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I. Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

The concept of communication

It is undeniable that the world around you is about communication. So, what is communication?

Communication is always a two-way process, involving creation and exchange of meaning. It has a

one end the initiator of the message and, at the other end, the receiver, who must be prepared to liste

and understand the message, in order to make communication possible.Communication is the process of conveying the wishes, ideas, and feelings of one person t

another. It also means the correct reception of all these as closely as possible to the way in which

they were meant.

Even if it is a two-way process, the responsibility for the effectiveness of communication is th

senders, who has the duty to check with the receiver if the message has been correctly heard an

understood.

1. Categories of communication

According to the number of people involved in the act of communication, we can divid

experiences of communicating into four categories.

a) Intrapersonal communication is communication within and to yourself

We communicate within ourselves, we convey the message and we are also the person receivin

the communication when, for instance, we reflect on our tomorrows plans and intentions.

b) Interpersonal communication is communication between two or several people.

People interact face to face, for example a teacher and a student during an oral exam.

c) Group communication is communication within and between groups of people.

Groups of people can be small groups and large groups. As they have different purposes, they also

behave differently (for instance, a group of students behaves differently from a group of peopl

gathered for a conference).

d) Mass communication is communication used by or transmitted to very large numbers of people

much bigger than what we can call a group (the Internet, media, telephony).

2. Functions, needs and purposes of communication

Communication has functions such as: to warn, to inform, to advise, to entertain, to explain, t

describe. We perform the act of communication to a certain end, having in mind needs we want t

satisfy.

to co-operate (the most important need and purpose of communication),

to exchange information,

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to survive (e.g. a freshman student, in his first university year, trying to rent a room, get a place i

a hostel or find the best bus routes to his faculty),

to form and maintain relationships with other people around us (e.g. the Internet),

to persuade other people to think or act as we want them to (e.g. imagine a teacher giving advic

about how students should study for their session),

to gain power and manipulate (politics).

3. The communication process

How do we communicate? What happens when we communicate?

The communication process contains several stages: there is always a source of the message (A, th

transmitter). The transmitter encodes the message, chooses a medium or channel of transmission,

destination of the message (B, the receiver), which decodes it. The responsibility for the accuracy o

the meaning is the senders. He has to think about:

how to encode the message,

what channel of communication to use, how to personalize communication to fit the needs of the audience

which would be the best vehicle for the message-email, face to face, notes.

The message has an impact on the receiver. He listens, compares, analyses, judges, reacts, thinks up

an answer as a reaction. When encoding and decoding the message, the two ends of th

communication process, the sender and the receiver are influenced by social status, beliefs, age, sex

culture, personal experiences. These filters can flaw, block or even interrupt communication.

One of the strongest filters that can fou

the communication path is assumption

(people with strong regional accents ar

considered to be less credible than thos

speaking with middle-class accent

people with a low voice are given mor

credit than people with a squeaky one; those who use the space around them purposefully seem t

have more authority).To give a clearer example, lets imagine a good friend of yours comes to Cluj and wants to visit you

He calls you and asks you if he could walk to your flat. You ask your friend where he is and then you

tell him you are within walking distance. You hear the hesitation in his voice and check again th

place where he is. You realize you assumed he meant Babes Bolyai street, instead of the Babe

Bolyai University and you misinformed him.

4. Barriers to effective communication

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To understand this issue, it is enough to think back and remember situations when, even if you trie

hard to put your message forth, you were misunderstood. Why did that happen?

There are so many reasons why people cant really communicate. The speaker and the listener ma

have similar reasons:

they have incomplete communication skills, e.g. they are good listeners but poor speakers or vic

versa,

they cannot relate to and empathise with people, they do not know enough about the subject,

they give incomplete information, on purpose or by mistake

they give too much information on the topic.

a. Language (semantic barriers):

Sometimes language can be a barrier because of which the message cannot be understood. This ca

be caused by:

foreign accent,

dialect (People from Transylvania understand with difficulty those from the south of Romania

who speak very fast),

jargon (It is used by people sharing a common experience: medical, scientific, young generation

technical jargons. Sometimes, it is used deliberately to convey the impression of privilege

knowledge),

words with ambiguous meaning (E.g. the so-called false friends: to beinfatuatedmeans to be in

love).

b. Psychological aspects.

