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ORAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT

Grade 11
Q1W4
Mr. Lamberto P. Mallari II

KINDS & TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

Types of Non-Verbal Communication

INTRODUCTION
Communication involves a process of transfer of information or sentiment from the source, who sends a
message, through a channel, which is then interpreted by the receiver. This model is called the Source-Message-
Channel-Receiver Model or simply, the SMCR model.

In verbal or spoken communication, we have speakers and listeners who send and receive verbal messages
from each other. In written communication, writers communicate with readers who can react or send feedbacks.
Written communication is presumed to be verbal communication as writers use words ideally with precision, which
although unspoken, are vocabulary based. In visualization and observation, people change ideas with symbols and
signs.

Indeed, communication can either be verbal, which involves the use of words, or nonverbal, which makes
use of simple gestures, facial expressions, or mannerisms and symbolic moves.
 Communication is essential for close, sympathetic relationships in society. In a classroom, communication
takes shape in terms of lessons and lectures from teachers and recitations and feedbacks from students. As it is
easy to see, the process involves initiation, reception, and response, which serves as feedback.

Verbal Communication
Verbal communication refers to an interaction in which words are used to relay a message. For effective
and successful verbal communication, use words to express ideas which can be easily understood by the person you
are talking to. Consider appropriateness, brevity, clarity, ethics, and vividness when engaging in this type of
communication.

1. Appropriateness
The language that you use should be appropriate to the environment or occasion (i.e., whether formal or
informal)

2. Brevity
Speakers who often use simple yet precise and powerful words are found to be more credible. Try to
achieve brevity by being more direct with your words. Avoid fillers and insubstantial expressions which do not add
to the message, such as “uh”, “you know”, “I guess,” and others.

3. Clarity
The meanings of words, feelings, or ideas may be interpreted differently by a listener; hence, it is essential
for you to clearly state your message and express your ideas and feelings.
4. Ethics
Words should be carefully chosen in consideration of the gender, roles, ethnicity, preferences, and status of
the person or people you are talking to.

5. Vividness
Words that vividly or creatively describe things or feelings usually add color and spice to communication;
hence, you are encouraged to find ways to charm your audience through the use of vivid words.

It refers to the form of communication in which message is transmitted verbally.

Communication is done by word of mouth and a piece of

writing.

In verbal communication remember the acronym “KISS”

(KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE).

Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication refers to an interaction where behavior is used to convey and represent
meanings. All kinds of human responses that are not expressed in words are classified as nonverbal
communication. Examples of nonverbal communication are stares, smiles, tone of voice, movements, manner of
walking, standing and sitting, appearance, style of attire, attitude towards punctuality and space, personality, and
others.
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Mastery of nonverbal communication is important for several reasons:

1. It enhances and emphasizes the message of your speech, thus making it more meaningful, truthful, and
relevant.
2. It can communicate feelings, attitudes, and perceptions without you saying a word.
3. It can sustain the attention of listeners and keep them engaged in the speech.
4. It gives the audience a preview to the type of speaker you are.
5. It makes you appear more dynamic and animated in your delivery.
6. It serves as a channel to release tension and nervousness.
7. It helps make your speech more dramatic.
8. It can build a connection with listeners.
9. It makes you a credible speaker.
10. It helps you vary your speaking style and avoid a monotonous delivery.

• Nonverbal communication is the sending or receiving of wordless messages. Such as gesture, body
language, posture, tone of voice or facial expressions, is called nonverbal communication.
• Nonverbal communication is all about the body language of speaker.

Nonverbal communication have the following

three elements –
• Appearance
Speaker – clothing, hairstyle, neatness, use of cosmetics
Surrounding – room size, lighting, decorations,
furnishings

• Body Language - facial expressions, gestures, postures

•
• Sounds - Voice Tone, Volume, Speech rate

TYPES OF
COMMUNICATION
We have three major classifications of communication types, namely, oral, written, and nonverbal. We
need to use these three or make a combination of them as the call for coordination arises. For example, in strongly-
worded speeches, a flat delivery without empathic gestures can severely weaken the power of the speaker in
delivering his message. On the other hand, gestures which show a lack of coordination between speech and facial
expression would severely weaken the communicative power of the speaker, and even make an impression of
insincerity.
ORAL COMMUNICATION
 Oral communication describes any type of interaction that makes use of spoken words, and is a vital,
integral part of the modern business world. Within this component would fall words and the manner with
which they are pronounced. Even more important than the words are the paralanguage components, which
are vocal features that may alter the meaning of the message or convey emotions. It also includes facial
expressions, gestures, and voice articulation. The listeners pay more attention to voice modulation than
they do to with actual words.
 It has been found out that the listeners pay attention to the verbal content only 7% of the time, to voice
articulation and modulation 38% of the time, and to body language 55% of the time. If all these three
components are in harmony, the listeners will have no problem in getting the import of the message.
However, if there is some dichotomy between the two, it creates conflict in the minds of the listeners, and
they believe the voice modulation and the body language more than the words.

