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Purposive Communication (Part 1)

Purposive Communication (Polytechnic University of the Philippines)

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PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION (Part One)

1. Communication: An Overview
A. Nature of the Communication Process

As we all know, human communication is vital for survival and it is one thing in life that we cannot avoid
to do.

Communication:

- comes from the Latin word ‘communis’, which means ‘commons’. To be common means “to
come together” or “to commune”- “to share something in common”.

- is the process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, feelings and emotions from one person to another
with the use of symbols which may be verbal and/or non-verbal and aims for understanding.

Why study Communication?

- to understand ourselves as social being; to understand ourselves as a person; to gain

professional competence and; to preserve cultural values

Elements of Human Communication:

1. Sender - is the one who initiates the communication.

2. Receiver -provides the sender with feedback which may prompt the sender to clarify the
message or signal to carry on as planned.
3. Message –I s made up of the ideas and feelings that a sender-receiver wants to share with
others.
 Verbal symbols – express through words
 Non-Verbal symbols – express through gestures, inflection, tone, etc.
4. Channel - are means through which we transmit the message in either vocal or non-vocal
messages.
 Vocal messages– are verbal and spoken
 Non-vocal messages– may be expressed in words or non-verbal symbols
5. Feedback - the behavioral response of the sender-receiver to each other. It is the information
that comes back to the sender of the message and informs how well the message is getting
through.
6. Noise - an interference that bars the message from being understood or interpreted.
 External noise– comes from the physical environment

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 Internal Noise– confined within the psychological and sociological nature of

individuals when thoughts and feelings are engrossed on something other than the
communication at hand.
7. Context - refers to the surrounding/environment that helps shape the interaction between
and/or among individuals.
 Physical context– the physical environment where the communication takes
place.
 Social context– refers to the relationship the participants hold for each other.
 Psychological context– which has to do with the mood and emotions of the
communicators at the moment of communication.

Process of Oral Communication:

1. Encoding - is everything that goes inside the brain of an individual.

- involves the sender who, grounded by communicative intentions and goals,
decides on assigning codes.
- is a systematic arrangement of symbols used by individuals to create meaning.
2. Transmission - is the process by which the sender, having assigned codes to come up with
thought symbols (message) that are also comprehensible by the participant/s of the
communication, transmits or sends message to its recipient.
3. Receiving - Having been submitted through sound waves and light waves, the comes from
the sender then reaches the receiver. It is assumed that the receiver’s attention is focused
on the communication at hand to facilitate better understanding of the message transported
by the sender.
4. Decoding - is the process by which the receiver interprets or assigns meanings to the codes
transported by the source. The receiver tries to give meanings to these symbols which may
be literal or may give associations depending on knowledge and/or experience.
5. Responding - response is anticipated by the sender from the receiver. Feedbac k

Types of Communication:

1. Intrapersonal Communication - operates within the communicator. (what to wear for the
day, what activities to engage in, reflecting different situations, talking to oneself)
2. Interpersonal Communication - occurs between two or more people. (private
conversations with friends, interview with prospective employer, simple group meeting).

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Types of Interpersonal Communication:

A. Dyadic or face-to-face Interaction - is a conversation between two persons which

usually occurs in an informal interaction. This interaction provides a great deal of
feedback as compared to other types of communication.
B. Small Group Communication - occurs when each member or participant speaks
out or is actively participating in the process to come up with a consensus. Degree of
formality may range from intimate to formal
C. Public Communication - an enlarged form of group communication that involves a
resource person addressing a specific audience. The speaker or the resource person
has a message about a certain topic which he/she has prepared beforehand and
delivers nit before an audience. Feedback is limited.
D. Mass Communication - has highly structured messages and able to reach a larger
number of audiences at the same time through the use of electronic devices or print
media like newspapers and magazines.
E. Technology-Mediated Communication - from electronic emails, texting, instant
messaging, social networking, tweeting, blogs and video conferencing-they all share
one thing in common.

2. Speech and the Speech Communication Process: An Overview

A. Its Nature and Functions
B. Nature of the Speech Communication Process

The speech communication process:

1. SPEAKER - Speech communication begins with a speaker. Your success as a speaker

depend on you-on your personal credibility, your knowledge of the subject, your preparation
of the speech, your manner of speaking, your sensitivity to the audience and the occasion.
2. MESSAGE - The message is whatever a speaker communicates to someone else. Your goal
in public speaking is to have your intended message be the message that is actually
wn to something you can discuss.You must
do research and choose supporting details to make your ideas clear and convincing. The
message you send with words, with your tone of voice, appearance, gestures, facial
expression, and eye contact.

