Communication Skills I - UMaT Diploma

Communication Skills I (Diploma) UMaT

• The course lecturer is Philip Boateng Ansah from the Department of Technical Communication
• This is from the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Ghana

Course Introduction

• The course is Communication Skills, and is labelled MC, EL, MA 157 for the duration 2019-2020
• By the end of this course, students should be able to appreciate the nature and scope of communication, as well as recognize their own input for better understanding

Course Objectives and Outcomes

• The general aim of the course is to make you an effective communicator in the workplace
• Objectives of the Communication Skills (157) course are to enable students to:
• Understand the concept of communication
• Appreciate their role as a communicator which includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing
• Communicate well in English to facilitate work efficiency
• Function effectively in oral and written English
• After completing this course, the student is expected to:
• Know what Communication is
• Appreciate the Communication Skills course as a powerful tool for effective studies
• Develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
• Enhance note-taking and note-making skills
• Understand and construct grammatically correct and meaningful sentences
• Effectively bind ideas using coordination and parallel structure
• Express themselves clearly by avoiding ambiguity
• Function effectively in English, both orally and in writing, during and after university studies

Course Outline & Instructional Methodology

• The course content includes:
• Communication: Definitions, Types, Methods, Tools/Media, Purpose, Communication as a Process, Basic Components, Communication in Organizations, Lines of Authority/Chain of Command, Barriers, Principles
• Listening Skills
• Note-taking and Note-making
• Reading
• Developing Writing Skills 1: The Sentence, Sentence Types, Basic Sentence Patterns
• Coordination and Parallelism
• Ambiguity
• Conventions of Usage
• The Communication Process
• Why we communicate
• Types of communication
• How we communicate
• The Communication Cycle
• Levels of Communication which includes:
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Impersonal
• Potential Problems of Communication including
• Distortion
• Noise
• Reading, such as
• Fast Reading
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Close Reading
• Intensive Reading
• Extensive Reading
• Reading for Comprehension
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Ambiguity
• The Passive Voice
• Sentences (function and form types)
• The Simple Sentence (Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, Exclamatory)
• Compound Sentence
• Complex Sentence
• Basic Sentence Pattern
• Wrong Sentence
• Sentence Fragments
• Run-on Sentences
• Paragraph Writing
• Mode of Course delivery includes:
• Lectures
• Class discussions
• Individual or group tasks/assignments and presentations
• Expected student duties include
• Attending lectures and tutorials
• Avoiding lateness
• Reading materials
• Completing assignments on time
• Participating actively in group work
• Taking part in quizzes and examinations

Assessment

• The student's final mark comprises class assignments and examination results

Reference Materials

• The course uses several texts for reference

Additional Resources

• Internet sources from Thomson Education and Writing Savvy

Lecture 2: Communication Objectives

• The objectives of this lecture are:
• To present and discuss various definitions of communication
• To present and explain the types and methods of communication
• To discuss the tools or media of communication
• To discuss the purpose of communication
• To introduce communication as a process
• To present and discuss the various components of the communication process
• To discuss communication in organisations
• To discuss lines of authority or chain of command
• To discuss some barriers to effective communication
• To discuss some principles of effective communication
• After this lecture, the student should be able to:
• Understand the concept of communication
• Know how communication works in organisations
• Know the organisational structure (organogram) of UMaT
• Know the hindrances associated with communication and avoid them
• Master the principles of effective communication

Communication Defined

• "Communication" originates from the Latin "communicare," meaning to make common, share, impart, or transmit
• Britannica defines communication as "the conveying of information, thoughts, feelings or opinions" through looks, gestures, words, sounds, and pictures, using sight, hearing, and touch

Definitions of Communication

• Miller et al. (1982) suggests communicating is making known, giving, interchanging thoughts, feelings, and information to participate and create a connecting link, and that communication creates, maintains alerts and destroys human relationships.
• Harding (1985) defines communication as conveying ideas from one mind to another
• Wilson (1992) defines communication as a process by which individuals share information, ideas, and attitudes
• Wilson's definition focuses on "share" and "process"
• Share is defined as give or receive a part or enjoy something in common
• Replacing 'share' with 'send' implies transmitting a message with less concern for the receiver
• Wilson’s focuses on source and receiver cooperation

Types of communication

• Verbal communication is through spoken or written words
• Non-verbal communication is visual and includes body language, graphics, symbols, signs, and color
• Body language, including gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, posture, dress, grooming, and deportment conveys feelings and emotions
• Body language, like nodding, crying, or laughing, can be misinterpreted due to socio-cultural differences

2.3.1 Verbal Communication

• Three levels exist:
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Impersonal

