Your Progress
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Communication is the process of transmitting your thoughts and ideas to another person or other people and ensuring that the listener has understood what you have said by listening to his/her response.Effective Communication is an interactive process which involves transmitting your thoughts and ideas to another or other people and receiving the other persons thoughts and ideas and providing feedback. It also involves receiving other peoples thoughts and ideas and providing them with feedback to show that you understand what they are trying to say.
In fact it is true to say that the speaker and the listener share the communication process.There are many different ways of communicating your ideas and the method you choose will depend on your audience. Consider the following:
Who is your audience?
How many people are there?
How far away are they?
How complex is your message?
Do you need to be sure that the person has received the message or is it general information? Do you need an immediate response? With these issues in mind, you can decide how to send your message. You can send your message:
Orally
Have a face-to-face discussion, make a telephone call, or make a television or radio broadcast.
In writing
Write a letter or short note, or a newspaper or magazine article, send a fax or an e-mail, prepare an article for the Internet or write a book.
Non-verbally using body language
Give a wave of the hand, a kiss or a punch! Each of these carries a very powerful message.
Graphically
Create an advertising billboard, draw a cartoon, write graffiti or paint a painting.
Communication will be effective if you:
-choose the right method for sending your message
-send your message as clearly and simply as possible
-ensure your audience is ready to receive your message.
-correctly interpret the feedback given by your audience
-provide appropriate feedback to your audience where necessary
Listening is about attending to the message and ensuring that you hear what is really being said. There are skills that you can develop which will make you a good listener. You will also examine ways that you can help your audience to hear your messages more clearly. If you choose to write your message when communicating, it is important to use proper sentence structure. It is also important to ensure your audience receives the right message. Giving and following instructions combine both written and verbal skills and the skills of good listening. We shall examine ways of both giving and following instructions more effectively.There are various written and oral resources already available to you. In this Unit, we will investigate how to access these.