 In oral
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communication, Spoken words are used.

 It includes face-to-face conversations, speech, telephonic conversation, video, radio, television, voice over
internet.
 Communication is influence by pitch, volume, speed and clarity of speaking.

 Advantages –
 It brings quick feedback. In a face-to-face conversation, by reading facial expression and body language
one can guess whether he/she should trust what’s being said or not.
 Disadvantages –
 In face-to-face discussion, user is unable to deeply think about what he is delivering, so this can be
counted as a fault.

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Nonverbal language is an integral part of the communication process. The way a person positions himself,
keeps his hands, and tilts his head all convey much information about the person. As noted earlier, a receiver
detects nonverbal communication 55% of the time, which is much more than merely listening to the words and to
the articulation of the voice.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Written language takes on a number of forms. The writer has to be careful with the message, more so if
meant for formal events. Written information is permanent in nature, used mostly for documentation of
information. Therefore, there is little chance for a writer to make changes in a document. Written communication is
the most formal of all types of language and communication. With the progress of technology, written
communication has widened its horizon to encompass electronic means of communicating messages. Emails are
useful in sending written messages within or out of a business firm in a short span of time.

 In written communication, written signs or symbols are used to communicate.

 In written communication message can be transmitted via email, letter, report, memo etc.
 Written Communication is most common form of communication being used in business.

 Advantages –
 Messages can be edited and revised
 Written communication provide record and backup.
 A written message enables receiver to fully understand it and send appropriate feedback.
 Disadvantages –
 Written communication doesn’t bring instant feedback.
 It takes more time in composing a written message as compared to word-of-mouth and number of people
struggles for writing ability.
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TYPES OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Define kinesics
• Define oculesics
• Define haptics
• Define vocalics
• Define proxemics
• Define chronemics
Kinesics
The word kinesics comes from the root word kinesis, which means “movement,” and refers to the study of
hand, arm, body, and face movements. Specifically, this section will outline the use of gestures, head movements
and posture, eye contact, and facial expressions as nonverbal communication.

Gestures
• There are three main types of gestures: adaptors, emblems, and illustrators (Andersen, 1999).

ADAPTORS
• Adaptors are touching behaviors and movements that indicate internal states typically related to arousal
or anxiety. Adaptors can be targeted toward the self, objects, or others. In regular social situations,
adaptors result from uneasiness, anxiety, or a general sense that we are not in control of our
surroundings. Many of us subconsciously click pens, shake our legs, or engage in other adaptors during
classes, meetings, or while waiting as a way to do something with our excess energy.
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EMBLEMS
• Emblems are gestures that have a specific agreed-on meaning. These are still different from the signs used
by hearing-impaired people or others who communicate using American Sign Language (ASL). Even though
they have a generally agreed-on meaning, they are not part of a formal sign system like ASL that is
explicitly taught to a group of people. A hitchhiker’s raised thumb, the “OK” sign with thumb and index
finger connected in a circle with the other three fingers sticking up, and the raised middle finger are all
examples of emblems that have an agreed-on meaning or meanings with a culture. Emblems can be still or
in motion; for example, circling the index finger around at the side of your head says “He or she is crazy,”
or rolling your hands over and over in front of you says “Move on.”
ILLUSTRATORS
• Illustrators are the most common type of gesture and are used to illustrate the verbal message they
accompany. For example, you might use hand gestures to indicate the size or shape of an object. Unlike
emblems, illustrators do not typically have meaning on their own and are used more subconsciously than
emblems. These largely involuntary and seemingly natural gestures flow from us as we speak but vary in
terms of intensity and frequency based on context. Although we are never explicitly taught how to use
illustrative gestures, we do it automatically. Think about how you still gesture when having an animated
conversation on the phone even though the other person can’t see you.

Head Movements and Posture

• Group head movements and posture together because they are often both used to acknowledge others and
communicate interest or attentiveness. In terms of head movements, a head nod is a universal sign of
acknowledgement in cultures where the formal bow is no longer used as a greeting. In these cases, the
head nod essentially serves as an abbreviated bow. An innate and universal head movement is the
headshake back and forth to signal “no.” This nonverbal signal begins at birth, even before a baby has the
ability to know that it has a corresponding meaning. Babies shake their head from side to side to reject
their mother’s breast and later shake their head to reject attempts to spoon-feed (Pease & Pease, 2004).

