PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION STUDENTS’ LEARNING GUIDE

MODULE 2: MODES OF COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION

Communication mode refers to the channel through which one expresses his/her communicative intent. It is
the medium through which one conveys his/her thoughts. Views or feelings can be communicated through face-to-
face interaction, video, or audio. The mode may be also be text-based.

The common of all these modes is the face-to-face interaction. It is an informal or casual conversation
between two or more people. People engaged in social conversation to establish relationships or maintain them. It is
one way of gaining new acquaintances or friend. How to speak, what to speak, when to speak, and to whom one is
speaking are all important considerations in building relationships.

How then do you initiate conversations? Faced with a group of new people who do you not knowing a
social gathering, you should be able to begin a conversation. You will be able to test the saying: “First impression
last.” In this case, depending on the kind of impression you leave to your audience, you create either a positive or a
negative image of yourself. One advantage of face-to-face interaction is that aside from directly hearing the message
being conveyed, you are able to note visual cues through facial expressions, gestures, movements, or even objects
or realia from the person/s you are communicating with.

Dau Voire suggest: “Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.” This simply means that even if
the people surrounding you in a social event are strangers to you, you need to be confident enough to meet new
faces and initiate an interesting conversation. But what kind to topics matter to strangers you are meeting for the first
time? In a social gathering like a wedding, for instance, you do not dwell on topics that are never-ending in nature.
You do not discuss politics and religion as these are sensitive issues that may impinge on one’s beliefs and
practices. Instead, start a conversation focusing on what you experience at the moment-ambiance or atmosphere of
the wedding reception, music, food, relationship to the bride or groom. These are topics sufficient until the reception
ends. Note that one topic may lead to another. You should be able to hold a conversation at a social event without
offending the other party. In the other words, topic initiation should be followed by topic maintenance, topic change or
shift, and, finally, topic closure.

Margaret J. Wheatley states: “All social change begins with a conversation.” I need this is so especially if
that one single and simple conversation blossoms into a deeper contact. Eventually, you and your newfound friend
may find yourselves enjoying each other’s company, sharing the same interests, and deciding to work on some
significant projects. Later on, all of these will result in changes that yield profound social consequences.

As Diana Wheatley aptly puts in:

“Meaning is made in conversation, Reality is created in communication, and knowledge is generated through
social interaction… Language is the vehicle through which we create our understanding of the world.”

Another mode of communication is video. Web cameras are used so that two or more people who cannot
interact face-to-face can communicate. If there are no technical glitches encountered, this could be a very effective
mode of communication especially for people separated by distance. For example, you may engage in a
conversation via Skype with your loved ones especially during significant, meaningful and memorable, occasions.
You are able to hear clearly the voice and see up close the face of your beloved. Other electronic applications that
allow video calls are Viber, WhatsApp, Apple Facetime, and Facebook Messenger, among others. In more formal
settings, people can also engage in video-conferencing. While this is a convenient communication mode for people
who want to reach out to each other despite distance, a disadvantage is the time zone difference between countries.
In this case, one of them should make the necessary adjustments to pave the way for a successful communication.

The third mode of communication is audio. Audio means transmitted sound. Thus, in this mode of
communication, only the voice of the speaker is heard. Ordinarily, someone’s voice is heard through the telephone or
an answering machine when the other party is not able to answer a call. In Skype, when a person cannot be
contacted or is not online, a voice message or voice mail can be sent. An obvious downside of this mode is not being
able to see the body language or cues of the person you are talking to.

The audio communication mode is quite difficult especially if you are listening to people with different
accents. For instance, in relation to the World Englishes paradigm, other speakers of English apart from those who
speak it as a native language may find it peculiar listening to the accent of Filipinos. Some Filipinos are not able to
distinguish the sound of /I/ and /i/ in English words as in the examples sin and seen. Some cannot produce the sound
of hard and soft /th/ and simply substitute /d/ as in the examples those and dos and thing and ting. Some also
interchange /v/ with /b/ and /f/ with /p/.

The fourth and last mode is text-based communication such as e-mail, facsimile, text messaging, and
instant messaging. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram likewise offer text-based
interaction. While text based communication mode does not originally provide video and audio benefits, it has a wider
reach and can disseminate information to a bigger audience quickly.

