GE 2 NOTES 4: COMMUNICATION FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES

INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION
(SPEAK TO INFORM)

INTRODUCTION
“Communication is made for numerous purposes.”
Communication vary depending on the purpose and the way the message are crafted on the
intention of the sender.

INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION
 Informative communication involves giving than asking.
 The speaker wants the receivers to pay attention and to understand, but not to change
their behavior.

INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION
Osborn (2009) purports that informative communication arises out of three deep
impulses:
A. We seek to expand our awareness of the world around us.
B. We seek to be more competent.
C. We have an abiding curiosity about how things work and how they are made

INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION
 Informative communication generally focuses on talking about people, events,
processes, places, or things; however, informing an audience about one of these
subjects without being persuasive is often a difficult task to complete.
 When people share knowledge about the world in which they live, they are participating
in the process of informative communication.
 Informative messages attempt to present an objective that is, truthful and unbiased
view of the topics being considered
Examples:
 Informative Speeches
 Presentation,Reports
 Training Seminars
 Informative Lecture
That means you are more likely to give and listen to informative speeches in a variety of
contexts.

When preparing for an informative exchange, ask yourself following questions:

 Is my topic noteworthy to be considered informative?
 What do my recipients already know about my topic?
 What more do they have to know?
 Am I knowledgeable enough of my topic to help my receivers understand it?
INFORMATIVE SPEECH
 The topics covered in an informative speech should help the audience to understand a
subject better and to remember what they learned later.
 The goal of this type of speech is not to control the audience to the speaker’s point of
view, instead the details needed to be laid before the audience so that they can make
an educated decision or learn about a subject that they are concerned in.

EFFECTTIVE INFORMATIVE SPEAKING

 Avoiding Persuasion
- We should avoid thinking of informing and persuading as dichotomous, meaning
that it’s either one or the other.

 Avoiding Information Overload

- A barrier to effective listening that occurs when a speech contains more
information that an audience can process.

 Engaging Your Audience

- As a speaker, you are competing for the attention of your audience against other
internal and external stimuli.

OBJECTIVE:
♦ The main objective of an informative speech is to provide information regarding a
specific topic to the audience knows nothing about.
♦ It may demonstrate how to use a new type of software, explain a new concept in the
field of science, describe a business proposal, define a drafting activity or provide details
about a person of interest that the listeners want to learn more about.
REMINDERS:
 An informative speech should depend less on pathos, which is an appeal to the
emotions of the audience
 An informative speech might rely on visual aids, for instance, in order to give the
audience a visual representation of important information contained in the speech

FOUR TYPES OF INFORMATIVE SPEECHES

1. DESCRIPTIVE SPEECHES
- A descriptive speech creates a vivid picture in a person’s mind concerning an object,
person, animal, or place. As the saying of J. Thomas goes "Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Informing through description entails creating verbal pictures for your audience.

2. DEFINITION SPEECHES
- A definition speech explains the meaning, theory, or philosophy of a specific topic
that the audience likely does not know much about.

3. DEMONSTRATIVE SPEECHES
- A demonstration / demonstrative speech explains how to do something.

4. EXPLANATORY SPEECHES
- Explanatory speeches explain, describe, and inform the audience about a given
topic.
SUBJECTS OF AN INFORMATVE SPEECHES
- Informative speeches can cover many subjects as long as they can be talked over without
urging or changing the opinions of the spectators. These are the potential subjects for
informative speeches.

1.OBJECTS
 It delivers information about any non-human material things.

2.PEOPLE
 It focuses on real or fictional characters who are living or dead.

3.CONCEPTS
 These are less concrete than speeches about subjects or people, as it focuses on ideas
or concepts that may be abstract or complicated.

