Colegio De Sta. Lourdes of Leyte Foundation Inc.

Barangay 1 Quezon Tabontabon, Leyte

ENGLISH 11: COMMUNICATION FOR SOCIETY (Purposive Communication)

Module No. 1: Communication in the Twenty-First Century

LEARNING OBJECTI
VES

By the end of this module, you are able to:

 understand the importance of communication in society;
 know the principles and processes of communication as embodied in the communication
models provided; and
 relate the communication models to their experiences and apply them to their own
communication processes.
ACTIVITYLOG

Input Starter
Covid-19 Reminders
Focused Discussion
Assessment
Self-Evaluation
Enrichment
Point of Clarification
INPUT

Starter

Safety Pre-Cautions
Sanitize hands on the way in and on the way out
Don’t touch your face
Wear a face mask at minimum when in the home doing any work
Limit interactions with the home
Don’t touch anything that you don’t need to
Maintain separation distance from others
Carry disinfectants such as sanitizers, alcohols and etc.
Your safety is top priority during this COVID-19. Observe the following safety pre-cautions
below.

Focused Discussions

Lesson 1: Communication Models

In this lesson, students will be exposed to the different ways of looking at
communication. It should give the students a good understanding of why communication should
be studied at the tertiary level, and the potential of such a course in helping them transform

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themselves and their society. It includes communication models that students can use in the
future, and may explain why communication tasks in the past have either failed or succeeded. It
is a good introduction to the different processes, principles, and dimensions of communication
that students should be aware of, when they start communicating in the academe and the
professional world.

Introduction
“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
(James Humes)

It is a mistake to believe that communication is a simple process. Although people

communicate with one another every day, the real question whether the ideas one has
expressed are truly understood by another. Communication breakdowns happen in every part of
the globe, and these have led to a plethora of problems. Effective communication can breach
peace, spark revolutions, and affect change in government. However, to communicate properly,
one cannot simply strive to express oneself and leave understanding to fate: one must also
learn how to organize one’s thoughts, control one’s emotions, use one’s words to articulate
concepts and arguments, and express oneself in the best way possible.

The art of one’s communication reflects the art of one’s thinking. According to James
Berlin (1982), one of the major proponents of the New Rhetoric, “In teaching writing, we are not
simply offering training in a useful technical skill that is meant as a simple complement to the
more important studies of other areas. We are teaching a way of experiencing the world, a way
of ordering and making sense of it” (776).

This is also true when it comes to all language skills essential in communication,
whether this is in writing, reading, listening, or speaking. They are tools that helps us analyze,
critique, and negotiate with the world. To construct ideas and bring people to believe in one’s
vision, it is important to be able to communicate in an effective, articulate manner. On a
personal level, honing one’s communication skills can also bring about success to one’s
personal and professional life.

To lead nations or corporations, communication skills are essential. To work smoothly as

a team, communication is indispensable. And to create a vision that people will believe in, one
needs to learn how to communicate purposely in today’s society.

Alexander (1984) stated that communication occurs when a sender expresses an

emotion or a feeling, creates an idea, or senses the need to communicate. The communication
process is triggered when the sender makes a conscious or an unconscious decision to share
the message with another person—the receiver. It is a process wherein the exchange of
information between two or more people (Bernales, Balon and Biligan, 2018). Keyton (2011)
supported this notion of communication when he defined it as Communication can be defined as
the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another.
For communication to succeed, both the participants must be able to exchange information and
understand each other. If this flow of information is interrupted or blocked communication fails.
The word communication is derived from the Latin word, ― “communis”, which means common.
In our everyday living, for a communication to be effectively transmitted, elements of

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communication must be present and these include a) Speaker, b) Message, c) Receiver, d)
Channel, e) Feedback, and f) Communicative Situation.

Alexander (1984) further explains that every communicative act is based on something
that conveys meaning, and that conveyance is the message. The message may be either
verbal (spoken or written) or nonverbal (body language, physical appearance, or vocal tone).
Messages may also come from the context—or place and time—of the communication. For
instance, if you choose to make a critical comment to someone, the place and the time you
choose to make that comment will make a big impact on how it will be received.

