COMMUNICATION
• The term communication stems from a
Latin word communis which means ‘common’ and
denotes the act of imparting, conveying or exchanging ideas through
speech, writing or signs.
• It is one of the fundamental
needs of human beings and it is as important as the physical requirement
for food and shelter.
• Thus, communication can be considered
as an individual as well as a social need.
WHAT IS
COMMUNICATION?
• communication is the art of
transmitting information, ideas and attitudes from one person to another.
• It is a process of transmitting
a message from a source to an audience through a channel.
• For example, in a conversation, which
is the most common type of communication, the person who speaks is the
source and the person who listens is the audience.
• What is transmitted by the
person who speaks is the message and the spoken voice carried through the air
is the channel.
• Ban and Hawkins define communication as the process
of sending and receiving messages through channels which establish common
meaning between a source and receiver.
• According to Joseph A. Devito
communication refers to “the act by one or more persons, of sending and
receiving messages, distorted by noise, within a context, with some effect and
with some opportunity for feedback.”
• Wilbur Schramm, a leading communication scholar, defines
communication as a sharing process.
• He traces the word communication to
the Latin word ‘communis’ which means common.
• According to him, when we communicate
we are trying to establish a commonness with someone. That is, we are
trying to share information, an idea or an attitude with someone.
ELEMENTS
OF COMMUNICATION
• Elements of communication refer to
the basic components involved in an act of communication.
• These elements are also called the
universals of communication because they are present in every communication
act.
• These elements are briefly mentioned
below:
• 1. Source : A person who sends a message or a
signal is the source in communication. Communication by definition demands that
someone send signals and someone receive them.
• 2. Receiver : A person who receives the message
or signal is the receiver in a communication process.
• 3. Context : Communication always takes place
within a context. It can either restrict or stimulate the
communication process. Communication in a funeral home, a public park, a
cricket stadium and in a church will be entirely different.
• 4. Message : Message is anything that is sent
and received. Generally we think of communication messages as being
verbal (oral or written). We can also communicate nonverbally.
• 5. Channel : It is the route or vehicle along
which the message is transmitted from a sender to receiver. When you
talk to a friend, the sound waves that carry your words constitute the
channel. When you write something, the piece of paper becomes the channel.
Newspapers, magazines, radio, television and internet become the channels in
mass communication.
• 6. Noise: Noise in communication refers to anything
that distorts or interferes with the message. The screeching of a passing car,
sun-glasses a person wears, prejudices, bias, poor grammar etc. interfere with
the effective and efficient transmission of messages from the sender to the
receiver.
• 7. Encoding: Two important elements in
communication are ‘encoding’ (at the sender end of the model) and ‘decoding’
(at the receiver end). Encoding means that the message is translated into a
language or code suitable for transmission to the intended receivers.
• 8. Decoding: The act of understanding or
comprehending a message is referred to as decoding. When we speak we are
putting our ideas into sound waves (encoding). By translating sound
waves into ideas we are taking them out of the code they are in and hence decoding.
Similarly, when we read a text, we are decoding the written symbols
of a language.
• 9. Feedback: The information that is fed
back to the source is known as feedback. Feedback, in general,
refers to any process by which the communicator obtains information as to
whether and how his/her intended receiver has received the message.
• 10. Effect: The consequences of communication
are referred to as effect. Communication has always some effect on one or more
persons. The effect could be on the source or on the receiver or on both of
them.
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