SPCH COMM HCC Northwest Fall 2011
Today’s Objective

Continue to explore the communication
modeling process

Connect our knowledge of roles and
actions in the linear model to the
transactional model

Recognize and apply concepts of the
transactional model to our own
communication episodes

Pages 7-12 of your textbook. Model is Fig 2., page 9

Recall what we learned about the linear
model of communication
 Shannon and Weaver; 1949; scholarly dialogue in
business, communication, education, psychology
& sociology.
Critique of S&W’s linear model



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Process explained
Highlights information transfer
Identification of roles, roles are rigid
Opens up process for questions about people
21 years later a more dynamic model emerged
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4RDCy7nBJI&feature=
related

Dean C. Barnlund submitted this model in 1970
Barnlund’s Transactional Model
of Communication
The language of communication
Two-way, continuous transaction
Communicator
Environment
Noise
Meaning
In a transactional model . . .

We activate a dynamic, simultaneous
process

Participants are ‘sending’ and ‘receiving’
at all times

Encoding and decoding can and will
happen unconsciously
 Communicators
give and get simultaneously
 Communicators
come into the episode with
personal experiences, personalities and traits,
cultural backgrounds and relational histories
 The
background details, along with the
physical location, comprise the environment
of the episode
Three types of noise impact communication in
the transactional model
External Noise: Auditory interference
Physiological Noise: Biological interference
Psychological Noise: Internal noise , thought
interference


In 1970 Barnlund put forth the Transactional
Model of Communication, a two-way,
communicator and meaning centered model
Some concepts are revised from the linear model,
including simultaneous roles, impact of channels,
types of noise, communicator background and
shared meaning.
HANDS ON!
Grab a partner. Your team is
making a visual metaphor.