Moreover, every message is sent and received through one of our five senses—it is
seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. The sensory media through which messages are sent
and received are communication channels. In a work setting, messages may be seen through
body movement, letters, memos, newsletters, bulletin board notices, signs, emails, and so on.
Messages that are heard come through conversations, interviews, presentations, telephones,
radios, and other audio media. Sight and sound are the two most frequent communication
channels used in our society.

When the receiver gets the message (through seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, or
smelling), he or she will usually give feedback (return message) unconsciously or consciously.
Thus, the communications process is on-going.

The worst assumption a sender of a message can make is that the message will be
received as intended. So many things can go wrong during the communications process that
we should always assume that something will go wrong and take steps to prevent that
occurrence. Barriers to good communications are always present. For instance, the language
itself can be a barrier—unclear wording, slang, jargon, the tone. Another barrier is the failure of
the sender to realize that his or her body language might contradict the spoken message. The
channel used to convey the message might be wrong. For instance, you would not use the
telephone to relay a lot of statistical information; you would need to write that message on
paper. Poor listening skills can constitute a barrier also (Alexander, 1984).

Communication Models

One way of thinking about communications processes is by looking at the different

communication models available. According to Denis Mcquail and Sven Windahl (2013), in their
book Communication Models for the Study of Mass Communications, ”a model seeks to show
the main elements of any structure or process and the relationship between these elements… it
helps in explaining by providing in a simplified way information which would otherwise be
complicated or ambiguous”. (2)

Professor Ramona S. Flores (2016), in her book Oral Communication in Context,

discusses four models of communication in the chapter, “Explaining the Nature of
communication”. She discusses the different communication models as follows (Aristotle,
Shannon-Weaver, Schramm, and White, 2016).

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 I. Aristotle’s Model of Communication

The earliest model comes from Aristotle at around 5 B.C. In this model, Aristotle
explains that speakers should adjust their messages according to their audience and occasion
to achieve a particular effect. Let us apply this to a modern example. After the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, then US President Franklin Roosevelt delivered
a stirring speech to declare war on Japan on December 8 (National Geographic, 2017).The
speaker, in this case was US President Franklin Roosevelt and his speech was crafted
especially for the occasion, filled with strong words that were crisp and straight to the point. The
occasion was the US President’s response to the attack on Pearl Harbour; the main audience
was the US Congress; and the effect was to persuade members of Congress to declare war on
Japan, which they did, with only one dissenting vote. These component of speaker, speech,
occasion, audience, and effect should be considered when communicating one’s message.

In this model, Aristotle explains that speakers should adjust their messages according to
their audience and the occasion to achieve a particular effect.
Main Components: Speakers, Speech, Occasion, Audience and Effect

II. Shannon-Weaver’s Model of Communication

An American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer. Also known as “the

father of information theory”

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 The Shannon-Weaver model was created by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver
(Flores, 2016). According to the website Communication Theory. Org, in 1984, Shannon and
Weaver wrote an article in the Bell System Technological Journal entitled “A Mathematical
Theory of Communication”. According to Flores (2016), this also often called the “Telephone
Model” since it was developed because of the technology of the telephone and the experience
of “noise” coming from the switchboard.

The sender would be the person giving the message, while the encoder would be the
transmitter which converts the message into signals. Let us use the modern example of the
mobile phone. With our modern example, the encoder would be the cell phone and the sender,
of course, would be the person calling. The decoder, on the other hand, would be the reception
place of the signal which converts signal into message, which is why in modern parlance, when
there is “no signal”.There is difficulty in decoding the message. The receiver would be the
destination of the message by sender which would be the person who is being called and when
there are problems, or “noise that interferes with the message, then the receiver would give
feedback, which is usually phrased as “choppy” when the message cannot be heard because of
the signal. The messages are transferred through the use of a channel; in the case of the
telephone, the channel would be the cables, while in the case of the cellphone, the channel
would be the radio frequencies (Communication Theory. Org). This model can also be used in
other situations, and can tell us how the message may sometimes get lost because of the noise,
which can be physical or psychological. And how feedback is an essential component of
communication to ensure that the message is successfully received.

