Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Region III

LYCEUM OF WESTERN LUZON ZAMBALES, INC.

Batonlapoc, Botolan, Zambales

PURPOSIVE
COMMUNICATION
Module 7: Communication for Various Purposes

MARIE AILEEN M. SANTOS

Instructor

JOSSETTE Y. PEREZ-DAES
School President
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Lesson 7. COMMUNICATION FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES

Communication – in written form, face-to face, or through

such media as television and the internet – is a “social
process” involving “the transfer of information and
understanding from one person to another person” (Kreitner,
p. 300). As an essential life skill, the ability to communicate
for various purposes is something every student should
endeavor to learn and hone. At every stage of a student’s life,
and even beyond that, the skill and the knowledge to
communicate, to acquire and convey information, and to
persuade and argue are not only necessary but indispensable.

There are numerous theories attempting to explain the nature

of communication and identify its elements. But the most commonly cited definition involves the
process of a sender with an idea encoding a message, which is then sent through a medium or
channel until it reaches a receiver, who decodes the message and sends back feedback.

In his book titled “Ted Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking,” Chris Anderson,
head of TED, a not-for-profit organization “devoted to spreading ideas usually in the form of
short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less),” explains how speakers manage to affect or influence
their audience (in his example 1,200 people are listening to a TED Talks speaker):

“The 1,200 brains inside the heads of 1,200 independent individuals start to behave very strangely.
They begin to sync up. A magic spell woven by the woman washes over each person. They gasp
together. Laugh together. Weep together. And as they do so, something else happens. Rich
neurologically encoded patterns of information inside the woman’s brain are somehow copied and
transferred to the 1,200 brains in the audience. These patterns will remain in those brains for the rest of
their lives, potentially impacting their behavior years in the future.”

What happens during a TED Talks events is an “outstanding” example of the seemingly magical
power of oral communication or public speaking to share information and to persuade.

Stephen E. Lucas, author of “The Art of Public Speaking,” said that we should not be surprised
that people value public speaking because “throughout the history of Western Civilization, this
art has been a vital means of communication.” He added that “In modern times, many men and
women have spread their ideas and influence largely by public speaking.”

As a student, you are expected to give presentations and speak in front of different audiences. In
almost all the courses that you will take up in college, you will be assigned to do research on
certain topics and report on them in front of your fellow students. If you run for s position in the
student body, you will be obliged to deliver speeches as you persuade the student-electorate to
vote for you. After graduation, the same demands for public speaking will be expected from you.
The skill of public speaking, therefore, is an essential as the ability to write or read or count.
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Therefore, how do you develop your ability for public speaking? Preparing a speech is not unlike
prepare g yourself to write an essay. In essay writing, a writer follows these steps: pre-writing,
drafting, and revising (or editing/proofreading.) In speech making, there are also pre-writing
activities that you need to follow: Stephen E. Lucas identifies these steps as: (1) selecting a topic
and purpose, (2) analyzing your audience, and (3) gathering materials that you will need to
prepare your speech.

Selecting Your Topic and Identifying Your Purpose

If the speech that you will make is in the context of a classroom assignment, then the
topic will be most likely given by your professor and the purpose identified by him/her. There
are two general reasons (or purposes) for why a person, such as you, is going to deliver a speech.
One reason is to inform your audience about something and the other reason is to persuade them
to a certain belief or attitude.
Explaining to your audience how a computer works is informational but telling them how
capitalism is better than socialism is persuasive. Delivering an oral report in class about the
meaning and functions of management, for example, is oral communication for the purpose of
providing information, but when, in the same report, you argue that it is easier to understand the
nature of management through an analysis of managerial skills that that of functions, you are
communicating for the purpose of persuasion, that is\, you are trying to convince your fellow
classmates that they should adopt your idea or belief.
There are speeches, however, that are so subtly crafted that, even though they sound like
informational speeches, they are in fact persuasive speeches. Take for instance the speeches
delivered by Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former CEO, during launches of Apple
products. They were marketing pitches as Jobs tried to sell his products to the audience.
Choosing a topic can make or break your talk. In choosing a topic, you must decide whether it is
interesting enough for you that you can hurdle all the challenges that you will face in preparing
it. But even if you find your topic to be worthwhile, the next question to ask yourself is if you
have the capability to see through the process. Do you have the expertise in the subject area you
will be doing a talk about? Or, at the very least, do you know enough for you to be able to
explore it with reasonable depth. A rule in topic selection in essay writing is “Write more about
les.” No doubt this is applicable in speech writing as well.
Just like a topic, the purpose for a talk can also be general and specific. To inform is an example
of a general purpose, while To explain to my audience how psychoanalytic reading is done is an
instance of a specific purpose. The purpose will guide the speakers how they will prepare
everything. The talk will be shaped by its purpose. According to Lucas (1989), “formulating a
specific purpose is the most important early step in developing a successful speech.” He provides
five general principles in writing a purpose statement.
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1. Write the purpose statement as a full infinitive phrase, not as a fragment. Do not
write The parts of a computer but rather write to inform the audience of the different
parts of a desktop computer.
2. Express your purpose as statement, not as a question. Do not write What is a bitcoin
but rather write To inform the audience of the nature of bitcoins.
3. Avoid figurative language in your purpose statement.