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3. CHANNEL - Means by which a message is communicated. When you pick up the phone to
call a friend, the telephone is the channel. Public speakers may use one or more of several
channels, will affect the message received by the audience
4. LISTENER - The person who receives the communicated message. If you talk to a friend on
the phone, you have one listener. But in public speaking you have many listeners. To be an
effective speaker, we must be audience-centered.
5. FEEDBACK - They send back messages of their own. Affected by one’s frame of refence.
Example: “I agree with you,” “I don’t agree with you.
6. INTERFERENCE - Anything that impedes the communication of a message. Have two kinds
of interference in public speaking. External and internal.
7. SITUATION - Time and place. Conversation always takes place in a certain situation. Public
speakers must also be alert to the situation. Physical setting is also important.

Public speaking in a multicultural world:

 CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE MODERN WORLD

 CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND PUBLIC SPEAKING
 Speechmaking becomes more complex as cultural diversity increases.
 Complexity- differences in language from culture to culture.

AVOIDING ETHNOCENTRISM

 The belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures
 it is part of every culture, and it can play a positive role in creating group pride and loyalty
 You need to keep in mind that all people have their special beliefs and customs.
 Avoiding ethnocentrism does not mean that you must agree with the values and practices of
all groups and cultures.
 When you work on your speeches, be alert to how cultural factors might affect how listeners
respond.
C. Functions of Speech Communication

Speech Communication plays a variety of functions in an invidual’s life and in society as whole.

CATEGORIES OF COMMUNICATION FUNCTIONS:

1. THE SENDER’S STANDPOINT - Functions are information are information, instruction,

persuasion and entertainment.

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2. INFORMATION - Refers to data or facts, is shared every time a sender communicates

something to another person.
 A teacher telling students about earthquakes
 A student talking about her research
 A travelogue about the Tower of London
 A computer programmer speaking about new software
3. INSTRUCTION - Refers to data or facts, is shared every time a sender communicates something
to another person.
 If you give someone your name (informational)
 If he/she uses it to teach you how to write in Chinese (instructional message)
4. PERSUASION - a message designed to alter a person’s beliefs or behavior. It is also identified
through appeals to personal motives and behavior.
 Senders are usually motivated by the desire for power
 Financial Reward like political campaigns or commercials
5. ENTERTAINMENT - Amuses and gives pleasure.
 People from an entertainment industry such a Radio, Television, Theater, and
Film. (provide entertainment events to make profit)
6. THE SOCIETY’S STANDPOINT - Functions are surveillance, correlation, socialization and
entertainment
7. SURVEILLANCE - the function served by mass media when they monitor and report what is
happening in the environment.
 Progress of Kidnapping case of the Chinese businessman in Makati
8. CORRELATION - is the function provided by mass media when they interpret what is happening
in the environment.
 Previous kidnapping case of the Chines businessman in Makati
9. SOCIALIZATION - is the function played by media in teaching members of society what their
roles are & how things work so
 Local officials of the city of Antipolo to do their job on garbage collection
10. ENTERTAINMENT - is the primary function of mass media as a source of enjoyment or pleasure.
 Sitcoms, Soap Opera, Noon time Variety Show
11. THE RECEIVER’S STANDPOINT - Functions are personal identity function, social integration
function, cognitive function and escape function.

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12. PERSONAL IDENTITY - provides individuals an understanding of who they are. Self-concept
is not inborn. It is developed by observing ourselves and by observing how others behave
towards us.
13. SOCIAL INTEGRATION - Is the way in which communication is used to meet our need to
belong. It is communication’s linking function. People need human contact & interaction
14. COGNITIVE FUNCTION - Is the ability to use symbols & internalize speech. Makes memory &
imagination possible. Allows us to see & understand things from others point of view.
15. ESCAPE FUNCTION - Is the use of communication as a means to relax

