ORAL COMMUNICATION REVIEWER
Unit 1: Nature and Elements of Communication have meaning in themselves.
COMMUNICATION
-It comes of a process of sharing experiences among the
people that is clear and understandable.
-SYSTEMATIC PROCESS
-It involves the people interaction with each other.
-Exchanging of VERBAL and NON-VERBAL Symbols.
-Creation and Interpretation of meanings.
FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS
1. To improve our personal lives.
2. To better our interpersonal relationship.
3. To help gain success in our professional lives.
4. To broaden our perspective to become a civil-
oriented individuals.
PRINCIPLE OF COMMUNICATIONS
- We cannot not communicate
- Communication is irreversible
- Communication is unrepeatable
- Communication is a process of adjustment
- Communication is transactional
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT COMMUNICATION
According to Wrench and McChroskey
- Meaning are in Word
- Communication is a Verbal Process
- Telling is Communication
- Communication will solve all our problems
- The more people communicate, the better.
- Communication is a Natural Ability
- Interpersonal Communication means Intimate
Communication
- Communication Competence means
Communication Effectiveness
SENDER – (Codify) or encodes ideas.
RECEIVER – (Decoding) or receiving the ideas.
MESSAGES – Are ideas or thoughts that are transmitted
from sender to receiver. The culture and experience
together is called SCHEMA (background knowledge).
VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL SYMBOLS - Symbols do not
CHANNEL – It refers to the medium through which the
messages are sent. NOISE reduced the quality of Signal.
FEEDBACK – It refers to the message transmitted by the
receiver in response to the message of the speaker.
SYMBOL SYSTEMS IN COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE – A power tool in Communication. And it
enables us to create meanings.
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
SYMBOLIC – It consists of symbols in the form of spoken
and written words. ABSTRACT or CONCRETE.
ARBITRARY – It can change depending on the speaker,
audience and context. WORDS are DYNAMIC.
COMMUNICATES POWER – Women tend to use
powerless language while men use more powerful
language.
RULE GOVERNED – We learn to use language based on
the rules estabilished by our culture and tradition. Rules
govern the way on speaking and interacting to each
other.
DENOTATION - the literal or primary meaning of a
word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word
suggests. Example: words in Dictionaries
CONNOTATION - an idea or feeling which a word
invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary
meaning. Example: Your own understanding of a word.
TERMS DENOTATION CONNOTATION
1.Snake Type of reptile animal A traitor
2.Filipino a person or a citizen Language of the
from the Philippines. Philippines.
PROBLEMS WITH LANGUAGE
VAGUE LANGUAGE – Language that lacks directness
and specifity in conversation. A problem of instructions.
EXAMPLE: Did you see lions and giraffes and that kind
of thing when you were in South Africa?
ABSTRACT LANGUAGE – Use of words or ideas with
more than one meaning.
EXAMPLE: The man was rude to everyone.
MULTIPLE MEANINGS – Concepts, words or ideas with
more than one meaning.
EXAMPLE: The hard parts on your fingers and toes are
your nails or Nails are also thin, sharp metal pieces used
in construction.
DOUBLE SPEAK – Language that misrepresents or
mislead listeners.
EXAMPLE: Jennie’s friend passed out in the middle of
the pageant and she said to the reporters “She passed
away” that earned laughter and confusion to the
audiences.
EUPHEMISM – Words that substitute for other words,
soften words that sound too harsh to spare someone’s
feelings or lessen the impact of words.
EXAMPLE: Instead calling her FAT, call her CURVY.
JARGON – Specialized terms associated with a particular
area, discipline, career or skill.
EXAMPLE: Schools use acronym “TBA” for “To be
Announced.”
INSENSITIVE LANGUAGE – This are the negative type of
communication that involves discrimination among
other people you are talking about.
EXAMPLE: Black African people should not be accepted
in many western countries.
PARALINGUISTIC MEDIUM OR VOICE
VOICE (VERBAL) – It is the study of voice and how
words are said. Environmental, Psychological and
Hereditary Factors of Communication.
VOLUME – It is the intensity or loudness of your voice.
THE EMPHASIS and IMPACT of your voice.
PITCH – It refers to the Highness and Lowness of your
voice. The natural pitch is determined by the length and
width of the vocal chord.
RATE – It refers to the SPEED of talking at which the
person speaks to his/her audience. The Fast and Slow of
speaking.
QUALITY – It is the texture of the sound or tone that
distinguishes it from another tone having the same
pitch, duration and loudness.
VOCAL PAUSES – Pauses are punctuation guides to
speeches. It used deliberately to achieve desire effect.