Interpersonal Communication

• Is communication between two people or a person and a group
• It is direct and has high potential for feedback through writing, oral, visual, non-verbal methods
• Interactions could be through face-to-face interaction, telephone calls, the postal system, notice boards, sign boards, and even circulars
• Communication forms:
• Monolineal which is giving information, commands, or directives
• Bilineal: which is an interaction or conversation between two people such as dialogues and questions/answers
• Multilineal which exists between several people such as interviews, meetings, and discussions

Intrapersonal Communication

• Refers to communication with oneself

Impersonal Communication

• Is mass communication with a large diffuse audience
• There is no direct personal contact between the sender and receiver
• Communication occurs through newspapers, films, television, radio, posters, billboards, and placards
• Feedback is difficult,
• however response mechanisms like coupons, phone-ins, suggestion boxes, query boxes, and hotlines can solicit feedback
• Interactive measures can also be done through television polls, draws, raffles, promotions to elicit spontaneous feedback which can be appreciated as knowing the level of communication used

Non-Verbal Communication

• Transmits a message without using words that can be linked to words to add 'extra' meaning, such as tone of voice, body movement, eye contact, and touch can say more for emphasis
• Non-verbal cues conveying the message can be open to different interpretations and be confusing or misinterpreted
• Non-verbal communication can be controlled by:
  • Producing desired impression with a smile, handshake and appropriate clothing
  • Providing appropriate feedback such as a nod of the head or applause
• Controlling non-verbal communication ensures the speaker can:
  • Receive non-verbal messages from listeners and interpret them
  • Read situations to modify communication strategies
  • Notice people's true feelings
  • Detect hidden personal problems
• Body language can contribute to or detract from meaning, and facial expressions are its commonest sources

Methods of Communication

• The main methods, ways, forms or processes of communication are oral, written and visual
• It's useful to consider the merits and demerits of both oral and written types

Tools/Media of Communication

• the spoken word, telephone, talking drums, television, films, slides and video cassettes, electronic mail (e-mail), facsimile (fax), books, journals, magazines, newspapers, letters, greeting cards, memoranda, flipcharts, notice boards, organization charts, sign boards, billboards, photographs, diagrams, illustrations, the internet
• It's important to consider which can be used as audio-visual, mass (or news) media, and advantages and disadvantages of various sorts

Purpose of Communication

• To initiate some action, to give and take information and to foster good human relationships.
• There's a risk of misuse such as when improperly performed it may turn friends into enemies, or plunges nations info war
• Communication creates or destroys human relationships

Communication as a Process

• Communication is ongoing, dynamic, and encompasses components that interact to cause a specific consequence

Basic Components

• The communication process consist of elements that can be represented in Wilson's basic model which includes the source, the message, the channel and the receiver
• The source, or sender/communicator/encoder, shares information, ideas, or attitudes
• In mass communication, this is usually a professional communicator
• The message is what the source attempts to share, which starts with an idea encoded into symbols that express the idea.
• Symbols are words and objects that elicit the meaning of the message
• Words and pictures are the most common
• Selecting symbols elicit responses similar to those intended by the source from the message receiver
• A frame of reference (field of experience) is the set of experiences each person possesses
• Every experience is used to give meaning to symbols, even facial expressions may send messages
• The channel is the way in which the message is sent, utilizing sight, sound touch and technological devices
• The selected channel must be appropriate and serve the receiver's needs
• The receiver, or destination/audience/decoder is who the message is intended to be shared without which it lacks communication
• It's important to ensure they are listening and understanding
• Feedback is the observable response to the message from receiver to source determines if the message was correctly delivered, providing opportunities for modification
• The source becomes the receiver and vice versa when the two switch roles
• Communication becomes a cycle
• feedback can manifest as words, gestures, and expressions and also be instant or delayed

Communication Noise

• The communication can be complicated by additional factors called communication noise (channel, semantic, psychological)
• Noise is any factor that disturbs, confuses, or interferes with communication, internally (like a receiver’s attention) or externally (a distorted message)
• Noise can occur when the message passes through the channel- most interference happens at the encoding/decoding stage —channel noise
• Describes external interference
• Themessage does not make it through as sent such as print that is too small —semantic noise
• Occurs when the message gets through as sent but the receiver doesn't understand
• Symbols causing this noise may be technical terms if a receiver does not have the appropriate knowledge to translate
• Semantic noise also includes dictionary meanings, words take on emotional meanings from experiences
• Extensive use of jargons can cause this type of noise ––psychological noise
• Refers to internal factors leading to misunderstandings
• People try to themselves from information they see as offensive:
• Selective Exposure which expose to information that reinforces beliefs
• Selective Perception see, hear and believe what we want to see, hear and believe, and think what we see is how everyone else sees information
• Selective Retention remember things that reinforce our beliefs better than things that oppose
• Wilson provided an updated of communication noting that it involves the sorting, selecting and sharing of symbols to help the receiver elicit meaning similar to that contained in the mind of the communicator

