INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

Communication is giving, receiving or exchanging

ideas, information, signals or messages through
appropriate media.
Communication enables individuals or groups to
persuade, to seek information, to give information or
to express emotions.
Through communication, human beings identify,
negotiate, and fulfill their needs and desires by
communicating these to others in society.
For this reason, human communication is has been
said to be what makes us human for we are able to
formulate abstract ideas and express them in a
systematic and transactional manner.

What factors may affect the quality of

communication?
 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1. Barriers to communication result in undesirable reaction
and unfavorable response.
2. The communication exercise fails because the feed back is
absent or falls short of expectation
3. Barriers to communication are caused by environmental,
physical, semantic, attitudinal and varying perceptions of
reality .
 For communication to be effective, it should go
through all the necessary steps that include everything
that happens from the time a message is originated, to
when it is understood by the recipient. These steps are
as follows:
Origination
Production
Transmission
Reception
Comprehension
Feedback
.
 Forms of communication

Most of us intuitively acknowledge that there are

significant differences between oral and written
communication.

Communication is not always a smooth transfer of

messages. It is a more complex process especially when it
involves a complex phenomenon.

Between spoken and written communication, writing is a

more static transfer as opposed to speaking which is
largely dynamic.
However, there is a higher level of immediacy in
oral communication, although this is countered by
its lower level of retention.
It is for this reason that oral communication
demands a speaker’s ability to engage the audience
psychologically, and to use of complex forms of
non-verbal communication.
The written language, on the other hand, can be
significantly precise.
Written words can be selected with greater
deliberation and thought, and a written argument can
be extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy.
These attributes of writing are possible because the
pace of involvement is controlled by the reader and the
writer.
 ADVANTAGES OF ORAL COMMUNICATION
Relatively fast
Has a personal appeal and thus creates room for persuasion or
conviction.
Provides for immediate feedback.

DISADVANTAGES OF ORAL COMMUNICATION

No record for future reference.

Messages can be distorted.
Not suitable over long distances.
Time consuming.
Lacks confidentiality.
 ADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Can be retained for future reference
Suitable for confidential messages
Allows for the inclusion of details
Not prone to distortion
 
DISADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Lacks a personal appeal
Takes time to originate, produce, and eventually convey
to the recipient
Suitable for only those who can read and write
Immediate feedback may not be possible