ORAL COMMUNICATION

Communication – It pertains to the manner by which individuals express and share themselves to
others through the imparting of ideas, thoughts, information, feelings, experiences, and opinions.
Characteristics of Communication (Wood, 2004):

1. Communication is a process. It is creative, continuing condition of life, a process that changes

as the communicators’ environments and needs change .
*For instance, many words in English have become obsolete, trite or altered in their meanings
while new words have evolved.

2. Communication is systemic. It occurs within systems of interrelated and interacting parts.

*The various components of communication, speaker/sender, listener/receiver, message, medium,
channel, feedback, content, and noise are linked to one another as parts of one system. The
absence of any one of them can result to ineffective communication.

3. Communication is symbolic. Symbols are observable signals transmitted from sender to

receiver. They can be spoken signals that are heard (such as spoken words), printed symbols that
can be read (such as printed words), hand signals that are seen (such as signals in sign
language), or even symbols that are felt (such as Braille writing for the blind).

Elements of Communication:
1. Context – This is also known as situation, setting or environment. Any communication activity
is affected by the context in which it occurs.
2. Sender / Speaker – the source of information or message.
3. Message – the information, ideas, or thoughts conveyed by the speaker in words or in actions.
4. Encoding – the process of converting the message into words, actions, or other forms that the
speaker understands.
5. Channel – the medium or the means, such as personal or non-personal, verbal or non-verbal,
in which the encoded messaged is conveyed.
6. Receiver – the recipient of the message, or someone who decodes the message.
7. Feedback – the reactions, responses, or information provided by the receiver. It is introduced
by Eugene White.
8. Noise – this is also called interference or barrier. It refers to anything that hinders the
transmissions or receptions of the message.
 Internal noise (physiological/psychological noise) – when the body becomes a hindrance
to good communication. It refers to anything that we think during the we are engaged in
communication like thinking about the unfinished task we left at home, speculating what
other person will say or thinking about an appointment later.
 External noise (physical noise) – actual noise such as loud music or irritating engine of a
motorcycle.
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Process of Communication:
Process of Communication Example
The Speaker generates an idea. Hermione loves Ron as a friend.

The Speaker encodes and idea or converts She thinks of how to tell him using their native
the idea into words or actions. language.

The speaker transmits or send out a message. She tells him “Ron, I love you as a friend.”

The receiver gets the message. Ron hears what Hermione says.

The receiver decodes or interprets the He tries to analyze what she means, and he is
message based on the context. heartbroken.

The receiver sends or provides feedback. He frowns and does not say something
because he is in pain.

Models of Communication
Linear Model – This model shows a straight path of relaying information. It is one-directional, which
means that information from sender is conveyed directly to the receiver.
Example:
A speaker delivering a speech in front of an audience.
(The speaker is the sender, and he or she conveys his or her message directly to the audience, which are
the receivers of the message.

1. Aristotle’s Model of Communication

Communication Theory

Aristotle, and ancient Greek Philosopher, was the proponent of the earliest mass communication
model known as “Aristotle’s Model of Communication”. In this model of communication, he
stressed the importance of the audience in the communication process. This model focuses on
public speaking than interpersonal communication. (Five elements: speaker, speech, occasion,
audience and effect).
 Example:
Miss McGonagall gave a lecture to her students in the Speech class to overcome stage fright.
Speaker – Miss McGonagall
Speech – how to conquer stage fright
Occasion – Speech class
Audience – students
Effect – overcome stage fright

2. Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver’s Model of Communication

ResearchGate

Claude Shannon was an American mathematician and an electronic engineer. Warren Weaver
was an American scientist who wrote an article in “Bell System Technical Journal” called “A
Mathematical Theory of Communication” or otherwise known as “Shannon-Weaver Model of
Communication”.
This model was known as the mother of all communication models, the Shannon-Weaver model
(1949) depicts communication as a linear or one-way process consisting of five elements: a
source (producer of message); a transmitter (encoder of message into signals); a channel (signals
adapted for transmission); a receiver (decoder of message from the signal); and a destination. A
sixth element, noise, is dysfunctional factor: any interference with the message travelling along
the channel which may lead to signal received being different from what was sent. In this model,
“Noise” is an important factor which affects the communication.

Interactive Model – this model takes into consideration feedback from the receiver; thus the message in
this model originates from two sources: the message from the sender and the feedback from the receiver.
When the receiver gives feedback, he or she becomes the sender, and the original sender becomes the
receiver of the feedback.
 1. Wilbur-Schramn Model

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Wilbur Schramn an expert in mass communication, introduced the interactive model in 1954, which
was groundbreaking at that time since it introduced the communicators’ “fields of experience”.
Fields of experience refer to the cultural background and other frames of reference that an
individual may bring into consideration. In fact, this practically everything that has happened in
his/her life – everything he/she has ever learned, watched, seen, heard, read, and studied.

2. Eugene White’s Model of Communication

edoc.site

Eugene White contributed the concept of Feedback to the field of communication. Feedback is the
perception by the speaker about the response of the listener. The speaker can only receive feedback if the
speaker is monitoring the listener. The speaker will know what the listener’s response is only if he/she is
paying attention.

Remember!
Verbal and Non-verbal Communication (Advance Study this lesson. This
will be our next lesson.)