Mary the Queen College (Pampanga)

We Transform Lives

Senior High School Department

Subject Code: EN11/12OC-Ia Module No./Title: Module 3: Elements of

Communication
Subject Description: The development of Period of Coverage:
listening and speaking skills and strategies for
effective communication in various situations.

Introduction:

Understanding Communication
The process of passing any information from one person to the other person with the aid of some
medium is termed as communication.

This lesson helps you learn about what communication is and how to process of oral communication
goes. It discusses elements of process of communication.

Objectives: After this lesson, the students should be able to learn the following:
1. Identify the basic elements of communication and their purpose in the communication
process;
2. Understands the elements of communication in context;
3. Performs effective controlled and uncontrolled oral communication activities based on
context.
Content:

Communication is also composed of different elements or various models have been proposed to
show how communication works, but all of them involve variations of the following elements.

Elements of Communication
To make the communication process effective, the communicator must consider the elements
of communication, as follows:

I. Participants
The Participants refers to both the speaker and the listener.

Speaker or Sender or Encoder. The sender is the one who decides on the information to transmit, and
the form and the instrument to be used in transmitting the information.
Listener or Receiver or Decoder. The receiver is the person or group of persons to whom the
information is transmitted. In the case of Pres. Benign Aquino III’s last SONA, the language he used in
sending his message was Filipino because his intention was to be understood by majority of the
Filipinos, his target audience although there were foreign press people and visitor present to witness the
occasion.

II. Context
The context is the environment that surrounds the communication. This includes the time, the

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venue, and the occasion, as well as the attitudes of the speaker/s and the listeners. It also refers to
interrelated conditions of communication (Padilla et al., 2003) which affects how people understand
the message. It is classified into five types.

A. Physical context includes the setting where the communication takes place, the time of the day, the
environmental condition ( such as temperature, lightning and noise level), distance between or among
communication, the seating arrangement, and other concrete elements. Meeting place must be well-
chosen to avoid and physical inferences.
B. Social context refers to the nature of relationships existing between or among the communicators
and it also sets the formality of the interaction. How message are formed, shared, and understood
depend on whether the interaction takes place among family members, friends, work associates, or
strangers.
C. Psychological context involves the communicators’ mood and feelings. To illustrate, the same joke
can either amuse or anger a person depending on his or her mood. Being conscious of and considerate
with other people’s feelings during a conversation is a prerequisite to effective communication.
D. Cultural context is comprised of the beliefs, values, and norms shared by a large group of people.
Because of cultural context, people who share the same race and culture interact easily, while people
often experience dead air when talking with others from different cultures.
E. Historical context involves the background provided by previous interactions between or among
communicators (Verderber & Verderber, 2012) which affect understanding of the current exchange.

III. Message
The message refers to the speaker’s meanings, ideas and feelings. The message can be delivered by
the speaker verbally or non-verbally and the received and interpreted by the listener based on his/her
personal ideas and feelings.
Usually, communication are not aware that they are following a process when transmitting and
understanding messages. For instance, when responding to a friend’s message, you do not consciously
choose from an internal list of various facial expressions and verbal cues; instead, you react naturally
according to your understanding of the message.

IV. Channels
The channel is the instrument or method used in delivering his message. In the case of the
President’s SONA, the channel is television or radio. However, for those who failed to watch the
SONA live, they can access the information via the Internet.
The speaker sends the messages through channels which transmit his or her ideas and feeling to
the listener. The two major channels are visual (light) and auditory (sound). The visual channel
enables communicators to send and receive visible information such as hand gestures, bodily
movements, facial expressions. The auditory channel, on the other hand, enables listeners to receive
information and interpret it through the tone, volume, and pitch of the speaker’s voice.
There are times when the transmission of message is disrupted. These disruptions which prevent
messages from being interpreted are known as noise. There are three types of noise- external, internal,
and semantic.

A. External noise
It includes sights, sounds, and any other distractions in the physical environment. Examples include
and unattended phone ringing loudly, a passing vehicle blowing its horn, or an attractive person
passing by.
B. Internal noise
It refers to the distractions within the communicator. It can be categorized as either physiological or
biological noise, such as hearing loss or illness, or psychological noise, such as worrying or
daydreaming.

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 C. Semantic noise.
It involves the unintentional misunderstanding caused by ambiguity, ethnic slurs, profanity, and vulgar
speech. For example, a Manila- based lawyer asks his secretary to “pack his briefs,” referring to his
legal documents. Semantic noise might lead to a misinterpretation of the “briefs” as underwear.

V. Feedback
The feedback is the response of the receiver to the information transmitted. It may come in verbal
forms or non-verbal forms.
Summary:

The essential elements of the process of communication are the message, the sender, encoding, the
channel, the receiver, decoding, acting on the message, the feedback, and the communication
environment. Both the sender and the receiver play a role in making communication effective. The
sender should encode the message accurately after considering the level, expectations, and needs of the
target audience (receiver); the receiver should listen or read carefully to try to understand the intended
meaning of the sender.

Learning Resources:

 Textbooks
 Powerpoint Presentation
 Digital learning resources such as text and image.
 Online Platform (NEOlms, Google Classroom, MS Teams, etc.,)
Evaluation:

Hide and Seek

Let the students guess the words described below. To help you with this activity, correct answers are
hidden in the letterbox. Students should write their answers to the space provided before each number.

X C V B N M L K H G
S M F C H A N N E L 1.
D T E H D S E S D S This
G D E S D F B O O D
H Y D D S L D U C F
J U B C W A S R E G
K I A H K L G C D H
E N C O D E B E G J
L S K W F H N K H K
P R E C E I V E R L
is transmitted from one person to another either through words, actions, or expressions.
________________
2. One who transmits the words, actions, or expressions. ________________
3. This is how you transmit the words, actions, or expressions. ________________
4. Through this you transmit the words, actions, or expressions. ________________
5. Extract the meaning of words, actions, and expressions to complete understanding.
________________
6. One who receives the transmitted words, actions, or expressions. ________________
7. Another word for answer or reply. _______________
References:

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 Fernandez, E. J., Masong, A. S., & Samillano, R. Z. Oral Communication for Senior High School
 Retrieved from: https://www.scribd.com/document/409115753/EN11-12OC-Ia-1-EN11-12OC-Ia-
7-5-docx
 Pena, A. R.(2016). Oral Communication. Quezon City: Vibal Group Inc.
Next Lesson: Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
Prepared by: Katelyn S. Albelar, LPT – SHS Checked by: Kim Kenneth T. Ayroso, LPT,
English Teacher MAEd – English Coordinator

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