Module 17b: Communication for Academic Purposes

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Communicate effectively for academic purposes, and

2. Demonstrate understanding of how important is communicating academically.

Effective Communication

Having a good communication skills are the building blocks of academic life and career, it

is the basic skills required for survival at Universities or higher learning. Knowing a basic skill

in communication occupies a central position in a student’s life and being towards

professionalism. It will be crucial for the students if they can not communicate properly, or if

they do but not effectively. It can deteriorate relationship among peers and teachers.

But how do we define effective communication? If someone achieves the desired level of

objective through communication, we can conclude that it is “effective communication”. It

takes place when receiver (students) of the message gives a proper response; it means that

you effectively conveyed the message.

Achieving Effective Communication for Academic Purposes

The following are considered to achieve effective communication:

1. Audience’s information needs.

2. Audience’s technical background.

3. Audience’s cultural background.

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4. Audience’s gender.

5. Audience’s knowledge of the subject.

Possibility for Communication Failure

1. Audience’s resistance. We all know that we can never please everybody nor want them to

believe in what we are saying. Communication failure will most likely to happen if the

audience, commonly known as receiver denied listening or even resisted from hearing and

perceiving the information. So make sure that the manner of sharing information is

enthusiastic as possible to avoid communication failure.

2. Communication Constraints. Time is a factor for a failure communication. There are

information that are long enough but ca not perceive by the receiver because to time

constraints. Aside from time, we also have legal, socioeconomic, cultural, institutional and

psychological constraints.

 Legal- this happens when both of the receiver and sender have an insufficient

knowledge about legal terms that creates misconception.

 Socioeconomic- a person with different socioeconomic status tends to have different

understanding and perception of words. Always take consideration of those children in

slum areas; they will surely have different perception of words compared to those who

live in subdivision and with proper orientation in their house.

 Cultural- cultural constraints are number one factor why there is a communication

failure. This is why it is important to know and understand someone else’s culture in

order to communicate effectively otherwise it will resolve to chaos.

  Institutional- failure due to institutional constraints happens when in community,

there are norms or any other factors that holds individual to speak their minds that

creates misconception.

 Psychological- if a person is mentally ill, or he/she has an inability to communicate it

leads to communication failure. We may not need them physically to communicate but

we need them mentally present so they understand what we are saying.

Activity

1. Present in class how effective communication takes places using academic purposes.

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2. Why is communication important in an academe? Explain

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3. What are the possible reasons for communication failure?

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References:

Communication,http://agrieconomics.uonbi.ac.ke/sites/default/files/cavs/agriculture/agriecon
/Communication%20Skills%20handout.pdf June 7, 2018