Written Assignment Unit 1

The Five Contexts of Communication

Communication is a necessary skill for living in a community. According to McLean (2010), it is

essential for success in relationships, in career, and across a lifetime. Communication can include five

different contexts, each of which affects the communication process.

Intrapersonal Communication; this is a communication that involves one person. In other words, in this

form of communication, one only talks to himself or herself. You speak to yourself concerning a matter.

Most especially when you are discouraged, you activate your confidence by speaking to yourself. This

form of communication is called Intrapersonal communication. In this communication, no second or third

party is needed. No other person is needed to engage in this form of communication but you, as you talk

to yourself. Most at times others around you wouldn’t notice there is a communication going on within

your mind. For example; at times I encourage myself and do not wait for others to do that. I motivated

myself to apply for a degree in UoPeople.

Interpersonal communication; is the second context within the field of communication. According to

McLean (2005), interpersonal communication is usually between two individuals and can vary from

casual and very personal to formal and impersonal. It is a method for two people to exchange information

by using both verbal and nonverbal cues. Every day, I engage in both formal and informal interpersonal

communication. At work, for example, when I give directives to a member of my staff, I am in a formal

context in which I experience interpersonal communication. Instead, an example of an informal context is

when I tell a friend about something that has just happened, or when we go out for coffee and chat about

this and that.

Group Communication; this type of communication involves more than two persons. For a conversation

to be recognized as a group conversation, it must not be less than three persons who are engaging

themselves in a group talk or discussion. Whether at school, in the classroom, at work etcetera.

It is also a conversation that engages more people other than one or two in a conversation. In class, a

teacher might decide to group his/her students into a group for a class project or science practical. An

example of this is when my teacher, during my high school grouped the class into 4 groups for our

learning.

Another important context in the field of communication is public communication, which occurs when

one person speaks to a group of people or when one person writes a message that will be read by a group

of people. The speaker or writer may ask questions and engage the crowd in a dialogue, but the nature of

the interaction differs from group communication since, in a public speaking environment, the group

often defers to the speaker (McLean, 2005).

Mass Communication; In this context, a message is sent to a huge amount of people. Mass

communication is a way of passing the message across to a huge amount of people without necessarily

being there. The message can be sent through social media or radio and television.

In all this, the context that appealed to me the most is intrapersonal communication, which is a

communication that involves one person. In other words, in this form of communication, one only talks to

himself or herself. You speak to yourself concerning a matter. Most especially when you are discouraged,

you activate your confidence by speaking to yourself. This form of communication is called Intrapersonal

communication.

Before any of this communication takes place there are at times intrapersonal communication. For

example, one may be asked to speak to a group of people, and for the person to do this, he or she has to

engage in intrapersonal communicating. Starring or motivating himself to be a better communicator.

Whereas the one that appealed to me the least is mass communication. “Some people who receive mass

mailings assume that they are “junk mail” (i.e., that they do not meet the recipients’ needs) and throw

them away unopened. People may tune out a television advertisement with a click of the mute button,

delete tweets or ignore friend requests on Facebook by the hundreds, or send all unsolicited e-mail

straight to the spam folder unread” (McLean, 2010, pg 26).

Conclusion:

No matter what the context of communication may be, communication is still a way to pass a message to

any individual, organization, country, household etcetera. No one can receive or send a message if not

through the medium of communication.

Reference:

McLean, S. (2010). Business Communication for Success. Retrieved from

https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/641076/mod_page/content/15/ENGL1103TextbookBusComForSu

ccess.pdf