4. EVENTS
 Past occasion or ongoing occurrences are the emphasis of this topic.

5.PROCEDURE/PROCESS
 A step-by-step account of aprocedure or natural occurrence is the main subject of the
topic

6.ISSUES
 Speeches about issues provide objective and balanced information about a disputed
subject or matter of concerning about the society

CHARACTERISTICS IN INFORMATIVE SPEAKING

 Intellectually Stimulating
 Relevant
 Creative
 Memorable
 Address Diverse Learning
 Styles
 Get your Facts Right

INFORMATIVE PRESENTATIONS DELIVERY METHOD

 Impromptu Speaking
 Manuscript
 Extemporaneous Speaking
 Memorized Speaking

ORGANIZING YOUR SPEECH IN COMMUNICATION PRESENTATION

Good organization and practice can lead to success:
 Prepare the body
 Prepare the preview
 Prepare an attention – getting opener
 Prepare a summary
 Prepare a memorable conclusion
CONCEPTS OF INFORMATIVE SPEECH COMMUNICATION
When you are speaking you should consider the followings:
 Your audience
 Your Topic
 Sufficient and accurate information
 Visual aid usage
 Physical presentation of information

THE LANGUAGE MUST BE USED IN INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION

 Use appropriate language. What are the norms for speaking style for the audience? If
they expect lots of jargon and specialized language, the speech should be peppered with
such language or else the audience will feel like they are being talked down to.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION

 The purpose of the informative speech is to provide interesting, useful, and unique
information to your audience.

CONCLUSIONS
 So, let's all work harder to get better at providing informative communications. It does
make a huge difference.

PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION

What is a PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION?

 The term ‘persuasion’ means to force someone into something.
 The art of persuasion is the art of finding the best available means of moving a specific
audience in a specific situation to a specific decision.

What is a PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION?

 Persuasion is defined as the act of trying to convince someone of something, or the
means of convincing someone to do something.
 Persuasive communication is any message that is intended to shape, reinforce, or
change the responses of another or others.
Purposes of a PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
 To inform
 To influence
 To express feelings
 To imagine
 To meet social expectations

What are the VARIABLES for Persuasive Communication?

Variables for Persuasive Communication
1. Source : What characteristics of the speaker affect the persuasive impact?
2. Communication : What aspects of the message will have the most impact?
3. Audience : How persuadable are the individuals in the audience?
4. Audience Reactions : What aspects of the source and communication elicit counter arguing
reactions in the audience?

WHAT ARE THE 3 PILLARS of PERSUASIVE Communication?

1. ETHOS-Appeal to ethics, refers to the effort to convince your audience of your
credibility or character.
2. PATHOS-Appeal to emotions, refers to the effort to persuade your audience by making
an appeal to their feelings.
3. LOGOS- Appeal to logic, refers to the effort to convince your audience by using logic and
reason.

PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES

 Understand purpose versus topic so that you can engage your listeners.
 Develop confidence, focus, and credibility.
 Exhibit honesty, trust, and a conversational style.
 Maximize your non-verbal communications.
 Use principles of persuasion.

CIALDINI"S 6 PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION

1. Reciprocity-do something for a person with no conditions or expectations of a return
favor, and they are more likely to do something for you
2. Commitment/Consistency- people unconsciously want to behave in a manner that is
consistent with past behavior
3. Social Proof- is not to feed ego(at least not entirely); it's to provide social proof that
they are delivering information of great value.
4. Authority-Authority seems a bit like social proof, but it's based on numbers but on
perceived expertise, status or power
5. Liking-According to Cialdini, a key element of liking is having things in common with
each other. Hence, persuasive communicator work to establish common ground with
their prospect
6. Scarcity-the fewer there are of something, the more people like and want them.
Usually, they are quite unaware of their preference for scarcity.
TYPES OF PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION
 Intrapersonal Persuasive Communication- It happens when you try to convince yourself
to do something. Example- If you were dealing with a stressful situation and used self-
talk to calm yourself down.
 Interpersonal Persuasive Communication- It is the communication with two people
who already possess a close bond. Example- Asking someone for a Favour or permission.
 Group Persuasive Communication- Most often it involves one or more people trying to
convince a group of something.
Example:
You may have experienced this kind of communication while working on a group project.
 Public and Mass Persuasive Communication- Public communication is sender focused
and typically occurs when one person conveys information to an audience. Mass
communication is that one transmitted through media to a larger audience.
Example:

Leaders speech at political campaigns.

LANGUAGE
 It’s very important to use language that fits the audience and the purpose you want to
achieve.
 Inappropriate language uses can damage your credibility, undermine your argument, or
alienate your audience

The following sums up the aspects of language:

1. Levels of Formality
2. In-Group Jargon
3. Slang and idiomatic expressions
4. Deceitful language and Euphemisms
5.Biased language

LEVELS OF FORMALITY
The level of formality should be determined by the expectations of your audience and your
purpose
 Formal - To an unknown audience.
 Semi-formal - To a well-known individual or audience.
 Informal (Incorrect) Distinguish between formal and semi formal depending on
purpose.

