Lesson 1 The Nature and Process of Communication

Communication: is a two-way process of connecting to both living and non- living things. It is also a means of sharing and exchanging messages, information, ideas, and feelings for mutual understanding (Gregoriom, J.C., 2015). Communication connects people and the world they live in. It is through communication that people are able to express their thoughts and ideas or convey information and messages through word of mouth, gestures and signals, signs, and others. People have always communicated with one another in various forms. Let us further define communication using the two key terms stated above, “message” and “understand”.

1. Communication is a message understood. Unless a message is understood we cannot say that communication has taken place. Let us send a message to someone and say, “where came first”. The person who gets this message would wonder what it means for the arrangement of the words does not make any sense. The message is sent but the receiver does not understand it. Therefore, for communication to take place we have to consider two conditions. First, there should be a clear message. Second, the message must be understood by the receiver for whom it is meant.

2. Communication is social interaction through messages.

   Think of someone telling, “It is very warm today.” In this case, we are communicating what ‘we experience’. The weather being warm is what we feel or experience physically. In this scenario, we are sharing our feeling or experience with someone else. Thus, we may say that “communication is a sharing of experience.” In our society, we all interact with messages. Without interactions, a society cannot survive. Social interaction is always through messages. We discuss problems and arrive at solutions. We exchange ideas and interact with others. We transact, and then we negotiate. In doing all these, we use communication. Imagine a situation where we are not able to speak and interact with others or think of a family living in the same house without speaking to each other or relating any form of message to one another. Such situation can be very lonely and problematic. Without communication, all forms of human relationships will vanish and die.

   Communication is therefore crucial in building and maintaining relationships.

The Communication Process

• Our everyday transactions with people follow the communication process.

• As seen in the illustration, communication begins when the speaker or source of communication responds to a stimulus and decides to encode or transmit it in the form of a message (or a “code”) through a particular channel or means of communication. The receiver decodes or interprets the message sent and responds accordingly based on his interpretation of the message. This response comes in the form of a feedback sent to the original source of communication (sender). As the communication transaction continues, the sender and receiver may exchange roles until understanding is achieved. Barriers to communication sometimes block the transmission of the message thereby creating misunderstanding. Through this process, we are able to understand that communication is systematic. In the advent of technology, the exchange of information and messages in society has advanced and has been a subject of many studies.

Functions of Communication