MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

ARISTOTLE’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

 First model of communication proposed before 300 B.C.
 Most widely accepted among all communication models
 Mainly focused on speaker and speech. Hence the main purpose of the model is to develop public
speaking skill and create effective propaganda.
 Suggests a one-way (linear) process of communication (i.e. from speaker to receiver)

Five (5) Primary Components of Aristotle’s Model of Communication

1. Speaker: most important and the only active element. It is the speaker’s role to deliver a
speech to the audience.
2. Speech: material or piece prepared beforehand by the speaker specifically designed for the
occasion for the audience to be persuaded or influenced.
3. Occasion: occasions or topic where the speech shall be done. Different occasions require
different speech content. Having the right content at the right occasion increases the chance
where the audience are influenced and establish propaganda.
4. Audience: passive receiver of the speech.
5. Effect: how the audience reacted to the speech. Clear delivery of the speech and a good non-
verbal communication with the audience results to get the desired effects or outcomes.

Critical Elements of a Good Communicator (Public Speaker)

1. Ethos: characteristics which makes the speaker credible (i.e. profession or field of expertise).
2. Pathos: emotional bond with the audience captivates them and make them fell that the
speaker knows their situation. Knowing what matters to the audience makes a credible
speaker in their opinion.
3. Logos: logic or sense of reason. Presenting facts and backed up opinions make the speech be
easily understood by the audience.

Criticisms and Disadvantages of Aristotle’s Model

a. The model has no concept of feedback since the information is passed by the speaker
to the receiver.
b. The model assumes that there is no concept of communication failure (i.e. noise and
barriers).
SHANNON & WEAVER’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION
 Shannon’s model was originally designed to explain communication through the means of
telephones, computers, and the like where information is being converted into binary digits or
waves from sender to the receiver.
 The model was developed to improve technical communication introducing the concept of
“noise” that then helped in finding the factors affecting communication processes.
 The model was widely accepted and the most popular model of communication as it can explain
how messages can be mixed up and misinterpreted in the process.
 The model provides framework for analyzing how messages are sent and received developing
effective communication between the sender and the receiver.
 With the criticisms of being linear in nature, Weaver added the concept of feedback from recipient
to back to sender in 1948 making the model cyclical.

Six (6) Key Concepts of Shannon’s Linear Model of Communication

1. Sender (Information Source): a person, object, or thing that is in possession of the information
to be sent to a receiver orally, in writing, through body language, music, etc.
2. Encoder (Transmitter): a machine capable of converting words into binary numbers or sound
waves or a person capable of translating an idea into spoken or written words or sign language
to relay the idea to someone else.
3. Channel (Medium): an infrastructure that gets information from the sender and transmitter
through the decoder and then the receiver.
4. Noise: any interruption while a message is on its way from the sender to the receiver. It could
interrupt the understanding of the message resulting to misinformation or misinterpretation.
a. Internal Noise: happens when a sender makes a mistake during encoding or when a
receiver makes an error decoding the message sent.
b. External Noise: anything that is not controlled by neither the sender nor the receiver
that impedes the message.
5. Decoder (Reception): any device or person that decodes a message into a format that can be
understood by the receiver.
6. Receiver (Destination): end-point of the original linear framework; receiver gets the message
or what’s left of it after accounting for the noise.
7. Feedback: occurs when the receiver responds back to the sender.
 Levels of Communication Problems

a. Technical Problem: occurs when problem was caused by a channel.

b. Semantic Problem: occurs when meaning of a message sent and received were
different.
c. Effectiveness Problem: occurs when then was little to no reaction from the receiver.

Criticisms for Shannon – Weaver’s Model of Communication

 The model was more effective in person-to-person communication than in group or mass
audience.
 The model was based on a “Sender & Receiver” concept where the sender is a primary
and active role while the receiver is a secondary and passive role.
 Feedback is taken less important in the model in comparison to the messages sent by the
sender.

OSGOOD – SCHRAMM MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

 Built on the theory that communication is a two-way process with sender and receiver.
 The model proposed that communication requires participants by taking turns in
sending and receiving messages.
 Explains how people communicate with one another with speech, writing, and
discourse.

Osgood’s Original Model of Communication

Components of the Osgood – Schramm Model of Communication

1. Sender: person who encodes, converts, and sends the message.
2. Message: content being shared between the sender and the receiver.
3. Receiver: person who decodes and interpret the message.
 Osgood – Schramm Modified Model of Communication

 The added concept of “Field of Experience” or commonality allows both parties to find
the mutually understood field between them in order to engage in an effective
communication.
 With the added concept of commonality in the model, there is an addition component in
the model which is the semantic barriers.
 Semantic barriers are backgrounds, beliefs, experiences, and values that influence how
the sender convey a message and how the receiver interprets it.
 Semantic barriers result in semantic noise where the sender and receiver apply different
meaning to the same message. Semantic noise usually happens because of technical
languages. With semantic noise, decoding and interpreting becomes difficult and people
become deviated from the actual message.

Principles of the Osgood – Schramm Model of Communication

1. Communication Is circular in nature.
2. Communication is usually equal and reciprocal. With reciprocity, presence of semantic
noise is reduced because both parties are present to share and clarify their points.
3. There is a lot of misinterpretation involved when receiving a message.
4. Since communication is equal, it must require the following steps:
a. Encoding: process where a person thinks of the right words and how to say it.
b. Decoding:
c. Interpreting: process of analyzing what does the message mean to the
receiver.
Advantages of the Osgood – Schramm Model Disadvantage of the Osgood – Schramm Model
1. The model shows how feedback can work. 1. The model does not recognize that
2. The model recognizes that the communication communication can be done in large
is complex. numbers.
3. The model sees humans as active
communicators.
WHITE’S STAGES OF ORAL COMMUNICATION
 A step-by-step sequence of events that starts with the speaker thinking on how to effectively
deliver his/her piece and end in monitoring on how his/her audience are reacting to his/her
delivery.
 A model where the speaker is the originator of the communication process while the listener is a
passive reactor who does not initiate communication.
 In this model, thinking, symbolizing, expressing, transmitting, and monitoring are performed by
the speaker while the rest are done by the listeners.

White’s Eight (8) Stages of Oral Communication

1. Thinking: desire, feeling, or emotion that provides stimulus for the speaker to communicate.
2. Symbolizing: code of oral language that represents the speaker’s ideas to make his piece.
3. Expecting: vocal mechanism to produce sounds of language accompanied by facial
expression, gestures, and body stance.
4. Transmitting: waves of sound spreading and waves of light travelling within the room or space
carrying the speaker’s message to the listeners.
5. Receiving (Hearing): sound waves impinged upon the listeners’ ears resulting nerve impulses
to reach the brain via the optic nerve.
6. Decoding: listeners interpret the language and symbols received and further thinks.
7. Feedback: overt behaviors (i.e nod, smile, yawn, etc.) and covert behaviors (i.e. increased
heart rate, poker face, etc.) that are associated with the listeners’ reaction.
8. Monitoring: receiving and decoding messages about himself from the audience to adjust to
the situation upon further monitoring.