Communication in Organisation

• An organisation is a business or administrative entity constructed for a particular purpose, with a group working together for a common cause or goal and a division of labor and hierarchy of authority
• They may be structured into departments that derive direction from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or higher up figure likened to the Vice Chancellor within a University

Communication Channels

• VC delegates power in academic affairs to Faculty which delegate to Department Heads, making a formal structure
• The CEO/Vice Chancellor is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in the organization
• Subordinates are accountable to superiors for the performance and flow up, creating a formal communication system
• It could be internal or external and formal or informal.
• Lines of communication, forms and channels of communication are terms that may be used to designate the formal directional flow of information within an anorganisation going vertically, horizontally or diagonally.
• Vertical communication is either downward or upward: information shifts from top (management or superior) to bottom (lowest grade employee or subordinate), OR communication from bottom to top

Channels of Communication

• Horizontal communication occurs between people of the same level/status in an organization
• Diagonal communication involves people at different levels who are not directly in a reporting relationship which may be improper since they aren't within the chain of command
• Formal communication follows established procedures and conforms to customs, rules, norms; an informal communication system is the grapevine, or rumor-mongering which has a negative reputation
• Organizational Chart Directional Flow includes Managing Director at the top flowing to Production Manager, Marketing Finance Manager Manager and Administrative the next level down, with Supervisions below this
• Vertical relationships are with the layer above or below, Horizontal flows are with those at the same layer, and Diagonal crosses 2 or more layers not directly connected

Barriers to Communication

• Barriers to this process include noise and should be guarded against in organizational settings to ensure the message going through

Factors for Successful Communication:

• Avoid language barriers (semantic problems)
• Have clear objectives Avoid physical or human barriers
• Consider Status
• Define the Organization's structure
• Note the Factor of Time
• A student should consider the following for effective communication
• Precision or Clarity of Expression
• Needs of Listener/Reader
• Channel Appropriateness
• Timing
• Purpose
• Feedback
• Attention

Lecture 3: Listening, Note-Taking and Note-Making

• Listening and receiving a message is part of the two-edged sword that communication represents with the other side being sending
• Absence of an ear to effectively hear is absence of the communication process because even a clear memorandum still requires a recipient to read
• The lecture will present Listening as a skill, and forms of ineffective listening, active listening, how to improve skills, different listening skills, difference between good and bad listeners, note taking and making
• The lecture's goal is to help students to understand and know listening techniques and apply them as well as note take and make

Why Listening Skills

• Reading is traditionally held as essential in modern day, and a goal will be to equate that with listening
• surveys, business people spend the majority of their work listening (Keefe), and the average spends a large portion in spoken communication
• Studies show that only around 25% efficiency of that time is effectively received This makes it the 'forgotten skill', so people are encouraged to develop these skills

Forms of Ineffective Listening

• Listening in spurts
• Half listening
• Quiet passive listening
• Hearing sounds/words but not actually listening.

Ineffective Listening Warning

• The situations of hearing sounds and words without connecting what is being communicated can be dangerous due to misunderstandings, such as in areas of higher education and business

Active Listening

• Involves hearing and absorbing as much as possible such as concentrating with mental participation through digestion or summarising
• One should refrain from assessing what is being said/written and attempt to see from the point of view of the author
• Active listening should involve:
• absorb the main ideas
• acknowledge and respond
• do not allow yourself to be distracted
• concentrate on the speaker's total communication, including body language
• be empathetic to feelings and thoughts
• do not interrupt unnecessarily
• forget about your own self and dedicate your attention

How to Improve Your Listening Skills

• The goal is to concentrate which means that one should try to avoid letting the mind wander to fully connect with the speaker's points
• a good listener can hear approximately 300 words per minute, or twice the average speaking figure which leaves time for other analysis and processing
• It's still imperative to focus because it's possible to miss information causing sentences to be lost in translation

Additional Techniques to Improve Listening Skills

• Positive Attitude: Want to hear what the other person has to say including those that stand to contradict yours, attempt to learn why to support against conflicting points
• Adopt the thought process to learn and want to hear
• Prepare Yourself Physically: Take a break, ensure access and test hearing then look at what it going on and see
• Prepare Yourself Mentally –Develop Techniques of Concentration
• The skilled listener would be able to combine various techniques to sharpen the quality of communication received and also make it clear to the speaker that he/she (i.e. he speaker) is not beating about the bush.
• Identify the speaker's ideas and their relationships.
• Evaluate the correctness or validity of the message.
• Summarising the main points.
• Taking notes.

