NOTES BY: Lawas, Jhulliane

The Nature and Elements of Communication

What is Communication?
 process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to
another (Keyton, 2011);
 an interdependent process of sending, receiving, and understanding messages (Dunn &
Goodnight, 2011).
 Further, it pertains to the exchange of information between two or more people, and it
happens when one encounters or observes a behavior (verbal or nonverbal) and gives
meaning to it—a meaning ideally similar to what is intended.

As an interdependent process of sending, receiving, and understanding messages (Dunn &

Goodnight, 2011), the steps are interlinked, continuous, and dynamic, involving the following
elements:
 The sender is the encoder or the source of the message. This entity can be a person, a
group of people, or an organization with their own distinct characteristics in terms of age,
race, gender, values, experiences, and other traits.
 The sender’s message refers to the ideas and feelings encoded. It may be in verbal form
(words) or nonverbal symbols (paralanguage, including pitch, tone, and volume; body
language, including gestures and facial expressions, posture, and eye movement; physical
distance to the receiver, and appearance/clothing).
 The receiver is the decoder or the recipient of the message who, likewise, has his or her
own attributes.
 The channel, also called medium, is a vehicle used in message conveyance. It is based
on the form of delivery (verbal or nonverbal) and the means used in delivering (face-to-
face or technology-mediated).
 Feedback pertains to the verbal or nonverbal responses to the sender’s encoded signals.
It gives information on how the message is interpreted.
 Interference or noise relates to the factors that hinder the recipient’s ability to send or
receive messages. Serving as a barrier to communication, it can be external (physical
environment, e.g., a loud party) or internal (psychological/mental interference, e.g.,
biases and wandering thoughts; physiological, e.g., articulation problem; semantic, e.g.,
jargon and abstract ideas).
 Context is the situation and environment in which the communication occurs. Its
dimensions are physical (place, e.g., classroom), social (pertaining to the occasion and
the people involved, e.g., students in a class), and cultural (attitudes, beliefs, and the
practices of the senders and receivers).
NOTES BY: Lawas, Jhulliane