1

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION SKILLS

2 Communication

 Communication is a word derived from the Latin word communis or

commūnicāre, which means ‘to make common’ or ‘to share’.
 Communication is the act of conveying intended meaning to another
person through the use of mutually understood signs and language. It is
an art of transmitting information, ideas and attitudes from one person
to another.
3 The process of communication

The crucial element in the definition of communication is meaning.

Communication has as its central objective the transmission of meaning.
The process of communication is successful only when the receiver
understands an idea as the sender intended it.
 4 Communication process works as follows:
 1. Sender has an idea. The form of the idea may be influenced by the sender’s mood, frame of
reference, background, culture, and physical makeup, as well as the context of the situation.

 2. Sender encodes the idea in a message. Encoding means converting the idea into words or
gestures that will convey meaning. A major problem in communicating any message verbally is that
words have different meanings for different people. That’s why skilled communicators try to choose
familiar words with concrete meanings on which both senders and receivers agree.

 3. Message travels over a channel. The medium over which the message is transmitted is the
channel. Messages may be sent by computer, telephone, letter, or memorandum. They may also be
sent by means of a report, announcement, picture, video, spoken word, fax, or other channel.
Because messages carry verbal and nonverbal meanings, senders must choose channels carefully.

 Anything that disrupts the transmission of a message in the communication process is called noise.
Channel noise ranges from static that disrupts a telephone conversation to spelling errors in an e-
mail or blog post. Such errors damage the credibility of the sender.
  4. Receiver decodes the message. The person for whom a
5 message is intended is the receiver. Translating the message from its
symbol form into meaning involves decoding. Successful
communication takes place only when a receiver understands the
meaning intended by the sender. Such success is often hard to
achieve because no two people share the same background. Success
is further limited because barriers and noise may disrupt the process.

 5. Feedback travels to the sender. The verbal and nonverbal

responses of the receiver create feedback, a vital part of the entire
communication process. Feedback helps the sender know that the
message was received and understood.
6
7 Why communication is
important?
 We live in a society. Besides ourselves, there are others who may be rich or
poor, living in big houses or in huts, literate or illiterate. They may also
belong to different religions and communities, often speaking different
languages. But still all of them can speak or interact with one another. Such
interaction is essential for societies to survive. We ask questions and get
answers, seek information and get it. We discuss problems and come to
conclusions. We exchange our ideas and interact with others. For doing all
these we use communication.
 Imagine a situation where we are not able to speak and interact with others
or think of a family living in the same house without speaking to each other?
Such situations can create plenty of problems. When we get angry don’t we
stop talking to our friends or family members at least for some time? Soon we
talk it over or discuss matters and begin normal conversation. If we do not
speak to each other we cannot understand each other.
8 To cut the story short, it is fair to say that, among
other things, communication can help us to:
 understand each other and solve problems.
 express thoughts, ideas and feelings
 creating awareness
 fulfill a goal
 avoid isolated
 highlight issues
 progress, development
 educate the masses
 establish relationships
 entertain
9 FORMS/ TYPES OF
COMMUNICATION
It is very difficult to state the kind of communication you are involving in and it is
difficult to judge the types of communication that people involve in until you decide
the specific criteria for your judgment. The types of communication depend on the
criteria used, which tend to vary from one scholar to another and these criteria are;
A. Number of individuals and size of group
This shows interpersonal, intrapersonal which includes small group communication,
large group communication like mass communication.
B. Channel
This criterion shows verbal communication, Non-verbal communication, written
communication and face to face communication.
C. Power relation
This helps to show vertical communication, to-down communication or down –top
communication and horizontal communication
10
A. NUMBER OF
INDIVIDUALS AND SIZE OF
GROUP
 Under this we have the following types/forms:
1. Intrapersonal Communication
2. Interpersonal Communication
11 INTRAPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION
 This is a kind of communication within an individual. It is a communication
with oneself in the sense that an individual can be thinking about
something, talking to oneself and singing to oneself.
Features of intrapersonal communication
 It is one way traffic communication
This is because it involves one individual in the sense that the sender and the
receiver is the same.
 The channel of communication is the brain
This is because every action done is processed by the brain.
 It occurs in many setting and at any time
It has one special setting and time.
12 Merits of intrapersonal
communication
1. It has immediate feedback
 The action is immediate as there is no time delayed to take action for something
believed to be true.
2. It is simple and easy to manage
 This doesn’t require complex setting and procedures for its accomplishment
3. It is less cost
 This is because it is within oneself so no any cost incurred
4. It encourages critical thinking
 It makes people independent because it requires them to decide on their own.
5. It is time saving
 This is because you cannot take time discussing one self.
13 Demerits of intrapersonal communication

