UNIT 1 COMMUNICATION–CONCEPT, TYPES AND

PROCESS
*
Prof. George Plathottam
Contents
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Term and Definitions
1.3 The Communication Process
1.4 Communication Models
1.5 Technological Revolution and Global Communication
1.6 Socio-cultural Constituents in Communication
1.7 Types of Communication
1.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.9 Suggested Readings

1.10 Answers to Check Your Progress

1.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit aims at understanding the term communication and some of the most important
definitions. We shall study the communication process consisting of sender, receiver, channel,
message and feedback. We examine the leading models of communication. Study of
communication today calls for an understanding of the impact of technological revolution and the
global nature of communication. Socio-cultural constituents like language, sign, symbol, feedback
and noise are also presented in this section. The unit concludes with some basic notions about the
types of communication. We shall elaborate these types in the subsequent units. As a result of
studying this unit, the student is expected to be familiar with the following:
 The term and definitions of communication;
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 The communication process and models of communication;
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 Technological revolution and global communication;
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 Socio-cultural constituents like language, symbol, feedback and noise; and
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 Types of communication.

*
Prof. George Plathottam, NEHU, Shillong

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1.1 INTRODUCTION
Communication is basic to much of human life and activity. The inter-disciplinary nature of
communication calls for a study of the fundamental principles and issues in communication.
Communication as we shall see shortly, is both individual and collective necessity. Human beings
cannot be fully human without communication. Communication is not only a necessity, but a basic
right. A fundamental human right as communication, must be upheld, because it is necessary for the
proper functioning and development of human beings and the social environment in which they live.
As we shall see, the ultimate objective of all communication is to establish commonness and
communion.

We need to understand the basic principles of communication in order that we may grasp the way
communication influences the life of individuals and society. It is also necessary to understand the
way the various instruments of communication (traditional and modern) function.

1.2 TERM AND DEFINITIONS

Etymologically the word “communication” comes from the Latin word communis, meaning
common. When we communicate we are trying to establish ‘commonness’ with someone. That is,
we are trying to share information, an idea or an attitude.

The standard definition of communication reflects the everyday usage of the term. ‘To
communicate’ is defined as ‘to impart, bestow, or convey, to make known, give by way of
information. The New Webster’s dictionary defines communication as “the act or fact of
communicating transmission, the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information
by speech, writing or signs that which is communicated or imparted; a document or message
imparting views or information.” According to the Oxford dictionary “communication is the
imparting, conveying or exchanging of ideas, knowledge etc., by means of speech, writing or any
attempt to define communication, has to take into consideration the idea of mutuality and
commonness, an exchange, a shared environment, a social relationship among the participants and
the existence of a common need, urge, aim or goal. Communication is said to take place when an
area of common experience exists.

There are numerous definitions of communications but the common strand running through them
all is that “communication is a social process of interaction through messages”. According to Denis
McQuail, communications is a “process which increases commonality”. He describes human
communication as “the sending from one person to another of meaningful messages.”
Charles Morris gives two definitions of communication – one broader than the other. Broadly,
communication is “the establishment of a commonage.” In the limited sense it means, “use of signs
to establish a commonage of signification.”

George Lundberg uses communication to designate interaction by signs and symbols.

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Baker Brownell uses the terms “direct” and “indirect” communication. Direct communication is a
function of ‘identification of people with one another.’ Indirect communication is a “process
wherein something converted into symbols is carried over from one person to another.”

Theodore Newcomb defines communication as that process by which people influence each other
or leave impression on others.

Shannon’s is perhaps one of the most comprehensive definitions. According to his Mathematical
Theory of Communication, Communication includes “all of the procedures by which one mind
may affect another...or one mechanism affects another mechanism.”

From the above definitions, we can derive certain important insights for our analysis. In the first
place, the definitions either broaden or delineate the meaning of communication. In the broadest
definition certain animal responses and even mechanical interactions fall into the category of
communication. In the more restricted sense communication includes interaction between persons.
Secondly, the definitions point to the importance and value of considering communication from
the perspective of the receiver. Communication research as well as every day experience reveals
that by far the emphasis is on the former. Together these factors give us what is called a
“communication situation” in which the process of communication takes place.

But communication, as Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson put it, is more than a clash of symbols,
more than media and message, information and persuasion. It is not a matter of ‘isolated entities
sending discrete messages’ back and forth. It is the essential human connection. Whether clear or
garbled tumultuous or silent, deliberate or fatally inadvertent, communication is the gerund of
meeting and the foundation of community.’ It comprises all modes of behaviour and expression
which establish, project and promote ideas, principles, hypotheses, beliefs and faiths which bind
human societies in their various enterprises and activities.