Oculesics
We also communicate through eye behaviors, primarily eye contact. While eye behaviors are often studied
under the category of kinesics, they have their own branch of nonverbal studies called OCULESICS, which comes from
the Latin word oculus, meaning “eye.” The face and eyes are the main point of focus during communication, and
along with our ears our eyes take in most of the communicative information around us. The saying “The eyes are
the window to the soul” is actually accurate in terms of where people typically think others are “located,” which is
right behind the eyes (Andersen, 1999). Certain eye behaviors have become tied to personality traits or emotional
states, as illustrated in phrases like “hungry eyes,” “evil eyes,” and “bedroom eyes.”

PUPIL DILATION
 is a subtle component of oculesics that doesn’t get as much scholarly attention in communication as eye
contact does. Pupil dilation refers to the expansion and contraction of the black part of the center of our
eyes and is considered a biometric form of measurement; it is involuntary and therefore seen as a valid
and reliable form of data collection as opposed to self-reports on surveys or interviews that can be biased
or misleading. Our pupils dilate when there is a lack of lighting and contract when light is plentiful
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(Guerrero & Floyd, 2006). Pain, sexual attraction, general arousal, anxiety/stress, and information
processing (thinking) also affect pupil dilation. Researchers measure pupil dilation for a number of
reasons. For example, advertisers use pupil dilation as an indicator of consumer preferences, assuming
that more dilation indicates arousal and attraction to a product.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Our faces are the most expressive part of our bodies. Think of how photos are often intended to capture a
particular expression “in a flash” to preserve for later viewing. Even though a photo is a snapshot in time, we can
still interpret much meaning from a human face caught in a moment of expression, and basic facial expressions are
recognizable by humans all over the world. Much research has supported the universality of a core group of facial
expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. The first four are especially identifiable across cultures
(Andersen, 1999). However, the triggers for these expressions and the cultural and social norms that influence their
displays are still culturally diverse. If you’ve spent much time with babies you know that they’re capable of
expressing all these emotions. Getting to see the pure and innate expressions of joy and surprise on a baby’s face
is what makes playing peek-a-boo so entertaining for adults. As we get older, we learn and begin to follow display
rules for facial expressions and other signals of emotion and also learn to better control our emotional expression
based on the norms of our culture. Smiles are powerful communicative signals and, as you’ll recall, are a key
immediacy behavior. Although facial expressions are typically viewed as innate and several are universally
recognizable, they are not always connected to an emotional or internal biological stimulus; they can actually serve
a more social purpose.

HAPTICS
Think of how touch has the power to comfort someone in moment of sorrow when words alone cannot. This
positive power of touch is countered by the potential for touch to be threatening because of its connection to sex and
violence. To learn about the power of touch, we turn to HAPTICS, which refers to the study of communication by
touch.
There are several types of touch, including functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, love-
intimacy, and sexual-arousal touch (Heslin & Apler, 1983). Touch is also used in many other contexts—for
example, during play (e.g., arm wrestling), during physical conflict (e.g., slapping), and during conversations (e.g.,
to get someone’s attention) (Jones, 1999). We also inadvertently send messages through accidental touch (e.g.,
bumping into someone).

VOCALICS
We learned earlier that paralanguage refers to the vocalized but nonverbal parts of a
message. VOCALICS is the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbal
messages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers (Andersen, 1999).

The following is a review of the various communicative functions of VOCALICS:

Repetition. Vocalic cues reinforce other verbal and nonverbal cues (e.g., saying “I’m not sure” with an uncertain
tone).
Complementing. Vocalic cues elaborate on or modify verbal and nonverbal meaning (e.g., the pitch and volume used
to say “I love sweet potatoes” would add context to the meaning of the sentence, such as the degree to which the
person loves sweet potatoes or the use of sarcasm).
Accenting. Vocalic cues allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, which helps determine meaning (e.g.,
“She is my friend,” or “She is my friend,” or “She is my friend”).
Substituting. Vocalic cues can take the place of other verbal or nonverbal cues (e.g., saying “uh huh” instead of “I
am listening and understand what you’re saying”).
Regulating. Vocalic cues help regulate the flow of conversations (e.g., falling pitch and slowing rate of speaking
usually indicate the end of a speaking turn).
Contradicting. Vocalic cues may contradict other verbal or nonverbal signals (e.g., a person could say “I’m fine” in
a quick, short tone that indicates otherwise).
PROXEMICS
PROXEMICS refers to the study of how space and distance influence communication. We only need look at
the ways in which space shows up in common metaphors to see that space, communication, and relationships are
closely related.

