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Chapter 4: Evaluating Messages and Images: GNED 05 Purposive Communication November 2020
Chapter 4: Evaluating Messages and Images: GNED 05 Purposive Communication November 2020
Chapter 4: Evaluating
Messages and Images
GNED 05 Purposive Communication
November 2020
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Objectives
At the end of the chapter, you will be able to:
1. Evaluate multimodal skills critically to enhance receptive (listening, reading, viewing) skills;
2. Identify the target group of audience that the text is presented;
3. Convey ideas through oral, audio-visual and/or web-based presentations for different target
audiences in local and global settings using appropriate registers;
4. Explain how various messages are being conveyed by the readers through the use of
different texts;
5. Give different ways of presenting messages; and
6. Adopt awareness of audience and context in presenting ideas.
Introduction
Nowadays, the communication world
continually requires us, sources of messages
to decide quickly and send messages rapidly.
According to Bentley and Miller (2007),
research has shown that people who prepare
and send effective messages are able to:
understand the importance of the
communication cycle; incorporate the
principles of good communication into their
original message; develop and maintain an open communication channel; and incorporate the
principles and effective communication into their responses to other people’s messages.
Therefore, the secret in sending messages effectively relies on how the source conveys
their ideas using different platforms that will suit his target audience, whether local and global
settings. Moreover, he should embrace the awareness as to the context in presenting his ideas to
achieve willingness and enhance the listening, reading, and viewing skills of his audience.
- In rhetorical studies, the message may be conveyed through (a) words and/or (b) other
signs and symbols (Nordquist, 2017).
- Therefore, it makes up the content of the communication process itself.
“Messages may include verbal (written or spoken symbols like sign language, e-mails, text
messages, phone calls, etc.) or nonverbal content (body movement, eye contact, gestures,
etc.). Intentionally or not, both verbal and non-verbal contents are part of the information that
is transferred in a message. In any case that they contradict one another, it will cause
ambiguous messages and increase uncertainty among participants” (Burtis and Turman,
2010).
2. Communicating Messages
“Defined most broadly, rhetoric is the study of all the processes by which people influence
each other through symbols, regardless of the intent of the source. A rhetorical act,
however, is an intentional, created, polished attempt to overcome the challenges in a given
situation with a specific audience on a given issue to achieve a particular end. A rhetorical
act creates a message whose shape and form, beginning and end, are stamped on it by one
or more human authors with goals for an audience” (Campbell & Huxman, 2009).
“Both Cicero and Quintilian accepted the Aristotelian notion that a rhetorical message
[inventio] consists of effective use of logical, ethical, and pathetic proof. The rhetorician
who has command of these three persuasive strategies, they held, is in a good position to
motivate an audience” (Golden, et al., 2003).
People who are highly media literate are able to see much more in a given message. They
are more aware of the levels of meaning. This enhances understanding. They are more in
charge of programming their own mental codes. This enhances control. They are much
more likely to get what they want from the messages. This enhances appreciation. Thus,
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people operating at higher levels of media literacy fulfill the goals of higher understanding,
control, and appreciation” (Potter, 2008).
“Determining the purpose of your message is the first step in deciding what you want to say and
how you want to say it. Once you have the goal selected, it is then easy to tailor the message in
order to reach your audience.”
1. Informative Messages - used to share and convey information, usual, repetitive, everyday
tasks, directions, codes, processes, and procedures in the workplace. These messages are
also designed to influence understanding: make it clearer or more developed. They are not
designed to change or reinforce opinions, though sometimes it comes as a side effect.
2. Persuasive Messages - occurs when a persona tries to convince another person or group to
take specific actions.
3. Goodwill Messages - used to show a sense of kindness, friendliness, gratitude, regret,
sympathy, appreciation, congratulations, and invitations.
The actual achievement of these outcomes could depend on the combination of reader
traits such as prior knowledge, reader ability, motivation to read, text characteristics such
as genre, readability level, conceptual complexity, and situational features.
● Students must seek to understand various perspectives and cultures through reading and
listening, to communicate effectively with people of different backgrounds. These cultural
connections could be especially helpful for students, giving them opportunities to apply
their background knowledge and life experiences to reading and writing tasks.
● Messages are evaluated by readers in different ways. In this way, readers begin to have
different levels of reading comprehension.
● Since there are various materials in which messages may come from, they may be shown in
various ways; hence, they may be given different interpretations depending on the way they
are presented.
● How do culturally diverse learners respond to these texts?
Hamp-Lyons (1989) and Kroll (2003) found that the essay readers from different cultures
responded to essays in different ways. This appeared to be a partial attribute to
linguistic/rhetorical background.
This becomes an issue then. The various issues may be accounted for by various factors
such as social environment, home environment, and cultural environment. Cultural
differences, particularly those arising from a culture of poverty, may lead to intense
suspicion and discomfort toward individuals perceived to be in the dominant culture (Lerner
& John, 2012), which brings a gap in all academic and even non-academic purposes.
Part 3: Ways Used To Convey Messages from Various Texts
Read
There are different ways by which we can interpret messages from various texts and these
may also vary based on our level of understanding.
Example: Kids interpret the story that they read based on the pictures they see with the text.
Even for adult readers, the use of images would be very helpful in writing to elicit a number
of responses from them.
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In addition readers may also use images as symbols of how they understand the meaning
of the text. They give responses through pictures.
In some social media posts, they use images of the people they want to greet a happy
birthday, congratulations, or best wishes. Nowadays, people also use images in social media to
express their grief over losing someone so dearly loved.
People use messages of objects that they want to emphasize or sometimes, things that
they want to advertise. Visual narratives are also being created by many of these
readers/interpreters/presenters. These images have also been used in semiotics or the study of
symbols (Molnar, 2011). Aside from photos, people also use emojis nowadays to communicate
their thoughts and emotions about things.
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REFERENCE:
Agustin, R.Q. Feranil, B.S., Hernandez, R.R., Jimenez, K.M., Manaig, R.A., Mendoza, L.D. & Mojica,
C.R. (2018). Evaluating Messages and Images. In E. Hernandez, B. Ilagan, & A. Solis (Eds.),
Communication in multicultural contexts: Meanings and purposes (pp. 72-80). Panday-Lahi
Publishing house, Inc.
Prepared by:
Mairoden M. Guevarra
Edgielson D. Nueva