Check Your Progress I

Note: a) Use the space given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

1) What is communication? What is the aim of communication?

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1.3 THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Aristotle, one of the earliest to speak of a model of communication, identified these three elements. He calls
them: i) speaker; ii) the speech; and iii) the audience.

A more widely accepted model of communication is that of Harold Lasswell and David Berlo.
According to their model, communication requires at least four elements — the Source, the
Message, Channel, and Receiver ( SMCR).

The Sender

The sender or source may be an individual (speaking, writing, drawing, gesturing), or a communication
organisation (a newspaper, publishing house, television station, or a motion picture studio). The sender may
use oral, written, graphic signs or symbols to convey the message. The communication skills, attitudes and
convictions, the knowledge of the content, objectives, the socio-cultural milieu etc. of the sender have an
impact on the effectiveness of communication.

Message

Messages are made of signs or symbols and codes that are signals, which represent something.
Messages may be in the form of ink on paper, sound waves in the air, impulses in an electric
current, a wave of the hand, a flag in the air, or any other signal capable of being interpreted
meaningfully. Messages are encoded and those who receive them must decode them to interpret
or understand the meaning of the message.

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The message constitutes the core of the communication process. It needs to be formulated to suit
the specific needs of the receiver and must be expressed in an intelligible way to have the desired
objective. According to Wilbur Schramm, the message must fulfil certain conditions if it is to
arouse the desired response in the receiver.
i) The message must be so designed and delivered as to gain the attention of the intended
audience.
ii) The message must employ signs that refer to the experiences common to source and the
receiver, so as to get the ‘meaning across.’
iii) The message must arouse the needs in the receiver and suggest some ways to meet these
needs.

iv) The message must suggest a way to meet these needs which is appropriate to the context in
which the receiver finds himself/herself at the time when he/ she is moved to make the desired
response.

Channel

Channel refers to the means employed to transmit or receive message. It refers to the five senses:
seeing, touch, hearing, smell and taste. A message is received through any of the above modes of
sensory perception.
 A message may be seen through print or visual media.
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 It can be heard through a sound media or voice (audio), speech, musical instruments.
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 It can be seen and heard as in the case of films, television and other audio-visual media.
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 Can be touched, smelt or tasted through models, exhibits, specimens and experiments.
Most often several sensory faculties are involved in the communication process.
Communication is more effective and lasting, meaning clearer when several sensory faculties are
involved in receiving meaning.
Channel also includes mechanical devices. No message can be transmitted unless they are encoded.
When we communicate through language or speech, we encode the message into written or spoken
words. We use signs and symbols to communicate. The deaf and mute are taught to follow the sign
language. In order to communicate messages to a distance we use sound waves. In order to make
them last we use writing. In order to complete the act of communication the message must be
decoded.
Receiver

The receiver, also called a destination, may be an individual or a group, a crowd, or a mob, reading,
listening or watching. The receiver is the object in the communication process. The sender must

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constantly keep the needs, aspirations, knowledge, socio-cultural milieu and background of the
receiver if the message is to have the desired objective.
The following chart illustrates the human communication process.

Wilbur Schramm speaks of the field of experience as an important factor for effective communication. The
source can encode, and the destination can decode only in terms of the experience each has had. If there
has been no common field of experience, communication is impossible. Schramm illustrated this with the
experience of an African tribesman who sees an aeroplane for the first time. The plane may seem to him to
be a bird, and the aviator a God born on wings. The film “God’s Must be Crazy” illustrates this idea. Here
the experience of the source and the destination are strikingly different. This difficulty persists when
we try to communicate with cultures that are much different from ours.

The ‘sender-message- channel- receiver’ model has been criticised for presenting communication
as linear and definite. Communication is an endless process, and hence it is misleading to think of
the communication process as starting somewhere and ending somewhere. The science of
cybernetics has provided important insights into the process of communication by making
available analytical tools like signs, symbols, feedback, redundancy, noise etc.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of cybernetics to the communication process has been that of
feedback. Feedback not only makes communication circular but also enables modification possible
at different stages in the process of communication.
Another important factor in the communication process is the significance of symbol. Symbols are
the basic units of communication systems. They can be verbal, as in the spoken word, graphic as
in the written word, or representational as in a flag, or banner. Language is a system of symbols
used universally as the primary vehicle of communication.

