UNIT 2
Language of Communication
Effective verbal communication skills include more than just talking. Verbal communication encompasses both how you deliver messages and how you receive them. Communication is a soft skill, and it’s one that is important to every employer.
Workers who can convey information clearly and effectively are highly valued by employers.
Employees who can interpret messages and act appropriately on the information that they receive have a better chance of excelling on the job.
Verbal Communication Skills in the Workplace
What constitutes effective verbal communication on the job depends on the relationships between communication partners and the work context:
- Verbal communication in a work setting takes place between many different individuals and groups such as co-workers, bosses and subordinates, employees, customers, clients, teachers and students, and speakers and their audiences.
- Verbal communication occurs in many different contexts including training sessions, presentations, group meetings, performance appraisals, one-on-one discussions, interviews, disciplinary sessions, sales pitches, and consulting engagements.
SPOKEN COMMUNICATION
Communication by word of mouth. Spoken communication refers to our use of words while nonverbal communication refers to communication that occurs through means other than words, such as body language, gestures, and silence.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Written communication involves any type of interaction that makes use of the written word. Communication is a key to any endeavor involving more than one person. Communicating through writing is essential in the modern world and is becoming ever more so as we participate in what is now commonly called the information age. In fact, written communication is the most common form of business communication. It is essential for small business owners and managers to develop effective written communication skills and to encourage the same in all employees. The information age has altered the ways in which we communicate and placed an increasing emphasis on written versus oral communications.
The need to develop good writing skills is only highlighted by the fact that in the information age, it is not uncommon to have business relationships with customers and suppliers that are established and maintained exclusively through the use of written communications. In this environment, "the words we write are very real representations of our companies and ourselves. We must be sure that our e-mail messages are sending the right messages about us," explained Janis Fisher Chan, author of E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide-How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace, in an article appearing in Broker Magazine. The key to communication, of course, is to convey meaning in as accurate and concise a manner as possible. People do not read business memoranda for the pleasure of reading. They do so in order to receive instructions or information upon which to base decisions or take action. Therefore, highly literary prose is not desirable in business writing. Overly formal prose may also be counterproductive by seeming stand-offish or simply wordy. A style of writing that is too informal can also convey an unintended message, namely that the subject matter is not serious or not taken seriously by the sender. A straightforward, courteous tone is usually the best choice but one that may not come naturally without practice.
One advantage to using written forms of communication is that written messages do not have to be delivered on the spur of the moment; instead, they can be edited and revised several times before they are sent so that the content can be shaped to maximum effect. Another advantage is that written communication provides a permanent record of the messages and can be saved for later study. Since they are permanent, written forms of communication also enable recipients to take more time in reviewing the message and providing appropriate feedback.
Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language.
Nonverbal communication involves the conscious and unconscious processes of encoding and decoding. Encoding is defined as our ability to express emotions in a way that can be accurately interpreted by the receiver(s). Decoding is called "nonverbal sensitivity”, defined as the ability to take this encoded emotion and interpret its meanings accurately to what the sender intended. Encoding is the act of generating information such as facial expressions, gestures, and postures. Encoding information utilizes signals which we may think to be universal. Decoding is the interpretation of information from received sensations given by the encoder. Decoding information utilizes knowledge one may have of certain received sensations.
TYPES OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
PROXEMICS is defined as the use of space as a form of communication, and includes how far or near you position yourself from others; it can be influenced by culture, race/ethnicity, gender, and age. Edward T. Hall invented the term when he realized that culture influences how people use space in communication while working with diplomats, and published his findings on proxemics in 1959 as The Silent Language. For example, in high contact cultures people are generally more comfortable in a closer proximity, whereas individuals in low contact cultures feel more comfortable with a greater amount of personal space. Hall concluded that proxemics could cause misunderstandings between cultures as cultures use of proxemics varies and what is customary in one culture may range from being confusing to being offensive to members of a different culture.
