The Nature of Oral Communication

Communication is said to be the most important skill of human survival because one needs it to maintain contact with the world. It is true that we communicate all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. Of course, oral communication is a two way process between the speaker and the receiver, involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding (listening). Apart from the speaker and the receiver there are many elements involved in the process of communication. And all of them are equally important in communication.

i. A source
ii. Stimuli received from that source
iii. A receiver
iv. Sensory receptors
v. The receivers’ interpretation of and responses to the sensations
vi. Noise
vii. Feedback
viii. Situation or context

Communication, generally, is described as a process. But it is a process of processes because it involves many processes e.g. receiving sensation, interpretation of the received sensation and responding to interpretations. Another important aspect of communication is the nonverbal behaviour. During communication, the gestures, facial expression and body movements naturally influence both the speaker and the receiver. And nonverbal behaviour does convey meaning along with the verbal message.

Pedagogical Implications of Oral Communication

Donn Byrne (ibid) discusses the pedagogical implications. For effective communication what he suggests is the need to develop the skills of speaking and listening as an integrated approach. Generally, in classroom much more time is given to develop the ability of students to speak and very less account is given to the skill of listening. Therefore poor understanding often generates nervousness among the students in real life situations. In order to cope up with that, the students need regular and frequent training through a programme of listening comprehension, which exposes them in the classroom to suitably varied models of natural speech from the earliest stages of the language course. So far as teaching of the speaking is concerned, the main goal in teaching the productive skill of speaking is that of oral fluency: the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably accurately and without undue hesitation. By intelligibility Donn Byrne means being able to make the difference between essential sounds such as /i/ and /i:/, /e/ and /ae/and so on. The learners need an adequate mastery of grammar, vocabulary and phonology in order to accomplish an effective communication. But excessive stress on any of these may slow down progress in other area. So there should be balance. Along with grammar and vocabulary the learners need to focus on certain features such as difference between key sounds, weak forms, basic stress and intonation patterns in the area of reception as well as production. In short, it will be easy task to acquire language learning and fluency, if adequate attention is paid to all the three areas i.e. listening comprehension, oral production and interdependence of the oral skills in communicatio

The word communication is derived from the Latin terms cum munis [to make common] and communicare [to share]. Hence, communication is defined as the exchange of information, thoughts, ideas, feeling and the like.  Because of its complexity, scholars and experts cast various definitions of communication. Griffin (2006) says that there are around more than 120 definitions as applied in operationalizing the concept of communication.

Communication is any process in which people share information, ideas, and feelings to construct meaning, establish relations and build understanding.  It is a meaningful exchange that  involves not only the spoken and written word, but also body language, personal mannerisms and style, the physical environment – anything that adds meaning to a message (Hybels & Weaver, 1998). This process takes place through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages (Brooks & Heath, 1993).

Communication is nature to humans. We communicate because it is nature to our ability as feeling, thinking and socializing creatures.  In our daily lives we always engage in various forms of communication. Our very existence and our relationships depend heavily on how we are able to communicate what we feel and think, yet we often overlook the importance of understanding communication because it is too common to us.

Looking at Communication as a Process

Communication takes place, everywhere at anytime. It changes in various situations and affects change among participants as the process takes place.  Process implies dynamics and change. It implies parts interacting and influencing each other so as to function as a whole. Brooks and Heath posit  that when we accept the concept of process, we view communication events and relationships as dynamic, systematic, transactional, adaptive, and continuous:

• Communication is dynamic – it is not static. It is not fixed but always changing. As it deals with change of behavior  it changes constantly.
• Communication is systematic - a simple speech communication occurs within a larger system. It is a system itself composed of interrelated and interdependent elements working together to achieve a desired outcome.
•  Communication is transactional -  the essence of the term transaction is relationship. Included in the transactional characteristic of communication is the fact that each communication event is unique combination of people, messages, and situation that operate to achieve some definite purpose.
• Communication is adaptive – communication takes place with an intention to achieve some outcome. In this process it must adapt to change. Thus, communication must pay attention to the other person, to the topic, to the physical surroundings, to motives and needs, and to other elements that we will study in this text. The ability to adjust and adapt to changing situation is a characteristic of effective communication.
• Communication is continuous - it has no beginning and no end. We can consider communication as a product of a previous communication event that proceeds to another communication situation.

The study of oral communication considers the process as essential to facilitate understanding between the speaker and the audience. Thus, communication is viewed as the process of understanding and sharing meaning consists of activities of exchange and sets of behavior that applies in the perception, interpretation, and comprehension of meaning of the verabl and non-verbal behavior of individuals (Pearson & Nelson, 2000). Therefore, oral communication is understood as that dynamic and systematic process of sharing meaning and understanding meaning through verbal and non-verbal exchange between individuals in interaction within a given context.