Check Your Progress II

Note: a) Use space given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1) Name the four elements in the communication process.

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2) Name two conditions to make message meaningful in the process of communication.

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3) Why is the SMCR model criticized?

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1.4 COMMUNICATION MODELS

In the vast field of communication studies there are numerous communication models. No one
model is suitable for all purposes and all levels of analysis. We shall consider three models of
communication presented by Harold Lasswell, George Gerbner and David Berlo. All the three
models describe the four components of the communication process we have mentioned, namely,
the source (communicator), the message, the channel, the receiver (audience) and only Berlo omits
the effect or consequence component.

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The Lasswell model, perhaps the most widely quoted of all models of the communication process,
“Who says What in Which Channel to Whom, with What Effect,” captures the essence of the
communication process in an economy of words. It is a communicator-based linear model.
Communication, according to Lasswell, is one-way or two-way. His concern is the effect rather
than the meaning.

Gerbner’s model is a development on previous theories based on the linear process model. It relates
the message to the ‘reality’ that it is ‘about’ and thus enables us to approach questions of perception
and meaning, and it sees communication process as consisting of two alternating dimensions – the
perceptual or the receptive, and the communicating or means and control dimension. The merit of
Gerbner’s model is in localising the meaning in the culture. Human perception is determined by
the culture. Consequently, it helps to explain different reception or interpretation of the same
message by different audience.

Berlo’s ‘source-message-channel-receiver model (SMCR) popularised in his landmark volume

The Process of Communication, continues to remain a useful interpretation of the process of
communication. He introduces six constituents of the communication model, namely, the
communication: source, the encoder, the message, the channel, the decoder, and the
communication receiver. These, he says, should not be viewed as separate things or entities or
people. They are the names of behaviours that have to be performed for communication to occur.

We have seen how the various perspectives evolve from rather elementary definitions of the
communication process to more sophisticated theories and models. We have also seen their
possible impact on the communication process. The definitions, theories and models yield
important conclusions for our study of communication.

The models assist us in our understanding of whether the process of communication in the society
in which we live is: sender-centred (who), receiver-centred (to whom), or message-centred (what),
channel/media-centred (how), goal-centred (with what effect). They also tell us that if the aim of
communication is transmission of message to establish commonness, then the process must be
two-way rather than one-way, circular rather than linear. Communication must also take into
account factors like context, culture, symbolic systems, and field of experience.

Check Your Progress III

Note: a) Use space given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1) What is meant by linear model of communication?
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2) What are some of the characteristics of true communication?

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1.5 TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND GLOBAL

COMMUNICATION

The modern age of communication is generally considered to date from the invention of printing.
This was preceded by the invention of paper. Another significant stage in the history of the growth
of communication was the production and application of electricity, which facilitated the
development of telegraph, telephone, radio and cinema. These new technologies entered directly
into the industrialised era of mass communication. From the second half of the last century
onwards there has been an accelerated development of new resources, techniques and
technological devices in communication, particularly for transmitting and receiving signals and
messages.
Since the second half of the 20th century, the technological revolution gathered immense speed.
Technology today has made communication fast, global and cheaper. Today we have many of new
ways of communicating, thanks to the growth of communication technologies. Telephone which
was a person to person instrument for communication has assumed new roles. Mobile telephone
is changing the way people communicate. Television, as an audio-visual medium continues to gain
in popularity. We have a whole list of instruments that aid quick and more global communication
like satellites, magnetoscopes, video discs, teletext, home computers, Internet, telematics and so
on. The digital revolution have affected communication in numerous ways. These communication
facilities have virtually abolished the barriers of time and space. Distances have ceased to be an
obstacle. Today information and data can be carried across the globe in an instant. Data can be
stored and retrieved in a relatively easy way.

The technological revolution in communication has important consequences. Any significant

change in the field of communication in the past has been followed by important transformation

