Focus Questions

In the video, you watched part of a performance review meeting.

Discuss the following:

  1. Whose performance review is it?
  1. How formal/informal was the language the people in the video used? Why?
  1. Are the people casual or serious during the meeting? Why?
  1. What is active listening? Is active listening important? Why? Do the people in the video demonstrate active listening? How?
  1. Sima gives feedback on two main points. What are they?
  1. Overall, is the feedback that Sima gives positive or negative? How do you know?
  1. Sima points out one area for improvement. What is it?
  1. Was the feedback received well? How do you know?
  1. Below are two pieces of feedback. Complete the following:
    • Read Feedback 1 and 2 carefully. Identify the sentences from Feedback 1 and 2 that tell what needs to be improved. The correct answers will turn blue when you click on them.

      Feedback 1 (Supervisor to employee)

      Thank you for submitting the report at such short notice. The report is very thorough and includes all the important points. It appears that there are a few issues with spelling and grammar. Could we look at the report again before forwarding it? I really appreciate your attention to the customers’ needs, and you have made some excellent points in the report.

      Feedback 2 (Instructor to student)

      The paragraph is organized well, and you have used the appropriate words to help the information flow smoothly. I also like how your topic sentence gives the main idea about the paragraph. Let us look at these two sentences here. Do you think they support the main idea in your topic sentence? It’s always a good idea to read your sentences carefully to check if they are all connected to the main idea. This way you will have a really good paragraph. Now about your spelling and punctuation: I feel you have improved a great deal in these areas. It is clear that you are working very hard to improve your writing.

    • Discuss your answers. What exactly has to be improved in each case?
    • In each piece of feedback, the person giving the feedback used indirect language. Identify the indirect language used in each feedback and rephrase it in a direct way. Use the chart below to identify and rephrase the feedback. Type your answers into the space provided. Then, click Submit to check your answers. Discuss your answers.
Identify and Type the Indirect Language Rephrase the Indirect Language as Direct Language
Feedback 1
Feedback 2

Answer:

Indirect language Direct language
It’s always a good idea to read your sentences carefully to check if they are all connected to the main idea. = You should read your sentences carefully to check if they are all connected to the main idea.
Could we look at the report again before forwarding it? = Make sure you correct all the errors before forwarding the document.
Submit