MODULE 3 - Speaking and Writing THIS MODULE seeks to teach teach you how to use the structures of of Caribbean Standard Standard English correctly and aroriately! as well as with a degree of elegance" #ou will also be re$uired to roduce di%erent tyes of co&&unication rele'ant and aroriate to your social! acade&ic! rofessional and 'ocational needs" (eading! writing! seaking and listening are the four ways in which we use co&&unication and you should be able to e)ress your self in seaking and writing with recision! accuracy! clarity and *uency" Essentially! for co&&unication to take lace! both writing and reading skills &ust be e&loyed" Si&ilarly! seech co&&unication does not end with seaking" +or co&&unication to e%ecti'ely take lace! the recei'er,audience &ust e&loy listening skills" It is i&ortant! then! for you to be able to not only write and seak e%ecti'ely! but also to read and listen e%ecti'ely" -ithout e%ecti'e co&&unication skills! we are at a disad'antage in situations that in'ol'e other eole"
COMMUNICATION PROCESS Co&&unication has been de.ned as the rocess of eole interacting through the use of &essages /0euschner1 23345" 6lso it has been referred to as the rocess of hu&an beings resonding to the sy&bolic beha'iour of other ersons" 7 6 close obser'ation of the& re'eals that co&&unication is a rocess /not an e'ent5! it in'ol'es eole! it in'ol'es interaction a&ong eole and it in'ol'es the use of &essages" 7 6s a rocess! co&&unication is dyna&ic! continuous! irre'ersible irre'ersible and conte)tual" It is ine'itable! that is! it is sure to haen and cannot be altered or re'oked" 7 6ll co&&unicati'e e'ents in'ol'e content and relationshi" Content refers to the substance of the &essage while relationshi tells of the recei'er and sender and how they ercei'e their interaction" 7 +inally! co&&unication haens in a setting or conte)t and it is fro& such that &uch &eaning is deri'ed" Conte)t &ay be de.ned as a culture! location or a relationshi"
Elements in te C!mm"ni#ati!n Pr!#ess -ithin the rocess rocess of co&&unication there there are .'e ri&ary ele&ents! because because co&&unication is a rocess! there are certain ele&ents of this rocess that are resent in e'ery co&&unication act" These ele&ents &ust be in'ol'ed in order for co&&unication to take lace1
8Senders,Sources,Encoders 8 (ecei'ers, Decoders 8 Messages 8 Channels and Mediu&s 8 +eedback
DESCRIPTION O$ T%E ELEMENTS O$ T%E PROCESS &' Sender (als! #alled s!"r#e !r en#!der) 6s the word suggests! the sender is the erson,grou with who& the &essage originates" The sender concetuali9es the &essage" That is! she deter&ines what the content of the &essage will be! the best for& for the &essage to take and the best way of getting the &essage across" *'
Message
This is the content of the co&&unication rocess" :efore the co&&unication rocess begins! there &ust be an idea or body of knowledge that needs to be co&&unicated ;" A' Medi"m This is the ðod that so&eone chooses to con'ey her &essage" -ill you use e< &ail= Seech= >estures= 6 oster= +' Cannel Channel is closely associated with &ediu&" This is the &eans by which your &essage is con'eyed" +or e)a&le! an e<&ail is a &ediu&! whereas the internet is a channel? seech is a &ediu&! but radios and loudseakers are channels? gestures are a &ediu&! your hands act as their channel? .nally! a oster &ay be your &ediu&! but the oster
DESCRI+IN. T%E PROCESS Co&&unication is described as a rocess because there are certain stages that it &ust follow in order for e%ecti'e co&&unication to take lace" If any of the stes are neglected co&&unication will not take lace" The rocess is both cyclical going
in a circle,cycle and transactional has to be erfor&ed" The e'ent begins with the #!n#ept"ali/ati!n ,thinking of the &essage and this is the senders role as the originator of the &essage" In addition! after the sender has thought of the &essage! it is the senders task to en#!de the contents of the &essage utting it in a for& that the recei'er can understand" 6fter which the sender sele#ts te medi"m what for& it will take and #annel what de'ice will be used through which the &essage will be sent so that the recei'er will be able to recei'e it" The recei'ers role is chie*y to recei'e the &essage and to de#!de it which shows that the &essage was recei'ed" 6fter which the recei'er will try to interpret,understand the &essage sent to hi&,her" The recei'er will then ro'ide a0eeda#k ,answer to the sender" -ithout this feedback co&&unication has not taken lace" It is 'ery i&ortant for you to understand that both the sender and the recei'er concetuali9e! encode! select &ediu& and channel! decode! interret and ro'ide feedback in all co&&unicati'e e'ents"
