Communication and Life Skills Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the Communication and Life Skills study guide Units 1 through 10, including time management, self-concept, referencing styles, grammar, and health education.

Time Management

The act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, often involving the use of a calendar or planner.

Procrastination

A tendency to put off to tomorrow what you can do today; a natural habit that acts as a time waster.

Personal Time Audit

A step in removing time wasters that involves analyzing a typical day in detail, often using a time analysis diary broken into 30-minute segments.

Stress

Anything that poses a challenge or a threat to our well-being, specifically when pressures are too high to cope with.

Fight-or-flight response

The body's sympathetic nervous system reaction to a stressful event, producing chemicals like cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline to trigger alertness and speed.

Self-concept

The individual's belief about himself or herself, including attributes and learned beliefs; defined as 'what you think you are.'

Self-esteem

How people feel about or value themselves; defined as 'what you think you are worth.'

Assertive behaviour

Standing up for your own rights in a way that does not violate the rights of others, leading to open and direct expression of a point of view.

Non-assertive behaviour

Failing to stand up for your rights or doing so in a way that people do not take you seriously because of a lack of strength in expression.

Aggressive behaviour

Standing up for your own rights in a way that violates the rights of others, often characterized by blaming, hostility, and contempt.

Argument

Using reasons to support a point of view so that readers may be persuaded to agree with the author's views.

Assumption

An untested starting point or belief in a theory; in critical thinking, it refers to anything taken for granted in an argument.

Conclusion

A deduction pullled together from arguments in a text that gives a final point or reasoned assumption.

Evidence

Data or support materials such as examples, interviews, or quotes used to provide support to an author's arguments.

Line of reasoning

A set of reasons or contributing arguments structured in a specific order to support an overall argument.

Premises

Propositions considered to be truths and used as the bases for an argument.

Thesis statement

A statement that summarizes the ideas you plan to present in an essay, providing a narrow focus including the topic and the plan of presentation.

Plagiarism

A serious academic offense involving the presentation of an assignment copied in whole or in part from another source without due acknowledgment.

APA System

A parenthetical citation system from the American Psychological Association using the format (Author, Date, Page) for direct quotes.

Oxford System

A referencing system also known as the Footnote system, which uses superscript numbers (note identifiers) to link to citations at the bottom of the page.

Harvard System

An author-date system where in-text references use the family name and date (e.g., Johnston 2003) with a full alphabetical list at the end.

Grammatical Competence

The ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical structures of a language and use them effectively in communication.

Homophones

Words with the same sound but different spellings and meanings, such as 'loose' and 'lose'.

Homonyms

Words with the same spelling and sound but different meanings, such as 'see' (using eyes) and 'see' (grasping with the mind).

Homographs

Words with the same spelling but different meanings and sounds, such as 'row' (propel with oars) and 'row' (a quarrel).

Unity

A paragraph quality where thoughts in sentences are organized around a single controlling idea.

Coherence

A paragraph quality meaning 'to hang together,' where thoughts flow into one another using transitional markers.

Listening

A psychological and interpretative process involving attention and understanding of received messages with an intent to respond.

Hearing

A physical process where the ear receives sound from the surroundings and transmits a sensation/stimuli to the brain with no intent to respond.

Paraphrasing

Restating the essential part of a message concisely in your own words while maintaining the original meaning.

Active listening

A listening type where the receiver demonstrates attending behavior and focuses on showing empathy with the speaker.

Debate

A formal argument or constructive exchange of ideas between two sides (affirmative and negative) contending for audience support.

Proposition

An arguable statement for a debate, which can be based on action/policy or on values.

Rebuttal speeches

Speeches developed during a debate to counteract or demolish the arguments provided by the opposing side.

Linear Model

A communication model viewing communication as a straightforward relay of a message from a sender to a receiver without focusing on feedback.

Transactional Model

A dynamic communication model where senders and receivers play roles simultaneously and social environment features contribute to meaning.

Noise

Anything that interferes with the accurate expression or reception of a message, including physical, technical, and social interruptions.

Distortion

A communication barrier where the 'meaning' of a message is lost during the encoding or decoding stage.

HIV

Human Immuno-deficiency Virus; a virus that attacks the body's natural defense system and can eventually lead to AIDS.

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; a collection of signs and symptoms of variety of diseases resulting from a lack of immunity.

Opportunistic Infections

Germs (bacteria, virus, fungi) that attack the body when the immune system is damaged or unhealthy.

Window Period

The period (typically 2 to 12 weeks) between when a person becomes infected with HIV and when a blood test becomes positive for antibodies.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Medical treatment for HIV that can prolong the life of infected individuals and lower the chance of infecting others.

Stigma

Negative views, beliefs, and attitudes toward individuals because of their HIV status, resulting in them being discredited.

Discrimination

Treating people differently for no good reason on the basis of their actual or perceived HIV status, such as firing someone from a job.

HAMP Act

The HIV/AIDS Management and Prevention Act passed in PNG in 2003 to protect the rights of people living with HIV and the general community.