Motivating perspective taking through oral performance.

Abstract

Engaging students in reflecting upon and responding to current social issues, while an excellent goal, can be difficult to achieve. This paper argues that engaging students in a perspective taking exercise that is applicable to an applied and/or vocational context provides a motivation for student development of social awareness. Described in this paper is an assignment in which students prepare and present a training module focusing on a social problem experienced by a disadvantaged group. This assignment requires critical thinking and promotes skill development relevant to future employment. It is argued here that the speaking requirement and the vocational skill development entailed in such an assignment motivates students to see how self-interests are served by developing social awareness.

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In American universities written communication and oral communication skills were historically taught in the same classes. A shift began in the 1930s, and later became increasingly common on university campuses, to separate "Speech" or "Communication" departments from the study of English and composition (Russell, 1991). Writing continued to be viewed as the domain of English departments. Most universities in the United States required courses in both writing and oral communication as a part of general education requirements. As with many academic divisions, the distinction between English and Communication departments did not negate the inherent connection between the two areas of study. The same reasons for placing them within the same department remain: oral and written communication skills go hand in hand.

Meticulous written preparation is critical to effective speaking. Likewise, if a composition course focuses solely on the production of written texts to be graded by a teacher, students learn an overly simplistic view of the needs of a writer. When the student simply writes for the instructor, the point of exercises can become pleasing the one anticipated reader. While this can be useful in the more elementary tasks of learning grammar and organizational mechanics, the practice of writing for one person is a fairly easy task not reflective of the kind of writing skills that a student will need throughout life. Writing for one does not equip the student with the kind of complex challenge that best fosters critical thinking skills. Colby et. al. (2003) argue that to equip students to be moral citizens, there needs to be an civic element to their capacities, such that a student comes "to understand how a community operates, the problems it faces, and the richness of its diversity ..." (p. 18). When a student sees the objective of assignments to guess what the teacher wants and values, the student is failing to respond to a more holistic, diverse set of exigencies.

Perspective taking has been researched and examined for its potential contribution to creating moral citizens who are equipped to respond sensitively to critical social issues. Some research on perspective taking, however, has yielded discouraging results. For example, Maner et. al. (2002) recently conducted a study to measure the effect of perspective taking and empathic concern upon altruistic behavior. The authors note that this study like similar types of research before, found no correlation between perspective taking and altruism. It would appear that encouraging perspective taking as a way of promoting selflessness has a track record of failure in psychological research. In another study examining the limits of perspective taking, McPherson-Frantz and Janoff-Bulman (2000) found that in interpersonal conflicts, the extent of liking for the other person involved in the conflict strongly affected an individual's ability to fairly take the perspectives of the other. An existing feeling of caring for the other person seemed to be the determinant of empathy. Research findings such as these could lead to the premature conclusion that perspective taking has minimal value. While research suggests that perspective taking does not directly lead to altruistic behavior and that liking is an important precursor to perspective taking, this information can be useful. The research cited has important implications for developing empathy through perspective taking; namely, that an effective motivator is needed for perspective taking to occur.

A link has been established between abilities in perspective taking and cognitive complexity (Delia, Clark & Switzer, 1974; Hale & Delia 1976). Hale & Delia (1976) point out that a more cognitively complex person has a greater ability to place oneself in the role of another. Batson et. al. (2003) found that how the perspective taking is done, such as by imagining the feelings of the other, can be instrumental in stimulating moral action. Boal and Hooijberg (2000) review emergent theories of leadership that define cognitive complexity as an important quotient in developing leadership. Although the research examining a link between perspective taking and altruism has not demonstrated the utility of perspective taking, benefits such as empathy, moral action, and effective leadership appear more promising.

Through assignments, writing students can be encouraged to develop cognitive complexity through assuming the perspectives of the diverse audiences with whom they will interact. Cognitive complexity can be an important factor in understanding and coping with complex social issues. In her examination of crisis management in the airline industry, Ray (1999, p. 14) argues that people studying crisis need to assume a more systemic perspective to understanding crisis. She argues that responding to crisis within any organization involves careful attention to strategic communication that will "calm and ... not offend stakeholders" (p.25). Attending to crises, then, necessitates the ability to see the world from numerous perspectives since more than one audience needs a response, and the person managing the crisis must be able to adapt communication strategies.

A way of motivating students to examine myriad perspectives is to craft an assignment entailing both written and oral components. In such a circumstance, the student is weighing the perspective of the instructor along with that of a classroom audience who will also be hearing and responding to the information. Students begin the painstaking process of examining an issue from a greater variety of perspectives. If the assignment inherently requires students to take the perspective of yet another group, more angles from which to view the world are added. An assignment that can be valuable in teaching students to write about sensitive social issues involves requiring students to prepare and present a "training module." In explaining how this training module serves as a springboard for enhancing social awareness, an overview of the assignment is provided, along with the specific requirements of the written and performance elements of the assignment. Finally, a rationale for the affordances of the assignment is provided. The ineffectiveness of perspective taking on altruistic behavior that is documented in the literature is combated through the motivator of vocational development. The enhancement of perspective taking skills is promoted through listener-adapted communication.