There might be personality or emotional problems, which prevent the communicator from giving

clear message and the listener from hearing it. There may be:

a personality clash between the two parties, when the speaker is very aggressive, and the listene

very passive, shy or vice versa,

emotional/loaded words, which express emotion, and provoke both the communicators and th

listeners attitudes, opinions, and prejudices (e.g. when you call a black person a nigger, instea

of an Afro-American).

c. Physical situations

Under certain circumstances, physical situations can also interfere with the communication process

These situations are:

illness or physical disability (deafness, a very weak and low voice),

poor timing,

interruptions, distance from the person receiving the communication,

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inadequate space, noisy environment (rooms with improper acoustics where courses ar

delivered, might prevent correct communication and understanding between the teacher and th

students).

5. Types of communication

According to the codes we use there are three types of communication:

verbal

non-verbal

symbolic.

The conveying of a clear message depends on both verbal/non-verbal communication, as the speake

establishes both a conscious and a subconscious rapport with his audience.

1. The verbal communication consists of the words we use to transmit the message. It is importan

but not essential as, according to statistics, it accounts for only 10% of the effectiveness of thpresentation. By words you can manipulate, convince, influence your audience. This channel o

communication is addressed to the audiences mind.

The non-verbal and the symbolic channels of communication are related to the presenters delivery

skills (90% of the effectiveness). Ultimately, the success of the presentation is provided by th

presentation style, rather than the content of the speech.

2. The non-verbal communication is a range of non-verbal signals (the way you use your voic

to emphasize certain words, the animation and what you express with your face, the way you

move your body and the gestures you make, charisma,) organized into:

body language. It tells a lot about peoples feelings, attitudes and intentions (gesture, gaze, facia

expression, posture, body contact and body proximity, touch),

paralanguage (pitch of voice-how high or low your voice is, pace of speech - how fast you speak)

The non-verbal communication modifies and underlines the verbal message. It existed before th

verbal transmission of messages, being a primary code of communication. This type of language i

based on culture, and it presents cultural differences. Think about how different the corre

behaviours are in the Japanese culture, the American one, the standards in the Middle East. Issue

such as gestures, the way you use your space - outward moving gestures or not, being the initiator othe discussion, eye contact or lack of eye contact, vary culturally.

This type of communication is difficult to manipulate, as it can betray feelings or attitudes such a

your lack of interest or enthusiasm. In case the body language transmits a message that conflicts wit

the verbal one, the speaker loses credibility. The nonverbal communication is addressed to th

audiences heart.

3. The symbolic communication is related to the way you dress, is addressed to the audiences eyes

and is easy to manipulate.

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Example. When running for a certain important position, candidates who have charisma, a well

controlled body language and dress appropriately (symbolic language) have more chances when they

present their ideas on TV. The candidates who lack all these count on their verbal messages, and

prefer to speak on the radio, rather than appear on television.

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What have you learnt?

1. Answer the questions.

a. What is communication?

b. How can we divide communication by the number of people involved?

c. What are the functions, needs and purposes of communication? Give examples.

d. Describe the stages of the communication process.e. How can we classify communication according to the channels used?

f. What are communication filters or barriers?

2. Analyze a friends communication acts for half an hour. Were the messages meant to inform

persuade, advise?

3. Read the following fragments. List the types of communication from the point of view of th

number of people involved and the channel chosen.

What are you doing here? she cried, grabbing Marys arm and pulling her away.I turned the wrong corner and couldnt find the way back to my room, explained Mary. And then

I heard someone crying.

