Module 5: Overview and Process of Communication
Activity 5.1 The following are examples of what most people would call communication. Read them and list the things you think are common to all of them.
A dog snarls at a cat that gets in its way.
You stay up late to watch the hosts of a talk show interview the Vice President.
A traffic enforcer blows his whistle to stop traffic so children can cross the pedestrian lane.
Your officemate walks into your room, points at your desk and asks, “Have you finished…” and stops when you scowl at him. “Of course not!” you say, “Come back later.”
A child stands in the middle of a crowded department store and cries for its another.
A teenager pauses in front of a poster that reads. “Don’t drink and drive”.
All of the sentences showed action. It is like someone is telling someone about something that happened. The sentences sound like stories.
Activity 5.2 Write your own definition or understanding of communication.
For me, I communicate in order to get what I want. I express my desire to achieve a goal by speaking, writing, or showing gestures. I need to communicate to feel comfortable and to survive.
Activity 5.3 Why should we discuss communication as a process?
Communication is a process because it is ongoing, dynamic and interdependent. It flows in a cyclic manner. Elements in the communication process are the sender, message, receiver, channel, effect and feedback. Communication includes not only the transmission of message but the process by which people influence each other. There are three levels where communication takes place: intrapersonal interpersonal and mass communication. We will not survive with communicating with others.