The last three modes are all virtual in nature. Those engaged in communication are able to hear and/or see each
other in real time simulating the actual physical setting.

PAULINIAN ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

CUTTING-EDGE, RESILIENT VISIONARIES & INNOVATORS, WHO:

1. Stay abreast of emerging social and technological trends and proactively pursue fruitful ways of capitalizing
on them; and
2. Clarify and explain emerging and potential social, economic, political, and technological trends affecting
their field and propose feasible ways to incorporate them in their work.

PAULINIAN AFFIRMATION

As a Christ-centered Paulinian, I am a Cutting-Edge, Resilient Visionary and Innovator, demonstrating my

creativity and charism.

LESSON 1: Forms of Communication

LEARNING OUTCOMES: During the learning session, you should be able to:

1. Identify the various communication modes and how they help in expressing one’s communication
intent;
 2. Show the importance of face-to-face, audio, virtual, text-based, and other forms of communication
particularly in targeting different types of audiences in local and global settings;
3. Distinguish the differences between and among the communication modes; and
4. Use these communication modes appropriately depending on the context of the communication
situation.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Task 1: Comprehensive Questions: Instruction: Check your understanding of the input by answering the
following questions:

1. What are the different types of communication mode and how do they differ from each other?
2. What are the other forms or modes of communication that have not been discussed and which have
recently become part of virtual communication technology?
3. Explain Diana Wheatley’s quote and give one illustration:
“Meaning is made in conversation,
Reality is created in communication,
And knowledge is generated through social interaction…
Language is the vehicle through which we create our understanding of the world.”
4. As a speaker of English as a second language, what can you say about the difficulty of other speakers in
understanding the Philippines English variety that you use?
5. With the advent of computer-mediated communication or CMC, how can you be more responsible with what
you post in your own account as a way of conveying messages to the audience?

Task 2: FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTION. Instruction. Form yourselves into groups of three members. Role-play
any of the following situations and show how you can initiate a conversation with a stranger or strangers. Write your
draft on the next page.

1. You are a new student in class. After dismissal time, you saw two of your female classmates
outside the school building talking to each other. You wanted to ask about the classes you missed
and how you could cope with the lessons. You approached them but they suddenly turned and
whispered to each other? How will you initiate a conversation with them without showing that you
are offended by their actions?
2. It was your first time to fly to a foreign country and the trip takes about eight hours. You wanted to
know how to get to your destination from the airport. You were fortunate to be seated beside a
foreign national. He is not so proficient in English and you have difficulty understanding his accent.
How will you start a conversation with him?
3. You are scheduled for a job interview. When you arrive at the place, there was a long queue of
applicants. You were the tenth to be interviewed and you wanted to have an idea about the
questions that were asked. To arrest your fear, you decided to talk with the other applicants before
you. How will you start the conversation?
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Task 3: VIDEO AS A MODE OF COMMUNICATION. Instruction. View a video conference from Youtube titled
“A video conference call in real life” by Tripp and Tyler (Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMOOG7rWTPg).
Then, answer the following questions:

1. What was the topic of the video conference?

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2. Who were the participants? Where were they from?

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3. How was the flow of the video conference?

______

4. Were there some technical glitches encountered? Were they resolved immediately?
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5. After viewing the sample video conference, what do you think are some of the constraints of this
communication mode?
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TASK 4. AUDIO AS A MODE OF COMMUNICATION. Instruction. Listen to the four recorded telephone
conversations your teacher will pay. Identify the caller and the callee and analyse the context of the conversations.
As you listen to the conversations, provide the information called for by filling in the table below.

1 2 3 4
Topic
 Telephone
Conversation

Variety of English
Used

Callee

Variety of English
Used
Caller

TASK 5. TEXT-BASED COMMUNICATION. Instruction: Identify the type of text-based communication mode
that best suits the following situations. Explain why. Write your answer on the blank after each item.

