INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCES AND PEDAGOGY

Languages Department

PURCOM
Purposive Communication

Prepared by:

Greece M. Ibañez
INSTRUCTOR

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 Cor. Leon Kilat & P. del Rosario, Sts., Cebu City, Philippines

PURCOM
Purposive Communication
Purposive Communication is a three-unit course that develops students’
communicative competence and enhances their cultural and intercultural awareness
through multimodal tasks that provide them opportunities for communicating
effectively and appropriately to a multicultural audience in a local or global context.
It equips students with tools for critical evaluation of a variety of texts and focuses
on the power of language and the impact of images to emphasize the importance
of conveying messages responsibly. The knowledge, skill, and insights that students
gain from this course may be used in their other academic endeavors, their chosen,
and their future careers as they compose and produce relevant oral, written, audio-
visual and/or web-based output for various purposes.

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 PRELIM

Week 1: Nature of Communication

Elements of Communication

Nature of Communication
Introduction:
Communication (came from the Latin term ‘commūnicāre’ which means
to share) is the act of conveying meaning to a person or group of people using a
mutually understood symbols, gestures, behaviors and semiotic rules. Some
scholars relate the term communication with the English word community.
Community members have something common to each other; communities are
formed with the tie of community. Hence, where there is no communication, there
can’t be a community.

Discussion:
As much as communication is acquired skills, not everyone can communicate
properly not unless they exert effort to develop and refine their communication
skill. Communication plays a significant role in a day-to-day basis since it is used to
persuade, inform, entertain and motivate. It is important to develop variety of skills
depending on its purpose, as well as to know how to interpret conversation and
information coming FROM others. Knowing your audience and understanding how
they need to receive information is equally important as knowing ourselves.

Elements of Communication
Introduction:
Communication involves getting information from one person to the other
person. It is the art and process of creating and sharing ideas. Effective
communication depends on the richness of those ideas. Communication process is
composed of several elements, each of which offers potential barriers to successful
communication.

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Discussion:
These are the elements of communication:
1. Source/ Sender/ Speaker
2. Message/ Information (verbal or non-verbal)
3. Encoding/ Transmitting/ Sharing/ Giving
4. Channel/ Medium/ Means/ Vehicle/ Method
5. Decoding/ Understanding/ Interpreting/ Analyzing
6. Receiver/ Decoder/ Recipient/ Audience
7. Feedback/ Answer/ Response/ Reply
8. Context/ Condition/ Situation/ Factors/ Setting

1. Recall a particular experience, the so-called failed communication transaction

with a family member, a friend, a teacher, or a stranger. What caused the
miscommunication? What should have been done to make it effective? Write
a paragraph or two about that experience.

2. Assume that you have listened to someone whose message you did not
understand. You told the message sender that you did not understand the
message sent, but the answer was, “I am responsible for what I say, not for
what you understand.” How do you respond?

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Week 2: Process of Communication

Introduction:
The process of communication refers to the transmission or passage of
information or message from the sender through a selected channel to the receiver
overcoming barriers that affect its pace. The process of communication is a cyclic
one as it begins with the sender and ends with the sender in the form of feedback.
It takes place upward, downward and laterally throughout the organization. The
process of communication as such must be a continuous and dynamic interaction,
both affecting and being affected by many variables. Communication process
consists of certain steps where each step constitutes the essential of an effective
communication.

Discussion:
• Sender
The very foundation of communication process is laid by the person who
transmits or sends the message. He is the sender of the message which may be
a thought, idea, a picture, symbol, report or an order and postures and gestures,
even a momentary smile. The sender is therefore the initiator of the message
that need to be transmitted. After having generated the idea, information etc.
the sender encodes it in such a manner that can be well-understood by the
receiver.
• Message
Message is referred to as the information conveyed by words as in speech
and write-ups, signs, pictures or symbols depending upon the situation and the
nature and importance of information desired to be sent. Message is the heart
of communication. It is the content the sender wants to covey to the receiver.
It can be verbal both written and spoken; or non-verbal i.e. pictorial or symbolic,
etc.
• Encoding
Encoding is putting the targeted message into appropriate medium which may
be verbal or non-verbal depending upon the situation, time, space and nature of
the message to be sent. The sender puts the message into a series of symbols,

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 pictures or words which will be communicated to the intended receiver.
Encoding is an important step in the communication process as wrong and
inappropriate encoding may defeat the true intent of the communication
process.
• Channel
Channel(s) refers to the way or mode the message flows or is transmitted
through. The message is transmitted over a channel that links the sender with
the receiver. The message may be oral or written and it may be transmitted
through a memorandum, a computer, telephone, cell phone, apps or televisions.
Since each channel has its advantages and disadvantages, the choice of proper
selection of the channel is paramount for effective communication.
• Receiver
Receiver is the person or group who the message is meant for. He may be a
listener, a reader or a viewer. Any negligence on the part of the receiver may
make the communication ineffective. The receiver needs to comprehend the
message sent in the best possible manner such that the true intent of the
communication is attained. The extent to which the receiver decodes the
message depends on his/her knowledge of the subject matter of the message,
experience, trust and relationship with the sender. The receiver is as significant
a factor in communication process as the sender is. It is the other end of the
process. The receiver should be in fit condition to receive the message, that is,
he/she should have channel of communication active and should not be
preoccupied with other thoughts that might cause him/her to pay insufficient
attention to the message.
• Decoding
Decoding refers to interpreting or converting the sent message into
intelligible language. It simply means comprehending the message. The receiver
after receiving the message interprets it and tries to understand it in the best
possible manner.
• Feedback
Feedback is the ultimate aspect of communication process. It refers to the
response of the receiver as to the message sent to him/her by the sender.
Feedback is necessary to ensure that the message has been effectively encoded,