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of social structures. Thus the art of printing helped to hasten the collapse of the feudal systems.
The development of newspapers, telegraph and telephone greatly contributed to democratising
society. Through the new media developed since the turn of the last century: film (1895), radio
(1897/1921) and television (1935), the frontiers between peoples and cultures were crossed in a
permanent way. The information provided through these media became more and more
international and intercultural. We are already witnessing the impact of the new electronic media
using the silicon chip in transistor and computer and in overcoming distance by satellites.
Nevertheless, communication revolution is not to be equated with technological development. The
former reflects only one aspect of the latter. Peoples, social organisations and nations have already
begun to study critically the way communication and mass media operate in the world today. The
French Government commissioned Norma-Minc Commission Report (1978) emphasised the
qualitative leap forward taking place in the field of social application of communication
technology. All technological revolution in the past, the report pointed out, have caused a profound
reorganisation of the economy and society. They can be simultaneously the occasion of a crisis
and the way out of it. That was the case with the invention of steam engine, railways and electricity.
The informatics revolution is bound to have a greater impact than these.
Since the mid-1960s, there has been a broad movement toward more decentralised, local media.
This paved the way for the countries of the developing nations of the world to call for a New World
Information and Communication Order (NWICO), first within the Movement of Non-Aligned
Countries and later at the General Assembly of the United Nations. NWICO demanded the
establishment of a free and balanced flow of information and rejected any attempt at cultural
colonialism.
Several experts in the field of communication and mass media have studied the effects of the new
technology in communication. One of the important consequences of the communication
revolution accentuated by the technological revolution is the invasion of mass media as a substitute
for dialogue – the basis of human society and democracy. During the first decades of the last
century (until 1920s, approximately) 80 per cent of human communication was accounted for by
the spoken word, and only 20 per cent by other means such as the press, the telephone and the
radio broadcasts. By the end of the 20th century through the telematics revolution, the opposite
happened: a mere ten to fifteen percent of human communication was carried out through the
spoken words, the rest through machines. This is one of the fatal consequences of development
without adequate technological controls. As the years go by written communication will
increasingly replace dialogue and authoritarianism will supplant democracy. This technological
phenomenon coincides with the growing development of a transnational power structure :
economic power, technological power, ideological power and political power.
Technology in itself, is neither good nor bad. It is neutral. It provides no answer to the whys or the
what fors of life; it only answers the hows. Or as we have learnt through the language of its most
powerful masters, the centres of developed industrialised power, technology only provides the
‘know how’. Though the future of mass communication is filled with creative potential, it may be
observed that the technological developments in communication are neither necessarily positive,
nor negative. What we choose to do in response to the new technology and how we choose to
interpret its use are the vital questions.

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The so-called increase in communication has been mostly in terms of technology and the quantity
of information. From the Guterberg era to the electronic era, the radius of communication has
widened, making it possible to reach everyone on earth. The mass media are not however designed
to be instruments for the improvement of the quality of communication as it is based on
transmitting messages according to a linear sender-receiver model.

1.6 SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSTITUENTS IN

COMMUNICATION

Socio-cultural constituents play no negligible role in communication, be it inter-personal or mass

mediated. The sender and the receiver occupy the centre stage in the communication process. To
use Lasswell’s terminology, they are the Who and the Whom in the communication drama.
Traditionally, this area of study has been called control analysis (the who) and audience analysis
(the whom). These two constituents have also been variously referred to as: stimulus-response;
sender-receiver; encoder-decoder; source-destination; actor-audience; communicator-
communicatee.

Language

Successful communication needs other pre-requisites too. Language is a system of symbols. The
symbols are arbitrary and reflect the personality of the individuals as well as the culture they
represent. Language plays a vital role in the growth and transmission of culture, continuity of
society and its values. It is a message system used for encoding and decoding. Linguistic
communication, though not the exclusive form of communication, is fundamental to all human
social interactions. Communication through the linguistic interaction is a powerful key to analyse
the worldview and psychological processes of societies and individuals.

Language is a system of symbols – oral and written – used by members of a social community in
a fairly standardised way to call forth meaning. Language is the strikingly distinct attribute of the
human person. We can consider three important functions which language performs:

i) Language is the primary vehicle for communication

ii) Language reflects both personality of the individual and the culture of his/ her society. In
turn it helps shape both personality and culture.
iii) Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies
and the effective functioning and control of social groups.
Sign/Symbol

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Messages are made up of signs. A sign is a signal that stands for something that has been
experienced. There is an important difference between the sign and the object. The sign represents
the object at a reduced level.
We constantly communicate using signs. We decode signs from our environment, interpreting
these sign and encoding something as a result.

All communication, including linguistic ones, makes use of symbols. A symbol is something used
deliberately to take the place of something else. This is attributed and accepted as such as a medium
of communication. Words we use are symbols to which we attach signification. Communication
is possible only when the communicator and the receptor are in a position to attach similar
meanings to the symbols employed. The human person is not only capable of engaging in symbolic
interaction with other human beings or with God, but is also capable of creating symbols. Symbols,
therefore, are a fundamental unit of the communication process.

Symbols may be:

 verbal, as in spoken words;

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 graphic as in the written word; or
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 representational as in a flag.

