GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION

EFFECTIVE
A. PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE ORAL
COMMUNICATION

1. Know your PURPOSE in 1. Be CLEAR with your purpose.

communicating. Are you (CLARITY)
communicating basically to
inform, to entertain, or to You should know by heart your
persuade? Always have an objective in communicating. The
objective when you clarity of your message will greatly
communicate. affect the success of your
2. Know your AUDIENCE. In both communication.
speaking and writing, you should
know your audience as it will 2. Be COMPLETE with the
dictate the speaking or writing message you deliver.
style you are going to employ. (COMPLETENESS)
Consider the age, educational
Make sure that your claims are
background, profession, culture,
supported by facts and essential
and other significant features of
information.
your listeners or readers.
3. Know your TOPIC. You
3. Be CONCISE. (CONCISENESS)
communicate essentially because
you want to share something. You don’t need to be verbose or
You may utilize multiple wordy with your statements.
techniques to easily catch the Brevity in speech is a must. In
attention of the audience. terms of answering questions,
4. Adjust your speech or writing to short answers will show a
the CONTEXT of the situation. personality and long ones can be
The environment in which your used for explanation and
speech or writing is to be elaboration.
delivered determine the kind of
language you will use. 4. Be NATURAL with your delivery.
5. Work on the FEEDBACK given (NATURALNESS)
you. Once you receive comments
from the listeners/reader, work on Punctuate important words with the
them. Take kindly to criticisms. appropriate gestures
and movements. Exude a certain
degree of confidence even if you
do not feel confident enough. Be
who you are and train to have a
good sense of self-confidence in
communicating.
 5. Be SPECIFIC and TIMELY with
your feedback. (TIMELINESS)
Inputs are most helpful when
provided on time. Not to be brutal
or insensitive but there are ways to
comment or criticize without
hurting others. Comment timely
and be specific to what to say
(especially the not so good things.)
B. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
EFFECTIVE
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (9Cs)
1. Be CLEAR. (CLARITY)
Always be guided by your purpose
in communicating. Make your
speeches understandable. Fuzzy
language is absolutely forbidden,
as are jargons, cliché expressions,
euphemisms, and doublespeak
language (intended to deceive or
confuse people); or ambiguous
language (to be politically correct,
to hide negativity, to perpetuate
lies)
2. Be CONCISE. (CONCISENESS)
Always stick to the point and do
not beat or run around the bush.
Be brief by focusing on your main
point. Avoid using lengthy
expressions and words that may
confuse the recipient.
3. Be COMPLETE.
(COMPLETENESS)
Include all necessary and relevant
information so that audience will
not be left wanting of any info.
4. Be CORRECT. (CORRECTNESS)
   Observe grammatical correctness
in writing (fragment, run-on sentence,
comma splices, dangling modifier).
Always have time to revise and
edit your work.
5. Be CONCRETE.
(CONCRETENESS)
Concreteness reduces
misunderstandings, so
messages/claims must be
supported by facts such as
research data, statistics or figures.
Audience know if you are
deceiving them if there is nothing
to substantiate your claims.
6. Be COHERENT. (COHERENCE)
Convey a logical message. Ideas
should be connected to each other
and related to the topic. Use
transitional devices so that ideas
cohere with one another.
7. Be CULTURALLY SENSITIVE.
(CULTURAL SENSITIVITY)
Today, with the increasing
emphasis on empowering diverse
cultures, lifestyles, and race and
the pursuit for gender equality,
cultural sensitivity becomes an
important standard for effective
communication.
8. Be COURTEOUS.
(COURTESY/POLITENESS)

The tone of your writing should be

friendly. Avoid undertone or
overtone or insinuation to eliminate
confusion. Use polite words
in terms of approaching and
manner of addressing an individual
even when you are complaining.

9. Be CONSIDERATE.
(CONSIDERATION/ EMPATHY)

The messages must be geared

towards the audiences. The sender
of a message must consider the
recipient’s profession, level of
education, race, ethnicity, hobbies,
interests, passions, advocacies,
and age when drafting or delivering
a message.