Teachers all over the world have motivated students to improve their proficiency in the language. But more than the development of fluency and eloquence, being an effective communicator requires suitable understanding of the appropriate use of language in a given context, grasp of every little detail that comes with an utterance, and the sensitivity to know when and how to do repairs, or a follow-up (when necessary), etc. In order to develop these competencies, students need to understand how the process o f communication goes, how the elements work and are affected by various factors, and more importantly what happens when contexts are dissimilar. Communication “It's not JUST oral communication. It's body language, eye contact, the grinning, the little signals that go on between people.” ~ Keith Richards Communicate – noun COMMUNIS, verb COMMUNICARE “to share” or “to make common” What does this mean? Communication involves various elements! paralinguistics (i.e. tone, pitch, pace, etc.) Even silence - - - all these convey several meanings communicative competence (Hymes, 1966; Gumperz, 1972; Canale & Swain, 1980; Celce-Murcia, Dornyei & Thurell, 1995; in Wardhaugh, 2010) includes your sociolinguistic (appropriate use of the language within a context), discourse/pragmatic (grasp of anything beyond the sentence structure), and strategic (compensatory strategies) competencies) LINGUISTICS This further suggests that… more important than the emphasis of eloquence and fluency in speech, the discussion on communication should focus on every little thing that matters --- the nonverbal cues, the context, culture, age, gender, among others. It is NOT ENOUGH that you sound good. Communication is about understanding every element of the process, and then responding appropriately to these elements. Communication Effectiveness depends on the following: ability of the sender and the receiver to encode and decode the message/information extent to which both parties have similar codebooks shared mental models about the topic’s context sender’s experience at communicating the message Communication - process by which information is transmitted & understood between two or more people. Linguistic repertoire refers to the range of linguistic varieties which the speaker has at his disposal and which he may appropriately use as a member of his speech community. ~ Platt and Platt (1975), cited in Pennycook (2017) Communication Models 1. Aristotelian Model of Communication In order to attain the effect or achieve the purpose of communication, people should be able to master the art of rhetoric! The Three Rhetorical Appeals a. Pathos (Passion/Emotion) - The use of emotional appeal. Examples: heart-warming stories, personal experiences, humorous jokes, pitiful photographs, etc. b. Logos (Logic) - The use of logical argument. Examples: statistics, facts, reasonable arguments, logical organization of information, etc. c. Ethos (Ethics) - The use of credibility and trust. Examples: quotes from professionals, customer reviews, celebrity endorsement, personal qualifications, testimonies, etc. Rhetoric is the art of ruling men’s mind. (Plato) Pathos – are able to establish an emotional connection to your audience/readers Logos – logical reasoning, rationality, and consistency Ethos – shows credibility and expertise Laswell’s Model (1948) - This is another example of a unidirectional COMMUNICATION MODEL, which specifically highlights the need to choose the appropriate CHANNEL. Channels - Verbal Choosing the best Channel - Social acceptance * How well the communication is approved and supported Media richness Medium’s data carrying-capacity – the volume and the variety of information that can be transmitted during a specific time (Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel, 1986) People have different linguistic repertoire. What about Non-Verbal Communication? - Oculesics Haptics Proxemics Chronemics - Aside from language variation, speakers need to appreciate how understanding each element is important in the quest to become effective communicators. Now, let us closely examine the different elements of communication. We can lie VERBALLY, but not with NON-VERBAL cues. Osgood-Schramm’s Communication Model Barnlund (1962) Among the first example of a unidirectional model. Meaning, a single individual speaks or writes to a particular audience for a certain purpose. Communication Model by Wood (2006), Adler and Towne (1996) This difference in the level of abstraction is addressed in the transactional model of communication, a variant of which is shown in Figure 5. This model acknowledges neither creators nor consumers of messages, preferring to label the people associated with the model as communicators who both create and consume messages. The model presumes additional symmetries as well, with each participant creating messages that are received by the other communicator. This is, in many ways, an excellent model of the face-to-face interactive process which extends readily to any interactive medium that provides users with symmetrical interfaces for creation and consumption of messages, including notes, letters, C.B. Radio, electronic mail, and the radio. It is, however, a distinctly interpersonal model that implies an equality between communicators that often doesn't exist, even in interpersonal contexts. The caller in most telephone conversations has the initial upper hand in setting the direction and tone of a telephone callr than the receiver of the call (Hopper, 1992). In a face-to-face head-complement interactions, the boss (head) has considerably more freedom (in terms of message choice, media choice, ability to frame meaning, ability to set the rules of interaction) and power to allocate message bandwidth than does the employee (complement). The model certainly does not apply in mass media contexts. What are your thoughts about the Communication Model by Wood (2006), Adler and Towne (1996)? PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION -Defined as the intentional communication that happens within the bounds of specific contexts, Purposive Communication challenges the communicator to strategically use a language that is understood, familiar, and accepted in a context, in order to communicate his/her specific intentions. The