Communication Fundamentals

Defining Communication

• Communication is the transmission of messages from a source to a receiver.
• It's the exchanging of thoughts, opinions, or information through different means, including speech, writing, or signs.
• It's the transfer of understanding from one person to another.
• Julia Wood's definition: communication is a systemic process where individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings.

Features of Communication

• Process: Communication is ongoing and always in motion.
• Systemic: Communication occurs within systems, with interrelated parts that affect one another.
• Symbolic: Communication utilizes abstract, arbitrary, and ambiguous representations of things.
• Meanings: The heart of communication lies in the significance we give to phenomena.

Communication Contexts

• Interpersonal Communication: Interaction of people in small groups, often in decision-making settings (classrooms, workplaces, social environments).
• Organizational Communication: Communication within large, extended environments with a defined hierarchy.
• Mass Communication: Reaching a large audience through mediated channels like television, radio, internet, or newspapers.
• Public Communication: One person delivering a speech to a large audience in person.
• Intercultural Communication: Sharing information across different cultures and social groups.
• Extrapersonal Communication: Communication between humans and non-human entities or machines.

The Components of the Communication Process

• Sender: The source of a message, who encodes the message aiming to produce a desired response.
• Message: The physical product of the source, which can be spoken, written, or unspoken information.
• Receiver: The intended target of the message, who responds by listening/reading/observing, interpreting, and responding.
• Channel: The pathway of communication that utilizes our senses (visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory).
• Feedback/Effect: A verbal or non-verbal response to a message, including internal feedback (self-assessment) and external feedback (response from others).
• Noise (Interference): Any factor that interferes with the message, including physical noise (external stimuli), physiological noise (biological influences), psychological noise (biases and feelings), and semantic noise (different interpretations of the message).

Linear Model of Communication

• Characterizes communication as a one-way process, transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver.
• Berlo's S-M-C-R (Source-Message-Channel-Receiver) Model emphasizes the encoding of messages by the source and their decoding by the receiver, considering factors like communication skills, attitudes, knowledge, social system, and culture.
• It highlights the idea that communication is a continuous process, with no clear starting or ending point.

Interactional Model of Communication

• Osgood-Schramm's model emphasizes the circular nature of communication, highlighting the importance of feedback and the roles of the sender and receiver.

Model of Mass Communication

• Schramm's model focuses on the way messages are transmitted and interpreted within mass media, emphasizing multiple receivers, decoding, encoding, and feedback.

Resources

• Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication, by Julia T. Wood (3rd edition)
• Understanding Interpersonal Communication: International 2nd Edition, by Richard West & Lynn H. Turner
• Human Communication: Principles and Contexts, by Stewart Tubbs & Sylvia Moss (11th edition)
• Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, by Sherwyn P. Morreale & Brian H. Spitzberg
• Fundamental Speech Communication for Filipinos, by Paterna E. Manalo & Virginia E. Fermin

Explore the essential concepts of communication, including its definitions, features, and contexts. This quiz covers the nature of communication as a systemic, symbolic process that facilitates the exchange of meanings between individuals.