KINESICS is defined as movements, more specifically the study of our movements involving our hands, body, and face. This form of nonverbal communication is powerful in the messages it sends to those witnessing them. The term was first coined by Ray Birdwhistell, who considered the term body language inaccurate and instead opted to explain it as nonverbal behaviors stemming from body movement. Research around this behavior provides some examples, such as someone casually smiling and leaning forward, as well as maintaining eye contact to radiate a non-dominating and intimate demeanor. In contrast, someone leaning back, a stoic facial expression, and no to little eye contact could emit an unfriendly and dominating demeanor.
Kinesics signals can be inborn (unwitting), learned (witting), or a mixture of the two. Blinking the eyes, clearing the throat, and facial flushing are innate (inborn) signals. These are often involuntary, as are, for example, facial expressions of happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, and other basics emotions understood by people in all cultures.
Laughing, crying, and shrugging the shoulders are examples of mixed signals. They may originate as innate actions, but cultural rules shape their timing and use. Gestures, such as a wink of the eye, a thumbs up, or a military salute, are learned signals. The meanings of such signs vary among different cultures.
HAPTICS is the study of touching as nonverbal communication, and haptic communication refers to how people and other animals communicate via touching.
Touches among humans that can be defined as communication include handshakes, holding hands, kissing (cheek, lips, hand), back slapping, high fives, a pat on the shoulder, and brushing an arm. Touching of oneself may include licking, picking, holding, and scratching. These behaviors are referred to as "adapters" or "tells" and may send messages that reveal the intentions or feelings of a communicator and a listener. The meaning conveyed from touch is highly dependent upon the culture, the context of the situation, the relationship between communicators, and the manner of touch.
CHRONEMICS is the way time is used. Our use of time can communicate and send messages, nonverbally. The way we use time and give or don't give our time to others can communicate different messages. Chronemics can send messages to others about what we value and also send messages about power. "When you go to see someone who is in a position of power over you, such as your supervisor, it is not uncommon to be kept waiting. However, you would probably consider it bad form to make a more powerful person wait for you. Indeed, the rule seems to be that the time of powerful people is more valuable than the time of less powerful people.
Time is an important non-verbal cue that factors heavily into communication, particularly in the world of business.
Chronemics in technology communication provides key insights for management. For example, studies have taken large amounts of aggregated email data from big companies and analyzed the level and timing of responses. This research showed that the organizational structure can be accurately predicted by creating a hierarchy of responsiveness, placing the most responsive entities at the bottom of the organization, and the least responsive entities at the top.
The predictive power of these chronemic models could be used in designing future communication technology to account for the expected responsiveness of people who are communicating, based on their positions in an organization.
PARALINGUISTICS is the part of communication outside of the words themselves – the volume, speed, intonation of a voice along with gestures and other non-verbal cues. Whenever there is confusion or stereotyping in cross-cultural communication, paralinguistics is most often responsible.
Gestures are commonly used in the classroom to help convey a message to second language learners. Be careful! Gestures have different meanings in different cultures.
Many facial expressions are universal, such as happiness, sadness, and surprise. Others though, are not. When reading a child’s facial expressions, a teacher must be careful not to jump to conclusions. How cultures use facial expressions differ.
Eye contact provides necessary feedback for conversations to take place such as turn taking, as well as beginning and ending conversations. The amount of eye contact deemed appropriate is very culturally based – too much or too little can show boredom, intimidation, or disrespect.
The communication barrier may prevent communication or carry incorrect meaning due to which misunderstandings may be created. Therefore, it is essential for a manager to identify such barriers and take appropriate measures to overcome them. The barriers to communication in organizations can be broadly grouped as follows:
1. Semantic Barriers
These are concerned with the problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of a message into words or impressions. Normally, such barriers result due to use of wrong words, faulty translations, different interpretations, etc.
For example, a manager has to communicate with workers who have no knowledge of the English language and on the other side, he is not well conversant with the Hindi language. Here, language is a barrier to communication as the manager may not be able to communicate properly with the workers.
2. Psychological Barriers
Emotional or psychological factors also act as barriers to communication. The state of mind of both sender and receiver of communication reflects in effective communication. A worried person cannot communicate properly and an angry recipient cannot understand the message properly.
