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The Communication Process and The Models of Communication

The document describes the key steps in the communication process, including the sender, receiver, message, channel, context, and feedback. It explains that the sender encodes a message that is sent through a channel and decoded by the receiver. Feedback allows the sender to know if the message was understood. The document also summarizes three common models of communication: the linear model involving a single transmission, the interactive model allowing feedback from the receiver, and the transactional model where roles can be simultaneous and the process more dynamic.

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466 views

The Communication Process and The Models of Communication

The document describes the key steps in the communication process, including the sender, receiver, message, channel, context, and feedback. It explains that the sender encodes a message that is sent through a channel and decoded by the receiver. Feedback allows the sender to know if the message was understood. The document also summarizes three common models of communication: the linear model involving a single transmission, the interactive model allowing feedback from the receiver, and the transactional model where roles can be simultaneous and the process more dynamic.

Uploaded by

EB
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Communication Process

Steps in the Communication Process

The Communication Process can be broken down into several commonly accepted steps that are
comprised of the following components:
The Sender This is the individual or group who is initiating the message. This message can be verbal
or non-verbal, can be ongoing or a one-off, can be conscious or unconscious. The Sender can also be
referred to as the Communicator.
The Receiver There must be a message sent if there is one to be received. The Receiver sometimes
known as the Interpreter is the individual or group to whom the message is sent. Sometimes, a message
received was one that was not necessarily intended to be.
The Message This is the particular content that is sent and received. The message is coded by the
users in a process that we will describe shortly.
The Channel (or Medium) is the means by which the message is sent. Some common channels are:
spoken voice/telephone/radio/television, written word, computer,
The Context This is the setting or environment in which the message is conveyed
Feedback This is the response by the Receiver as to the success of the communication
All communication begins with the sender and ends with the receiver. There needs to be a receiver for the
message to be successfully conveyed, but that does not guarantee success. The sender is responsible for
successful conveyance, but that does not mean that he or she has absolute control over the process.
Clarity of message is obviously important, but not always easy to know beforehand. The senders
personality, beliefs, cultural, education all influence the message and it is important for the sender to be
aware of this as he or she is encoding the message. Simply put, encoding is translating information into
symbols that represent the ideas or concepts of the message that needs sending. These symbols are
usually words in written or spoken form. To ensure successful communication, the sender should know
as much about his or her audience the receiver as possible in order to focus and support the encoding
process. A lesson by an instructor will be encoded differently for a university classroom compared to an
elementary classroom.
Like the sender, receivers are influenced by internal factors: their personality, their receptivity to the
message or their relationship to the sender, their current feelings, mood, or state of mind can affect a
message. Their education, culture and prior knowledge can also alter successful message reception.
Once the message moves through the channel, the receiver then decodes it. The receiver interprets the
sent symbols and attempts to assign some meaning to them and to the message in general. The receiver
uses his or her own experience and the contextof the message to interpret its meaning.
Feedback is the return message from receiver to sender a response to the message that can take any
number of forms. Even a non-response can be interpreted as feedback. It is the feedback that enables the
sender to know whether the message was received successfully or not. Therefore it is essential to the
communication process.

This process, though very common, is fraught with potential breakdown at every turn. Spoken or written
language is inherently easy to misinterpret. Even a certain look or facial expression can be misinterpreted
and cause breakdowns. A misplaced comma, or a thoughtful pause in response to a question can be
mistaken for another intention. All of these possibilities (and many more!) are considered noise, which
is anything that can interfere with any part of the process of communication. Noise can be literally
noise that comes from some outside source. It can also come internally from a senders or receivers
thoughts or presuppositions. Effective Communication is when the sent message was successfully
received and the receiver provides the sender with desirable feedback.
This is a rather laborious explanation of the Communication Process; a process that can take quite some
time to explain, and can oftentimes take a split second to occur. In our next article, well discuss some of
the things that can get in the way of the Communication Process.

The Communication Models


The purpose of a model is to offer a visual representation of a concept with the intent of facilitating the
understanding of it. Traditionally speaking, there are three standard models of the communication process: Linear,
Interactive, and Transactional, and each offers a slightly different perspective on the communication process.

Linear Communication Model


Theres a bit of a debate about the Linear Communication model and how it recognizes (or doesnt recognize) the
concept of feedback. The linear models behavior is belied by its name, where a sender encodes a message via a
channel and the message is decoded by the receiver. It is straight-line communication found typically in mass
communication; think television, radio, newspapers, etc. According to this model, there is no means for immediate
feedback.

Shannon and Weaver were the first to present the Linear Model of
Communication in 1949s The Mathematical Theory of Communication.
Were going to discuss more about these two in our imminent Theories of
Communication article. Suffice to say that this theory has become less
relevant in inverse proportion to the advances of communication
technology, specifically non-linear forms of electronic communication where
its not always clear who is the sender and who is the receiver.

Interactive Communication Model


Simply put, the Interactive Model takes the Linear Model and multiplies it times two with a quick flip of the return
message. It now allows for a feedback element because after a message is encoded and sent to the decoding receiver,
the roles then reverse and the receiver encodes and sends a response to the original sender who has now turned
receiver. It sounds more confusing than it is. Envision an exchange of text messages whereby your friend sends you a
message and you respond to it. The same thing happens during a telephone
call, or even an email exchange. A message is sent and received, then the
roles reverse. That is the Interactive Model.

Transactional Communication Model


The Transactional Model becomes more sophisticated yet. This model depicts face-to-face interaction, or transaction as a dynamic and changeable process that is not limited to simple definition. In the Transactional Model,
receiver and sender can play the same roles simultaneously, as sometimes happens, as messages can be sent back and
forth simultaneously. It appears chaotic and ineffective, but sometimes communication is just that. Throw in some
noise, and it would be a wonder whether any message is conveyed
successfully in this environment.
Source: http://thecommunicationprocess.com/the-communication-process/

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