D. Levels of Communication
1. Verbal Level of Communication - Although this is perhaps the most apparent level of human
communication, people can spend a lifetime trying to master it. This level includes our selection
of words based on an understanding of meaning between the speaker and the listener.
2. Physical Level if Communication - Visual cues like eye contact, gestures, movements,
stances, breathing, posture, and facial expressions influence how we feel and communicate.
When used with integrity, techniques like “matching and mirroring” people’s posture and
gestures (and certain words too) can increase their receptivity of your message.
3. Auditory Level of Communication - The sound of our voice, including the tone, range, volume,
and speed affects how our messages are received and interpreted by others. For example, fast
talkers will find it beneficial to slow their speech when speaking to a thoughtful, introverted
person or risk being unheard. Also, how we enunciate, inflect, and place emphasis on certain
words affects how others interpret the meaning of what we say.
4. Emotional Level of Communication - Few people appreciate how our emotional states affect
what we communicate and how the message is interpreted by the recipient. Are you more
receptive to someone who is positive and life-affirming or one who is negative and critical?
Enthusiastic or boring? The speaker’s emotions put the recipient in a particular state of mind
and influence how the listener interprets what is said.
5. Energetic Level of Communication - Also called the psychic level, this level of communication
encompasses a vast range of unseen factors including a person’s level of consciousness, the
frequency or harmonics of the message, and other subtle energies. Some people seem to have
an “X-factor”—a unique presence—that naturally imparts their messages to others with greater
receptivity and understanding.

E. Models of Communication (refer to previous notes)

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3. Listening
A. The Nature and Process of Listening

Listening in Communication:

At the end of the communication line is an indispensable element—the listener, the active
participation of whom either makes or unmakes communication. How good at listening this element is,
spells a big difference in the communication process. At this point, it must be understood that effective
communication, in part, come through a constant awareness and study of how listeners respond. This is
especially so if we consider the axiom that meaning is altogether in the mind of the listener.

Nature of Listening:

Listening is the cognitive process whereby we attach meanings to aural signals. It is the active
intellectual process of decoding, interpreting, understanding and evaluating messages. It is a mode of
communication just as important as the other modes like speaking, reading, and writing. It is sad to note,
however, that this mode has been observed to be the most neglected area in teaching English towards
communicative competence. This is lamentable considering that we spend most of our waking hours
communicating, the greatest portion of which is spent in listening. In today’s world, which is fast turning
into a global village and where communication is highly developed, the demand to sharpen our listening
power is high.

The Best Kind of Listening (Characteristics:

1. Voluntary. Good listening begins with a willingness to participate completely in a

communicative situation.
2. Purposeful. You choose to listen because of some very good reason/reasons.
3. Motivated. When you have good reasons for listening, you are all keyed up for the activity and
nothing can stop you.
4. Cooperative. You keep quiet and give your wholehearted cooperation when you listen
because you hope for nothing but only the best from the speaker.
5. Critical. You follow the speaker’s ideas carefully and get things clear so that in the end, you may
be able to make intellectual judgments when you evaluate his ideas before responding.

The Importance of Listening:

Listening is assuming greater and greater importance in foreign language classrooms. Listening
is a skill of critical significance in all aspects of our lives – from maintaining our personal relationships,

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to get our job, to take notes in class. Regardless of how we’re engaged with listening, it’s important to
understand that listening involves more than just hearing the words that are directed at us. Listening is
an active process by which we make sense of , assess, and respond to what we hear. The listening
process involves five stages : receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding.

Active listening is a particular communication technique that requires the listener to provide
feedback on what he or she hears to the speaker, by way of restating or paraphrasing what they have
heard in their own word. The goal of this repetition is to confirm what the listener has heard and to
confirm the understanding of both parties. . Active listening can also involve paying attention to the
speaker's behavior and body language. This active listening chart shows three main degrees of
listening : repeating, paraphrasing, and reflecting.