Speakers pause to take a break from speaking.
VOCAL STRESS AND EMPHASIS – Stress is the degree of
prominence of a syllable with in a word. Emphasis is the
degree of prominence of a word with in a phrase or
sentence.
VOCAL VARIETY – It is the spice of public speaking. The
Variation in Volume, Pitch and Rate.
PRONOUNCIATION AND ARTICULATION – It describes
the combination of vowels, consonants, syllables and
accents of a speaker.
NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
“It is the communication with no words but with actions
and bubbling.”
FUNCTIONS OF NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
1. ACCENTING
- It accentuates or emphasizes a particular point in a
verbal message.
EXAMPLE: We can tell when a person is excited because
they usually speak loud and their eyes widen, making
the message more clear.
2. COMPLEMENTING
- It is to reinforce or enhance a verbal message.
EXAMPLE: When you’re thinking and talking about sad
things, you lower down your head.
3. CONTRADICTING
- When verbal and non-verbal messages are in conflict
with each other. The use of a non-verbal message to
negate the verbal message.
EXAMPLE: If you ask how someone is and they say
“good” but they roll their eyes or look down at the floor
and shrug their shoulders, you know they are actually
not good and they have just negated the verbal
message they were sending.
4. REPEATING
- Non-verbal messages seem redundant, but it is simpler
and more effective.
EXAMPLE: Saying no, then shaking head afterwards
5. REGULATING
- Non-verbal behaviors regulate the flow of speech
between people.
EXAMPLE: We use hand signals to indicate that we are
done talking and it is someone else’s turn to talk.
6. SUBSTITUTING
- It is used when there are barriers to verbal
communication.
EXAMPLE: Instead of actually saying “hi” or “bye” you
might just wave a hand at someone. When we are not
able to speak to a person we use a nonverbal cue.
CATEGORIES OF NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
1. BODY MOVEMENTS AND GESTURES
- Commonly referred to as KINESICS.
- It will outline the use of gestures, head movements
and posture, eye contact, and facial expressions as
nonverbal communication.
2. EMBLEMS (arbitrary)
- Behaviors that directly translate or substitute words or
phrases. A gesture that have a specific agreed-on
meaning.
EXAMPLE: John gave a “thumbs up” to Alyssa after she
got a perfect score in a Math test.

3. ILLUSTRATORS
- It is the most common type of gesture and are used to
illustrate the verbal message they accompany.
EXAMPLE: John indicate the shape of Earth in front of
his classmates.
4. REGULATORS
- Non-verbal behaviors that control or regulate
communication between people. Listeners have their
70% eye contact to the Speaker.
EXAMPLE: Father Nolan was speaking in front of all the
students of ESPS who’s eagerly listening to him.
5. AFFECT DISPLAYS
- Non-verbal behaviors that reflect one’s emotional
state.
EXAMPLE: Jennie remains her poker face and have
teary eyes while staring at her mother’s coffin.
6. ADAPTORS
- Movements that are usually exhibited unconsciously
and are associated with tension or anxiety.
EXAMPLE: Lisa got weaken her knees and her heart
suddenly stop beating when she’s already next upon
speaking in front of many people.
7. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND ATTRACTIVENESS
- It alters physiological reactions, judgments, and
interpretations on the way you look and present
yourself in front of people.
EXAMPLE: Mr. Anderson looks very handsome in front
of his employees while speaking to them that’s why
they are in awe and they look excited upon listening to
him.
8. DRESS AND ARTIFACTS
- Clothing and personal grooming can send messages to
all people. Socio-economic status, attitudes and careers.
EXAMPLE: Jennica looks elegant and beautiful with her
make-up, expensive accessories and gown that’s why
people think that she’s rich and professional.
9. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
- Our faces are the most expressive part of our bodies.
The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger,
fear, disgust, interest are the basic emotions of a
person.
EXAMPLE: John remained his poker face and cold
expression to Alyssa because he already knew she was
cheating on him.
10. EYE CONTACT
- It helps to control eye communication and the flow of
interaction. Eye behavior serves many functions in
communication. It estabilishes and maintains
relationships. It expresses feelings and shows respect to
someone.
EXAMPLE: Jeric looked intently to Alyana’s eyes to
express his true feelings for her.
11. TERRITORY AND PERSONAL SPACE
- It’s the way people use space is determined by their
cultural orientation, gender, age and status.
- PROXEMICS refers to the way we use space in
communication.
- It is the Intimate, Personal, Social, and Public Distance
way of communicating with each other.
EXAMPLE: John maintain his intimate distance with
Alyssa by hugging her tightly on his arms.
