Text B Features of Communication
Interpersonal communication is a complex process. The following are some of the most distinctive features of communication.
Communication is dynamic
Communication is an on-going activity. In any communication event, the sender and the receiver of messages constantly shift from being encoders to decoders and the messages also change in each turn of interaction.
Communication is interactive
Communication is always done in two ways: the source sends messages to the receiver and the receiver responds to the message received and sends his message or response to the source. Thus the source and receiver are in a reciprocal situation attempting to influence one another in the process. What the influences are and how the influences function are among the major concerns of intercultural communicators.
Communication is both verbal and non-verbal
Speech is only one of the channels that messages are transmitted. We do not have to say everything we intend to communicate in words. We use our body, signs and even clothing to show others what we have in our minds. According to statistics, most part of our communication is done by non-verbal means.
Communication can be either intentional or unintentional
Intention is not a necessary condition for communication to take place. A sigh or frown accompanying speech, if noticed by the receiver, may also carry unintended messages to the receiver. For the two parties involved in the communication process, any behavior of one interlocutor, intentional or unintentional, can produce certain effects and generate certain meanings to the other. To complicate the matter, very often we are unconscious of the message sent and the effect it has produced. Therefore, unexpected results may arise.
Communication is rule-governed
Though communication is a complex process, there are still rules for speakers to follow as to how messages are constructed and interpreted. The patterns, however, are culturally defined. To study communication and intercultural communication in particular is, to a large extent, to discover the patterns that regulate communicative behavior of the interlocutors. If the patterns are shared and understood, any communication will become easy and effective.
Communication depends on the use of symbols
Symbols or codes are the basic ingredients of communication. Symbols may take the form of written or spoken words, body signs, Braille, an object like a picture or a dress, color, and many other symbols that represent certain meanings to whoever recognize them and make sense of them. All cultures use symbols, but they usually attribute different meanings to the same symbol and may use different symbols to mean the same. Competent intercultural communicators, therefore, must learn to“read”the symbols used by their interlocutors and understand the exact message.
Communication is irreversible
Communication cannot be retrieved — the message delivered and interpreted by the receiver can never be taken back. Though we can modify our message, the effect produced by the original message still remains. The implication is that improper communicative behavior may have serious consequences.
Communication takes place in both a physical and a social context
Communication does not take place in a vacuum. We interact with other people within specific physical surroundings and under a set of specific social factors. The physical surroundings serve as the background of our interaction and, to a large extent, define what we communicate and how we do it. In addition, the symbolic meaning of the physical setting may contribute to the meanings intended. The social context sets the interlocutors in various social relationships. How people relate to one another will determine both the form and content of communication. Physical and social context together define the actual practice of communication: what to be communicated, where, when, with whom and how it is realized.
After You Read
Knowledge Focus
1. Pair Work: Discuss the following questions with your partner.
1) What are the factors that comprise the communication process?
2) What could be your own map of communication? Describe why.
3) Are there any more examples to illustrate the factors of communication?
4) At what stage the Turkish student and the American roommate misunderstand each other in the case at the beginning of this unit?
5) Can you work out other features of communication?
2. Solo Work: Match the following terms with their definitions.
___1) source
___2) message
___3) channel
___4) feedback
___5) code
___6) decoding
___7) encoding
___8) response
___9) sender
___10) noise
___11) receiver
___12) intracultural communication
a. the person that receives the message in the communication
b. communication between people from the same cultural background
c. the interlocutorwho initiates the message
d. any systematic arrangement or comprehensive collection of symbols
e. the interpretative process of assigning meaning to a message
f. the content of interaction
g. information generated by the receiver and made available to a source that allows the source to make qualitative judgments about the communication while it is taking place
h. the act of putting an idea or thought into a code
i. the mode by which a message moves from the source of the message to the receiver of the message
j. the reaction of the receiver to the decoded message
k. any factor that hinders or distorts the reception of messages
l. any person that produces the message
Language Focus
1. Fill in the blanks in the following passage with an appropriate word from those given below in its proper form.
How do we communicate? The first answer that is likely to come to most people's minds is through (1): we speak, we listen, we read, we write. When we think (2), we become increasingly aware that we also communicate in (3) ways, through gestures and body (4). The signals given by our“body language”are often more (5) than the words we use. Most of us will have had the experience of someone saying something to us — making a flattering (6), for instance—that we felt was insincere. Why did we feel that? Maybe it was the (7) in which it was said, or something in the person's movement or eye (8) with us.
