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What is communication?
Why this class?
Like reading and writing, oral language
is a communicative process that uses
language to make meaning
Communication
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This subject dates back to ancient
times – limited to the art of giving
speeches.
20th century - studying only speech
was too limiting. Mass media,
speaking for different purposes,
relationships
Last decade - important part of
cultural studies
The study of speech and
communication has had a long and
honorable history because people in
every age need communication skills.
Communication skills are paramount to
student success in the work world.
“American workers surveyed about
their educational preparation for the
work force rate the ability to
communicate and think critically as
being more important than computer
or other job-specific skills”
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“The act of communication is as
important as the technologies we use
to connect to each other.”
Mary Boone - 2001
Interview Impressions
Personnel managers’ survey:
“The skills most valued in the
contemporary job-entry market are
communication skills (including oral
communication, listening, and
written communication)”
Cont.
“The most frequent factors deemed
important in aiding graduating
college students obtain employment
are basic interpersonal oral and
written communication skills”
American Bar Association Survey
Attorneys ranked listening, building
credibility, and adapting to a variety
of different audiences as among the
top ten oral communication skills for
the legal profession
Communication is vital in all areas
of your life.
It’s used to:
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Persuade
To influence relationships
To inform
To share, discover and uncover information
Communication and how to communicate is
so important to daily life that it has
spawned an entire industry of books and
seminars.
One Writer argues…
Communication is the ultimate peoplemaking discipline because it teaches
people how to think and speak well.
Not only that, it frees us to be human:
to apply our imagination, to solve
practical problems, and to articulate
our ideas.
To live then, is to communicate.
To communicate effectively is to
enjoy life more fully.
The demand for oral communication
competence in the workplace and in
daily life is growing.
This is a good reason to increase the
emphasis on oral communication in
the classroom.
Let’s review:
What is oral communication?
Like reading and writing, oral
language is a communicative process
that uses language to make meaning
(Allen & Brown 1976)
It is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a
variety of contexts
Communication is a process.
Communication is any process in which
people share information, ideas, and
feelings.
It involves not only the spoken and written
word but also body language, personal
mannerisms, and style – anything that
adds meaning to a message.
When we say communication is a
process, we mean that it is always
changing.
Elements of Communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Sender-Receivers (2)
Messages
Channels
Feedback
Noise (interference)
Setting (situation)
Sender-Receivers (2)
People get involved in communication
because they have information,
ideas, and feelings they want to
share.
They both send and receive at the
same time.
The sender initiates a message.
A receiver may not be the intended
receiver.
Messages
Ideas and feelings that a senderreceiver wants to share
They can be communicated only if
they are represented by symbols.
A symbol is something that stands for
something else.
Messages may be sent unintentionally.
Communication messages are
made up to two kinds of symbols.
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Verbal Symbols – words that stand for
particular things or ideas. They are
limited and complicated. (chair –
concrete; home, hungry, hurt - abstract)
Nonverbal symbols – ways we
communicate without using words (facial
expressions, gestures, posture, vocal
tones, appearance, etc.
Channels
The channel is the route traveled by a
message; it is the means it uses to
reach the sender-receivers.
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Face-to-face (sound and sight)
Radio, television, CDs, etc.
Firm handshake (touch)
Appropriate clothing (sight)
Respectful voice (sound)
Feedback
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Feedback is the response of the receiversenders to each other
• Smile/nods/varying eye contact
• Comment/questions back
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Feedback is vital to communication - it
lets participants see whether ideas and
feelings have been shared in the way they
were intended.
Little feedback occurs in messages sent
out by the mass media
Noise/Interference
Noise is interference that keeps a message
from being understood or accurately
interpreted. Three forms:
1.
External – environment and keeps the
message from being hear or understood
2.
Internal – in the minds when focused on
something other than the communication
3.
Semantic - people’s emotional reactions
to words
Settings/Situation
The setting is the environment in
which the communication occurs:
• the duration of the communication
• the place of the communication
• the demographics of the communication
participants
Communication is a transaction.