12. TOUCH
- HAPTICS refers to the use of touch and how touch is
used to communicate.
5 types – Functional/Professional touch, Social/Polite
Touch, Friendship/warmth touch, Love/Intimacy touch
and Sexual/Arousal Touch of communication.
13. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
- This estabilishes norms in various settings.
6 categories – Formal, Warm, Private, Familiar, Distant,
Constraining Environment of communication.
EXAMPLE: In terms of formality, Fancy cars and
expensive watches can serve as symbols that distinguish
a CEO from an entry-level employee.
14. TIME
- A person’s use of time element communicates about
the person to others.
- CHRONEMICS refers to the role of time in
communication.
2 concepts – MONOCHRONIC: Time as commodity
POLYCHRONIC: Time is more holistic and more fluid.
EXAMPLE: Physical time refers to the fixed cycles of
days, years, and seasons. Physical time, especially
seasons, can affect our mood and psychological states.
15. SILENCE
- We always communicate, even we’re silent.
- It’s a weapon to hurt others.
- Used to express or show personal anxiety.
- Silence is a powerful non-verbal strategy to get
someone’s message.
EXAMPLE: Alyssa still keeps her mouth shut and she
doesn’t feel talking to her friends about her problems
and anxiety attacks.
 COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
“Knowing what to say,
How to say it
And When to say it.”
ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
STRUCTURAL ASPECT – Knowing the form of utterance.
The PRONOUNCIATION AND GRAMMAR
LEXICAL ASPECT – Properly understanding and using of
WORDS, PHRASES AND IDIOMS upon communicating
or speaking.
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
“Communication which involves interaction between
people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems
are distinct enough to alter the communication event.”
-It occurs when two people belonging to different
cultures communicate.
COMMUNICATION CULTURE
Culture is passed on to Communication is
generations through influenced by culture.
communication.
Culture reflects how a In turn, it reflects on how
particular group interprets they behave or
meaning or makes sense of communicate with each
the world. other.
5 CULTURAL IDENTITIES
GENDER IDENTITY – The meanings and interpretations
we hold concerning our self-images and expected other
images of “femaleness” and “maleness” of the society.
Men and Women differ in the way they speak:
MEN – Direct, competitive and aggressive
WOMEN – Symphatetic, tentative and emotional.
AGE IDENTITY – Involves behaving in a particular matter
expected of one’s age.
CLASS IDENTITY – Define by one’s social or economic
status. It may be inherited and attained.
RELIGIOUS IDENTITY – This one influences how one
behaves and what one believes. One’s religious identity
may be also related to one’s racial or national identity.
NATIONAL IDENTY – It refers to one’s national
citizenship or legal status in a country or nation. It’s
different from racial and ethnic identity.
BARRIERS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
ETHNOCENTRISM – It is the evaluation of other cultures
according to preconceptions originating in the
standards and customs of one's own culture. Belief that
one’s own culture is better than the other.
It have Positive, Negative, Extremely Negative Level of
ethnocentrism.
EXAMPLE: Asian culture is way more deep and
traditional compared to Western culture.
STEREOTYPING – The mental categorization or general,
often inaccurate, representation of a particular group of
people depending on one’s observation and examples.
EXAMPLE: Guys are messy and unclean.
PREJUDICE – This is a positive or negative feeling held
toward individuals belonging to a particular race, social,
class and religion.
EXAMPLE: Mark feel threatened and uneasy because a
Muslim person was seated beside him inside the jeep.
DISCRIMINATION – Negative behaviors that are caused
by prejudice or stereotyping. It’s the Verbal insults,
Avoidance, Physical Violence and Genocide.
EXAMPLE: Kevin was physical abused by his classmates
because of his fat appearance and small height.
COMPETENCE IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
MOTIVATION – The desire to communicate and
understand the culture of others.
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE – One’s awareness and
understanding of another culture’s rules, tradition and
behavior.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS – Having this skills will
enhance your confidence and social skill upon
communicating with other people.
SENSITIVITY – Characterized by being sensitive to other
culture.
CHARACTER – Evaluated through people being
trustworthy and nice upon communicating with others.
IMPROVING INTERCULTURE AND AVOID BARRIERS
1. Be open to new ideas, beliefs, experiences and ways
of living.
2. Avoid dogmatic thinking
3. Ask yourself whether you practice barriers
4. Be aware of how identities shape behaviors.
5. Avoid stereotypes, totalizations and generalizations.
6. Develop sensitivity towards other cultural beliefs.
7. Avoid thinking that you are superior or inferior.