11 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Disciplines and Ideas in

Applied Sciences
LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET #06

WHAT IS
COMMUNICATION

ii
 What I Need to Know
MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCY:

At the end of this lesson, the learners will be able to:

1. Define communication.
2. Identify the goals and scope of communication.
3. Demonstrate comprehension of the principles of communication.
4. Describe the elements and levels of communication.

What I Know
COMMUNICATION DEFINED
Communication has been called the most practical of the academic disciplines (Jones 2013,
par. 2). No matter the field of expertise, we are all practitioners of communication. The fact
that communication is an everyday practice can be interpreted in two ways:
1. That our everyday communication experience can be used in building our knowledge and
skills to make us effective and ethical communicators.
2. That this “ordinariness” of communication may lead ud to take it for granted.

The word communication comes from the Latin word communis, which means “common”.
As the term suggests, communication is concerned with establishing a commonness between
the participation of communication, that is, through the transmission of ideas and emotions.
There are 126 existing definitions of communication in the dictionary and in various
communication books (Dance & Larson 1972).

METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

1. Verbal communication- is communicating with spoken words. It is also referred to as oral

communication.
2. Non-verbal communication- is a” process of generating meaning using behavior other than
words”. (Jones 2013). It includes body language (gestures, facial expressions, eye contact)
and paralanguage (pitch, volume, speech, rate, accent, etc.).Non-verbal communication is
used to complement verbal messages, emphasize verbal messages, replace verbal messages,
and contradict verbal messages ( Verderber 1994).
3. Written communication- is a method of communication that makes use of written symbols
such as a standard script. (eg. English alphabet) and numbers.

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
1. Message is the content of the communicative act. It is encoded into symbols and
communicated through verbal and non-verbal methods. For the message to be delivered and
understood, the sender and the receiver must share a common system of symbols (e.g.
language).
 2. Sender and Receiver The sender decides what is to be communicated, encodes the ideas and
feelings into verbal and non-verbal symbols, and transmits the message through an
understandable communication system. The sender is also known as the encoder of the
source. The person who receives, interprets, and responds to the message through feedback is
called the receiver. The receiver is also known as the decoder or interpreter.
3. Channel All messages are transmitted through a channel. Channel refers to the medium by
which the message is transmitted from sender to receiver. The basic and natural channels of
communication are the five senses- hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, and seeing. With the
evolution of technology, technical medium-including the printing press, telephone, radio,
television, and the internet developed to heighten the communication effect.
4. Feedback refers to the information or signal sent back to the sender by the receiver through
verbal and non-verbal means. Feedback may be as simple as a nod, a raised eyebrow, or a
smile or as noticeable as clapping or shouting. Feedback enables both the receiver and sender
to adjust their communication to reach an understanding or meet their common goal. There
are two kinds of feedback positive and negative. Positive feedback encourages us to continue
a behavior in progress. Negative feedback, on the other hand, gives us a cue to correct or stop
a behavior.
5. Context pertains to the setting or environment surrounding the communication transaction.
This may be a place, time, and event and even includes the social, cultural, and psychological
condition of the communication.
6. Noise is anything that can distort the message. It is also known as interference. This can be
anything that serves to distract the sender and receiver from achieving their intended
communication goal. The noise may have external and internal causes. External noise refers
to physical noise or interference from the environment, such as boisterous laughter, car
honking, or bad odor. Internal noise, on the other hand, concerns the mind of communicators.
While noise is always present, we can minimize its effect through various methods like using
good grammars, clarity of voice, simple language, and clarity signal, among others.
7. Effect each communications have its effect. This consequence of the result of
communication, both positive and negative, is referred to as effect. This effect may be
classified as cognitive, affective, and behavioral. Cognitive effects refer to the changes in the
receiver’s intelligence as a result of communication. Affective effects refer to the changes in
the receiver’s emotions as a result of communication. Behavioral effects refer to the changes
in the receiver’s actions as a result of communication.

THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

To explain how these elements interact during the process of communication,
communication models were made. These are the transmission, interactional, and
transactional models.

Figure 10.1 The Transmission Model of Communication

NOISE

Encoding MESSAGE Decoding

sender CHANNEL receiver
 NOISE
The transmission model or linear model of communication is considered as one of the
simplest communication models. The simple and underdeveloped communication model was
used in the examination of the communication process which led to the creation of more
complex communication models and theories.\
The transmission model is sender-message oriented as the receiver is viewed as no more than
an endpoint rather that a part of an ongoing process. It describes communication as a linear ,
one way process in which a message is transmitted from sender to receiver. The model also
acknowledges the effect of noise in the process of communication.