What the symbol stands for is determined by the social group. The society agrees that a given
symbol stands for a particular object. (e.g. the word cat). If the individual uses some other word
as a symbol, for instance to stand for such an animal, it will in all probability, result in blocked
communication.

Experts in communication sciences speak of communication channel as an effective link between

source and sender. The possibility exists of evaluating the effectiveness of communication through
checking the channel credibility (the expertness and trustworthiness of the channel). Channel
feedback enables the receiver to respond immediately and maximally to affect the source of the
message in a communication transaction. Channel involvement (participation), channel
availability and permanency are other dimensions that contributes to communication effectiveness.

Feedback

Feedback is the receiver’s reaction to the message. It may be favourable or unfavourable. But
feedback is necessary to know if the communication has been effective or not. Feedback includes
questionnaire, letters to the editor, opinion, forums, comments or even protests or solidarity. The
support received in response to appeals in media for assistance for the families of people killed in
tsunami or other such natural calamities can be seen as an example of how feedback affects
communication. Even the applause of an audience watching a musical programme or a mob turning
violent during a match, may be described as a response to particular events, hence a feedback.
Noise

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Communication to be successful must be free from noise. Noise in communication theory refers
to any limitation or obstacle in the process of message transmission. There are two major types of
communication noise: channel noise and semantic noise.
Channel noise includes any disturbance which interferes with the fidelity of the physical
transmission of the message. In mass communication channel noise includes such diverse
disturbances as static on the radio, smeared ink on paper, a rolling screen on television, or too
small types in print. In short all distractions between source and audience may be termed channel
noise. (e.g. cross talk on telephone is a channel noise).
Semantic noise is the type of noise that occurs when a message is misunderstood even though it
is received exactly as it was transmitted. This happens when the senders and receivers have no
common frame of reference, or have divergent field of experience. In short, they are not in tune.
Sources of semantic noise include: words or subjects too difficult to grasp; differences in
denotative or connotative meaning of words between sender and receiver; cultural differences
between the message-sender and the message-receiver. Audience research, redundancy and
feedback are some of the devices to minimise the adverse impact of semantic noise on the
communication process. Feedback is more effective in face to face communication than in
communication through mass media.

Human beings live in societies and cultures that are not identical. With the growth of global
communication networks through the advancement of technology, communication between
persons belonging to different cultures has become widespread. This kind of interaction is called
inter-cultural communication.

The scientific study of inter-cultural communication is relatively new though it has been of concern
for as long as different cultures have met each other or have lived and interacted with one another.
Inter-cultural communication may be described as the communicative interaction between
members of different cultures. It occurs whenever a message-producer of one culture transmits a
message to a message-receiver of another culture.
It is again in face to face communication that these differences can best be eliminated or reduced.
Mass communication tends to overlook cultural differences. Commercialisation and control of
communication by multinationals with profit motives, and governments with dictatorial tendencies
often fail to take into consideration cultural differences. Culture is sometimes used by these to
camouflage their selfish objectives. The most obvious example is that of commercial
advertisements that create new and even artificial cultural symbols and needs. This can result in
the gradual elimination of the receiver’s capacity to react to the message. Communication becomes
heavily source-centred and one-way. The process becomes something like a theatre show. Mass
media can be used in order to effect a constant cultural penetration aimed at conditioning the
masses into an uncritical acceptance of socio-cultural, political and economic values. That is why
McLuhan says: “ Medium is the massage.”

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Participation and freedom, not control and coercion, are the hallmarks of genuine communication.
The process of communication should be initiated through a simultaneous process of making
people responsible for their lives, their decisions. Socio-cultural identity, values and worldviews
shape the communication context which the mass media can, if uncritically and arbitrarily used,
destroy. It may, however, be observed that per se there is no conflict between socio-cultural values
and symbols vis-a-vis the advancement in communication technology.