$a#ilitat!rs and +arriers t! C!mm"ni#ati!n :arriers1 Often during co&&unicati'e e'ents there is so&e sort of interference or blockage to interaction" These are co&&only referred to as barriers to co&&unication and &ay be internal or e)ternal in nature"
Internal arriers in#l"de1 daydrea&ing! an)iety and hunger! headache! deression" E1ternal arriers in#l"de1 noise fro& a lawn &ower! gestures! attire! osture! chatting! silled be'erage on a age and choice of words" So&e co&&on barriers to co&&unication are1 i" 6 language barrier ii" 6 channel that is inaccessible to the recei'er iii" The &essage is ine%ecti'ely encoded or the &eaning is a&biguous i'" The &ediu& is inaroriate to the &essage +acilitator1 These are factors that &ay in*uence the e%ecti'e con'eyance of &essages ositi'ely or negati'ely" 6nything that hels to ensure an e%ecti'e transfer of &essages is called a facilitator to co&&unication" 6nything that hinders this e%ecti'eness is a barrier to co&&unication So&e co&&on facilitators to co&&unication are1 i" choosing a fa&iliar language ii" Using an accessible channel iii" Ensuring that the &ediu& is aroriate to the &essage i'" Using audio,'isual aids to enhance the encoding of the &essage
$ORMS O$ COMMUNICATION In general! hu&an beings co&&unicate using two &ain forms1 ,eral #!mm"ni#ati!n and n!n-,eral #!mm"ni#ati!n" There are two &ain ways in which hu&an beings co&&unicate 'erbally! that is! through seech and writing"
2eral #!mm"ni#ati!n! si&ly ut! is any for& of co&&unication that uses words in order to con'ey &eaning or trans&it &essages" Essentially! 'erbal co&&unication is eiter spee# !r riting " There are four &ain skills that hu&an beings ut into ractice when engaging in 'erbal co&&unication1 reading! writing! seaking and listening" 6ny 'erbal co&&unication in'ol'es at least two of these skills" Language is the one thing that all four 'erbal co&&unication skills ha'e in co&&on? it is a seci.cally hu&an for& of co&&unication that uses sy&bols to reresent ideas and concets"
N!n-2eral C!mm"ni#ati!n is the for& of co&&unication that does not in'ol'e the use of seech or writing" In e%ect! non<'erbal co&&unication is the use of 'oice! sace! obFects! &o'e&ent! ti&e and the .'e senses to con'ey &eanings that without using words" :ecause the tyes of non<'erbal co&&unication focus on hysical actions and &aniulations to con'ey &eaning! they are often referred to as co&&unicati'e beha'iours" N!n-2eral4C!mm"ni#ati,e ea,i!"rs #!mprise te 0!ll!ing5 2!#ali#s5 refers to the use of 'oice in co&&unicating &essages" This does not include actual words! but &odulations in tone of 'oice! rate of seech! itch and non<'erbal utterances" :ecause 'ocalics is often used in conFunction with seech co&&unication i"e" G 'erbal! it is often referred to as aralanguage" Pr!1emi#s5 is the use of sace to co&&unicate" Standing close to so&eone &ay indicate that you like her? likewise! changing seat during an e)a& &ay indicate that you susect your neighbour of cheating or so&e sort of disco&fort" Arti0a#ts5 are obFects that con'ey so&e sort of &essage about you" These include clothes! Fewellery! ho&e decorations! book bags etc" M!,ement5 incororates se'eral &o'e&ents of the body G eye contact! facial e)ressions! osture and gestures all co&&unicate infor&ation" +ailing to &eet eye contact when seaking to a arent &ay indicate ner'ousness! sha&e or the ossibility of untruthfulness? sitting straight in a chair could indicate attenti'eness" Cr!nemi#s5 refers to the use of ti&e" :y being early for class you show resect for the teacher and fellow class&ates? si&ilarly! a teacher who arri'es consistently late for class is e)hibiting a lack of resect for her students and rofession"
Te 6,e senses5 sight! hearing! touch! taste and s&ell are also used in non< 'erbal co&&unication" +or e)a&le! a nor&ally good cook who o'er