Types of Listening:

1. Discriminative listening - is the most basic type of listening, whereby the difference between
difference sounds is identified. If you cannot hear differences, then you cannot make sense of
the meaning that is expressed by such differences. We learn to discriminate between sounds
within our own language early, and later are unable to discriminate between the phonemes of
other languages.
2. Comprehension Listening - To comprehend the meaning requires first having a lexicon of
words at our fingertips and also all rules of grammar and syntax by which we can understand
what others are saying. Comprehension listening is also known as content listening, informative
listening and full listening.
3. Critical Listening - is listening in order to evaluate and judge, forming opinion about what is
being said. Judgment includes assessing strengths and weaknesses, agreement and approval.
4. Biased Listening - happens when the person hears only what they want to hear, typically
misinterpreting what the other person says based on the stereotypes and other biases that they
have. Such biased listening is often very evaluative in nature.
5. Evaluative Listening - or critical listening, we make judgments about what the other person is
saying. We seek to assess the truth of what is being said. We also judge what they say against
our values, assessing them as good or bad, worthy or unworthy. Evaluative listening is also
called critical, judgmental or interpretive listening.
6. Appreciative Listening - we seek certain information which will appreciate, for example that
which helps meet our needs and goals. We use appreciative listening when we are listening to
good music, poetry or maybe even the stirring words of a great leader.

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7. Sympathetic Listening - we care about the other person and show this concern in the way we
pay close attention and express our sorrow for their ills and happiness at their joys.
8. Empathetic Listening - When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to seek a truer
understand how others are feeling. This requires excellent discrimination and close attention to
the nuances of emotional signals.
9. Therapeutic Listening - the listener has a purpose of not only empathizing with the speaker
but also to use this deep connection in order to help the speaker understand, change or develop
in some way.
10. Dialogic Listening - The word 'dialogue' stems from the Greek words 'dia', meaning 'through'
and 'logos' meaning 'words'. Thus dialogic listening mean learning through conversation and an
engaged interchange of ideas and information in which we actively seek to learn more about the
person and how they think. Dialogic listening is sometimes known as 'relational listening'.
11. Relationship Listening - sometimes the most important factor in listening is in order to develop
or sustain a relationship. This is why lovers talk for hours and attend closely to what each other
has to say when the same words from someone else would seem to be rather boring.
Relationship listening is also important in areas such as negotiation and sales, where it is helpful
if the other person likes you and trusts you.

Depth of Listening:

There are several different types of listening, based on how deeply you are listening to the other
person. If you can identify these, then you can choose which you want to use.

1. False listening - occurs where a person is pretending to listen but is not hearing anything
that is being said. They may nod, smile and grunt in all the right places, but do not actually
take in anything that is said.
2. Initial Listening - sometimes when we listen we hear the first few words and then start
to think about what we want to say in return. We then look for a point at which we can
interrupt.
3. Selective Listening - involves listening for particular things and ignoring others. We thus
hear what we want to hear and pay little attention to 'extraneous' detail. 4. Partial Listening
Partial listening is what most of us do most of the time. We listen to the other person with
the best of intent and then become distracted, either by stray thoughts or by something
that the other person has said.

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4. Full Listening - happens where the listener pays close and careful attention to what is
being said, seeking carefully to understand the full content that the speaker is seeking to
put across.
5. Deep Listening - you listen between the lines of what is said, hearing the emotion,
watching the body language, detecting needs and goals, identifying preferences and
biases, perceiving beliefs and values, and so on. To listen deeply, you need a strong
understanding of human psychology (which this site seeks to give you) and to pay
attention not just to the words by the whole person.

B. Barriers to Good Listening and how to overcome them

10 Barriers to Effective Listening with Tips to Overcome Them:

Effective communication is a valuable skill in the workplace, and listening properly is the most
important part of effective communication. Poor listening skills definitely make a huge, negative impact
on team morale and productivity. This situation usually results in conflicts and misunderstandings
among team members, and it creates a negative environment.

1. Excessive Talking - Good conversational skills are an asset, and a person with these
skills are more likely to achieve professional success. However, talking more than
necessary is a barrier to effective communication. People hesitate to interact with a
person who talks excessively without listening to them. They may also get bored, and
excessive talking may be perceived as aggression.

Try these tips to overcome this habit:

 Think before you speak, and don’t speak if you have nothing important to contribute.
 Practice self-control. Allow the other person to speak.
 Avoid interrupting when the other person is speaking.
 Be aware of indulging in useless talk for the sake of talking.
 Be brief while conveying your thoughts.
 Observe your listener’s reactions while speaking.

2. Prejudice - is a preconceived opinion of feeling, which is usually irrational. Prejudice is

very dangerous and has the potential to bring animosity into the team and to break team

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spirit. The reason for a prejudice may be the speaker’s race, religion, age or appearance.
A prejudiced person will not make any effort to listen and understand.