Thus, at the time of communication, both the sender and the receiver need to be psychologically sound. Also, they should trust each other. If they do not believe each other, they cannot understand each other’s message in its original sense.
3. Organizational Barriers
The factors related to organizational structure, rules and regulations authority relationships, etc. may sometimes act as barriers to effective communication. In an organization with a highly centralized pattern, people may not be encouraged to have free communication. Also, rigid rules and regulations and cumbersome procedures may also become a hurdle to communication.
4. Personal Barriers
The personal factors of both sender and receiver may act as a barrier to effective communication. If a superior thinks that a particular communication may adversely affect his authority, he may suppress such communication.
Also, if the superiors do not have confidence in the competency of their subordinates, they may not ask for their advice. The subordinates may not be willing to offer useful suggestions in the absence of any reward or appreciation for a good suggestion.
5. Attitude Barriers
Certain people like to be left alone. They are the introverts or just people who are not very social. Others like to be social or sometimes extra clingy! Both these cases could become a barrier to communication. Some people have attitude issues, like huge ego and inconsiderate behaviours.
6. Technological Barriers & Socio-religious Barriers
Other barriers include the technological barriers. The technology is developing fast and as a result, it becomes difficult to keep up with the newest developments. Hence sometimes the technological advance may become a barrier. In addition to this, the cost of technology is sometimes very high.
Communicative English is an approach to language teaching in which a student learns from real life interaction, which can help to reinforce the value of their studies. Our below blog post explores exactly what Communicative English is, some techniques on how to improve your English Communication Skills, as well as exploring the Communicative Approach, a tried and tested method for improving your English skills as effectively as possible.
Knowing how to speak fluently, one on one, with another English speaker is vitally important for various reasons! But, you need to have the necessary communication skills in order to reach this level. When it comes to communicative English, there are many different techniques that can help to give you the edge over other learners and native speakers in your conversations; ensuring a great first impression every time!
APPROACH
The Communicative Approach is an idea that to learn English successfully, you have to communicate in the language, in meaningful situations, in order to see the value of your work. The communicative approach is a tried and test method for helping a student to acquire valuable communicative English skills, which they see true value in.
When a student is involved with real life communication, which is also meaningful to them, they see value in their work. This can help a student to develop a natural approach to language learning and vocabulary acquisition moving forward, outside of the classroom.
The communicative approach is not just limited to real life verbal communication. It is an approach to language learning in general. For example, a class utilizing the communicative approach could also include the study of “authentic texts” – texts written in the target language for a purpose other than your language studies. By adopting the communicative approach in your English studies, you will be able to improve on your fluency, enabling you to be more confident when interacting in English.
The Communicative Approach is not new, it is said to have originated in Britain in the 1960s. So, with more than 50 years of usage as a tried and tested approach to language learning, the Communicative Approach is a proven success.
WHY IT IS NECESSARY
If you have already been exposed to the communicative approach, then it is likely you already know the benefits this approach can have on your English language studies, and the value it can provide. Communicative English is important as it can help a student to see value in their studies, in a meaningful way.
Strengthening your communication skills in English is necessary, and is a powerful tool that can be used for business, travel or simply to have a conversation in a different country. By improving on your communicative English, you are enabling yourself to not only hold a conversation in your target language, but you are also developing the required skills to go forth and develop a natural approach to language learning and vocabulary acquisition moving forward, on your own.
With more than 1.5 billion people speaking English as either their native or second language, we will leave it up to you to decide whether communicative English is really necessary.
REFERENCES
- Adair, John. Effective Communication. London: Pan Macmillan Ltd., 2003.
- Ajmani, J. C. Good English: Getting it Right. New Delhi: Rupa Pubications, 2012.
- Amos, Julie-Ann. Handling Tough Job Interviews. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing, 2004.
- Bonet, Diana. The Business of Listening: Third Edition. New Delhi: Viva Books, 2004.
- Bovee, Courtland L, John V. Thill & Barbara E. Schatzman. Business Communication Today: Tenth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2010.