 It is based to the feeling of an individual

This is because the decision and solution depends on the views of an
individual
 It may lack feedback
This is because as individuals sometimes, we fail to get the answer of the
question we ask ourselves.
 It may lead to intrapersonal conflict.
This is because when an individual fail to get the answers of the question he
asks himself he/she becomes confused.
 It leads to close mindedness.
This is because an individual fails to get new ideas and challenges.
14 INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION
 This is the kind of communication which occurs when one person
communicates with another or a group of persons on one to one
interaction.
 It involves more than one individual and another, one individual and a
group of people or between one group and another group.
 It occurs in different types that is small public communication and mass
communication.
15 a). Small group communication

Small group communication is the one which involve a small number of

individual in a group on one to one interaction.
 The group is so small in such a way that each member of the group has
an opportunity to interact with other member of the groups.
 For example five to twenty people
Features of small group communication
1. It involves few individual
2. Each individual has a chance to interact with each member of a group
3. It involves informal setting through sometimes it involves formal setting.
4. It is a face to face communication. This means each member of small
group have wide access to each other.
5. It enables participants to employ body language effectively.
 Cont…
16
Advantages of small group communication
 It has immediate feedback
This is because it is based on one to one interaction in a small group
 It is time saving
This is because it involves small number of member who can quickly
communicate about each other.
 It may provide a quick solution to a puzzle.
This is because it brings in opinions from different people to solve the puzzle
Disadvantages of small group communication
 It led to delayed solution
This is because it involves people with different background.
 It may lead to conflicts
This is because the participants may have different ideas fail to have
consensus.
17 b). Large group communication

This is the kind of communication which occurs when a number of individuals are engaged. It
occurs at wider range for example big classes in large lecture theatres or conferences in big
public halls.
 The communication in large group is complex because a message delivered by an individual
face a lot of challenges to reach thousands or millions of individual at the same time. For
example; when a president address the public at a certain region.

 Large group communication includes other two types of communication. These are;
i. Public communication is the kind of communication which occurs when one individual
address the audiences. This means both the speaker and the audiences should be present in
the setting where communication takes place for example public speech and public lecture.
ii. Mass communication is the kind of communication which occurs when an individual
deliver the message to the mass. In mass communication it is not necessary for a speaker to
be together with the audience in the same setting for example news presentation in a radio or
TV programmes, films, movies and numerous theatric performances on TV. All form mass
communication.
18 Features of large group communication

i. It involves large number of individual which means the message is delivered to