1. Disseminating information about the change in examination schedule

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2. Providing information about the latest school policy on conducting interviews of university officials
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3. Explaining why the student failed in the test
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4. Expressing apology for a grave shortcoming
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5. Inviting someone to attend your lecture forum
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6. Explaining why you failed to attend the class activity
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 7. Inviting classmates to join the community service program for the Aetas in Tarlac
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8. Informing schoolmates about the cancellation of classes due to a typhoon
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9. Announcing the award granted by an international organization to a teacher

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10. Reprimanding a male student for keeping a pornographic magazine

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PROCESSING:

1. In activity 1, you will learn the different communication modes: face-to-face interaction, video, audio
and text-based. Face-to-face interaction happens in the informal or casual conversation between
two or more people to establish relationship. When people communicate in distance, they use
video as a mode of communication. Web and built-in cameras installed are tools to allow people
communication in face-to-face by utilizing web applications like Facebook,Viver, Messenger etc.
The mode that transmits the sounds via voice of the speaker is audio and sending communication
through e-mail, text messaging, and other social media platforms via text transmission is text-
based communication.

2. In activity 2, you learn how to initiate conversation face-to-face in different situation applying the
communication modes.

3. In activity 3, 4, and 5, you learn to evaluate the importance of video, audio and text-based as
modes of communication. Your own assessment on the utilization of these modes of
communication help you discover your strength and weakness of your skills acquired and thus this
must be improved by engaging yourself to different communicative task using these modes.

FORMATION:
 Being responsible and accountable technology users are thoughtful and intentional value that we
should practice in communication. Too much exposure to this can lead us to risk and threats to our health
and relationships among others. We should be wise in managing our time on maximizing the use of
technology in different modes of communication if necessary. Proper etiquette must be observed in order
to avoid abuses of social violence, and explicit or hurtful content that will destroy the integrity of the person.
Showing respect to others by not allowing technology that will interfere in face-to-face interactions or
conversion, thinking and verifying before posting and sending information must be exhibited and asking
permission from the authorized writer or owner of personal or intellectual data must be practiced to all of us
regardless of any field of disciplines.

SYNTHESIS:

1. The various mode of communication are face-to-face, video, audio, and text-based.
2. The video used to connect two or more people who cannot interact face-to-face. It is the second most
convenient communication mode next to face-to-face interaction.
3. Whereas the audio mode of communication is limited to hearing only the speaker’s voice most types of the
text-based communication are limited only to what is printed. However, the latter has a wider reach and is
able to disseminate information to a larger group of audience.

ASSESSMENT: DEEPENING ACTIVITY. Instruction. Form yourselves into groups of five members and make a
video conference call. Invite someone to take the conference call for at least 15 minutes on a topic related to one of
your class lessons. Be sure to draft your questions to maximize the discussion. You will be graded as a team based
on the flow of your discussion.

PEER ASSESSMENT. Instruction. Using the indicators below, evaluate the video conference call your group
partner just made on Skype. Check the applicable descriptor using the following: Excellent = 4; Good = 3; Fair = 2;
Poor =1.

Excellent Good Fair Poor

1. The video conference had a
smooth discussion flow.
2. Questions were well-thought-out.
3. Responses were clearly and
appropriately answered.
4. No technical problems were
identified in the course of the
discussion.

ASSIGNMENT:

Instruction: Bring out to class three to four clippings or print-outs of cartoons that show the use of
technology today. In groups, discuss the following questions:

1. What ideas about technology do the cartoons present?

 2. Do these cartoons present positive or negative ideas about technology?

Be ready to present your discussions to the class.

REFLECTION GUIDE

 What I have LEARNED this week that has helped me do all aspect of this better?
 What I have DONE this week that has made me better at doing all aspects of this?
 How can I IMPROVE at doing all aspects of this is:

EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES

Instruction: Research and fill-in the table below. :

IMPACT ON THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY AS COMMUNICATION MODES

MODES BENEFITS THREATS
1. FACE-TO-
FACE

2. VIDEO

3. AUDIO

4. TEXT-BASED

What are health risks of too-much exposure to technology? Answer should be research-based.

Describe a man who is responsible user of technology.

REFERENCES

Floyd, K. (2012). “Interpersonal Communication.” New York, The McGraw-Hill Companies

Madrunio, M. & Martin,I. (2018). Purposive Communication Using English in Multilingual Contexts.”
Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.

Padilla, M., Dagdag, L., & Roxas, F. (2018). “ Communicate and Connect! Purposive Communication.”
Malabon City, Philippines: Mutya Publishing House Inc.

3G Elearning FZ LLC (2014). “Basic Communication Skills.” UAE, 3G Elearning FZ LLC

Prepared by:

MR. ALVIN J. SUMAMPONG, MAENG