PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

Introduction to
Communication

MARK JAY T. JABON, LPT

 An indispensable tool for human survival is
communication. People communicate to get
what they need and to accomplish what they
want.

Communication, in relation to human survival,

does not confine itself to just addressing the
biological needs of an individual such as food,
shelter, and clothing among others, in order to
survive.

However, the benefits of it can only be fully

enjoyed if carefully understood, effectively
done, and purposively carried out.
 UNIT 1: Language and
Communication
Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of the unit, you are expected to:

1. describe the nature of communication;

2. explain the communication process and its elements through various models;
3. discuss the principles of communication and their ethical implications; and
4. examine how communication works as applied to various text and situation.
 Getting Started
Communication has been defined in several ways by various authors. In this activity, gather your ideas associated with
communication in a semantic web. For ten (10) minutes, write as many words or phrases as you can. Afterwards, construct your
one-sentence definition of communication by putting together the words you used in the semantic web.

Communication is ________________________________________________________.
How similar or different are the previous definitions
from your understanding of communication?
There are four key terms that should be defined to fully understand
communication: process, systems, symbols, and meanings (Wood, 2012).

Process
Process implies continuity. In the context of communication, one never stops from
communicating as it is an ongoing activity. It is dynamic as it continually changes.
Communication is never static. You might start communicating the moment you wake up even
up to the time you close your eyes. Communication can even extend in deep slumber (as in
talking to someone in your dreams). The moment you open your eyes the following day, you
are confronted again with similar communication opportunities. However, it is difficult to tell
when communication starts and stops. Communication does not necessarily start in uttering the
first word and stop in saying the last word of a sentence. The circumstances that occur before
starting a conversation and even the incidents that follow it may still affect future
conversations. This indicates that communication is a process that is constantly moving and
continuously changing
Communication is considered a process because it is an activity in
itself. It is not an object that you can just simply perceive using one
of your senses, but it is an activity in which you participate
(Pearson et al., 2011).

Therefore, communication as a process is continuous, moving,

and ever changing
System

In the definitions of communication presented at the

beginning of this chapter, phrases such as "oneself to another
entity," "from a source to a receiver," and "people interact"
suggest that communication operates within a system.

Wood (2012) defined system as interrelated parts that affect

one another. It is a collection not of random parts but of
organized wholes.
 Communication is likewise affected by the larger system within which it operates.

Thus, to effectively communicate and interpret a message, it is important to understand the system (culture,
religion, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status, age, sex, political affiliation, and others) within which
communication takes place.
Symbols

Another common term among the definitions is symbols. Wood explicitly used
this term in her definition. In Palta's definition, symbol is represented by
language and in Ober and Newman's, it is indicated by spoken or written words
and facial expressions, gestures, and voice qualities. For others, it is embedded
in the term message.
All these suggest the use of symbols in communication.
When people communicate, they rely on symbols-a
concrete representation of something abstract. It is a
tangible counterpart of something intangible. The use of
symbols allows people to perceive abstract, arbitrary, and
ambiguous representation of things using the senses.
Meanings

At the heart of communication is meaning. It

can be viewed as an "end" in itself. This means that
when people communicate, they attach meaning to
the symbols they use (either verbal or non-verbal)
with the intent that the person/s they are
communicating with share the same meaning as
intended. In other words, the goal is to generate
common meanings through the messages provided or
received.
Communication has two levels of meaning: content level and relationship level (Wood,
2014; Pinker, 2008; Watzlawick, Beavin & Jackson, 1967),
Type Meaning Example
Content Level It refers to the literal meaning of If someone asks. "May you attend the
the message. It is parallel to the meeting?" the content-level meaning is that
denotative meaning of the the person is simply requesting your
message. presence in the meeting.

Relationship Level It expresses the relationship However, if the same question is asked by
between communicators. This your boss, you might interpret the
can be the connotative meaning relationship- level meaning as delegating the
of a message. task to you being the top performer or
someone who can be trusted in your team.
 Meaning also refers to the understanding of the message. Ideally, your
message should be understood in the same manner you intend it to be. Similarly,
the people who send you a message expect that you understand it in the same
way they do. However, it is a reality that all the messages you generate are not
shared by others with whom you try to communicate. Accordingly, the message
is open to different interpretations.
 Putting the concepts and other definitions together,
communication can be defined as a continuous activity (process)
that operates within a certain context (system) in which people
exchange words, gestures, and other verbal and non-verbal
(symbols) behavior to create and understand information or
messages (meaning)
 Elements of Communication

Harold Laswell (1948), a political scientist, came up with a set of questions to conveniently describe what
comprises communication. The following are the questions and their corresponding components of
communication:
Figure 1.1 Laswell's Components of Communication
Pearson et al. (2011) provided more comprehensive components of communication
which include people, messages, codes, channels, feedback, encoding and
decoding. and noise or barrier.
People
People who are involved in the communication process assume two roles-both
as sources and receivers of the message. The source initiates a message, and
the receiver in the intended target of the message. These roles are not
performed Independently and successively but rather continually and
simultaneously
Message
This is the verbal and non-verbal form of the idea, thought, or feeling that
one intends to communicate to another person or group of people. Verbal
message pertains to the language one utters. It comes in the form of words,
phrases, and sentences which can either be oral or written. Non-verbal
message refers to gestures, body, movements, sign languages, and facial
expressions that carry with them their own meaning .
Channel
It refers to the means with which the message is delivered. As the message
moves from the source to the receiver, it passes through a medium (plural is
media) or a channel which can be airwaves and cable (channels for
receiving television messages), sound waves (for radio messages), and sound
and light waves (for face-to-face communication allowing the receiver to see
and hear the sender).
Feedback
It is the receiver's verbal and non-verbal response to the source's message.
Ideally, when one delivers a message, a response is expected. The response,
however, does not necessarily have to be verbal for it to be considered
feedback.
Code
How does a computer recognize the messages it receives via the input of its
users? Binary (0 and 11 code allows the computer to interpret the messages it
receives. In human communication, this code pertains to language. A code is a
systematic arrangement of symbols used to create meanings in the mind of
another person/s.
Encoding and Decoding
Encoding is defined as the process of translating an idea or a thought into a
code.

Decoding is the process of assigning meaning to an idea or a thought.

Noise or Barrier
In the context of communication, noise refers to any interference in the
encoding and decoding processes which affect the clarity and
understanding of a message.
Interfered not by a physical noise but by a mental or psychological noise.
QUESTIONS
 GEC 5

Thank you very

much!

MARK JAY T. JABON, LPT

Purposive Communication