Figure 10.2 The Interactional Model of Communication

NOISE

MESSAGE

Sender/ Receiver/
Receiver MESSAGE Sender

NOISE
The interactional model or circular model of communication describes communication as a
two-way process. It shows the alternating role of communicators as sender and receiver in
encoding and decoding messages. The model has all the elements of the transmission model
and adds the concept of feedback. The inclusion of feedback in the model suggests that the
encoding and decoding of message may happen simultaneously and reflects the cyclical
process of communication-from the sender, the message is transmitted to the receiver for
decoding. Through the process of decoding, the receiver starts encoding feedback, which is
then sent back to the original sender.

Figure 10.3 The Transaction Model of Communication

NOISE

Encoding Encoding
Sender/ Decoding CHANNEL MESSAGE CHANNEL Decoding Receiv
Receive er/
r Sender

Personal Field NOISE Personal Field

of Experience of Experience
 Shared field of Experience
A more accurate model of the communication process is the transactional model as it reflects
communication in the real world. It emphasizes the simultaneous role of communication as
senders and receivers in the communication process. It also highlights the continuous
negotiation of meanings in any communication event through the concept of field of
experience. The transactional model recognizes that people come into communication with
preconceived ideas, beliefs, past experiences, and social influences among others. These are
referred to as the field of experience. It is when communicators share a frame of reference
that an actual exchange of meanings can take place.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION
To understand better how communication works which, in turn, would help us become more
effective communicators, it is important to understand the following principles of
communication.
1. Communication is dynamic. The everydayness of communication is contradicted by its
dynamism. Communication is always evolving. It is affected by the change in each of its
elements as well as the interaction of these elements to each other. The way we communicate
evolves as we continually define our relationships, adjust our behavior and patterns of
interaction, and acquire communication experiences.
2. Communication is unrepeatable and irreversible Every communication encounter is
unique. Each communication encounter affects and changes people. This makes it impossible
for communication encounters to be made in exactly the same way. This what also makes
communication irreversible-whatever has been said or done cannot be taken back for it has
already affected the communicators in some way, whether in the cognitive, affective, or
behavioral aspect.
3. Communication has no opposite. We cannot not communicate. While it is true that we
communicate with a purpose., we may also communicate without any awareness of doing so.
This means that even if we stayed silent, that silence still means something to other people.
This is what we mean when we say that communication has no opposite-we can never stop
communicating because everything about us, even our silence, send a message.
4. Communication is affected by culture. Cultural factors such as race, ethnicity, gender,
religion, and age influence how we encode and decode messages. Having the knowledge,
sensitivity, and respect for cultural differences is one key for effective communication.
5. Communication is influenced by ethics. Since communication has a n effect. It requires that
the participants of communication make judgements of what is right and what is wrong.
These judgments are based on ethics. Ethics are the moral principles, values, and beliefs that
the members of society use to guide behavior.
6. Communication is competence-based. Communication is a skill that needs to be developed.
No matter what field we wish to pursue, we call all benefit from developing our
communicating skills. This starts from recognizing our communication strengths and
weaknesses and from communicating our self to gaining knowledge and communication
experiences.
7. Communication is being transformed by media and technology. As society continue to
evolve, the level of sophistication in the way we communicate also increases. Now it is
possible to talk to a number of people simultaneously even across great distances through
communication technologies.
LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION
Communication takes place in different levels. It may be intrapersonal, interpersonal, group,
public, mass or computer-mediated.

Intrapersonal communication has several functions:

a. It helps or maintain social adjustment
b. It helps build and maintain a healthy self-concept
c. It helps let off steam, process emotions, think through something, or rehearse what we plan to say
or do in the future.

Interpersonal communication takes place between people with an aim to build, maintain,
or end relationships.
Group communication is communication among three or more people that is usually more
formal in nature and is more oriented toward fulfilling a task or achieving a goal.
Public communication is sender focused communication that usually involved one sender
transmitting information to an audience, It is more formal, purposeful, and goal-oriented.
Mass communication message is transmitted to a potentially large and heterogenous
audience across great distances with the use of a technological medium. This medium may
be print, such as magazines and newspapers, or electronic, such as television and radio.

GOALS OF COMMUNICATION
1. To inform and be informed
2. To persuade and influence
3. To build and maintain relationships
4. To develop a career