You heard nothing of the sort! snapped Mrs. Medlock. Now come along back to your nursery oyoull be punished!

Mary felt herself being pushed and pulled up one corridor and down another. Then she was showed

through the doorway of her room.Now, you stay where youre told or youll find yourself locked up. Ive got enough to do here

without looking after you too.

Once Mrs. Medlock had slammed the door, Mary threw herself down on the bed, red with rageGritting her teeth, she insisted, There was someone crying! There was! And Im going to find ou

who or what it is! (Frances HodgsonBurnett, The Secret Garden,p. 52).

The purser looked at the anxious frowning face of Mr. Botibol and he smiled, knowing quite welwhat the man was driving at. Well, you see, the captain has a little conference with the navigating

officer, and they study the weather and a lot of other things, and they make their estimate.Mr. Botibol nodded, pondering this answer for a moment. Then he said, Do you think the captain

knew there was bad weather coming today?

I couldnt tell you, the purser replied. He was looking into the small black eyes of the other manseeing the two single little sparks of excitement dancing in their centres. I really couldnt tell you

Mr. Botibol. I wouldnt know.

If this gets any worse it might be worth buying some of the low numbers. What do you think? Thwhispering was more urgent, more anxious now. (Roald Dahl, Completely unexpected Tales,p. 62).

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II. Listening/Reading Skills

Communication is a two-way process. While one half is involved in speaking, the other half i

listening and trying to understand the message. Effective communication exists between two peopl

when the receiver interprets and understands the senders message in the same way the sende

intended it.

1. Listening v reading

The audience is made of listeners, not readers. Two obvious consequences of this fact are the spee

with which you deliver the speech and the constant clarification process - signalling, recapping

summarizing.

The listeners thoughts are distracted by a lot of things. A reader can reread a sentence,

paragraph or even an entire chapter. If your mind wanders, you can take a break and then return to

your book and make an effort to focus again. Listeners only have one chance to understand wha

you are saying, they cannot re-listen to the speech. Readers can vary the speed of their reading and, if the material is complex or unfamiliar, they ca

stop, refer to a dictionary, discuss with other people. Listeners cant vary the pace of the speaker

delivery.

Readers can anticipate and read in order to see the general idea, and then, read again what i

relevant. During a presentation, only the speaker can see the general idea and have a complet

picture.

The main responsibility for the message belongs to the speaker. The person or the people receiving

the communication are also responsible for the message to get across effectively. As we have said

two people are involved in the dialogue: the speaker and the listener. Therefore, we should give thskills involved in listening the attention they deserve.

We take it for granted that we listen all the time. We may think we listen to what people say, w

listen to the radio or TV but how much do we really hear? Listening is not simple. Most of us hav

very poorly developed listening skills. We live in a visual world, which absorbs us in its images an

we forget to listen. Another cause for not listening properly is the stress and pressure we face daily

Finally, lack of interest leads to lack of communication. True listening rarely occurs. One person

cannot give simultaneous undivided attention, assess and frame a reply to what is being said. Doubl

attention is not possible. When two people meet to discuss one subject, if they do not focus on

communication correctly, what they really discuss is two different subjects put forward by each one.The listening speed is twice as fast as the speaking one, and the implications are major. There is

real distinction between merely hearing the words and really listening for the message. When w

listen effectively, we understand what the speaker is thinking by empathy, as if we were standing in

his shoes, seeing through his eyes and listening through his ears. To listen effectively means bein

actively involved in the communication process and not just listening passively.

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2. Difficulties by the speaker/the listener

a.

the speakers voice is too low or monotonous,

the message he sends is too complex or too simple,

he may be experiencing a mind blank,

there is a contradiction between the body language and verbal one,

he is too focused on the reactions of the listener,

he lacks credibility, and confidence.

b.

the listener is distracted and does not listen,

he anticipates what is going to be said and switches off,

he listens mainly to find an opening to get the floor,

he frames the answer while listening,

he evaluates and makes judgments about the speaker or the message,

he does not ask for clarification.

