Speech and Oral Communication

Introduction
Speech: Its Nature and Importance

The Nature of communication can be explained by the following characteristics of

communication:

Two way process: Communication can take place only when there are at least two
persons. One peron has to convey some message and another has to receive it. The
receiver, however, need not necessarily be an individual. Information may be conveyed ta
a group of persons at a time. For example, in classroom, the teacher conveys information
to a group of students. Communcation can also be sent by means of letters, circulars, etc.
Knowledge of language: Forcommunication to be successful, the recceiver should first
of all understand the message. For this, the sender must speak in a language that is known
to the receiver.
Meeting of minds necessary: the reciever must understand the message in the way the
sender wants him to understand. For this consensus is required. Consensus is nothing but
identity of minds.
The message must have substance: the message has substance only if the receiver
shows interest in the subject matter. In other words, the sender of message must have
something really worthwhile for the receiver.
Communication may be made through gestures as well: Communication need not
necessarily be made orally or in writing. Certain gestures or actions may also convey
ones willingness or understanding of a given problem.
Communication is all-pervasive: Communication is Omni=present. It is found in all
levels of management. The top management conveys information to the middes
management and vice versa.
Communication is a continuous process: in any workplace someone will be conveying
or receiving some information or the other always. Sharing or exchanging information is
an on going activity. As long as there is work personal, officaila or unofficial, there will
be communication.
Communication may be formal or informal: formal communicaiton follows the
hierarchy the official channel established..

Communication and Language

Communication It is the dual or two-way process of transmitting messages from one person to
another. It is the symbolic interaction between two or more people that influences each others
behavior.
Language is our most effective medium of communication. It has but one purpose: to serve as
the code for the transmission of messages between and among people. By virtue of convention or
social agreement, language thus exist as a tool used in expressing ideas and feelings to achieve
understanding. It is a part of, in fact, the greatest achievement of culture and is adequate for the
communication needs of the people who use it.
Language has the following properties or characteristics:
1. It is systematic. Language is a highly organized system in which each unit plays an
important part, which is related to other parts, and which when put together consitute a
whole.
2. It is arbitrary. There is no necessary connection between the sounds people use and the
objects to which these sounds refer. The relationship between meaning andthe symbols
employed is a matter of convention.
3. It is rule-governed. While the relationship between meaning and the symbols used is an
arbitrary one, the arrangement of the symbols in relation to one another in an utterance is
not arbitrary.
4. It has a dual structure. Language is a system consisting of to subsystems: the subsystem
of sound and the subsystem of meaning.
5. It is generative. This refers to the speakers ability to understand and produce any
number of sentences/utterances in the native tongue by recursion or by relativisation.
That makes language creative and productive.
6. It is a socially learned behavior. It is a skil acquired as one grows up in society. It is
culturally transmitted. A speaker learns the language to which he is exposed.
7. It is a social interactive tool. Language cannot be considered without communication
because it is the very reason for its existence. It is a shared code that enabes its users to
transmit feelings, ideas and desires to on another because they want to communicate.
Language Example

Writing
Natural gestures
Body Posture
Facial expressions

Writing
Semaphore

Verbal

Morse Code
Sign Language

Non-Verbal

Natural Gestures
Body Posture
Facial Expression
Cosmetic Make-up

Two Broad Division of Non-verbal Communication

Static
Dynamic

ORAL COMMUNICATION
Oral communication is the sound representation of a language, and it consists of the speaking
and listening processes.
In speaking, the process begins with expression of ideas through association with
words.
Listening begins with expression as heard in context, followed by recall of
content through association between expression and ideas.

The Process of Oral Communication

Communication is the process of mutual interaction of people through sensory
stimuli anything that brings about a response in the nervous system, the sensory system or the
feelings of a person.

The Act of Transmitting Messages

Stage 1 Stimulus/Stimuli
The process starts with a stimulus in the form of an occurence such as an idea, a
startling news, a disagreeable remark or a positive comment that activates the sensory processes
of a person whom we shall identify as the sender of the message.

 Stage 2 - Ideation
The stimulus is transmitted by the nerve fibers to the brain which in turn
recognizes the event. Its perception is affected by the senders experience, environment, or
culture. The senders brain identifies the event and evaluates it on the merit of the stimulus.
Stage 3 - Encoding
His thoughts are being encoded into language symbols or words which must be
in the same language that the listener knows and understands. If, however, the sender of the
message thinks in a language that the receiver does not understand or will find offensive, then he
must rearrange or rephrase his symbols into a language which he thinks is right.
Stage 4 - Transmission
Now the speaker is ready to say his thoughts aloud in the language and the
symbols he has chosen. He is now ready to externalize his thoughts into the environment.
Stage 5 - Reception
Speech sounds are uttered in proper sequences to transmit the message. Pressure
waves are created in the air and at the same time properly coordinated muscles tighten or relax,
causing the hand to move in meanigful gestures.
Stage 6 - Decoding
The sounds containing the message are heard and the gestures that accompany
them are seen by the receiver. He acts. He senses what is happening because his visual and
auditory nerves are activated by the sound (voice) and light stimuli (gestures).
Stage 7 - Understanding
The receiver now decodes from sound to language and encodes from thought to
words. He chooses a language which the sender will understand and utters his response. The
listener now changes his role by becoming the sender of the response.
Stage 8 - Action
The response is now carried by the wave lengths to the first speaker, the original
source of the message.
Stage 9 Feedback / Receiver
The sounds and subsequently the language and message are heard. The listener
now evaluates them and reacts using the same channel in the same manner of exchange. This
mutual interaction takes place and feedback keeps coming to and from speaker and listener until
both feel that the purpose of the interchange is fulfilled.

The Elements of Speech Communication

SENDER
The sender of a message first receives stimuli from the environment. He forms
his own response to these stimuli and encodes them so that they can be transmitted as messages.
MESSAGE
The message is organized and encoded in a language understood by both
participants. This message is transmitted oraly through channels for sound and light waves.
*NOISE an element that may interfere with or break the whole process which may
distort hearing.
RECEIVER
Receives the encoded message. He organizes his response by decoding the
information and encoding his response; then he transmits his response throught a channel that is
accessible to both sender and receiver.
FEEDBACK
Feedback is the receivers response that provides information to the sender.
Verbal
Non-verbal