OSGOOD-SCHRAMM’S

MODEL
Dr Tinam Borah
Assistant Professor
DME Media School
• In this model the source or the sender encodes a message
which gets decoded and interpreted by the receiver. But the
process does not end here.
• Now it is the receiver’s turn to encode a message and send
it to the source. This message is now decoded and
interpreted by the source.
• The strength of this model is that it looks at communication
as a far more dynamic and interactive process in which
both the source and receiver or A and B participate by
responding to each other and picking up cues from each
other.
• Schramm added another very significant element to the
process of communication which is known as feedback.
So when A is in conversation with B, the following chain of
events take place: A encodes a message and sends it
through a channel. B receives the message, decodes it and
responds by sending his feedback. This feedback can in the
form of a gesture or a word or even a long sentence. The
sender will be able to understand the affectivity of his
message by the help of feedback which in turn would lead
to better communication. The element of feedback makes
Schramm’s model reciprocal and extremely interactive in
nature.
Field of Experience
• In this model, Schramm introduces the concept of field
of experience, which is vital for communication to take
place.
• These fields are nothing but peripheries of the total
human experience a person has. If both the source and
receiver are in tune with each other, then the signal will
be within the circles of accumulated experience of the
two individuals.
• In such a case communication process will be able to
deliver the intended message.
 SIGN
• Messages are made of signs and symbols. A sign is a signal
that stands for something in experience. A sign can be in the
form of a word, image, a sound or gesture. Therefore the sign
stands for something other than itself.
• For example, the word ‘chair’ has no natural relationship with
the object it represents. This relationship has been created by
convention in the English language. The word ‘chair’ can be
interpreted at a denotative level as an object we sit on.
• While at the connotative level, it stands for power or
hierarchy. The word could be meaningless in societies where
people sit on the floor using woven mats. That is because it
not part of their field of experience.