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Three principles of Transactional
Communication
1. Participation is continuous and simultaneous.
2. All communications have a past, a present
and a future – you respond to every situation
from your own experiences, your own
moods, and your own expectations.
3. All Communicators play roles – parts you
play. Roles control everything from word
choice to body language.
Building Meaning
The word “building” is important.
Speakers and listeners build meaning
when they interpret messages using
their previous knowledge,
background, and experiences
Sharing Meaning
Sharing is important in order to
facilitate clarity and achieve
communication purposes.
Sharing also implies that speakers
and listeners simultaneously
exchange verbal and nonverbal
messages.
Sharing (cont.)
“If it were not for sharing, oral language
might otherwise be viewed merely as the
presenting of information by a speaker to
a listener, as talk instead of a process of
communicating. With a lopsided emphasis
on presenting, the listener’s role is
considerably devalued. If the act of
listening is unimportant, or less important
than speaking the listener’s identity may
also be perceived as unimportant.”
Types of Communication
Five types most used:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Intrapersonal communication
Interpersonal communication
Small-Group communication
Public Communication
Mass Communication
Intrapersonal Communication
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Communication that occurs within
you
Centered in the self, you are the only
sender-receiver
Channel is your brain, which
processes what you are thinking and
feeling
Interpersonal Communication
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Occurs when you communicate on a
one-to-one basis – usually in an
informal, unstructured setting
Occurs mostly between two people,
though it may include more than two
Uses all elements of the
communication process
Small-Group Communication
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Occurs when a small number of
people meet to solve a problem
Communication process is more
complicated than interpersonal
Use same channels
Usually meet in a more formal
setting
Public Communication
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The sender-receiver (speaker) sends
a message (speech) to an audience
Channels are more exaggerated –
voice is louder and gestures more
expansive
Speaker may use additional visual
channels
Generally, feedback is limited
Setting is formal
Mass Communication
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Highly structured messages and
large audiences
Many people create the messages
Greatest difference lies in feedback –
little exchange between the enders
and receivers, and what little there is
is delayed
Message is kept simple in order to be
understood
Intercultural Communication
The communication that occurs whenever
two or more people from different cultures
interact
If two or more cultural or co-cutural groups
want to communicate, they must be aware
that they may have different systems of
knowledge, values, beliefs, customs,
behaviors, and artifacts. Not knowing this
can result in misunderstandings.
Two factors unique to oral
communication
Immediacy of Speech
• Is the need to simultaneously and
continuously assess, respond, and adapt
to the communication behavior of
another person – split second thinking.
• Oral communicators depend on a variety
of critical thinking and behavioral skills
to participate in successful
communication.
Impermanence of Speech
Spoken and nonverbal messages are
not easily recoverable or reviewable
Organizational and critical thinking
skills are central to the oral
communication process
So…Why is Oral Communication
instruction so important?
Oral communication skills are vital for
successful life management –
listening skills, in particular.
Listening and thinking skills have also
become more important with the rise
of information technology as a
powerful medium for persuasion.
Think about…
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The number one challenge facing
oral communication instruction in an
integrated language arts curriculum
is that students are at risk of
receiving inadequate content
instruction to build their knowledge
about oral communication and
positive oral communication
attributes.
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They are at risk of experiencing too
few opportunities to apply oral
communication skills in authentic
contexts – even though that is the
goal of an integrated curriculum
Failure to adequately address oral communication as a
strand of the language arts occurs
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2.
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When we allow any one formal speaking
context – such as an oral report or a
creative reading to serve as the sole
measure of a student’s speaking
proficiency;
When we teach only listening to follow
directions or to summarize a story
When we provide for frequent
cooperative learning activities in small
groups, but do not provide any
instruction about how to play roles in a
small group
Summary
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Oral communication is the process of
building and sharing meaning through the
use of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a
variety of contexts.
It is an immediate interaction between
speaker and listener.
It is impermanent, necessitating strong
critical thinking, comprehension, and
recall skills.
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Oral Communication instruction is
important because oral
communication is a mode of human
communication that is used
frequently, and competency is vital
for academic, workplace, and lifemanagement success.