Identifying a Speaker's Ideas

• Locate the main and supporting arguments to anticipate ideas during a lecture
• You can identify a speaker with the words 'first', 'second', non-verbal actions such as a long pause to help to recognize that the speaker

Evaluating A Speaker's Claims

• Make sure that it stands on logic and reason rather than appealing to the listeners' self motivations such as with coaxing, or charm
• One still focus on the presentation of the claim regardless of emotions to remain objective and be mindful of bias!

Summarizing Speaker Points

• Translate points and ideas into a mind map or summary of the ideas
• If any important points are listed than create the summary to build on understanding

Taking Notes

• Jot notes while listening to improve focus
• One cannot record everything so, the goal is extract essentials
• Make decisions on what to take down and organize, indent, label etc to highlight relationships for further analysis
• Create a system, take all materials into account whether analog or digital, listen for key cues, abbreviat.e, use symbols,
• Review any ambiguous, important, or necessary materials and compare with your neighbors

Habits of Good Listening Techniques

• The key traits of a good leader all revolve around practice and consistency
• Attend community events and broadcasts to compare perspectives and test your information collection, interpretation, and presentation.

Different Types Of Listening Skills To Apply

• Critical- if the speaker is influencing you one way or another
• Discriminatory - to sort by order
• Active and powerful- conversation, transcribing
• With great power, comes great responsibility, respect, and to be heard therefore listen with as much care

Differences Between Bad and Good Listeners

• Good listeners are opportunistic with a grasp on objectives (listening for what is relevant to listen) in dull material, concentrates on content even if the speaker is dull, deduces reasons behind and beliefs behind the speaker, adapts a flexible approached based on the speaker, fights distractions, resists the first flare, can suspend any personal emotions.

Notes on Notes

• Notes can help one collect, prepare to retain and use in future situations.
• One of the effective ways of doing such and concentrating is Note-Taking as seen previously
• In 3.7 one will see the skills needed and the distinction between note-taking and note making
• One takes notes when listening, when viewing a presentation, or what is being heard
• "When we Write notes make them, what we should be doing is to keep a written record of the information we have either read or heard" – (Opoku-Agyemang)
• 2 Methods to do these to write notes from lectures:
• The Outline Method
• The Summary Method

The Outline Method

• It is easer because the outline is very basic and well structure
• However, it only for research or seminar papers etc. being delivered.
• Therefore, hard to select the important ideas
• It is only advisable to listen to important sections and write those ideas

Summary Method

• Very helpful because it puts all the information in one place
• Try to ask more questions when available and use short hand often
• Use hand writing and be mindful on what they mean

Writing Notes From Reading

• Outline the most important graph or graph representation
• Following the outline will make your notes easier to understand in the future. The textbook should follow something such as:
• Main Idea
• Supporting Idea —Other illustration

Lecture 4 - Reading Skills Intro

• Reading is essential as a daily activity which defines a student
• It is essential for improve and develop key skills like the appropriate reading material

Key skills

• Select a good material to read
• Actively read and be effective
• Be very understanding and thoughtful

Different ways of reading

• Depend passivity from the reader for what material that being use
• Every material should be used in same way
• Quotes from various scholars

Reading Technique

• It is very necessary to point out that Reading materials should be used in different ways. What describes the reading is all that is needed
• Divining-the reader can 'dive' for information when to be found
• Scamming-reader needs to review a book. Note and keep the very minimum or major idea

Ways to develop Reading

• Be analytical and thoughtful
• Have respect and interest in the study/ reading skills

The "So What?" Of Different Reading Techniques

• There is no one set standard or a best way, what is important to note is the way that best suits the occasion when it to reading materials
• To best use is to understand the appropriate and what is another. By using all you'll come up with the most

Reading for Information

• As an educated one should learn that knowledge is what makes it essential to read for. To that one needs to find things in the right way and learn how best to learn.
• Reading for pleasure is one way to retain it or not. But, focus is to retrieve information

4.4 The SQ3R Method

• This method allows tackling text at five levels:
• Survey
• Question —Read
• Recall/Recite —Review/Revise
• The survey level can be likened to the skimming process. Surveys should include the following
• Title
• Author
• Date of first publication and of the edition in hand
• Preface and introduction
• Contents page
• Chapter headings
• Index