COMMUNICATION

STUDIES
 LESSON OBJECTIVES
• BY THE END OF THIS LESSON YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
1. DEFINE THE TERM COMMUNICATION
2. DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION
3. IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN THE ELEMENTS AND STAGES OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS .
4. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS OF COMMUNICATION
5. IDENTIFY THE CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION AND EVALUATE THEIR
APPROPRIATENESS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION.
 WHAT IS
COMMUNICATION?
 PLEASE SHARE
YOUR DEFINITION
OF
COMMUNICATION.
COMMUNICTION HAS BEEN
DEFINED AS:
1. Communication is any process in which people share information, ideas and feelings. It involves not
only the spoken word but also body language, personal mannerisms and style- anything that adds
meaning to a message. HYBELS 2001: COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY

• Communication is a continuous transactional process involving participants who occupy different but
overlapping environment and create relationships through exchange of messages many of which are
affected by external physiological and psychological noise. ADLER 2003
 WHAT ARE THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF
COMMUNICATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF
COMMUNICATION
• Communication is inevitable.
• Communication is irreversible.
• Communication is dynamic.
• Communication is continuous.
• Communication is contextual.
THE PROCESS OF
COMMUNICATION
THE PROCESS OF
COMMUNICATION
ELEMENTS OF THE
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
ELEMENTS OF THE
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
• Sender
• Message
• Medium
• Channel
• Receiver
• Feedback
• Noise
• Context
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Sender
This is the person or body responsible for sending the communication. It can be an individual or a group,
such as a company, a department or even a government ministry or political party. The sender also known
as the encoder decides on the message to be sent and the best/most effective way that it can be sent. All of
this is done bearing the receiver in mind. In a word, it is his/her job to conceptualize.
• The sender may want to ask him/herself questions like: What words will I use? Do I need signs or
pictures?
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Message
• This is recognized as the information after it has been encoded by the sender.
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Medium
• It refers to the form of communication that a message takes. It also refers to a larger group of ways of
communication within which the particular communication can be classed. There are four main media:
• Written Communication: Letters, memos , books, articles, notices, posters
• Oral Communication: Any method using the spoken word, such as meetings, telephone calls interviews,
lectures, and informal discussions.
• Visual Communication: A drawing, photograph, or any other means of putting a message in a pictorial
form.
• Non- Verbal Communication: the combination of gesture, expression, tone of voice, among others.
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Channel
• This is the physical means by which the message is conveyed.
• For written communication, it might be a notice board, an internal mail service or postal service.
• For oral communication, it might be a personal interview, a committee meeting, or public telephone
system.
• For visual communication, it might be a computer printer, a printing press or a fax system
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Please take note that
The message, medium and channel are three separate but overlapping ideas. For example, the message
might be an actual letter, the medium is then written communication and the channel is the post office.
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Receiver
• This is the person or body that receives the message. It can be an individual or an organization. The
receiver is also responsible for providing feedback to the sender. In a word, it is his/her job to interpret.
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Feedback
• The receiver is also responsible for providing feedback to the sender. Feedback is the name given to
information that the sender receives from the way in which the receiver accepts the message. A smile or
laugh is a positive feedback; a frown or scowl is a negative feedback. However, feedback only refers to
the immediate reactions and not a more considered response such as a letter in reply to an enquiry.
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Noise
This is the name given to any factors that prevent the proper exchange of information. Noise can be
physical: traffic, typewriters, telephone ringing that interrupts a meeting. Other forms of noise include a
bad telephone connection, poor handwriting in a letter, a computer failure, or even a conflicting message
(if a speaker’s facial expression conveys a different meaning from that being given orally).
ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS EXPLAINED
Context
Communication does not take place in a vacuum. The context of any communication act is the
environment surrounding it. This includes, among other things, place, time, event, and attitudes of sender
and receiver.
DESCRIBING THE
PROCESS
Describing the process
1. Conceptualization
Here the sender defines the information to be sent, by thinking about the aim of the communication and the
content to be conveyed.
2. Encoding
This is the process of putting the information into the form that is most suitable both to the receiver and to
the aim. In most cases, encoding involves putting an idea into words, pictures or gestures.
3. Selection of channel and medium
The proper selection of both a channel and medium will be dependent on the aim of the message
Describing the process
4. Interpretation and Decoding
In this stage, the receiver interprets the message he or she has been given in order to obtain his or her own
ideas of the information it conveys. However, if the sender encodes the idea wrongly , ambiguously , or in
terms that the receiver interprets according to his or her own experience rather than the sender’s , then
distortion is likely to occur and the receiver will gain a different message from that intended.