many people
ii. The channels are more complex and exaggerated compared to small group
communication.
For example the sound group is louder and may include the use of sound magnifiers
like microphones and loud speakers.
iii. It occurs in a formal setting involving structured message i.e. it involves
preparation of the topic, setting and channel.
19 B. CHANNEL
Under channel we have the following types
VERBAL COMMUNICATION
 This is the kind of communication which involves the production of meaningful word and sentences among
the people. This kind of communication results from the ability which is innate to human being i.e. able to
produce meaningful sound.
 Verbal communication should not be confused with non linguistic like crying, grunting
 Coughing, laughing etc. For example people may cry to express anger, pain or any discomfort feeling and
sometimes people may cry to show happiness or excitement but is not verbal communication.
 Communication involves spoken word, phrases and sentences of a given language. It is sometimes called oral
or spoken communication.
 It includes communication, dialogue, discussion, radio telephone and communication. This justify that most of
human communication is verbal as people produce sentence to ask for something complain advise, challenge
and Criticize.
Features of verbal communication
1. It uses sound as major channel
2. It involves more than one participant (sender and sendee)
3. It involves participants with speech and hearing capability.
20 Merits of verbal communication
1. It is easy to receive the message
This is because their mediums are easy to transfer the message e.g. radio, TV, Telephone and
normal conversation transfer the message easily.
2. It has immediate feedback
Through spoken works the sender of the message get feedback easily
3. It is the communication accessible to all people i.e. those who can read and those
who cannot read and write.
4. It is less expensive
This is because speaking doesn’t require cost like when someone writes.
5. It is time saving. This is because one can speak to people at once.
6. It is more powerful way of persuading with some non-verbal feature
7. It gives the room for clarification by i.e. audience or listener can ask a question.
Limitation (disadvantages) of verbal communication
1. It may have missing information this is when it is the reported information.
2. It cannot reach a distant participants
This is when it is large group communication
3. It cannot retain information for long time i.e. it can happen when the participants are
interrupted and sometimes it can mislead someone.
 Essentials of verbal/ oral communication
21

They are important as an oral presenter should keep in and in order to improve oral
communication. The presenter should include the following;
1. Clear pronunciation
 The speaker should pronounce words clearly and correctly. There are some words which have
slight difference in the sense that their pronunciation nearly the same for example read lead,
road, and load.
2. Brevity
 The speaker should be brief and straight to the intuited message. This is because the listeners
prefer short and clear information to avoid boredom that is they want only relevant information.
3. Precision
 The speaker should be precise in the sense that s/he should provide actual and accurate
information only waited information which hasn’t been distorted.
4. Conviction
 This means a speaker should be confident and certainly to what she/he says. This means what
he or she says should be absolutely truth and worth to trust if he expresses it confidently.
22 CONT..

5. Logical sequence
 The organization of message makes the speaker to be understood by the
audience. This means of the message is presented logically it will be easily
understood by the audience that when it is illogically presented.
6. Choice of words
 When the words are appropriately chosen by the speaker to the intended
audience message will be easily understood to them. This is because the words
are used according to the nature of the audience in a given setting; this is
determined by sex, level of education, social status and age.
7. Multilingualism
 The good speakers are those who use more than one language because the
words have been made as a village as people are mobile. So the listeners who
are multilingual enjoy a speaker switch to other language.
23 NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

This refers to all information communicated without using words. There is a lot
of information that we communicate without producing words for example the
dress you put on tells us about you. For example the traffic, school children can
be differentiated by their uniforms.
 Other nonverbal communication includes facial expression, gestures, posture
and body movement.
 Most of nonverbal communication is unintentional because people are not
aware that they are sending messages for example nodding head and
clapping hands.
VERBAL COMMUNICATION AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
 Nonverbal communication forms the integral part of verbal communication.
This is because verbal communication is accompanied by nonverbal
communication.
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERBAL AND
24 NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Verbal communication is differentiated from nonverbal communication in the following