The beginning step in developing the training module involves asking students to select a "marginalized group" to study. Although some find the term "marginalized" distasteful or offensive, students seem to understand the term, and many "marginalized" individuals and populations gladly embrace the term as an apt descriptor. It can be helpful to begin by discussing the terms "marginalized" and "marginalization" before moving to discussions of specific groups. The instructor may then guide students to think about instances of marginalization and about how differing from cultural norms can produce communication breakdowns, conflicts, and crises. One way the instructor can creatively explore the range of possibilities for groups to study is to invite the class to develop lists by brainstorming examples of groups or individuals marginalized due to physical conditions/circumstances (e.g., cancer, deafness, skin color), life experiences (e.g. divorce, suicide by a friend or family member, international travel) or by current events (e.g., the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon in the United States and its profound impact on Arabs and Muslims in the United States). Students will often begin to relate to the assignment due to some of their own experiences of discrimination or marginalization. Each student is then encouraged to select a marginalized population of which she or he is not a member. This aspect of the assignment is critical in requiring all students to participate in taking new perspectives.

The instructor will also need to offer some information on how training is done. When possible, it is helpful to invite a guest lecturer with training experience. Assuming the classroom is composed of students of various majors and professional objectives, an instructor's general overview of the task is adequate. The instructor should explain that students should design a training module in which the class is presented with a scenario for which the student designed the training exercise. For example, a student who plans to major in elementary or secondary education may prepare a teachers' "in-service" training exercise, a business major may opt to address corporate training, and a nursing student may opt for training nurses. If the student is undecided regarding career options, she or he may specify an audience with which the marginalized group seems to have the most trouble communicating. Students also have the option of not creating a target audience, but simply focus on addressing members of the class.

The written portion of the training module reflects some of the same types of topics and patterns that a trainer would normally encounter. The first part of the assignment involves providing background on the group studied. In this portion of the paper, the student should offer any known history of the group and explain how this group is marginalized and by whom. Next, the student should orient the reader to the intended audience of the training exercise. The student should describe the scenario as clearly as possible, so that the context of the event is elaborated upon and can provide a clear basis for assessing the effectiveness of the message to the target audience and occasion. If the student chooses to address her or his peers, the student is responsible for providing some insight into what she/he knows about the composition of the class, and can discuss how that information will be used to effectively train this audience.

After the orientation, students will perform a "needs assessment." Here, the more general orientation to the group is refined to the study of one specific problem area. For example, if a student was studying Deaf culture and was performing corporate training for a large organization, the student might focus on problems experienced in the informal flow of communication at the workplace, and ways that the deaf are marginalized from ordinary co-worker interactions. The more the student is able to focus the problem at this phase of the assignment, the easier the training becomes. One way in which a student's social awareness can be developed in this portion of the assignment can be to request or require the student to discuss and develop the needs assessment from the perspective of the marginalized group. Part of the criteria for evaluation, then, becomes to what extent they have stepped outside of their own mindset.

Once the needs assessment is completed, the student will develop a training plan that addresses the problem. In this phase, the first step is to establish a set of learning objectives. In Shapiro's (1995) Training Effectiveness Handbook, some guidelines are offered for phrasing effective learning objectives. Shapiro emphasizes the importance of selecting skills that can be performed and proven in class, and argues that the learning objectives must specify the desired performance competence sought. He suggests that performance-based learning objectives must include an active verb and object, describe the desired performance skill the student is to learn, and must be observable during training (p. 22). Also emphasized is the importance of using concrete language to make achievement of objectives measurable (p. 31). Given the outcomes-based emphasis on performance evaluation in many organizations, this type of introduction to clear language use incorporating measurable objectives has significant benefits to preparing students for a career. Simultaneously, students are required to think strategically about the best method for operationalizing plans for responding to crises or people who are "different." In other words, the student becomes better equipped to become both a good employee and a good citizen.

It is important to note that students can tend to oversimplify the needs and preferences of a group. It is critical that the student is urged to explore the diversity that exists within the marginalized group selected. If a student were to present information on how to handle initial interactions with persons in a wheelchair, there are many tips that would be appropriate for some, yet offensive to others. The important task, then, becomes training the audience to also recognize the diversity of perspectives and ways of understanding a situation within the group studied. The training session, in this way, can often become a recognition of behaviors that are often recommended, sometimes recommended, and are never recommended. Perhaps the student's learning objectives will center upon training the audience to avoid some of the most offensive, inappropriate behaviors, as well as to understand from the perspective of the group why those behaviors are inappropriate.