3. The three basic listening modes

1. Aggressive or combative listening happens when we are more interested in promoting ou

own point of view than in the message itself; we listen to find opportunities of taking the floo

or attacking weak points and destroying arguments.

2. In passive or attentive listening we are interested in hearing and understanding the othe

persons point of view, but we remain passive and do not check if what we are hearing i

correct.3. Active or reflective listening is the most useful and important listening skill. In active listenin

we are also interested in understanding what the message means, and we are active i

checking out our understanding. This verification or feedback process is what distinguishe

active listening and makes it effective.

4. Steps that can enhance listening

stop talking, remove distractions; give the speaker all your attention,

be patient; dont interrupt the speaker; let him finish before you speak, if you disagree with what the other person is saying, try to get a full understanding of that point o

view before you speak. Repeat or paraphrase the other persons idea to make sure that you hav

understood it completely, or ask the speaker to rephrase it.

if you dont agree with the expressed point, do not plan what you are going to say or else you wil

not be able to pay attention to the whole message,

ask questions to clarify but also to encourage the speaker,

listen to the main ideas as well as to the supporting examples or facts,

try to think about the message, not the delivery,

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be empathic and nonjudgmental; dont argue or criticize,

dont respond to just the meaning of the words; look for the feelings or intent beyond the words,

observe non-verbal clues; use eye contact and listeningbody language; face and lean toward thspeaker and nod your head, as it is appropriate; try not to look critical,

do not hurry to immediately answer questions: some people just like to ask questions and are no

interested in the answer.

5. Listening tips; body and verbal language

The point about active listening is that the listener focuses on making the communication effectiv

and he doesnt replace the message with one of his own. Active listening does not mean to be silen

but that you take an active part in the conversation. Some rules for active listening behaviour:

look at the person to whom you are talking. (Tip: if you find it difficult to look at someones eyes

try looking at the bridge of their nose),

smile naturally and sincerely, enough to show that you are interested,

nod encouragingly, showing that you follow he speaker, make affirmative noises: Uh, Uhu, Mmm, use verbal prompts: Really? It must have been interesting.

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What have you learnt?

1. Answer the questions

a. Why are listening skills as important as speaking skills?

b. What are the differences between listeners and readers?

c. Why isnt the message very clear sometimes?

d. Name three listening modes. What are the main features of each of them?e. What is active listening?

f. What can you do to enhance the listening process and become an active listener?

2. Analyze you own way of listening. Are you a good listener? Do you try to empathize with th

speaker? Which listening mode matches your listening skills?

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III. Presentations

1. Why presentations?

Under certain circumstances, communication can be only non- verbal, while for a presentation w

need all three codes of communication:

verbal, non - verbal,

symbolic.

Delivering presentations has become part of our life, so we can consider presentations as a fact o

life. Presentations take many shapes: they can be formal or informal, to a person or to a group o

people, with or without visuals.

So, when are we making a presentation?

when you interrupt a discussion and comment on it,

any time you are heard by someone,

when you present your ideas to friends over a cup of coffee,

when you talk to your superiors or peers,

when you defend your diploma paper.

and on many other occasions.

Making a presentation is difficult, even challenging. You speak in front of real people who migh

have different opinions, be smarter than you, refuse to cooperate and support you, who challeng

you with their questions.Statistics rank the fear of speaking in public before the fear of death. Speaking in public i

intimidating and challenging even when you deliver your speech in Romanian, your mother tongue

If you are a shy person, the experience can be very unpleasant. You will experience all th

symptoms of nervousness dry mouth, sweating palms, lack of air. Then, why are presentation

necessary? What motivates us to do this?

