Heart. Commercialization of Human Feeling, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Kadushin, A. (1990) The Social Work Interview: A Guide for Human Service Professionals, New York, Columbia University Press.
- Koprowska, J. (2005) Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Social Work, Exeter: Learning Matters.
- Kurtz, S., Silverman, J. and Draper, J. (1998) Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine, Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press.
- Lishman, J. (1994) Communication in Social Work, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Lloyd, M. and Blor, R. (2004) Communication Skills for Medicine, 2nd edition, London: Elsevier.
- Marshall, L. and Rowland, F. (1998) A Guide to Learning Independently, Buckingham: Open University Press.
- Parker, J. (2004) Effective Practice Learning in Social Work, Exeter: Learning Matters.
- Reinherz, S. (1997) Who am I? The need for a variety of selves in the field', in Hertz, R. (ed.) Reflexivity and Voice, London: Sage.
- Shulman, L. (1984) The Skills of Helping: Individuals and Groups, 2nd edn, Itasca, IL: Peacock.
- Thompson, N. (1996) People Skills, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Thompson, N. (2003) Communication and Language. A Handbook of Theory and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Trevithick, P., Richards, S., Ruch, G. and Moss, B. (2004) Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Social Work Education, London: SCIE.
- Trevithick, P. (2005) Social Work Skills. A Practice Handbook, 2nd edition, Maidenhead, Barkshire: Open University Press.