CONTE8TS O$ COMMUNICATION Co&&unication takes lace in a 'ariety of settings or conte)ts" The conte)t is the setting,en'iron&ent! lace where co&&unication takes lace" The following are 'arious conte)ts where co&&unication &ay take lace"
Intra-pers!nal1 Co&&unicating within oneBs self" E"g" Thinking! daydrea&ing! sol'ing roble&s! i&agining" 6lso includes all hysical feedback &echanis&s! such as sensations of hunger! ain! leasure" Interpers!nal1 The interaction of two or &ore eole" The one
seaking to a class! essays! research aer! internal assess&ent"
Small-gr!"p1 Interaction between @< eole" It is one of the &ost i&ortant co&&unication settings and e)ists e'erywhere" It re$uires the following conditions1 Leadershi! E$ual sharing of ideas! eer ressure! (oles J nor&s! +ocus on a co&&on goal" P"li# #!mm"ni#ati!n1 -hen one erson talks to se'eral others and is the do&inant focus of the co&&unication" E"g" seaker and an audience G seech! debate! general de'otion" De.ning characteristics1 One erson is identi.ed as the ri&ary sender of &essages and others function ri&arily as recei'ers of those &essages" Mass #!mm"ni#ati!n1 This co&&unication begins to function when a &essage needs hel to get fro& its source to its destination" So&e for& of &ediu& is needed to connect the sender to recei'er" Media &ay be rint newsaer,&aga9ine! electrical radio! tele'ision! 'ideo! or electronic co&uter &ode& Inter-#"lt"ral #!mm"ni#ati!n1 So&eti&es called Kcross
SPEA:IN.1 is the 'ocali9ed for& of hu&an co&&unication through the use of uttered sounds for auditory co&&unication" It is based uon the syntactic co&bination of le)icons and na&es that are drawn fro& 'ery large 'ocabularies" WRITIN.1 is the reresentation of language in a te)tual &ediu& through the use of a set of signs or sy&bols such as letters that e)ress so&e &eaning" SPEAKING: Oral Communication T9PES5 Expository speeches, Conversations, Face –to face, Interview, Meeting, ra! "rie#ng, P$%!ic a&&ress, ra! Presentation, 'e!ephone Ca!!, Conference, 'raining Session etc(
A&vantages Dire#t medi"m !0 #!mm"ni#ati!n •
ad'antages of hysical ro)i&ity and usually! both sight and sound of sender and recei'er? allows instant interchange of oinion! 'iews! attitudes G instantaneous feedback
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easier to con'ince or ersuade
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6llows for contribution and articiation fro& all resent"
Disad,antages More dicult to hold ground in face of oosition •
m!re di;#"lt t! #!ntr!l en a n"mer !0 pe!ple take part
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lack of ti&e to think things out G $uality of decision &aking &ay be inferior
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often no written record of what has been said
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So&eti&es disutes results o'er what was agreed"
)*I'ING: Written
Communication
T9PES5 Essay, +o$rna!, iaries7 -etter, Me.oran&$., *eport, A%stract, .in$tes, Artic!e, Press *e!ease A&vantages/
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Pr!,ides ritten re#!rd a nd e'idence of disatch and receit
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caable of relaying co&le) ideas
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ro'ides analysis! e'aluation and su&&ary
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disse&inates infor&ation to disersed recei'ers
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can con.r&! interret and clarify oral co&&unications
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+or&s basis of contract or agree&ent"
isa&vantages •
Can take ti&e to roduce
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can be e)ensi'e
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co&&unication tends to be for&al and distant
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can cause roble&s of interretation
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instant feedback is not ossible
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once disatched! dicult to &odify &essage
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Does not allow for e)change of oinion! 'iews or attitudes e)cet o'er a eriod of ti&e"
