Introducing communication in sender’s mind.

When the sender transforms his thoughts,

ideas or concepts into verbal speech or a written message,
A tired doctor orders a coffee in a quiet cafe. The young nurse then this is known as encoding. Encoding refers to the
in line behind him shoots a withering look at the encryption of ideas from the perspective of the sender.
rambunctious toddler tugging on her skirt. From the radio
blares an advertisement for the reopening a mall. At a nearby When the message is received by the receiver, the recipient
table, a deaf couple signs to each other, while a teenager in the reads and understands it. He may translate the information to
corner busily texts a friend on his cell phone. These situations better understand it. So, decoding refers to the interpretation
all have one thing in common. They all involve of information from the perspective of the receiver. When the
communication. receiver clearly understands the information sent to him, two-
way the communication process ends here.
Communication is the act of conveying information for the
purpose of creating a shared understanding. It’s something Communication can be a one-way or two-way process. When
that humans do every day. The word ‘communication’ comes the information conveyed by the sender is received by the
from the Latin ‘communis’ meaning ‘to share’ and includes recipient, this states for the completion of a one-way process.
verbal, non-verbal and electronic means of human interaction. It is not necessary that the recipient must respond to the
Scholars who study communication analyze the development sender, but if the recipient formulates a message in reply to
of communication skills in humans and theorize about how sender’s message, then communication becomes a two-way
communication must take place. process. Media content is an example of one-way
communication, in which the receiver is not required to
At the center of their study of communication is the respond back, but he only receives the information.
relationship that involves interaction between participants.
This definition serves us well with its emphasis on the Essentials of communication
process, which we’ll examine in depth across this text, of
coming to understand and share another’s point of view Communication, essentially, is a continuous, two-way process,
effectively. which includes a message that must be conveyed through a
channel to a receiver. The receiver must understand the
Defining communication message and respond within a specific time frame. Therefore,
studying communication involves the memorizing of its
As the above passage made clear, communication is more essential components, let us begin with those that has been
than simply the transmission of information. The term introduced already among others.
requires an element of success in transmitting or imparting a
message, whether information, ideas, or emotions. This 1. Sender: The sender is the person who imagines,
success is represented by a shared understanding between creates, and sends the message.
participants in the communication. 2. Message: The message is the stimulus or meaning
produced by the source for the receiver or audience.
Humans, who are the participants in the communication, 3. Channel: The channel is the way in which a message
convey information through a variety of methods: speaking, travels between the source and the receiver.
telephones, email, blogs, TV, art, hand gestures, facial 4. Receiver: The receiver receives the message from the
expressions, body language and even social contexts. source and analyzes and interprets the message—
Communication can occur instantaneously in closed, intimate both intended and unintended—from the source.
settings or over great periods of time in large public forums, 5. Feedback: Feedback is the verbal and/or nonverbal
like the Internet. However, all forms of communication response to a message.
6. Environment: The environment is the physical and
require the same basic elements: a speaker or sender of
psychological aspects of the communication’s
information, a message, and an audience or recipient. The
context.
sender and recipient must also share a common language or 7. Context: Context involves the setting, scene, and
means of understanding each other for communication to be expectations of the individuals involved.
successful. 8. Noise: Also called interference, it is anything that
blocks or changes the source’s intended meaning of
It is important to note that the sender is the most involved the message.
person with a full understanding of that matter which he
wants to deliver. On the other hand, the receiver does not Research this: There are different types of noise: physical,
necessarily know about the sender and the subject of psychological, physiological, and semantic. Define them
information which the sender aims to deliver. and know what they are.

Steps of communication Process of communication

Technically the communication process is split into three
Now that you know communication’s basic and essential
major steps. This includes the thought, encoding and components, what does it look like? When you think
decoding. The thought is the subject of information that exists about communication in its simplest form, the process is

1
 quite linear. There’s a sender of a message—let’s say you you may have told Roy that to find the restroom he needs
—talking. You, the sender, have a thought. You put that to head down a hall and turn right. When he heads down
thought into words, which is encoding the message. And the hall and turns left, that, too, is feedback letting you
then there’s a receiver of a message—in this case your know you’ve been misunderstood.
classmate Roy. The message comes out of your mouth,
and then it is decoded, or processed, by the receiver, Roy, Models of Communication
who then decides on the meaning of your words as a
result of that decoding process. He hears your words and It should be clear by now that communication happens all
considers their meaning—put simply, he’s listening. It around us in many segments of our lives. However, to
looks something like this: truly understand what is happening within these
processes, we need to take a step back and look at some
of the key models of the communication cycle.

