Communication studies is an academic field that deals with the processes of communication, commonly involves the sharing of symbols or signals over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompass a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies as a discipline, is also often interested in how audiences interpret information and the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of speech and language in context.
Communication Studies.
The field is institutionalized under many different names at different universities and in various countries, including “communications”, “communication studies”, “speech communication”, “rhetorical studies”, “communications science”, “media studies”, “communication arts”, “mass communication”, “media ecology,” and sometimes even “mediology” although this latter is a different area of study. Communication studies often overlaps with academic programs in journalism, film and cinema, radio and television, advertising and public relations and performance studies.
Communication studies is often considered a part of both the social sciences and the humanities, drawing heavily on fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and economics as well as rhetoric, literary studies, linguistics, and semiotics. The field can incorporate and overlap with the work of other disciplines as well, however, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, computer science, gender and sexuality studies.
Domains of Communication Studies
The vast breadth and interdisciplinary nature of communication studies has understandably made it difficult for both students and institutions to place it within the broader educational system. Despite intellectual incoherence, the field attracts and sustains large numbers of students, scholarly journals, professional associations, and lively discussions across the academy for researchers, educators, lawmakers, businesses, and reformers.
Broadly understood, the contemporary study of communication per se interfaces and overlaps with areas such as business, organizational development,philosophy, languages, composition, theatre, debate (often called “forensics”), literarycriticism, sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, semiotics, international policy, economics and political science, among others. The breadth and the primacy of communication in many areas of life is responsible for the ubiquity of communication studies, as well as for the resulting confusion about what does and does not constitute communication. Ongoing debates rage as to whether communication studies can best be understood as a discipline, a field, or simply a topic.
Communication is often recognised as a cornerstone of modern society—it would be hard to conceive of modern life without it. However, communication as an English-language field of study and a subject of social thought took off only in the first part of the twentieth century, and is thus a relatively recent and thus unsettled discovery.
Strengthening Social ties
In what is sometimes called the “transmission” view, communication is a process by which messages are sent, transmitted, filtered, and received. At core, the transmission view maps closely onto information theory nothing of Communication.” A more recent “ritual” view, proposed by the late James W. Carey, holds that communication partakes in central daily rituals that forge meaningful human relationships and communities.
Stress handling and Information
While transmission proposes a model of communication as transportation (across space, in one time), the ritual model proposes that meaning can be constituted in repeated media events (across times, in one space). The newspaper, for instance, does not only transmit messages to the reader through text, but reminds and reassures the reader through repeated and meaningful events, such as its morning appearance on the doorstep and a familiar page layout.
Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken or nonverbal messages. It is one of the most important skills in Business communication, which involves engaging your communication partner attentively. Listening skill is more than just hearing the said words, it also requires digesting and interpretation in order to get the actual meaning of the message.
Listening Skills in Communication
listening requires the thinking capacity, that’s why your listening is better when you think more on the message presented to you in communication. Here are some facts about listening and thinking according to research findings:
Generally, people can think approximately 500 words per minute.
The average person speaks 125 – 150 words per minute.
Moreover, people can give their full attention for approximately 20 seconds.
One of the major causes of listening difficulties is a psychological problem called cognitive dissonance. In line with listening skills, Cognitive Dissonance, is a psychological condition and theory that states that people feel conflicts if they hold two or more attitudes that are in opposition to each other. One way people reduce dissonance is by ignoring the information that is causing the conflict. In addition to that, our listening capacity is affected by the following factors among others:
Anxiety-Sometimes we can’t listen because our anxiety is too high. This may be due to restlessness, or any type of worry that overwhelms one’s mind and dominates their thinking, stopping them to concentrate on the communicator’s details in the message.
The Controlling Listener: This is a personality issue, implying that the listener (or the affected) always looks for a way to talk about themselves and what they are thinking about.
The Passive Listener-Exerts little listening effort in listening and hardly pays attention to the message content.
Types of Listening
Types of listening in Listening skills
We cannot talk about listening skills without mentioning the four main types of listening, which are:
Listening for information: In this case, the listener’s only interest is to get the message contained in the heard information
Critical listening: This involves going beyond just hearing and includes the digestion, evaluation and analysis of the message.
Empathetic listening: This is a real and complete engagement in communication, whereby the listener makes sure the conveyor of the message is convinced that their information has landed in an attentive ear. An empathetic listener, tries to fully fit in the agenda of the conveyor of the message. This very critical to the counselors and guidance teachers or even a dedicated member of support team in a business entity.