PROXEMIC DISTANCES
We all have varying definitions of what our “personal space” is, and these definitions are contextual and
depend on the situation and the relationship. Although our bubbles are invisible, people are socialized into the
norms of personal space within their cultural group. Scholars have identified four zones for US Americans, which
are public, social, personal, and intimate distance (Hall, 1968). The zones are more elliptical than circular, taking
up more space in our front, where our line of sight is, than at our side or back where we can’t monitor what people
are doing.
Public Space (12 Feet or More)
Public and social zones refer to the space four or more feet away from our body, and the communication
that typically occurs in these zones is formal and not intimate. Public space starts about twelve feet from a person
and extends out from there.
Social Space (4–12 Feet)
Communication that occurs in the social zone, which is four to twelve feet away from our body, is typically
in the context of a professional or casual interaction, but not intimate or public. This distance is preferred in many
professional settings because it reduces the suspicion of any impropriety. The expression “keep someone at an
arm’s length” means that someone is kept out of the personal space and kept in the social/professional space.
Personal Space (1.5–4 Feet)
Personal and intimate zones refer to the space that starts at our physical body and extends four feet. These
zones are reserved for friends, close acquaintances, and significant others. Much of our communication occurs in the
personal zone, which is what we typically think of as our “personal space bubble” and extends from 1.5 feet to 4
feet away from our body.

Intimate Space
As we breach the invisible line that is 1.5 feet from our body, we enter the intimate zone, which is reserved
for only the closest friends, family, and romantic/intimate partners. It is impossible to completely ignore people
when they are in this space, even if we are trying to pretend that we’re ignoring them. A breach of this space can be
comforting in some contexts and annoying or frightening in others.

TERRITORIALITY
Territoriality is an innate drive to take up and defend spaces. This drive is shared by many creatures and
entities, ranging from packs of animals to individual humans to nations. Whether it’s a gang territory, a
neighborhood claimed by a particular salesperson, your preferred place to sit in a restaurant, your usual desk in
the classroom, or the seat you’ve marked to save while getting concessions at a sporting event, we claim certain
spaces as our own. There are three main divisions for territory: primary, secondary, and public (Hargie, 2011).
PRIMARY TERRITORIES are marked or understood to be exclusively ours and under our control. A person’s
house, yard, room, desk, side of the bed, or shelf in the medicine cabinet could be considered primary territories.
SECONDARY TERRITORIES don’t belong to us and aren’t exclusively under our control, but they are
associated with us, which may lead us to assume that the space will be open and available to us when we need it
without us taking any further steps to reserve it.
PUBLIC TERRITORIES are open to all people. People are allowed to mark public territory and use it for a
limited period of time, but space is often up for grabs, which makes public space difficult to manage for some
people and can lead to conflict.

CHRONEMICS
CHRONEMICS refers to the study of how time affects communication. Time can be classified into several
different categories, including biological, personal, physical, and cultural time (Andersen, 1999).
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BIOLOGICAL TIME refers to the rhythms of living things. Humans follow a circadian rhythm, meaning that
we are on a daily cycle that influences when we eat, sleep, and wake. When our natural rhythms are disturbed, by
all-nighters, jet lag, or other scheduling abnormalities, our physical and mental health and our communication
competence and personal relationships can suffer.
PERSONAL TIME refers to the ways in which individuals experience time. The way we experience time
varies based on our mood, our interest level, and other factors. Think about how quickly time passes when you are
interested in and therefore engaged in something. I have taught fifty-minute classes that seemed to drag on forever
and three-hour classes that zipped by. Individuals also vary based on whether or not they are future or past
oriented.
PHYSICAL TIME refers to the fixed cycles of days, years, and seasons. Physical time, especially seasons,
can affect our mood and psychological states. Some people experience seasonal affective disorder that leads them
to experience emotional distress and anxiety during the changes of seasons, primarily from warm and bright to
dark and cold (summer to fall and winter).
CULTURAL TIME refers to how a large group of people view time. Polychronic people do not view time as a
linear progression that needs to be divided into small units and scheduled in advance. Polychronic people keep
more flexible schedules and may engage in several activities at once. Monochronic people tend to schedule their
time more rigidly and do one thing at a time. A polychronic or monochronic orientation to time influences our social
realities and how we interact with others.

Promptness and the amount of time that is socially acceptable for lateness and waiting vary among individuals and
contexts. CHRONEMICS also covers the amount of time we spend talking.
QUIZ #1: TYPES OF
COMMUNICATION
Directions: Identify the type of communication medium is being shown.

A. Verbal B. Non-Verbal C. Written

_____1. _____2.

_____3. ______4.

____5. _____6.

_____7.

______8.

_____9. _____10.
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ACTIVITY #1:
Directions: Cut out pictures showing the different types of NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION. Explain each picture.