When we turn to communication process across cultures, the complexities and complications (9). Language is again the most obvious example. If you speak only English and the person you try to talk to speaks only Japanese, communication will be (10) — though you will, if you both really try, be able to understand each other to some extent by means of (11). Even with speakers of the same language, problems may be the result of intracultural differences, that is, (12) between subgroups within a culture.
2. Find the appropriate prepositions or adverbs that collocate with the words in bold letters.
1) One can derive a lot of pleasure ___watching and hearing the interplay of speech and movement in dramatic performance.
2) A group of plants and animals living and interacting ___one another in a specific region under relatively similar environmental conditions.
3) Intercultural communication refers ___the exchange of information between individuals who are unalike culturally.
4) It is really hard to put my present feelings ___words.
5) He tries not to let his business interfere ___his home life.
6) The negotiations will call ___considerable dexterity.
7) All electronic computers consist ___five units although they are of different kinds.
8) The worse part is he is unconscious ___his mistake during the conversation.
9) The success of this project is ___a set of specific factors.
10) Honesty and hard work contribute ___success and happiness.
3. Error Correction: Each of the following sentences has at least one grammatical error. Identify the errors and make corrections.
1) It comes from the Latin“communicare”, that means, “to make common”or“to share”.
2) Communication is a form of human behaviors derived from a need to connect and interact with other human beings.
3) Communication can be taken place on different levels and can be classified into several types.
4) It is the process of understanding and sharing of meaning in pairs or in small groups. What constitute such interaction?
5) Speaker A is the source — the point which information or interaction originates.
6) Feedback in fact makes possible for the source or sender to adjust himself so as to proceed with the interaction.
7) The context could be as small as a classroom or dinner table, and at the same time it could be as big as the entire cultural environment.
8) Intercultural communication and intracultural communication consists of the same components.
9) The following diagram shows components and the process of a communication event.
10) The following is some of the most distinctive features of communication.
11) Communication is always done in two ways: the source sends messages to the receiver and the receiver responds to the message receiving and sends his message or response to the source.
12) We have not to say everything we intend to communicate in words.
13) A sigh or frown accompanied speech, if noticed by the receiver, may also carry unintended messages to the receiver.
14) If the patterns are shared and understood, any communication becomes easy and effective.
15) The physical surroundings serve as the background of our interaction and, to a large extent, defines what we communicate and how we do it.
16) What people relate to one another will determine both the form and content of communication.
Comprehensive Work
1. Pair Work
1) Discuss with your partner the factors that can be barriers to human communication and what people can do to facilitate communication.
English is widely used the world over. Sometimes its use as a second or foreign language may cause problems in communication. Read the following commercial signs written in English in many different countries and guess the meaning that was originally intended to convey.
a. In a Bucharest hotel lobby…
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
b. In a Bangkok temple…
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.
c. A sign outside a doctor's office in Rome…
Specialist in Women and Other Diseases.
d. A sign posted in a German park…
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.
You may find these commercial signs are not only quite misleading but amusing as well. What improvement will you make on the above mistranslations? Have you ever found some similar cases of mistranslation in your life?
_______________
_______________
2) In communication, the sentence meaning and the speaker's meaning may not be exactly the same. What is important to successful communication is not just knowing the sentence meaning, but also knowing what the speaker actually means by the sentence said. Work with your partner and decide what the second speaker probably means in each of the following short conversations.
Conversation 1
A: Tea?
B: It would keep me awake all night.
Conversation 2
A: Can you tell me the time?
B: Well, the milkman has come.
Conversation 3
A: Is John a good cook?
B: He's English.
Conversation 4
Reporter: Senator, what is the present state of your marriage?
Senator: Well, we, I think have been able to make some very good progress and it's …I would say that it's … it's …it's delightful that we're able to …to share the time and the relationship that we… that we do share.
2. Group work
In our life, there are many situations where people tend to use indirect ways to express themselves. For instance, they do not often say“no”directly to others but may express it in some other ways. Form groups of four or five. Interview some people you know and try to find out how they would respond or behave in the following situation. Report your findings in class.
Situation 1
When someone asks if he can copy your homework and you do not want to comply, you will …
_______________
Situation 2
When you are asked by your boss to work overtime at the weekend and you do not really want to, you will …
_______________
Situation 3
When you are asked by your parents about your problems in your studies and you do not want to tell them, you will …
_______________
Situation 4
When you are asked whether you agree with a professor's idea about an issue that you do not really agree with, you will …
_______________
3. Writing — Prompt Writing
1) Spend ten to fifteen minutes on free writing about this picture.
2) Choose an aspect of your free writing exercise as a starting point for a short story. The story does not necessarily have to explain the picture, so long as the picture has in some way inspired the resulting work.
3) Share the stories with your classmates, explaining how the picture resulted in the work.
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