parameters; environment message quantity, continuity, feedback, channel, control, sense,
structure and acquisition
1. Environment
 This refers the immediate place or area where communication take place for example
kitchen, church, market, bank etc. verbal communication takes place in a dark setting
while nonverbal like facial expression body movement and eye contact cannot take place
in dark setting.
2. Message quantity
 Verbal communication has fairly light and moderate message in intensity while nonverbal
has compacted and dense information (message) in terms of intensity. This means verbal
communication are clear and straight according to the words produced while nonverbal
signals may have complex interpretation and dense message for example when someone
say “no” verbally shown that he reject something but when nonverbal signals like having
wrinkled face and leaving a place after saying no extends the message of rejection .
 3. Continuity
25  Verbal communication begins and ends with words while nonverbal communication is
continuous for example when a girl says thanks to a grandfather who has brought a doll
to her, the message begins the moment the word thanks is pronounced and ends
immediately but nonverbal signal continue as a girl may help smiling where kissing the
grandfather after saying thanks.
4. Transmission
 Verbal and nonverbal communication differs in the way they are accomplished. Verbal
communication is accomplished through the production of meaningful sound of a
particular language; though not all human sounds constitute verbal communication. For
example coughing, sneezing, crying, sneering and grunting are not verbal
communication because they are nonlinguistic, so they are nonverbal. Verbal
communication uses human sound as its channel nonverbal uses multiple channel
which appeal to human sense for example when you see (sight) a well dressed person
you think she is, decent and when you shake hands (touch) for greeting she quickly
withdraws her hand from yours as if she has touched an insect (manner) then you
discover she has hum hated.
5. Mannerism
 Verbal communication involves the production and perception of spoken words of a
given language but nonverbal goes beyond the production and perception of the words
spoken as it consider the way those words are produced (mannerism) for example when
someone say welcome but looks away the message will be interpreted by the way he
say that word and not the word itself as it will be interpreted that you are but needed.
 6. Control
26  It is very easy to control verbal communication than controlling nonverbal
communication for example it is very easy to choose the word to produce according to
the listeners but it is difficult to behave they way different from what you are, for
instance you can say you are happy even if you are not but you cannot smile if you are
sad and you cannot substitute crying with laughing.
7. Structure
 Verbal communication is centered in a certain structure which guides their production
under some rules while nonverbal communication has no specific structure or pattern
which guide their accomplishment for example the production of sound is determined
by internal structure and the sound pattern (phonology) of words (morphology) the way
unit are combined (syntax) and the sound pattern (phonology) while nonverbal has
no way which is specific to them for example no one can be sad and have wrinkles on
face but it happens as a response to the immediate situation or event.
8. Acquisition
 Verbal communication acquired information and formally while nonverbal are not
acquired as they are natural (innate) for example children acquire verbal
communication from their parents and their care taker for example children acquire
good words and bad words from their parents through some nonverbal aspect are
imitated from the parents and other members of the society but the rest comes from
their response to the situation they face for example smiling & crying as nonverbal
communication cannot be acquired
.
27 3. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
 This is the kind of communication which occurs when message or information are
transmitted in written form. That is the transfer of message from the source to the
destination is through the written text, for example magazines, newspapers, articles,
letters, report and memos.

 Merits of written communication

i. It is open to clarity
-Written communication is more clarified and collaborated as the writer knows that it is
very difficult to reach all readers for clarification of doubtful and unclear area.
ii. It has future reference
- Written communication can be referred to repeatedly in the future. It enables the
transmission and reservation of knowledge, skill, values and experience of the old
generation to new generation.
iii. It is a permanent record
- This is because a written document cannot be easily forgotten or lost, so it can
last for years.
28 iv. It has a legal validity
- The written materials are legal documents because all legal
documents should be written for them to be valid for example a contract,
legal oath, treaty, marriage certificate, land ordinance etc.
v. It has a wide access across time and place
- This is because written document has wide coverage in term of
time and place for example access to many people who are in different
places and it will spread information to many people within a short time.
vi. It improves writing and reading skills
- The writing and reading skills are improved through written
communication and it enables people to improve language skills in general
as the more you read many written documents the more you improve your
reading skill, the same applied to writing.
29 Limitations of written communication
i. It is time consuming
- A short message that would be delivered in only one hour lecture to
hundreds of students it may take more than six hour to write down and
distribute to each student.
ii. It is costly
- This is because any writing incur different costs for example when you
write a letter you need to have papers and pens which are costly materials,
the same applies to books and newspapers.
iii. It is discriminative
- This is because the written message cannot be accessed by illiterate
people i.e. they are only for literate (those who can read and write).
iv. It is unchangeable
Written communication is unchangeable in the sense that when you have sent
a message that has been written, it cannot be changed until it reaches the
intended audience but oral communication can be changed.
 C. POWER RELATION
30

Power relation has to do with how people relate. It involves the status of people.
a) Vertical communication
This involves individuals with different social status
i. Top –down/ top bottom/ downward communication
ii. Down- top / upward communication

i. Top down communication

This is the communication which begins from the top or people who hold high
position in their societies. E.g. President to the citizens.
ii. Down top communication
Is the communication that begins at the bottom among people with low social
status, positions and low power. E.g. when an ordinary citizen talking to a president.
b) Horizontal communication
This involves people with the same social status e.g. among students, ministers,
close friends etc.
31 THE NEEDS/VITALITY OF COMMUNICATION IN THE
SOCIETY