GROUP JARGON
• Jargon or specialized language used by small groups of like-minded individuals.
✓Avoid using in-group jargon in general audience without explanations.

✓Use group-specific jargon, if you want to address in-group audience.

• Not using the jargon when it is expected by your audience can

✓ Signal to the audience that you are not a member of that group

✓ Mean you have not mastered the group's terminology

✓ Can damage your credibility interfere with your purpose in presentation.

SLANG AND IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

1. Avoid using slang or idiomatic expressions ("pull someone's leg","spill the beans", and
"something smells fishy“).
• These words make one sound informal, and hence, less credible.

DECEITFUL LANGUAGE & EUPHEMISMS

 Avoid using any language whose purpose is deceitful i.e. seems to mislead or cheat.
 Euphemisms are terms that attempt to cover up that which is wrong, unethical, taboo,
or harsh.
 Language can also be deceitful if it is overly complex or confusing.
 Language can also be deceitful if it is overly complex or confusing.

STEREOTYPES AND BIASED LANGUAGE

• Avoid language that is stereotypical or biased in any way.
• Biased language occurs with gender, can also offend groups of people based on sexual
orientation, ethnicity, interest, or race.’
▫ Stereotyped Language->assumes a stereotype about a group of people.
▫ Non-Sexist language->Non-sexist, non-biased way is both ethically sound and effective.

*Uses-Generic- Humankind instead of Mankind

* Occupation – Firefighter instead of Fireman

Process to Persuade by a Communication

 ATTENTION- One must first get the intended audience to listen to what one has to say.
 COMPREHENSION-The intended audience must understand the argument or message
presented.
 ACCEPTANCE-The intended audience must accept the arguments or conclusions
presented in the communication.
 RETENTION-The message must be remembered, have staying power.

IMPORTANCE OF PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION

 It creates good bonding and relations
 Cultivates good working environment
 It can gain co-operation from all
 It clears doubts in the mind of the receiver.
ADVANTAGES
 It changes the opinion and provides more knowledge about a particular field.
 It provides good feelings to the audience if the speech correlates with the necessity of
that certain place.
 It gives positive hope for solving existing problems.
 It gives opportunities to people to take a certain position to develop by convincing their
plans, ideas,and visions.

DISADVANTAGES
 It doesn't follow the one-strategy-fits-all rule
 Might offend other people's opinions or thoughts.
 It can also offer false and fake interest by changing their perspective leading into the
untruth knowledge.
 It can take advantage of the weak side and be bias towards them.

CONCLUSION
Persuasive communication is a type of communication that focuses on guiding or convincing its
audience to adopt certain ideas, actions and attitudes. An effective, persuasive communicator has the
capacity to influence others to act in a particular way. A persuasive communicator is able to navigate
challenges, resolve conflicts, and articulate plans and resolutions, in an inclusive and considered way.

Persuasive have the prons and cons.

We must know our limit upon talking in a persuasive way.
When you can convince people easily and sell your vision,you are seen as an extraordinary
personality.

ARGUMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION

ARGUMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION
 Modern approach to making decisions considers real argumentations where rational
communications do the best they can to justify their standpoints in a certain context.
 This is considered to be argumentative communication, the art of persuading based on reason,
on facts and not emotions.
 Debating
 Argumenting
 Audience

ARGUMENTATIVE PERSONALITY
- Argumentative is an adjective that means often arguing or wanting to argue
Some people:
 argue out of habit,
 always need to be right
 make a fuss about most trivial things, just to cause conflict
 Almost always on the defensive


THE NEGATIVE ANG POSITIVE OF ARGUMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION

 Negatives of being around argumentative personality person. Can be difficult to live and
work with. Many are very self-absorbed. Have no insight into how their behaviour
impacts others. Feel threatened with people with views different from theirs.
 Positives of being around argumentative personality person. Being around them can
help build motivation to stand up for yourself. Learning debate techniques from those
who passionately defend their views.

NOT THE SAME!

Argumentative personality
Argumentative Communication

HOW TO HANDLE?