They are necessary because, depending on the needs, they are a way of:

informing/persuading the audience,

answering their questions,

presenting your ideas and expressing yourself,

making yourself known and appreciated by the others,

progressing in your studies and career

2. Types of presentations

Presentations differ according to their characteristics: number of speakers, listeners, technolog

used and level of formality or relation between the presenter and the listeners. Until now, as part o

their final exam, the technical students have been asked to present, in front of their teacher an

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colleagues solo presentations, lasting for 5-7 minutes, semi-formal and with visuals, such as ba

graphs, pie charts, handouts, etc. Very often they expressed their lack of satisfaction with th

number of students involved in delivering the presentation, as they thought it would be mor

advantageous to share the presentation with a colleague. In the following you will see some of th

advantages / disadvantages of solo and shared presentations, as there are pluses and minuses i

each type.

a. Number of presenters

1. Frequently, there is only one presenter. The pluses of such a presentation are the following:

one person prepares/delivers the whole presentation,

he makes all the decisions about the topic, material included, delivery, and answering questions,

the person is in control of the presentation and can adjust it any time he considers it necessary - h

can ad, skip, shorten or lengthen the ideas and facts presented. Thus, the format of th

presentation is extremely flexible.

The minus is that the whole burden is on the shoulders of a single presenter and he is in charge wit

everything.

2. Presentations with two presenters are also frequent. Whenever there are more than one presente

there should be a perfect communication between them. Each one should know his role and th

others role, what questions and answers will be covered by each of them, when to take turns. They

cannot interrupt each other without a previous agreement.

The pluses of such a presentation are:

it is easier to present a shorter part,

it is easier to answer the questions referring only to one part,

it is easier to share stress.

The minuses are:

the presentation is less flexible, as you have to take into account your partner,

there might be mismatches between the two partners

3. Presentations with more than two presenters

They are necessary when the presentation is about the work achieved by a whole team. The planning

should be very careful and each participant should know everything about the development of th

presentation: who will open/close it, who will answer the questions, etc. These presentations are eve

more rigid than those with two presenters.

b. Number of listeners.

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It can affect the presentation and the way it is delivered. We can speak of small groups (1 to 3

people), and of lager groups (more than 35). The former category requires a less formal presentatio

(the speaker can sit, the effort of covering the audience is not very big, he neednt speak from behind

a lectern, he can take questions during the presentation, and establish a less formal rapport with th

audience), while the latter requires a lectern, a microphone, and the speaker must stand. A one-to-on

presentation can be a mere conversation or a more formal one, depending on the relationship betwee

the two interlocutors (e.g. peer to peer, teacher to student).All the audience is important and could challenge the presenter. Nevertheless, there is a group o

people in the audience that should be given special concern: the critical listeners and the influencers.

The critical listeners are those people who can make decisions: the teacher, the owner of th

company, the manager. Your presentation is firstly addressed to them, as they will approve th

follow-up stages: the implementation of what you suggested, your hiring, the final grade, etc. Yo

will pay special attention to them, by keeping eye contact, creating a positive rapport, showing you

respect. Whenever you use handouts or any other materials, make sure the first copy gets to them.

The influencers are also powerful people, whose opinion is taken into consideration and trusted b

the decision makers - technicians, lawyers, and experts in that field of activity. Even though they

might not be very high in the hierarchy of the organization or the company, they are really powerfu

In order to make them appreciate your presentation as effective, you should try to meet them i

advance to establish a positive rapport, compare your points of view, find questionable areas an

counterarguments to your suggestions and develop persuasive answers.

c. Level of formality

It depends on the relationship between the presenter and the audience (a peer, an outsider or an

insider).

The formal presentations are very structured and less flexible, the speaker will stand, ustransparencies orpower pointimages, and answer the questions at the end of the presentation. Duringless formal presentations, the speaker will sit and use a flexible format, the listeners will sit or stand

the questions will be answered during the presentation, or there will be a discussion, and visuals wi

be less formal, such as slides, the flipchart.