1.7 TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

Communication takes place at different levels and accordingly we can speak of different types of
communication.
Intrapersonal Communication

When communication takes place within oneself, it is called intrapersonal communication. It

includes individual reflection, meditation, and contemplation. Intrapersonal communication
includes prayers addressed to the divine though some authors describe communication with the
divine as Transpersonal Communication.
Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication takes place between two persons. This includes dialogue,
conversation or exchange of views between two persons without using any technological devises
like telephone. It is direct, intimate and consists of verbal interaction or gestures. The efficacy of
interpersonal communication depends very much on the mutual relationship between the two
partners in communication, their status, roles and skills.
Group Communication

Group communication takes place among a group of persons. It shares most of the qualities of the
above types of communication, though in a much reduced way. The number of receivers increase,
but participation, intimacy etc. can become lesser and lesser as the group becomes larger and
larger. It is both a science and an art. Individual respect is key to effective group communication.
Mass Communication

When the audience is large, heterogeneous and widely dispersed, the communication used is Mass
Communication. Scientific and technological advances have made it possible to make
communication reach vast audience within a short time. Mass communication is a process in
which a person, group of people, or an organization sends a message through a channel of
communication to a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people and organizations/
institutions. You can think of a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people as either the
general public or a segment of the general public. Channels of communication include broadcast
television, radio, social media, and print. The sender of the message is usually a professional

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communicator that often represents an organization. Mass communication is an expensive process.
Unlike interpersonal communication, feedback for mass communication is usually slow and
indirect.

Check Your Progress IV

Note: a) Use space given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1) Mention two effects resulting from development of communication technology on
society.
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2) What is NWICO? What did it demand?

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3) List three functions of language.

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4) What is semantic noise?

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5) Name three different kinds of communication.

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1.8 LET US SUM UP

This unit has been designed to provide a basic understanding of communication: the term,
definitions, models and the types of communication. We have analysed the various factors that
shape and influence the process of communication in society. We have presented a number of
definitions and models of the leading scholars on the subject. We have placed them side by side
with their differences as well as complementarity, so that we get a more comprehensive idea of
the subject. Each of the perspectives has something useful to offer in our effort to understand
communication.

1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Melvin L. DeFleur-Everette E. Dennis (1991), Understanding Mass Communication, Goyl SaaB,

Delhi.
Keval J.Kumar (1981), Mass Communication in India, Jaico Publishing House, Bombay.
Subir Ghosh (1996), Mass Communication Today, in the Indian context, Profile Publishers,
Calcutta.
Pradip Kumar Dey (1993), Perspectives in Mass Communication, Kalyani
Publishers, Calcutta.

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1.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
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Check Your Progress I

1) Communication is the process of establishing commonness. It means ‘to impart, bestow, or

convey, to make known, give by way of information’. The New Webster's dictionary defines
communication as "the act or fact of communicating transmission, the imparting or
interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing or signs that which is
communicated or imparted; a document or message imparting views or information."
According to the Oxford dictionary "communication is the imparting, conveying or
exchanging of ideas, knowledge etc., by means of speech, writing or signs.

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2) Denis McQuail defines communications as "the sending of meaningful messages from one
person to another." Wilbur Schramm gives what he states as the classical statement of
communication process as "A communicates to B through channel C to D with effect E."

Check Your Progress II

1) The four elements in communication are: Sender, Message, Channel, Receiver (SMCR).

2) i) The message must be so designed and delivered as to gain the attention of the intended
audience.
ii) The message must employ signs that refer to the experiences common to source and the
receiver, so as to get the 'meaning across.'
3) The 'sender-message-channel-receiver' model has been criticised for presenting
communication as linear and definite. Communication is an endless process, and hence it is
misleading to think of the communication process as starting somewhere and ending
somewhere.
Check Your Progress III

1) The linear model of communication presents communication as in the SMCR model. It assumes
communication as in a 'line', beginning somewhere and ending somewhere. It does not stress the
role of feedback.

2) True communication must be two-way rather than one-way, circular rather than linear. It must
also take into account factors like context, culture, symbolic systems, and field of experience.

Check Your Progress IV

1) Development of communication technology led to the collapse of feudalism and
democratization of society.
2) The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) is the result of a broad
movement towards more decentralized, local media by the developing nations of the world. It
began within the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and later at the General Assembly of the
United Nations. NWICO demanded the establishment of a free and balanced flow of information
and rejected any attempt at cultural colonialism.

The three important functions of language are:

i) Language serves as the primary vehicle for communication
ii) Language reflects both personality of the individual and the culture of his/her society.
In turn it helps shape both personality and culture.
iii) Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of
societies and the effective functioning and control of social groups.
iv) Semantic noise is the type of noise that occurs when misunderstood even though it is
received exactly as it was transmitted. This happens when the senders and receivers
have no common frame of reference, or have divergent field of experience. These
include: words or subjects too difficult to grasp; differences in denotative or
connotative meaning of words between sender and receiver; cultural differences
between the message-sender and the message-receiver.

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v) The different kinds of communication are: Intrapersonal communication, Interpersonal
Communication, Group Communication and Mass Communication.

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