 Own your piece

 Never overgeneralize
 Don't assume you know what each other is thinking or feeling
 Pick your battles
 Be specific without going overboard
 Avoid bringing others into the mix
 Monitor and manage your anger
 Know your right to have your feelings heard

ARGUMENTATION THEORY
 While communicating the speaker will share the information and listener will listen to it.
 Here, the listener must be able to differentiate the trustworthy reliable information with
the lies and treachery.
 The listener must be able to filter the messages and he must have
 vigilant attitude towards the information that he/she gets.

STEPHEN TOULMIN’S STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTATION

♦ Elements of arguments which generates categories through which an argument can be
evaluated:
 Claim
 Ground
 Warrant
 Backing
 Qualifier
 Rebutal
STEPHEN TOULMIN’S EXAMPLE
School should ban soda from their campuses to protect student’s health.

Claim : Schools should ban soda from their campuses.

Grounds : Banning soda would protect students health.
Warrant 1: Poor diet leads to health problems in adolescents.
Warrant 2 : Schools have a responsibility to protect students health.
Backing for Warrant 1: Studies show a high correlation between sugary drinks and obesity
rates.
Backing for Warrant 2 :Schools try to provide for the well-being of students in many other
ways, such as campus security and counseling for behavioral and mental health.
Rebuttal : Banning soda from school campuses won’t prevent students from drinking it at
home.
Qualifier : Even though students would still have access to soda before and after school,
banning soda in school campuses would reduce their overall consumption, which is an
important contribution towards protecting their health and well-being.

ARGUMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION
 WHILE ALL ARGUMENTATION IS ASSERTIVE, NOT ALL ASSERTIVENESS IS
ARGUMENTATIVE.
 HERE, ARGUMENTATIVE INDIVIDUALS ADVOCATE POSITIONS ON CONTROVERSIAL
ISSUES AND VERBALLY ATTACK OTHER PEOPLE’S CONTRADICTORY PERSPECTIVES
 IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IT IS THE PERSON’S POSITION THAT IS UNDER ATTACK
IN ARGUMENTATIVENESS. AND NOT THE INDIVIDUAL

HOSTILE COMMUNICATION
 Seeks to destroy the other
 Hostile people use verbal and nonverbal messages to express irritability, negativity,
resentment, and suspicion
 They tend to have quick temper, little patience, are moody, and become exasperated
quickly
 They have tendency towards pessimism about outcomes that others find more
favorable, refuse to cooperate, and be antagonistic toward authority, rules, and social
conventions.

AGRESSIVE COMMUNICATION
 Verbal aggressiveness means a tendency to attack the self-concepts of others
 Research has shown three main areas of self-concept attacks:
- group membership
- personal failings
- relationship failings
ARGUMENTATIVE VS AGGRESSIVE COMMUNICATION
♦ Argumentative communication is considered to be a subset of assertiveness
More desirable

Assertiveness is constructive

♦ Verbally agressive communication is considered to be a subset of hostile communication

Much less desirable to give and/or receive

Hostility is destructive to communication exchanges, relationships, and, even the self-

identities of the participants

CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK AND CRITICISM

 When attacks are focused on a person’s position, they fall under the category of
assertive or argumentative.
 When attacks are focused on a person’s characteristics, history, behaviors, or any other
components of the individual, they are considered hostile, and possibly aggressive.

ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING
 The Rhetorical Triangle is a useful way of formulating your thoughts and presenting your
positions.
 If you use it well, your audience will easily understand what you’re saying, and will be
influenced by your message.

THREE POINT OF THE RETHORICAL TRIANGLE

 Ethos - Building trust by establishing your credibility and authority (Writer).
 Pathos - Appealing to emotion by connecting with your audience through their values
and interests (Audience).
 Logos - Appeal to intelligence with well-constructed and clearly argued ideas (Context).
ARGUMENTATIVE SPEECH

 An argumentative speech persuades the audience to take the side of the speaker, and
the speaker generally discusses a topic he or she feels strongly about.
 The speaker makes a specific claim and then addresses points that support the claim.
 At the end of the speech, the audience should be clear on an action that should or
should not be taken and why.

ARGUMENTATIVE VS PERSUASIVE
♦ Argumentative Discussion - the author uses facts to back up their claim. Argumentative
discussion does not mean that the author is angry. There is no anger in an
argumentative discussion as defined above.
♦ Persuasive Discussion - the author focuses mostly on using emotions to convince the
audience of their claim.