Overcoming prejudice while listening:

 Respect the other person for his or her knowledge and skills, irrespective of the
person’s background.
 Make conscious efforts to take charge of your thoughts.
 Consciously avoid taking an “I know what he or she is going to say” attitude while
the other person is speaking.

3. Distractions - The four main types of distractions are physical, mental, auditory and
visual. Here’s how to avoid this common barrier:

 Face the person who is speaking.

 Maintain eye contact while the other person is speaking.
 Ensure that you are comfortable.
 Switch off the cell phone.

4. Expecting Others to Share Your Personal Beliefs and Values - Everybody has their
own personal beliefs and value systems, and it’s natural to want to apply them to others
around us. Learn to appreciate that others don’t have to share your beliefs. In fact, their
unique perspectives may shine light on problems and issues that you haven’t been able
to deal with before!
5. Misunderstanding - The inability to hear correctly is one of the many reasons for
misunderstanding what a speaker is trying to communicate. You may think that it’s
impolite to ask the speaker to clarify his words or intentions, but that’s not the case at all.
Most people will appreciate the fact that you are making a focused effort to really
understand what they are trying to say.
6. Interrupting - Interrupting a conversation with improper body language or inappropriate
words will have a negative impact in effective communication.

Here’s some tips to help you avoid this barrier to effective listening:
 Listen without interrupting while the other person is speaking.

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 If you seek to clarify something, use appropriate body language such as raising your hand or
ask politely for more details (like “I am sorry to interrupt you…”).

7. Faking Attention - The person who is faking attention is just “hearing” but not “listening.”
There may be some eye contact and the person may even be nodding, but the mind is
elsewhere. The person may be thinking about what to have for lunch or what to wear for
the party that evening. Faking attention is a habit for some people, but it conveys lack of
respect and dishonesty.
Try these tips:

 Make it a habit to listen attentively. It is advisable to assume that the other person knows
something that you may not know.
 Avoid thinking about how to reply when the other person is speaking.
 This habit can be overcome by taking notes while the other person is speaking.

8. Bringing in Emotions - Emotions erect barriers to effective communication. A listener's

senses are not likely to be functioning at their optimum level when he or she is angry.
Likewise, it is not possible to understand or appreciate what the speaker is saying if the
listener is excessively sad.

Tip: It is better to avoid conversations when you are angry or excessively sad.

9. Noise - Noise is any unwanted sound. It is a great impediment to clear communication.

It is impossible to listen in a noisy environment – it becomes a frustrating experience for
both the speaker and the listener.

 Try to avoid conversations in noisy surroundings.

 Eliminate the source of noise whenever possible. Turn off cell phones, radios and television sets.

10. Fear - Fear is a great barrier to listening. People who are afraid during a conversation are
not likely to listen. They become defensive and tend to argue.

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Tips to overcome fear:

 Be aware that fear can only worsen the situation. Listen to what the other person is about to say
without fear.
 Keeping calm will give you mental strength to face any situation.
 Taking a deep breath helps in overcoming fear.

C. Models of Listening

There are three basic listening models, each of which reflect upon the various ways that the person
who is doing the listening may be feeling. You may use all three of these listening models at one point
or another, depending upon whom you are listening to, what the conversation is about, and even what
type of mood you are in.

Here are the three basic listening models:

1. Competitive or combative listening: This is the type of listening that is done when people
want to push their own type of view or opinion rather than listen to someone else's. With this
type of listening, we mostly are waiting to jump in and say something or point out flaws in what
the other person is saying. We pretend that we are listening, when really we are formulating our
own ideas and just waiting for the person to break so we can blurt them out. The downside is
that we fail to actually take in what the other person is saying and have closed our minds, which
is a barrier to good listening.
2. Passive, attentive listening: In this type of listening, we are genuinely interested in what the
person is saying. At this point, we are not yet at the point of responding and being involved, but
we understand the points that the speaker is trying to make. We may agree with what is being
said, but we are doing so in a passive manner, rather than in a reflective one.
3. Active, reflective listening: This is the type of listening model that you want to use. In this
model, you actively listen and understand what the other person is saying. Here, we listen to
what the other person has to say before we try to interject what we would like to share. In this
model, you restate or share back information with the speaker, showing that you are paying
attention and actively involved.

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