assertion is that, when the communicator fails to consider context, there is a possibility of a communication breakdown. If communication is that complicated, why make languages varied? Doesn't it add up to the complexity of the entire communication process, right? It has already been pointed out that no two persons speak exactly alike, and, within the area of all but the smallest speech communities (groups of people speaking the same language), there are subdivisions of recognizably different types of language, called dialects, that do not, however, render intercommunication impossible or markedly difficult (Britannica Online Dictionary). Varieties in Speech and Writing Why do languages vary? Using the SOCIOLINGUISTIC lens, languages vary because: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. People are members of different SPEECH COMMUNITIES Globalization Colonization Diversity Diaspora ICT and Media SOCIOLINGUISTICS - is an attempt to find correlations between social structure and linguistic structure and to observe any changes that occur (Gumpers, 1971) is the study of the social uses of language, and the most productive studies in the four decades of sociolinguistic research have emanated from determining the social evaluation of linguistic variants (Chambers, 2002) SPEECH COMMUNITY- principal unit of any ethnographic study Bloomfield (1926) said that speech communities refer to a group of people who interact by means of speech. But for Hymes (1967), it is a community sharing rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one linguistic variety. One can participate in a speech community without being a member of it, but the lines of demarcation are not fixed or universal: i.e. accent, ways of speaking, grammar, etc. in different communities or at different times in one community. (Hymes postulated that the basis of describing a speech community is a social, rather than a linguistic, entity.) Gumperz (1968) also defined it as an activity characterized by frequent interaction using a mutually intelligible body of verbal signs. According to him, the speech varieties employed within a speech community are formalized as a system (i.e.written in dictionaries, taught in schools, used in gatherings, etc.) LANGUAGES? DIALECTS? JARGONS PIDGINS AND CREOLES because they share a set of social norms but may overlap language boundaries: e.g. Czech, Austrian German, and Hungarian speakers may share norms for speech acts, topics, conversational participation, etc. Is this English? Orayt, mifla i go go lang salwater, lukawtim fish, naw win i kem, naw mifla i go alebawt long kinu, naw bigfla win i kem naw, mifla go, no kachim ni ples i kwaytfla. To Very well. We kept going on the sea, hunting fish, and a wind arose; now we were going in canoes, and an immense wind arose, and we were thrown around and ran very fast (before the wind). Neo-Solomonic (Solomon Islands) The Lord’s Prayer (from Hawaiian Pidgin Bible) God, you our Fadda. You stay inside da sky. We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay, An dat you stay good an spesho, An we like dem give you plenny respeck. We like you come King fo everybody now. We like everybody make jalike you like, Ova hea inside da world, Jalike da angel guys up inside da sky make jalike you like. Give us da food we need fo today an every day. Hemmo our shame, an let us go Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you, Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready, And we no stay huhu wit dem Fo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us. No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff, But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us. Cuz you our King. You get da real power, An you stay awesome foeva. Dass it!” SLANG/COLLOQUIALS OTHER LANGUAGE VARIETIES Dell Hymes’ Ethnography of Communication as an Approach to Examine Language Varieties VARIETY IN SPEECH 1. S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G Framework (proposed by Dell Hymes) Setting – physical circumstances, scene Participants – speaker, listener Ends – conventionally recognized and expected outcomes of the exchange Act Sequence – form and content of what was said Keys – tone, manner, spirit of the conveyance of the message Instrumentalities – channel Norms – standard or pattern of communication behavior set by a specific context Genre – types of utterance LANGUAGE REGISTERS Some languages take on different registers depending on the social situation and the cultures and sub-cultures between those involved. As mentioned by Jennifer Young, "Register is an essential social skill that provides flexibility and demonstrates competence in speech and appropriate social norms". What this means is that we as humans, address and converse with people depending on what sort of relationship we have with them and our speech is shaped by our experiences, social background and culture but more importantly, the common shared relationship with that person. LANGUAGE REGISTERS What other factors contribute to linguistic varieties? 1. GLOBALIZATION - world-wide integration of humanity (accommodation not isolation nor alienation) - increasing economic, political, & cultural integration 2. DIASPORA -a scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale. 3. ICT & MEDIA - Digital technology erases territorial boundaries between countries therefore we become multiculturalists – persons respectful of and engaged with people from distinctly different cultures. 4. GENDER 5. CULTURE - Other cultures view silence as a lack of communication and often interpret long breaks as a sign of disagreement. - Conversational overlaps also send messages in different cultures. Japanese people usually stop talking when they are interrupted, whereas talking over the other person’s speech is more common in Brazil, France, & some other countries. NON-VERBAL DIFFERENCE ACROSS CULTURES - - Silence Communication includes silence, but the use and meaning of silence varies from one culture to another. One study estimated that silence and pauses represented 30 percent of conversation time between Japanese doctors and patients, compared with only 8% of the time between American doctors & patients. Silence among Japanese means respect & the listener is thoughtfully contemplating what has just been said.