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sent, decoded and comprehended. It is the final step of the communication
process and establishes that the receiver has received the message in its letter
and spirit. In other words, the receiver has correctly interpreted the message
as it was intended by the sender. It is instrumental to make communication
effective and purposeful.
Consider the following points related to the feedback involved in the
process of communication:
a. It enhances the effectiveness of the communication as it permits the sender
to know the efficacy of his message.
b. It enables the sender to know if his/her message has been properly
comprehended.
c. The analysis of feedbacks helps improve future messages. Feedback, like the
message, can be verbal or nonverbal and transmitted through carefully
chosen channel of communication.
d. We can represent the above steps in a model as the model of communication
process.
Types of Feedback
Kevin Eujeberry, the world-famous leadership exponent mentioned the four
types of feedback. The types are as follows:
a. Negative Feedback or corrective comments about past behavior
b. Positive Feedback or affirming comments about future behavior
c. Negative feedforward or corrective comments about future behavior
d. Positive feedforward or affirming comments about future behavior

1. Illustrate the diagram of the process of effective communication.

2. Illustration: In the Line of Fire (Buzek, 2017)
The line at our local post office was out the door, and, seeing that only
one postal worker was on duty, the customers were getting testy. To help
hurry things along, a customer called out, “How can I help you go faster?”
The postal worker yelled back, “Go home!”
a. In the illustration, who is the sender?

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b. What is the message?
c. What symbol/s does the sender use to encode the message?
d. What channel is used?
e. Who is the receiver?
f. What is the feedback?
g. Is the sender’s communication successful or unsuccessful? Why?
h. What is the context?
✓ The environment or location
✓ Relationship between communicators
✓ The topic/ subject

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Week 3: The Principles of Communication
The Ethics of Communication

The Principles of Communication

Introduction:
Be specific when offering and receiving information. Often times, our meaning
gets lost, twisted, or misunderstood because we haven’t been specific in our
communication or we haven’t asked clarifying questions. the conversations
demonstrate the value of being specific in communication.
To become a more effective communicator, let us learn this communication
principles which are fundamental with communication with others one on one, in
groups or teams, or when making a professional presentation to an audience.

Discussion:
The Key Principles of Communication
• Interpersonal communication is inescapable.
• Interpersonal communication is irreversible.
• Interpersonal communication is complicated.
• Interpersonal communication is contextual.
a. Psychological Context
b. Relational Context
c. Situational Context
d. Environmental Context
e. Cultural Context

The Ethics of Communication

Introduction:
“Questions of right and wrong arise whenever people communicate. Ethical
communication is fundamental to responsible thinking, decision making, and the
development of relationships and communities within and across contexts, cultures,
channels, and media. Moreover, ethical communication enhances human worth and

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dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and
respect for self and others.”
-National Communication Association Credo-

Discussion:
• The Nature of Ethics
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning character.
Being ethical means doing what is right to achieve what is good. In
communication, what is right refers to the responsibility to include information
in your messages that ought to be there. What is good refers to the result of
communication. The ethical result is to strive for the highest good attainable for
all those involved in the communication. Therefore, ethical communication
strives for the highest good for all involved and provides information that is fully
adequate for the circumstance, truthful in every sense, and not deceptive in any
way.
• Ethics as an Integral Part of Communication
Because communication is relational, communication brings us face to face
with questions that contain ethical judgment.
• Ethical Communication
To make the best decision in our communication, to communicate ethically,
we must give thought to the manner in which we communicate.
a. Ethical communicators are respectful of their audiences.
b. Ethical communicators consider the consequences of their communication.
c. Ethical communicators respect truth.
d. Ethical communicators use information properly.
e. Ethical communicators do not falsify communication.
f. Ethical communicators respect the rights of others to information.
• Ethics in Communication
Deirdre D. Johnston (1994) pointed out 10 ethics in communication that you
should bear in mind to avoid being labelled “unethical” (as cited in Chase &
Shamo, 2013, pp. 140-141)
a. Mutuality

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 b. Individual Dignity
c. Accuracy
d. Access to Information
e. Accountability
f. Audience
g. Relative Truth
h. Ends vs. Means
i. Use of Power
j. Rights vs. Responsibilities

How would you respond to the following situations?

1. A friend comes to you and asks, “How do you like this shirt?” and you think
the shirt is hideous. How do you balance the conflict between sparing the
person’s feelings and saving the person from public embarrassment? What
do you say or do?
2. A friend reveals to you that she has bottles of beer hidden in her dormitory
room, and you both know alcohol is prohibited by regulation in your
dormitory. Later, the landlady comes to you and asks if you know of anyone
on the floor who has alcohol in her room. What would you say or do in
response? How would you frame your communication with your friend and
the landlady?

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