Once the learning objectives have been identified and carefully phrased, students then propose an action plan for accomplishing the training. Each trainer will need to propose a plan that specifically breaks down how the training time allotted will be used. The extent to which the plan is maintained can be one criterion for evaluation. Students will also specify how the training will be executed by proposing a plan for how to teach the audience about an existing need for change in the way people are interacting with members of the chosen marginalized group, and by offering a plan for training the audience to communicate more effectively. Trainers can be encouraged to use both traditional forms of research in presenting the information on the marginalized group and more creative and artistic evidence. For example, to help foster audience interest and enhance awareness of the topic, the students performing the training can be encouraged to use creative devices such as a brief video clip from a movie or read a poem written by a member of a marginalized group. As the student researches these more creative materials, greater insight into the perspective of the group can be achieved.

In the performance phase of the training assignment, students are allowed to put their written plan into practice. Students must be given clear time limits. The more focused the problem the student has studied, the easier it becomes to stick to time limits. Given a focused problem, 20 minutes per training session can be adequate. One twist on the assignment can be to specify that students act as advocates for the marginalized groups. Serving as an advocate prods the student to engage in some careful perspective taking, helping to gain a more complex, multi-faceted set of insights on the problem. Making the advocacy part of the grading criteria motivates a student to at least be able to clearly articulate the experiences of others. Requiring the student to act as advocate also promotes an awareness of the values expressed in the language used, and prevents students from feeling as though insensitive comments about the group are tolerable. The performance section of the assignment also entails involving the class in learning the specified skills. Every teacher learns quickly that one of the best ways to learn and internalize new material more deeply is to teach it.

Admittedly, the writing/performance assignment proposed is more time consuming than a strictly written counterpart. In order to justify such a time intensive assignment, considerable benefits would need to derive from the assignment: and they do. Student commitment and learning in this assignment can be phenomenal. Students respond to this type of assignment with a greater sense of urgency. First, the skills developed in the exercise can be "sold" by the instructor as job skills. Translating class assignments into job skills is appealing to most students. Shapiro explains, "People will accept and use new behaviors if they understand them and feel that the effort required to make the change will result in sufficient pay-off' (p. 172). The same can be said of training students to write.

Additional benefits of the assignment accrue directly from the performance element. A student who is not ashamed of doing shoddy work for an instructor may metamorphose into a student with a desire to perform well in front of peers. In addition to promoting higher motivation, academic advantages are also acquired. The student is required to proceed through numerous layers of perspective taking. In terms of a student's ability to communicate strategically in response to crisis, the student will be able to address a wider range of stakeholders. While the loftier goals of developing social awareness are admirable and worthy of attention in writing classes, some students may not perceive the "pay-off." Whether it is due to a desire to enhance one's social awareness, social skill, job skills, or social standing in the class, students can find powerful pay-offs in this assignment that will motivate learning while encouraging the student to internalize new perspectives on social issues.

References

Batson, C. D., D. A. Lishner, A. Carpenter, L. Dulin, S. Harjusola-Webb, E. L. Stocks, S. Gale, O. Hassan, B. Sampat (2003). "... As you would have them do unto you": Does imagining yourself in the other's place stimulate moral action? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29 (9), 1190-1201.

Boal, K. B. & R. Hooijberg (2000). Strategic leadership research: Moving on. The Leadership Quarterly, 11 (4), 515-549.

Colby, A., T. Ehrlich, E. Beaumont, & J. Stephens (2003). Educating Citizens. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Delia, J., R. A. Clark, D. Switzer (1974). Cognitive complexity and impression formation in informal social interaction. Speech Monographs, 41, 299-308.

Hale, C. L. & J. G. Delia (1976). Cognitive complexity and social perspective-taking. Communication Monographs, 43, 195-203.

Maner, J. K., C. L. Luce, S. L. Neuberg, R. B. Cialdini, S. Brown, B. J. Sagarin (2002). The effects of perspective taking on motivations for helping: Still no evidence of altruism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28 (11), 1601-1610.

McPherson-Frantz, C. & R. Janoff-Bulman (2000). Considering both sides: The limits of perspective taking. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 22 (1), 31-42.

Ray, S. J. (1999). Strategic Communication in Crisis Management. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Russell, D. R. (1991). Writing and the Academic Disciplines, 1870-1990. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Press.

Shapiro, L. T. (1995). Training Effectiveness Handbook. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Sally O. Hastings, Western Kentucky University 

Dr. Hastings is an Associate Professor in Communication. Her teaching and research interests involve examining differences, such as culture and stigma, which complicate communication.