Comic Strips – Misinformation and Miscommunication

1. The forms of communication being used is both Verbal Communication

and Non- Verbal Communication, otherwise known as Communicative
Behaviour. The Non- Verbal Communication being used in the comic
strips is Vocalics, (Use of volume, tone, pitch and overall voice quality
to convey or give dimension to meaning), Movement/ Body language
(Tom yawning) and Artifacts, such as the clock.

2. The message being communicated in this comic strip is the time Tom’s
class starts.

3. Possible Barriers affecting effective communication could be

psychological noise, which refers to a cognitive and mental barrier.
Due to being sleepy, Tom relays the information which is the time class
starts in a muffled voice due his current state. This causing the message to
be ambiguous, meaning the message was unclear and there were possible
more than one possible interpretation of the message. (the times – 7am
and 6am)

4. Possible Facilitators that aid in effective communication are

a. The familiar language- Tangible
b. Motivation for her son to be early for class – Intangible
c. sibling/parent wanting to know what time he has to wake up
d. motivation to be on-time for class

5. Identify the elements of communication

Describe the Process

- sender: tom
- message: what time he has to get up
- channel: sibling
- receiver: mother
- feedback: mum waking tom up late

Conceptualization: Tom’s mother wanting to know what time his class

starts (Not too sure but yeah). (Tom knowing what time his class starts??)
 Encoding: His mother sending Tom’s younger brother to go and inquire
about the time. Knocking on the door, waking Tom up and asking the
time.
Tom telling his brother what time his class starts while mumbling.??

Selecting the appropriate medium/channel: His sibling is the medium

Sender: Tom replies stating in an incoherent manner, “Uh six *yawn* no sev-
sorry I mean um six”
Receiver: The receiver of the message is his younger sibling and also his
mother.
Decoding and Interpreting: His younger sibling, only hearing seven because
tom was mumbling. He then relays the information to wake up Tom at 7am to
his mother.
His mother interpreting that his class starts at 7am and interpreting to wake his
up at 7am?
Feedback: Tom’s mother waking him up at 7am.
Tom “My class started an hour ago”. He was late for class. ??

6. Identify with explanation evidence of Misinformation and

Miscommunication

Miscommunication is (definition given by miss).

In this comic strip, Miscommunication can be seen, when the message
sent by Tom regarding the time his class starts the next day, wasn’t heard
and understood by his sibling. Tom wasn’t able to express his thoughts
correctly to his sibling, causing miscommunication to occur and his
sibling leaving with the wrong time.

Misinformation is (definition given by miss).

Due to the initial miscommunication between Tom and his sibling, his
sibling misinforms his mother of the time Tom should wake up for class.
The message was relayed to his mother by the sibling, with the good
intention of waking Tom up early but he doesn’t realize it’s false and he
is giving her the wrong time due to Tom’s miscommunication. The end
result, is Tom being told to wake up at 7am, when his classes actually
start at 6am