Describing the process
5. Feedback
This is the receiver’s first reaction to the message. The audience will provide feedback, as verbal and
nonverbal reactions to a communicated message. Close attention must be paid to this feedback, as it is the
only thing that can give confidence that the audience has understood the message. If there has been a
misunderstanding, at least there is the opportunity to send the message a second time.
 BARRIERS AND
FACILITATORS OF
COMMUNICATION
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATON
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATON
• Whatever affects the understanding of the message is known as a BARRIER to communication. Noise is
anything that creates a barrier to communication and impedes successful communication. Noise may not
be aural . DeVito (2006) identified three types of noise: Semantic, physiological and psychological.
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATON
Semantic Noise
• Ambiguous message- the message is unclear or there is more than one possible interpretation of the
message.
• Language barrier- if the sender and receiver are from different language communities, the language
chosen for communication needs to be one that is known to both.
• Jargon- specialised language that may be unfamiliar to the receiver will make the message less easy for
him/her to understand..
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATON
Physiological Noise
• speech or articulation problems: hearing loss memory loss or visual impairment.
• Internal barriers: those conditions peculiar to the receiver that may affect his/ her ability to focus and/ or
interpret the message accurately or even at all . Example fatigue, hunger, stress, headache, or other kind
of pain.
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATON
• Psychological Noise
• Cognitive and mental barriers: for example, prejudice in either the sender or receiver or personal feelings
such as false expectations and extreme emotionalism (anger, love). These can affect both the encoding
and decoding of the message with the result that the result that the message is not received as it was
intended
OTHER BARRIERS TO
COMMUNICATON
• Cultural Differences:
If the sender and receiver are from different cultural backgrounds ,in addition to the likely existence of a
language barrier there may be additional factors adversely affecting communication. Example, different
cultures use body language differently. Different words also may carry different connotations in different
cultures.
OTHER BARRIERS TO
COMMUNICATON
Inappropriate message format / channel
If the message format selected is not suitable for the audience, this will affect how well the message is
interpreted. A channel needs to be available and reachable in order to be effective.
OTHER BARRIERS TO
COMMUNICATON
External Barriers/ physical noise
• Noise can also be environmental, which is external to the communication message but impedes the
process nonetheless. Noise in a classroom, noise from a passing car, or noise from an awful smell or
inadequate ventilation in a room may interfere with the transmission of a message.
FACILITATORS OF
COMMUNICATION
FACILITATORS OF
COMMUNICATION
• In the same way that there are BARRIERS to communication there are also FACILITATORS of
communication. These include:
• Appropriate message formats
• Appropriate language
• Accessible channel
• Aids that enhance the encoding of a message
FACILITATORS OF
COMMUNICATION
• Facilitators aid in the passing of information and therefore, facilitate a mutual understanding. Using the
appropriate language, using an effective medium, selecting an appropriate channel and using additional
prompts such as visuals are all facilitators of effective communication. Facilitators to communication
may be tangible or intangible. Tangible facilitators include; books, computers or facilities like a
microphone or photocopier. Intangible facilitators include motivators such as the drive to succeed or
positive attitudes in an individual’s relationship with others.
REVIEW
Read the scenario and answer the
questions that follow.
Marva is ill and has to be away from school for two weeks. Her mother encodes a letter to the school
principal and sends it out in the mail.
• In the above situation :
1. Who is sending the information?
2. Who is receiving the information?
3. What channel did the mother use?
4. What medium was used to send it?
Read the scenario and answer the
questions that follow.
Your class has decided to hold a concert to raise funds to purchase new computer software. You have been asked
to prepare an advertisement to encourage schoolmates to attend the concert.
1. State the activities you would undertake to prepare the advertisement
2. Place the activities in the order in which they would be undertaken
a. Decoding
b. Feedback
c. Encoding
d. Interpretation
e. Conceptualisation
f. Selection of channel
g. Selection of medium
Read the scenario and answer the
questions that follow.
You have asked your younger brother to send a message to your friends Jason in Grade 7 , Marva in Grade
10 and Calvin in Grade 8, asking them to attend a meeting at your home. Your brother puts a notice , in
French, on the bulletin board outside Grade 8. Only Jason turns up for the meeting.
1. Give two possible reasons for the others not turning up
2. At which points did the communication break down
3. Suggest two things your brother should have done to ensure that everyone turned up at the meeting.
Please revise
and read ahead.
Next class we
will look at
Forms and
Contexts of
Communicatio
n