 To persuade my audience that invalidating the exam because

some of the test takers have
cheated is like throwing out
the baby with the bath water.

DON’T:

 To persuade my audience that

invalidating the exam because
some of the test takers have cheated is an unfair punishment on
most of the test takers simply because a few of them have
violatedDO:
the rules.

4. Limit your purpose statement to one distinct idea.

 To persuade my audience that computer addiction among

teenagers is due to lack of attention by parents and that broken
homes are the result of one parent being unfaithful to another.

DON’T:

 To persuade my audience that computer addiction among

teenagers is due to lack of attention by parents.

DO:
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5. Make sure your specific purpose is not too vague or general.

 To inform my audience about New Criticism.

DON’T:

 To inform my audience about how close reading is

the foundation of New Criticism.

DO:

In addition to these principles, Lucas (1989) also suggested five questions that you should ask
yourself when you are preparing for a talk. These questions are:

1. Does my purpose meet the assignment? If you think it does not and you have
questions, do not hesitate to ask your professor. For example, if your professor requires
you to deliver a report on the nature of public relations, the issue of whether or not public
relations as a profession is healthy for society can crop up. You can ask your professor if
s/he wants you to include your opinion on that matter. In this case, the purpose of your
oral report is no longer informative but persuasive as well.
2. Can I accomplish my purpose in the time allotted? In
delivering a talk or an oral report, one important factor that you
cannot ignore is time limit. TED Talks, the most famous public
speaking event, requires its speakers to deliver “short, powerful
talks” in 18 minutes or less. To meet this all-so-important
demand, you must come up with a realistic topic and realistic
purpose. A topic and a purpose such as this – To inform my
audience about the evolution of communication technology
beginning from the ancient period to the present – is obviously
too ambitious for an 18-minute talk unless you are willing to
run the risk of giving an incomplete picture of your topic.
3. Is the purpose relevant to my audience? What will be your audience’s take away from
your talk? If there is none, then your talk loses its relevance to your audience. When that
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happens, you will not only waste your time but also that of your audience. In addition,
your talk will most likely fail because your audience will find it boring. They will fidget
in their seats and wish that you were never born. To make your talk interesting to your
audience, make it relevant.
4. Is the purpose too trivial for my audience? Earlier we mentioned that when you give a
talk your topic should not be too broad or complicated. However, this does not mean that
you will oversimplify to the point that your purpose becomes too trivial for your
audience. You must strike the fine balance between superficial and complicated.
5. Is the purpose too technical for my audience? Sometimes in our eagerness to impress
our professor we choose a topic and a purpose that is too technical for our intended
audience. To persuade my audience that the use of objective correlative is inherit in
Japanese haikus is an example of a technical purpose. Much like a trivialized purpose a
too technical purpose can easily lose the interest of your audience. But it can be done. In
the example above, you can start by defining what “objective correlative” is and then
proceed to cite examples of its use in poems before tackling the big question of how it is
useful in Japanese haikus.

Analyzing Your Audience

If you are a swimmer and you are about to dive into the pool, the first thing that you
will do is to check how deep the water is. The same is true when giving a talk in front of a group
of people. You must analyze your audience before you even open your mouth. This is important
because without an understanding of your audience, you will not be able to address them
properly.

The reason we communicate is that we have a message to convey, and that there are people who
want to or are willing to listen to us. The importance of our audience cannot be overstated. It is
therefore imperative that we learn as much as we can about our audience even before we start
working on our talk. But how do we analyze our audience?