Communication is very vital (important) in our daily life because whatever

we do or perform needs communication as we cannot do things without
communication. This is revealed in the following ways:
1. It enhances sharing of information among individual within
their society.
- This means it helps people to inform each other about different
events occurring in their societies such as floods, pandemics and invasion.
2. It creates understanding among people involved in certain
physical effort whose accomplishment requires joint effort.
- Thing like productive and teaching activities require enrollment of
more than one individual e.g. teaching must involve effective communication
between the teacher and the learner in the classroom.
32
3. It reduces unnecessary stress and frustration among
individuals.
- People relieve their anger by speaking out. People are suffering from
depression, hypertension and emotional tension because of failing to express
their feeling.
4. Communication creates friendly relationship among people in
the society.
- It makes people of the same interest share ideas and feels as one.
5. It enables individual to express their ideas, feeling and
emotions to other.
6. It increases performance and productivity at workplace.
- Through good communication people merge their efforts and work as a
team.
7. It enables an individual to make self criticism.
- This enables an individual to assess himself and change undesirable
behavior (shape people personality).
33 COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

1. Physiological Barriers
Physiological barriers may result from individuals' personal discomfort, caused, for example, by
ill health, poor eye sight, or hearing difficulties. These may also affect one’s personality in many
different and mostly negative ways. This can best be handled by working on developing a
positive perception as certain physiological features contributing to barriers may not be curable.
2. Physical Barriers
Physical barriers include:
• Office doors, barrier screens, separate areas for people of different status
• Large working areas or working in one unit that is physically separate from others.
• Distance
Research shows that one of the most important factors in building cohesive teams is proximity.
Proximity in different cultures is different and therefore needs to be taken in the right context. It
has been observed that people coming from rural backgrounds with more physical space
available may not feel comfortable in closed quarters as they tend to have larger personal
spaces as compared to people living in urban conditions. This aspect alone can become a
significant psychological barrier if they subconsciously feel “threatened” by inadvertent
“invasion” of their personal space in case an urbanite approaches them in close proximity
considering it as a normal personal space.
34 3. Cultural Barriers
Culture prescribes behavior. Humans can adapt to different culture once we
come to accept it and appreciate that cultures are different so that we can
be recognized from others and that no specific connotations need to be
attached to one culture or the other.

4. Language Barriers
Language that describes what we want to say in our terms may present
barriers to others who are not familiar with our expressions, buzz-words,
and jargon. When we couch our communication in such language, it is a
way of excluding others. In a global setting the greatest compliment we can
pay another person is to talk in their language.
5. Interpersonal Barriers
Withdrawal is an absence of interpersonal contact. It is both refusals to be
in touch with others.
 6. Psychological Barriers

35 There are 3 types of psychological barriers would be discussed as they are the most common ones.
a. Perceptual barriers
b. Emotional Barriers, and
c. Experiential barriers.

 Perceptual barriers
The problem with communicating with others is that we all see the world differently. A bad experience would
perceptually block out unpleasant things. This could be in the shape of avoiding it and if that is not possible by
altering the behaviors i.e., response types in different ways. Similarly, retention filters out things that feel good,
and gives the tendency to forget those things that are painful. It is very interesting to note that how our
experiences taint or color our perceptions. Perceptual barriers can significantly alter our understanding and thus
affect our communication. They are deep rooted and work in conjunction with our experiences.

 Emotional barriers
One of the other chief psychological barriers to open and free communication is the emotional barrier. It is
comprised mainly of fear, mistrust, and suspicion. As mentioned earlier the roots of our emotional mistrust of
others lie in our childhood and infancy when we were taught to be careful what we said to others.

