Hello,
Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?
The prompt is:
During the course of the session, you will be required to write an academic paper on an aspect of family communication of your choosing
Thank you in advance
Frederic
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In Love within the Law: Relationship Challenges, Interpersonal Communication, and Family Law Practice
Globalization not only affects the economic life of nations on the international stages but also permeates the private sphere in several ways (Dau-Schmidt & Brun, 2006). Among these numerous implications, transnational migration has a significant impact on existing and forthcoming families (Segal & Mayadas, 2005). Indeed, people from extremely different cultures meet, become friends, and even sometimes fall in love (Segal & Mayadas, 2005). Consequently, skills associated with family communication may turn out to be of great use not only for family members but also for the professionals involved in the legal regulation of family issues. Thanks to the examination of strategies overcoming barriers to effective communication between culturally diverse family members, it becomes possible to appreciate the benefits generated by research on intercultural communication skills. This field of study may become of particular importance for researchers who endeavour to discover efficient peaceful settlements of conflicting situations stemming from misunderstandings and miscommunications that occur between intimate partners from different cultures. Their findings concerning appropriate strategies for overcoming barriers to effective communication between culturally diverse family members could help legal mediators develop competences of comprehension, acceptation, and adaptation in their practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution solutions, from premarital to post-divorce issues.
Comprehension can be achieved thanks to the development of skills aiming at expand one's knowledge of people with different worldviews. A first step in the search for understanding the cultural expectations of individuals may be to seek information about their culture since intercultural communication is a source of uncertainty (Neuliep & Ryan, 1998). For this reason, once a working knowledge of the indigenous culture has been built up, it may be constructive to ask questions to one's interlocutors and, above all, carefully listen to their answers to reduce uncertainty. Then, it becomes essential to integrate this collection of heteroclite elements into a "third culture" (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). The successful assimilation and implementation of this transactional model makes possible the acquirement of theoretical framework allowing the most proper transcription of messages from an individual to another one. Consequently, legal professionals who are adept at learning foreign cultures' worldviews in addition to clarify situations thanks to questioning and active listening can diminish uncertainty between them and their clients or between clients. Thus, they can ameliorate their relational empathy, which can allow them to create common grounds for subsequent actions. For instance, a legal mediator who demonstrates a proper use of comprehension may not only be able to appreciate the apprehension experienced by an American citizen who expresses the desire to let his fiancée of Russian extraction know that he would like her to sign a premarital agreement but also to allay the fiancée's suspicion.
Acceptation is a difficult competence to attain and it requires a strong motivation. First and foremost, acceptation necessitates accentuating cultural relativism and precluding oneself from judgmental assertions against one's interlocutor (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). However, one must keep in mind that it is damaging to ignore the presence of cultural differences when dialoguing with an interlocutor (Ucok, 2006). Finally, an objective acceptation of cultural gaps can greatly mature through the toleration of the vagaries of life, such as delays, hesitations, and ambiguity (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). The recognition of interlocutors' distinctive cultural characteristics permits to enhance the motivation to be mindful when encountering people with various cultural backgrounds and, thus, the impetus to acknowledge the interlocutors' aspirations and suggestions (Ucok, 2006). Accordingly, legal professionals who are practised at accepting the singularity of diverse worldviews may be in a position to resolve issues provoked by a divorce between a wife of Middle-East origin and a husband of American extraction, such as the utmost divisive issue concerning child custody and child education. The capacity to accept cultural values (i.e. an eastern matriarchal vision of education) or factors (i.e. the fundamentalism of the Mormon religious movement) into their practice, may allow lawyers to find original compromises that satisfy both clients, such as a bilingual education or a dual religious instruction.
Adaptation is a practical implementation of the comprehension and acceptation competences. First of all, comprehension and acceptation provide the essential tolerance and plasticity for intercultural communication (Thomas & Inkson, 2005). Indeed, individuals demonstrating these abilities are not only other-oriented but are also sufficiently flexible to predictively and reactively adapt to novel situations in creative ways (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). Furthermore, their experience allows them to employ cognitive and emotional processes such as social decentring and empathy so as to assimilate their interlocutors' perspectives and feelings (Mark, 1989). As a consequence, they are equipped to anticipate or adjust their own verbal and non-verbal communication to their interlocutors whatever they cultural backgrounds may be. Therefore, legal professionals who apply these principles to their activities may be capable to adapt their communication so as to, on the one hand, explain their middle-class American clients, who want to adopt a baby, the Chinese legal procedure in plain language and, on the other hand, transcript their clients' practical expectations into the formal language and documents demanded by the Chinese authorities.
Theoretical and applied research on communication for resolving family issues is beneficial for the private sphere all along the life course of families in addition to the professional circles regulating legal issues concerned with families. Lawyers' communication competences in judicial and mediated dispute resolution may be highly profitable to their clients but also to their law firms. As a matter of fact, intercultural communication skills may contribute to the clients' satisfaction from premarital to post-divorce issues and actively participate in their loyalty whenever they may necessitate legal actions. In addition, applied research on communication for resolving family issues in intercultural contexts may permit legal professionals to expediently widen and publicize their offers of service aimed at facilitating their clients' mandatory legal formalities and at meeting their clients' expectations as regards avant-garde Alternative Dispute Resolution solutions that abide by family law in addition to respect individuals' emotional rights, such as couple's communication counselling and parenting plan mediation.
Greetings!
Another excellent essay! This is an aspect of ADR I had not previously considered--very interesting!
Some editing suggestions for you:
Comprehension can be achieved thanks to the development of skills aimed at expanding one's knowledge of people with different worldviews.
the most proper transcription of messages from one individual to another.
Consequently, legal professionals who are adept at learning foreign cultures' worldviews in addition to clarifying situations thanks to questioning and active listening
which can allow them to create common ground for subsequent actions.
As a consequence, they are equipped to anticipate or adjust their own verbal and non-verbal communication to their interlocutors whatever their cultural backgrounds may be.
The recognition of interlocutors' distinctive cultural characteristics permits to enhance the motivation to be mindful when encountering people with various cultural backgrounds and, thus, the impetus to acknowledge the interlocutors' aspirations and suggestions - Besides not being quite grammatical, this is unnecessarily wordy. See if you can simplify it a bit.
may be capable of adapting their communication so as to, on the one hand, explain to their middle-class American clients, who want to adopt a baby, the Chinese legal procedure in plain language
meeting their clients' expectations as regards avant-garde Alternative Dispute Resolution solutions that abide by family law in addition to respecting individuals' emotional rights, such as couple's communication counselling and parenting plan mediation.
Great work!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