Lucas (1989) identifies two methods of analysis for audience:

1. Demographic Analysis, as the word implies, involves analyzing your audience in terms
of their demographics such as sex, gender, age, racial, ethnic, cultural background, group
membership, and income.
2. Situational Audience Analysis, on the other hand, involves identifying “traits of the
audience unique to the speaking situation at hand.” These traits “include the size of the
audience, attitude influenced by the physical setting, and the disposition of the audience
toward the subject, the speaker and the occasion.”

Aside from the size of your audience and the physical setting of your talk, you need to
consider three other things in your analysis of audience: (1) your listener’s interest in the
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topic of your talk, (2) their knowledge about your topic, and (3) their attitude toward your
topic.

Gathering the Materials for your Speech

Now that you know a lot about your audience, you can proceed to gathering the
materials for your speech. There are three ways you can do this: (1) by reflecting on your own
knowledge and experiences; (2) by interviewing other people; (3) by doing library and computer-
aided research.

Self-reflection

Earlier in this chapter, we suggested that

in choosing a topic for your talk you
should consider your own familiarity, if
not expertise, of the topic. This is
important because in the gathering of
materials for your talk you need to go
inward into yourself. You are the first step in your search for
information. Your knowledge
and experiences are major sources of materials. You need to
make
use of them.

Interview

I n t e r v i e w i n g
sharing their views, hence, “inter” and “viewing.” Steinar Kvale
(1996), in his book Interviews, explains the importance of
interviewing:

“If you want to know how people understand their world

and their life, why not talk with them? In an interview
conversation, the researcher listens to what people
themselves tell about their lived world, hears them express
their views and opinions in their own words, learns about
their views on their work situation and family life, dreams
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and hopes.

Kvale (1996) adds that interviewing as a research technique “attempts to understand the world
from the subject’s point of view, to unfold the meaning of people’s experiences, to uncover their
lived world prior to scientific explanations.”

In conducting your interview, it will be most fruitful to heed the advice of Carole Rich (2010), a
well-known writing coach. According to her, you should:

1. Concentrate on what the person you are interviewing is saying and not on what you
will ask next. This ensures that you are catching everything that is being said and that
you are showing respect for the interviewee by paying close attention.
2. Listen attentively as you would when you listen to a friend telling you an interesting
story. Your next question should be based on your interviewee’s last statement. If you
want to move to another topic, do it without cutting off the interviewee in mid-sentence
and without offending him or her.
3. Think critically when you listen. If you are not sure about something, do not hesitate to
ask your interviewee to repeat what s/he has said.
4. Stay quiet. Do not outtalk your source. Do not show that you are smarter than s/he is and
that what s/he is saying is nonsense. If you think the source is not making any sense
anymore, ask for clarification and listen quietly.
5. Maintain eye contact with your source. Nod to show you are listening. Make him//her
feel that you are giving complete attention.
6. “Listen” to visual signals such as fidgeting, frowning, etc. they will tell you more than
words about what your source is feeling. In other words, listen with your eyes.
7. Be polite in everything. If your source is rambling or incoherence, do not cut her/him off
abruptly and brusquely. Wait for him/her to pause before you move to change the subject.
8. Be curious. Do not pretend that you are listening because it will sooner or later show.
Remember, it is going to be your speech that will make use of all the information that you
will gather in the interview. In the end, it will be you as speaker who will benefit.

Library and Computer-aided Research

In preparing for a presentation, students tend to ignore the value of the library. To many
students, the library is a place to avoid especially because of
the dreaded librarians, who are often depicted in popular
culture as strict and fearsome but this should not be the case.
On the contrary, the library as source of materials for your
speech is without equal. It houses almost everything that you
will need as a speaker researching on your topic, especially
today when modern librarians have access to the Internet.
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Putting Together Your Speech

In writing an essay, you need to follow the structure that has been handed down as the
convention of the genre. The structure contains three basic parts: the introduction, the body, and
The conclusion. Your speech will basically follow this structure. To be readable and easily
understood your speech must be organized in certain way. Organization is crucial. Without it,
your speech will most likely confuse and bore your audience. Organization is structure.

Patterns of Organization

To organize your main points, you can use the following patterns of organization: (1)
chronological order; (2) spatial order; (3) causal order; (4) problem-solution order; and (5)
topical order.