 Experiential barriers
Experiential barriers on the other hand become barriers by virtue of not having experienced them leading to
altered interpretation and comprehension. Our experience shapes our view of the world. For example, when
children experience trauma at the hands of trusted adults (especially family members) their emotional link with
the adult world is severed, creating distrust. They are left with three companions: guilt, fear and feelings of
36 7. Stereotypes
Stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups. Stereotypes
are usually negative attitudes which people use to justify discrimination of conflict against
others. According to Pennington (1986) “there are two characteristics of stereotypes
1. People are categorized on the basis of very visible characteristics e.g. race,
nationality, sex,
dress and bodily appearance;
2. All members of a particular group are assumed to have the same characteristics; and
The effects of stereotyping are seen as gross over simplified and over generalized
descriptions. They operate to overestimate differences existing between groups and under
estimate differences within groups.
Stereotypes distort reality since the over estimation between groups and under estimation
within groups bear little relation to the truth.
Stereotyping acts as a barrier to communication because people make pre-conceived
judgment about people which are unfounded if their character does not relate to their
appearance.
Stereotyping has a halo effect. Halo effect is the use of a single attribute to describe a person
or object fully. For example, if a person is friendly we may use this attribute to assume that
they are punctual and good at their job. Another important aspect of stereotyping is
perception.
37 How to be a good communicator
To be a good communicator, one needs to:
a) Express own reflections and ideas clearly
b) Develop relationships
c) Provide feedback (answers, reacts)
d) Be open to others’ feedback (accept others answer without prejudice,
references etc.
e) Respect attitudes and opinions of others
f) Be tolerant to different customs and cultures
g) Give full attention to people while they are talking to you.
h) Encourage other people to talk, and ask appropriate questions.
38
i) Present your ideas so that others are receptive to your point of view.
j) Treat people fairly and let others know how you want to be treated.
k) Value teamwork and know how to build cooperation and commitment.
l) Strive to understand other people and to be empathetic.
m) Be able to easily win people’s trust and respect.
n) Check to make sure you have understood what other people are trying
to communicate.
o) Follow through on your commitments.
p) Be able to work with people who have difficulties without becoming
negative.
39 The 7 Cs of Communication

The 7 Cs provide a checklist for making sure that your meetings, emails,
conference calls, reports, and presentations are well constructed and clear
so your audience gets your message. According to the 7Cs, communication
needs to be:
1. Clear
2. Concise
3. Concrete
4. Correct
5. Coherent
6. Complete
7. Courteous
 1.Clear
40 When writing or speaking to someone, be clear about your goal or message. What is your purpose in
communicating with this person? If you’re not sure, then your audience won’t be sure either. To be
clear, try to minimize the number of ideas in each sentence. Make sure that it’s easy for your reader
to understand your meaning. People shouldn’t have to “read between the lines” and make
assumptions on their own to understand what you’re trying to say.

2. Concise
When you are concise in your communication, you stick to the point and keep it brief. Your audience
doesn’t want to read six sentences when you could communicate your message in three.

3. Concrete
When your message is concrete, then your audience has a clear picture of what you’re telling them.
There are details (but not too many!) and vivid facts. Your message is solid.
Look at these two examples:
For Example:
a) The Lunchbox Wizard will save your time every day.
b) How much time do you spend every day packing your kids’ lunches? No more! Just take a
complete Lunchbox Wizard from your refrigerator each day to give your kids a healthy lunch AND
have more time to play or read with them!
41
4. Correct
When your communication is correct, it fits your audience. And correct
communication is also error free communication.
5. Coherent
When your communication is coherent, it’s logical. All points are connected
and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow of the text is
consistent.
6. Complete
In a complete message, the audience has everything they need to be
informed and, if applicable, take action. Does your message include a “call
to action”, so that your audience clearly knows what you want them to do?
Have you included all relevant information – contact names, dates, times,
locations, and so on?
42

7. Courteous/consideration
Courteous communication is friendly, open, and honest and does not illicit
emotions. There are no hidden insults or passive aggressive tones. You
keep your reader’s viewpoint in mind, and you’re empathetic to their
needs. You must always put yourself in the shoes of the person you are
talking to and ask yourself how you would feel if you were to be addressed
the way you are addressing your receiver.
Consideration in communication creates a healthy work environment.
43