3. Purpose of the presentation

Generally speaking, there are two types of presentations:

a. informational presentations, meant to transmit information,

b. persuasive presentations, meant to persuade, convince the audience to take an active step.

a. With this type, the focus is on giving information/explaining facts. It can be followed by an action

but not necessarily. The action can be dissemination of information, implementation of a projec

gaining knowledge.

1. The status report. It is brief and meant to inform other people about the progress of a project. Th

focus is on:

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general presentation of the status of the project,

what has been changed in the project,

solutions to existing or prospective problems

2. Product demonstrations, when the presenter shows/describes machines, products and tells how

these work. This type of presentation is very dynamic and it can be long or short. It is easy for th

speaker to get the attention of the audience, as they are highly interested because of the practicaissues presented.

3. Explaining technical information and projects

Because people in the audience are not always technical specialists, these should be brie

Presentation of technical info can be boring, because of the technical details and incomplete technica

knowledge with some of the people in the audience. The focus is on:

technical facts explained in non-technical terms, visual aids, examples, analogies to explain the technical facts.

When the topic of the presentation refers to technical projects or information, the presenter shoul

answer a question before he starts designing the presentation: how much technical knowledge d

listeners have?

if the listeners are experts with specialized training, you can deliver highly technical data,

if they have technical background but they are not specialists, they will know the basic technica

terms, but need explanations for specialized data,

if they do not have a technical background, you will use simple, non-technical language,

when they have mixed technical background, you should find the lowest level of technica

understanding.

b) This type of presentation is a selling presentation and the listeners are always asked to respon

with action and implement what they have just learnt. The focus is on persuading the listeners to

follow the presentation with some kind of action.In order to design a persuasive presentation, you should wear a listeners hat, empathize with you

audience. Listeners are people like you, so you can test the strong/weak points of a presentation o

yourself. A persuasive structure should answer the following questions:

Why should I listen to you? - motivating the audience,

What is going on? - describing the content,

What should we do? - setting goals,

How do we do that? - accomplishing goals,

What are the benefits? - evaluating outcomes,

What could go wrong? - evaluating the implementation.

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The closing part should answer all these questions.

Note: these practicalities do not apply to the students scientific or technical presentations, which, in

general, are informative, and meant to demonstrate or explain technical facts.

1. Selling ideas (on projects, to help the organisation, etc)

This presentation is persuasive and tries to engage the listeners into the ideas presented. In order tdo that, it should pay attention to the listeners needs, expectations, and concerns. It focuses on:

link between new and old ideas,

description of the new idea,

benefits of the idea.

2. Selling a product or services

This type of persuasive presentation is very demanding as it depends on high presentation skilland personal charisma. Very often the answer of the audience is negative. It focuses on:

features of the product,

benefits of the product.

4. Steps in the preparation of a presentation

When preparing any kind of oral presentation, the basic steps to keep in mind are the following:

analyze your audience,

select a topic and limit it accordingly,

determine your primary purpose or objective,

collect materials and select effective supporting info,

choose an appropriate pattern of organization or structure,

prepare a written outline,

add visuals,

rehearse,

check the equipment.

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What have you learnt?

1. Answer the questions:

a. What is a presentation?

b. Why are presentations necessary?

c. How can you classify presentations from the point of view of:

number of speakers, number of listeners,

level of formality

d. What are the purposes of presentations? List types of presentations according to their purpose.

2. Characterize the technical students presentations by:

Number of speakers

Number of listeners

Level of formalityPurpose

Level of technical

knowledge presented by

the audience

3. Read the following two situations. Who are the critical listeners? Who are the influencers?

The premises of a football club. A trade of players is going on. The people attending the meetin

are: the owners of the teams, four football players, the coaches, the managers of the teams.

The students are being received by the Dean. They want to present the living standard in th

hostel and complain about it. The people attending the meeting are: the students delegation, th

Dean, the administrator of the hostel, the manager of the faculty.

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IV