1. Chronological-ordered speech follows a time pattern. When you tell a story in your
speech, it is best to use the chronological order because a story told from beginning to
end is easier to understand than one that is told haphazardly. Chronological order is also
used in explaining a process or showing how to do something such as assembling a
bicycle or a personal computer.
2. Spatial order. A pattern through which can discuss all the important elements of a
scenario and describe the events in a sequence so that the whole plot or story can be best
understood by the reader.
3. Causal order. Speeches arranged in causal order organize main points so as to show a
cause-effect relationship.
4. Problem-solution order. Speeches can be arranged by, firt, identifying a problem, and
then proposing a solution.
5. Topical order. It results when you divide the speech topic into subtopics, each of which
becomes a main point in the speech.

The most direct way of telling your audience about your idea is to show it. Anderson calls it
“revelation” you can do this in three broad ways:

1. The Wonder Talk. It is a talk based on the revelation of a succession of images or

wonder moments. In this approach, you build a sense of wonder in your audience. You
can arrange your images in such a way that the next one will be highly anticipated.
2. The Dynamic Demo. If what you are revealing is not just visual, it is a technology or a
process or an invention, then you need the audience to see it works. You need a
demonstration.
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3. The Dreamscape. There are many ways by which you can share your dreams: words,
images, demonstrations.

Email Messages and Memos

The coming of the internet era ushered in new technologies that made communication
in the workplace more effective and efficient. An example of a digital technology that
revolutionized how we send and receive messages is the electronic mail or email. It is, according
to Guffey (2008), “the communication channel of choice for exchanging information within the
organization.”

Stages of Writing an Email Message or Memo

How do we write email messages and memos? There are three stages (Guffey, 2008):

1. Analysis, anticipation, and adaptation. In the first stage, which is equivalent to

the more familiar term prewriting, you ask yourself the following questions: do
you really need to write the email message or memo? Should you send your
message as email or should you simply say it face-to-face? What is the purpose of
your message? How will the receiver of your email message or memo react? How
can you save your reader’s time (that is, should you use bullets or asterisk to list
the things you want to say?
2. Research, organization, and composition. In this stage, you make an outline of
your message or memo and you list down the ideas you want to send. Remember
that each idea or assertion or claim that you will write needs supporting details.
3. Revision, proofreading, and evaluation. In this stage, you revise for clarity and
correctness and be ready for feedback. When you revise, take the point of view of
your prospective readers. Ask yourself: if I were the reader, would the message or
memo be clear to me? Finally, do not forget to include in your email message a
line or two asking for your reader’s feedback.

Parts of the Email Message or Memo

An email message or memo has the following parts:

1. Sender line. This is where the name and email address of the sender is written.
2. Receiver line. This is where the name and email address of the recipient of your
message or memo is written.
3. Date line. This is where the date: day, month, year, and time, is written.
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4. Subject line. This is where the subject of your email message or memo is written.
5. Opening. For non-sensitive information you can be direct.
6. Body. This is where the author of the email message or memo writes the reasons
for writing and explains the message thoroughly.
7. Closing. This part, according to Guffey (2008) generally ends with (a) action
information, dates or deadline; (b) a summary of the message; or (c) a closing
thought.

Example:

From: ESL Department CASS TSU <[email protected]> Sender Line

To: Fernando Ramos <[email protected]> Receiver Line
Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2018, 2:52 PM Date Line
Subjects: Re: [ELS] Invitation: 4th Student Research Conference Subject Line

Dr. Fernando Campo Ramos:

The English Language Studies (ELS) Department of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, OPENING
Tarlac State University will be holding the 4th Student Research Conference on May 3, 2017 from
8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. at the Alumni Center, Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City.

The primary objective of this activity is to evaluate five theses from the 4 th year AB ELS students
for the search for the Best Thesis award. Toward this end, the department would like to invite you
to be the chair of the evaluation committee, two another faculty evaluators from TSU will join you
to examine the nominated student researchers. The department will be giving you a certificate of
appreciation, transportation allowance, and modest honorarium.
BODY

Besides evaluating the theses, ma we also request you to prepare for a 30-minute talk for you to
enlighten and guide the students from all year levels within the department to engage actively in
research – from its conduct to presentation, and eventually publication. Your message will
continue to uphold the culture of research, foster excellence in the field, and nurture the spirit of
scholarship among students in the department.

CLOSING
Thank you very much for helping us realize this activity.

Warm regards,
Dr. Annabelle C. Pineda
Chairperson, English Language Studies Department
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Tarlac State University
Romulo Blvd, San Vicente, 2300 Tarlac City
(045)-982-6315/ 0908-491-7398