1. Linear model of communication

But what the sender says isn’t always what the receiver The first theoretical model of communication was
hears. Encoding and decoding don’t always happen proposed in 1949 by Shannon and Weaver for Bell
seamlessly. In this instance, Roy might “tune out” and Laboratories. This three-part model was intended to
miss some of what you said, or he may hear your words capture the radio and television transmission
correctly, but misunderstand their meaning. It may even process. However, it was later adapted to human
be a concept that is doomed to be misunderstood before communication and is now known as the linear
your words are even formed, due to existing difference model of communication. The first part of the model
between you and your coworker. When this happens, it’s is the sender, and this is the person who is speaking.
called noise. The second part of the model is the channel, which is
the apparatus for carrying the message (i.e., the
phone or TV). The third part of the model is the
receiver, and this is the person who picks up the
message. In this model, communication is seen as a
one-way process of transmitting a message from one
person to another person. This model can be found in
the figure below. If you think about situations when
you communicate with another person face-to-face
or when you give a speech, you probably realize that
this model is inadequate.
If Roy is not clear on your message, he may stop you and
say, “Wait. You’re saying ‘this’. Do I understand you
correctly?” This is called feedback.

Note this: Although this model is rather limited and

Your receiver has let you know that you’ve been has been superseded by two-way, transactional and
misunderstood by giving you feedback. At this point you mutual models for most purposes, it still has its uses
in business. Can you guess which part of it?
can:

a. repeat the message a second time 2. Interactive model of communication

b. ask some clarifying questions to determine why your Unlike the one-way, straight-line type of
receiver didn’t understand what you said, and then communication in the linear model, the interactive
address those issues on your next attempt to model of communication, also known as the
communicate your idea. convergence model, is all about give and take. It
relies on an exchange of communication from the
Feedback can come in a variety of forms, too. In this case, sender to the receiver and from the receiver to the
Roy is repeating your statement and asking for sender and back again. This was first developed by
confirmation that he heard it correctly. In another case, Schramm (1955) that allows for feedback, something
2
 that's absent in the linear model. Key takeaways
about the interactive model are the principles of
response and feedback.

The first point is the idea that when a person

receives a message, they may well want to respond in
some way, for example commenting on what was
received or asking for more information. They
consequently formulate and transmit their message
back. The second point is that the original speaker
now gets feedback on what they said. Take a look at
the figure below.
Reflect on this: Is one model better than the other?
No, not at all. It’s a matter of choosing the best
model under the circumstances and for the type of
message. Not only that, but communication can
move back and forth between the models. Can you
give an example of a situation where all the
models are present?

Practice exercise: Imagine that you are visiting Mati

city, and go to the famous Ciangi Resto for dinner.
When asked if you want a ‘Coke’ you may reply,
“sure.” The waiter may then ask you again, “what
kind?” and you may reply, “Coke is fine.” The waiter
then may ask a third time, “what kind of soft drink
would you like?”
Note this: This can be quite a surprise as the
original message in this model may have been Then, ask yourself the following questions:
distorted such that the second person received a 1. Why is there a misunderstanding?
different meaning to that which was intended. The 2. What is the misunderstanding about?
second person's response may also be distorted by 3. What model best represent the exchange?
the time it gets to the first person and is 4. Can you draw a diagram to show the model?
interpreted by them. 5. What specific components are present in the
model?
3. Transactional model of communication
The transactional model (Wood, 2009; Barnlund, 2008) is a Key Takeaways
modern two-way, interactive communication. In the The communication process involves understanding,
transactional model, both parties are both sender and sharing, and meaning, and it consists of eight
receiver. It happens in real-time and, generally, they must essential elements: sender, message, channel,
both be present, even if it’s via technology such as Skype. receiver, feedback, environment, context, and noise.
Among the models of communication are the linear,
Rather than looking at the sender sending a message and
interactive, and transactional process.
someone receiving it as two distinct acts, researchers often
view communication as a transactional process (see figure on Review Activity
the right), with actions often happening at the same time. The 1. Draw what you think communication
distinction between sender and receiver is blurred in looks like. Share your drawing with someone.
conversational turn-taking, for example, where both 2. List three environmental cues and
participants play both roles simultaneously. Examples of the indicate how they influence your
transactional model include a face-to-face meeting, a expectations for communication. Please
telephone call, a Zoom call, a chat session, interactive training, share your results with your classmates.
or simply a party in which all attendees participate by sharing 3. How does context influence your
ideas and comments. communication? Consider the language and
culture people grew up with, and the role
these play in communication styles.
4. If you could design the perfect date,
what activities, places, and/or environmental
cues would you include to set the mood?
Please share your results with your
classmates.
5. Observe two people talking. Describe
3 their communication. See if you can find all
eight components and provide an example
for each one.