Purposive Communication (PCM

113)

Purposive Communication is about writing,

speaking, and presenting to different audiences
and for various purposes. (CMO 20 s 2013)
It is a three-unit course that develops students'
communicative competence and enhances their
cultural and intercultural awareness through
multimodal tasks that provide them opportunities
for communicating effectively and appropriately
to a multicultural audience in a local or global
context.
Purposive Communication (PCM 113)
It equips students with tools for critical
evaluation of a variety of texts and
focuses on the power of language and the
impact of images to emphasize the
importance of conveying messages
responsibly.
UNIT I
THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION
• Definition of Communication
• Elements of Communication
• Communication Process
Definition of Communication
• Process
• System
• Symbol
• Meaning
Communication
• Communication is the process of sending and receiving
messages sometimes through spoken or written words,
and sometimes non-verbally through facial expressions,
gestures, and voice qualities. 
(Ober & Newman, 2013)

Every communication involves (at least) one sender, a

message and a recipient. This may sound simple, but
communication is actually a very complex activity.
Communication
Process implies continuity. It is dynamic as it
continually changes. Communication is
considered a process because it is an activity
in itself. It is not an object that you can just
simply perceive using one of your senses,
but it is an activity in which you participate
(Pearson et al., 2011).
Communication
System is defined as interrelated parts that
affect one another (Wood, 2012). It is a
collection not of random parts but of
organized wholes. Thus, to effectively
communicate and interpret a message, it is
important to understand the system (culture,
religion, ethnicity, nationality, socio-
economic status, age, sex, political affiliation,
and others) within which communication
takes place.
Communication
Symbols are represented by language (Palta, 2007)
and it is indicated by spoken or written words and
facial expressions, gestures, and voice qualities (Ober
& Newman, 2013).

Meaning is at the heart of communication. It can be

viewed as an “end” in itself. This means that when
people communicate, they attach meaning to the
symbols they use (either verbal or non-verbal) with
the intent that the person/s they are communicating
with share the same meaning as intended.
 
Elements of Communication
Elements of Communication
Communication is sharing of ideas or feelings with others. This
takes places when two parties in the process transmit and
understand information. There is a communication when one
takes message and respond to that message.

Communication is a dynamic process that begins with the

conceptualizing of ideas by the sender who then transmits the
message through a channel to the receiver, who in turn gives
the feedback in the form of some message or signal within the
given time frame. Movements of lips, the wave of hands or the
wink of an eye may convey more meaning than even written or
spoken words. To better understand the concept of
communication, the following elements are discussed:
Elements of Communication
• Sender – S/he is the source of information or
message or the party sending a message. The
communicator who initiates the conversation and
has conceptualized the idea that he intends to
convey it to others. S/he is the speaker, issuer or
writer, who intends to express or send out a
message.
Elements of Communication
• Encoding – It is the process of converting the
message into words, actions, or other forms
that the speaker understands.
• Message – It is the information, ideas, or
thoughts conveyed by the speaker in words
or in actions. The sender gets the message
that he intends to convey once the encoding
is finished. The message can be written, oral,
symbolic, or non-verbal such as body
gestures, silence, sigh, sounds, or any other
signal that motivates the receiver’s response.
Elements of Communication
• Channel – It refers to the medium or the
means, such as personal or non-personal,
verbal or non-verbal, in which the
encoded message is conveyed. The
medium or manner in which the message
is sent must be selected carefully in order
to make the message effective and
correctly interpreted by the recipient.
Elements of Communication
• Receiver – S/he must be able to decode
the message, which means mentally
processing the message into
understanding.
• Decoding – This is the process of
interpreting the encoded message of the
speaker by the receiver.
Elements of Communication
• Feedback – It is the message sent by the
receiver back to the sender. It is essential to
make communication a successful one. It is the
effect, reply or reaction of the information
transmitted to the ‘communicatee’.
• Noise – It shows the barriers in communication.
There are chances when the message sent by
the sender is not received by the recipient. Not
only noise is considered a communication
barrier but also the ‘context’ or the
environment where communication takes place.
Communication Process
The definition of communication and its
elements can also be further
understood in the light of a framework
or model to see their interrelatedness.
Linear Model – It is based on the
assumption that communication is
transmitted in a straightforward manner
– from a sender to a receiver. This
clearly reflects that communication is a
one way process.
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
Linear Model
Communication Process
The eight components are the source (the person
whom the message come from), message (content of
the transaction), transmitter (the instrument through
which the message passes like a telephone), signal
(which flows through a channel), channel (a carrier
or medium such as air, light, electricity, radio waves,
postal system for written communication), noise
(interference that disrupts and distorts the
understanding of thee message), receiver (receiving
instruments such as telephone lines, ears to see
sounds, and eyes for gestures in face-to-face
communication), and destination (person/s who
receive/s and process/es the message).
Communication Process
• Interactive Model
This model is in contrast with the linear one
which considers communication as flowing only
in one direction, from a sender to a receiver
(Gronbeck, 19990). In this model, the personal
fields of experience, whether shared or not by
the communicators, are vital. According to
Schramm, the communicator’s field of
experience explain why misunderstanding
occurs. It is also presented in this model that
communication is a two-way process which
involves an exchange or an interaction between
the sender and the receiver
Interactive Model
Communication Process
• Transactional Model
This model was adopted from Wood (1997) in
response to the failure of the interactive model
to portray the dynamism of human
communication. It designates a person as a
sender and a receiver when both
communicators can send and receive
messages. One of the shortcomings of the
transactional model is that it does not depict
communication as changing over time as a
result of the dynamism of transactions among
people.
 
Transactional Model
Communication Process
The key features of the transactional model are as
follows:
• It has a time element which influences how people
communicate.
• It depicts communication as varying (not constant) and
dynamic (not static).
• The outer lines in the model indicate that
communication occurs within systems that influence
what and how people communicate. This system may
include culture, context, and family background.
• The model does not label one as the sender and the
other as the receiver. Instead, are communicators who
actively, equally, and simultaneously participate in the
communication process.