ORAL COMMUNICATION WEEK 3

OCTOBER 26 – 30, 2020

MAGDALENA B. DASCO
(SUBJECT TEACHER)

Learning Competency: The learner uses various strategies in order to avoid communication breakdown.
(EN11/12OC-Ia-6)

Using Various Strategies to Avoid Communication Breakdown

Communicating with others is not all that easy. It is usual for people who communicate to
sometimes experience miscommunication that eventually leads to misunderstanding. In the previous
discussion on the Models of Communication, you have encountered one element which is the barrier or
also known as noise.
Communication barriers are any obstacle or problem which hinders or obstructs the process of
communication. If you would review Shannon-Weaver’s (1948) definition of noise, it states that the
messages may be distracted or affected by physical noise like horn sounds, thunder and crowd noise or
encoded signals which may result to the receiver not receiving the correct message. You would notice
that barriers or noises may occur in any part of the communication process. As a student who
communicates, you yourself has experienced communication barriers. In school, for example, you have
experienced having a conversation with your classmate and suddenly being interrupted by the loud
laugh of your schoolmates at the corridor. At home, you have experienced talking with your mother and
not being able to understand her because of your physical distance. These examples usually happen
daily in our venture toward effective communication. Barriers are inevitable, but there are ways to avoid
communication breakdown that they will most likely cause.

WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION?

The first step to combatting communication breakdown is recognizing the communication
barriers. Velentzas and Broni (2014) presented and defined the following forms of barriers.

BARRIER CHARACTERISTICS EXAMPLE SITUATION

1. Physical Barrier Physical barrier is any external  You are talking with
noise that distracts us from your father when your
receiving the intended message. dog barked at a
stranger passing by.

2. Psychological Barrier Psychological barrier refers to  Ana obviously wants to

the personal and preconceived end a conversation with
notions we bring to her neighbor because
conversations, such as racial she heard that a relative
stereotypes, reputations, of his has tested
biases, assumptions, emotions, positive of COVID-19.
interests, attitudes, and our
strengths and weaknesses.

3. Cultural Barrier Cultural barrier comes from  Jeremy, who is a

issues in the differences of Catholic, mistakenly
values, religions, traditions, and greeted Sam, who is a
beliefs. Muslim, a merry
Christmas.

4. Language Barrier This type of barrier occurs due  John, who is an Ilokano,
to the differences in language, subconsciously talked to
word meanings, or Myrna using his dialect.
pronunciation which can create However, Myrna, who
 confusion among senders and speaks only Tagalog, got
receivers. really confused.

5. Physiological-impairment This type of barrier is caused by  A deaf-mute person

Barrier impairments such as actual tries to communicate
deafness or blindness which with you through sign
prevent messages from being language which you do
received as they were intended. not understand.

6. Syntactical Barrier Syntactical barrier occurs when  Ji Soo, who is a Korean,

mistakes in grammar are visited the United
committed by the speakers. States and tried to talk
to its people using
English. However,
because English is not
his mother tongue
which caused him to
commit a lot of
grammatical errors,
Americans found it
difficult to talk with
him.

STRATEGIES TO AVOID COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

Communication breakdown caused by barriers inevitably occurring does not necessarily mean
that it cannot be avoided. As speakers, there are tips that we may consider when communicating with
others for a smooth flow of conversation. Particularly, Broom, Center, and Cutlip (2012) proposed the 7
Cs of Effective Communication.

1. Completeness - The receiver completely hearing the message of the sender is very important to
achieve effective communication. The thoughts and/or the parts of a story being told should be
completely delivered so that no misunderstanding will occur. This way, the receiver will be able to react
and respond appropriately to the message.
2. Conciseness - A speaker should be able to express his/her thoughts in a direct manner. Beating
around the bush and mentioning unnecessary information might misguide the flow of the conversation.
3. Consideration - Knowing your audience is very important in a conversation. This includes considering
your audience’s mood, race, status, background, needs, preferences, education, and others. This way, a
speaker can easily build a connection toward his/her receiver/s.
4. Concreteness - Being sure about what you are saying based on facts, figures, and real-life situations is
very essential to maintaining a connection with your receiver. False information and gossips might
remove your reliability as a speaker.
5. Courtesy - In any communication process, respect is a must. This includes one’s respect for culture,
values, and beliefs of his/her receivers. Courtesy does not only give a positive impact on the audience,
but also attracts respect in return.
6. Clearness - Clarity in the expression of a message is imperative to effective delivery of thoughts and
ideas. In order do to this, a speaker should use simple and specific words while delivering a message.
7. Correctness - Using a language correctly in terms of proper words and grammar helps eliminate the
possibility of a communication breakdown. Having a good command of the language establishes the
credibility and effectiveness of the speaker and the message he/she is conveying.

***GOD BLESS***