III. Osgood-Schramm Model of Communication

On the other hand, when it comes to Schramm’s model of communication there are two
primary models involved. The first one is built on the theories of Osgood, which is why this is
also known as the Osgood-Schramm model.

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 In this model, pay attention to the role of the interpreter. Encoding and decoding are not
automatic processes both go through the filter of the interpreter’s appreciation of the message
may succeed or fail, based on the interpreter’s appreciation of the message. There are times
when the sender and receiver may apply different meanings to the same message, and this is
termed “semantic noise” (Communicative Theories. Org). His second model, on the other hand,
builds this theory about the interpreter into the different fields of experience of the sender and
the receiver.

field of experience field of experience

source encoder decoder source

For this message to reach the receiver, there must be a common field of experience
between the sender and the receiver. Although the receiver might not fully appreciate all the
nuances of the message, as there are parts of the sender’s experience that the receiver has no
knowledge of, the receiver may still understand the core meaning of the message. According to
Sneha Mishra (2017), this field of experience may constitute “culture, social background,
beliefs, experiences, values, and rules”.

IV. White’s Stages of Oral Communication

The last model is Eugene White’s Stages of Oral Communication. According to White, it
is possible to begin at any of the stages outlined in his model. Since it is a circular model, it
means that oral communication is a continuous process with no real beginning or end. White’s
model is the concept of feedback, which can only be processed if he or she has been
monitoring the audience or the listener. Hence, the speaker must pay attention to the listener’s
verbal and non-verbal cues (Flores, 2016).

Thinking Symbolizing Expressing

Monitoring Transmitting

Feedbacking Decoding Receiving

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 In conclusion, communication is not a simple process that starts with the speaker and
ends with the listener—there are many factors that should be considered. When it comes to the
message, how message is organized and what field of experience it comes from should be
taken into consideration. When it comes to the sender, the best communication is the one that
involves feedback. Furthermore, there are several kinds of “noise” that may severely affect the
reception of the message and thus, should be considered and avoided. Cultural differences,
technology, and interpretation need to be considered as well. To be good communicators, one
needs to pay attention to how people are responding to the message, and adjust accordingly,
rather than being pre-occupied with simply expressing oneself.

ASSESSMENT

Learning Activity:
Instruction: Respond to the following questions in five (5) sensible sentences. Use
another sheet of paper for the answers. (10 points each)

1. Why is communication important to you during this pandemic?

2. Why do you think communication skills are considered to be essential in being good
citizens?
3. Why is communication important to you?

RUBRIC
Indicators Points Score
Content 4
Clarity of Thoughts 3
Organization of Ideas 3
Total 10

SELF-EVALUATION

Rate yourself from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest while 5 being the highest) on the level of
understanding that you are able to attain for this module:
1 2 3 4 5

ENRICHMENT
*For further learning kindly visit the link given below. (2018, January 15).
Communication Barriers [Video file]. In YouTube. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsl468Hwr4o

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POINTOFCLARIFICATION

Please write any questions or points of clarification about the content of this module:
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
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REFERENCES

LEARNING RESOURCES:
*Watch this Youtube video about communication barriers: Communication Coach Alex Lyon.
(2018, January 15). Communication Barriers [Video file]. In YouTube. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsl468Hwr4o
*Axelrod,R.B. & cooper, C.R. (2011). Axelrod and Cooper‘s Concise Guide to Writing, 5th Ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin‘s
*Gepila, Jr.,E.C. (2014) . Examining the Composition Writing Competency of PUP Laboratory
High School Grade Seven Students for Improving Teaching Writing Methodologies.
Unpublished Master‘s
*Thesis. Philippine Normal University ,Taft , Manila.
*Mercado, Ma. Cristina et.al.(2018). Purposive Communication: Connecting to the World Mutya
Publishing House Inc.
*Solomon, B.A. & Felder, R.M. (2009). Index of Learning Style Questionnaire.
www.engr.ncsu.edu
*Reich, Brian. (n.d.). Academic Presentations.
https://www4.stat.ncsu.edu/~reich/st810A/oral.pdf
*Edwards, Paul. (2014, October). How to Give an Academic Talk,
https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtotalk.pdf

MA. JHYSAVIL E. ARCENA, LPT 09166013040 majhysavila@gmail.com

Instructor

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