Listening for enjoyment: This is also known as Appreciative listening which consists of paying attention the the given information because of the pleasure that results from it. This usually applies to your favorite lecture, news channel, music, homely or preaching. It also applies to a long awaited piece of information,no matter where it comes from
Forms of Non-listening
Listening skills – Types of non-listening
As far as listening skills are concerned, non-listening is a form of communication, whereby the listener seems to be paying attention to the message, while in reality, the concentration is elsewhere. We can give examples in the following cases:
Pseudo listening: This is the pretender’s listening type,consisting on one’s pretending to listen, while partially or completely ignoring the speaker’s message.
Monopolizing: This is also known as Hogging the stage, whereby the listener continuously focusing communication on ourselves instead of the person who is talking. The listener in some cases does something or expresses some strange behavior to divert attention to themselves rather than the speaker
Selective listening– We screen out the parts that don’t interest us. We reject communication that bores us or makes us uncomfortable.
Defensive Listening– Perceiving personal attacks, criticism, or hostile undertones in communication where none is intended.
Ambushing– Listening carefully for the purpose of attacking the other speaker Literal Listening-Listening only to the content level of meaning and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.
Concluding the listening skills, we can say that in any business or in your profession requiring interaction with people, there are many reactions that you should expect and be ready to deal with. Most of behavioral challenges in communication are result of listening skills, either by the speaker or the recipient of the message. As a teacher, counselor or customer care attendant, you should be aware of these skills in listening and communication, so as to render as effective services as possible.
Note taking is the practice of writing pieces of information, often in an informal or unstructured manner. One major specific type of note taking is the practice of writing in shorthand, which can allow large amounts of information to be put on paper very quickly. Notes are frequently written in notebooks, though any available piece of paper can suffice in many circumstances—some people are especially fond of Post-It notes, for instance.
Note taking is one of the major skills that you should master, either as a student, a journalist or even a researcher. Many different forms are used to structure information and make it easier to find later. It is important to note that, the way you take your note, might play a major role in your success in their use, academically for instance, or for any intended purpose.
Note taking techniques
Systems of Note taking
Cornell Notes
When using the Cornell note-taking system a column of white space is left to the left side of the notes that are written as they come up. Questions or key words based on the notes are written in the white space after the session has ended. The Cornell method requires no rewriting and yet results in systematic notes.
Charting
Charting is creating a graph with symbols, or table with rows and columns. Graphs and flow-charts are useful for documenting a process or event. Tables are useful for facts and values
Outlining
While notes can be written freely, many people structure their writing in an outline. A common system consists of headings that use Roman numerals, letters of the alphabet, and the common Arabic numeral system at different levels. A typical structure would be:
First main topic
Subtopic
Detail
Detail
Subtopic
Second main topic
Subtopic
etc.
However, this sort of structure has limitations in written form since it is difficult to go back and insert more information. In a way to make writing so comfortable, some adaptive systems are used for paper-and-pen insertions, such as using the back side of the preceding page in a spiral to note insertions.
Mapping
Mapping technique of note taking
Here, ideas are written in a tree structure, with lines connecting them together. Mind maps are commonly drawn with a central point, purpose or goal in the centre of the page and then branching outward to identify all the ideas connected to that goal. Colours, small graphics and symbols are often used to help to visualize the information more easily. This note taking method is most common among visual learners and is a core practice of many accelerated learning techniques. It is also used for planning and writing essays.
Sentence method
Every new thought is written as a new line. Speed is the most desirable attribute of this method because not much thought about formatting is needed to form the layout and create enough space for more notes. Also, you must number each new thought.
SQ3R System of note taking
SQ3R is a method for taking notes from written material, though it might be better classed as method of reading and gaining understanding. The term itself, is one of Cornell note taking techniques, which stands for Survey – Question – Read – Recite – Review (or Re-skim).
In order to use this method effectively, the reading material is skimmed to produce a list of headings, which are then converted into questions. These questions are then considered whilst the text is read to provide motivation for what is being covered. Notes are written under sections headed by the questions as each of the material’s sections is read. One then makes a summary from memory, and reviews the notes.
What should we understand by note taking
Note taking is the practice of writing pieces of information, often in an informal or unstructured manner. One major specific type of note taking is the practice of writing in shorthand, which can allow large amounts of information to be put on paper very quickly. Notes are frequently written in notebooks, though any available piece of paper can suffice in many circumstances—some people are especially fond of Post-It notes, for instance.
Note taking is one of the major skills that you should master, either as a student, a journalist or even a researcher. Many different forms are used to structure information and make it easier to find later. It is important to note that, the way you take your note, might play a major role in your success in their use, academically for instance, or for any intended purpose.
Note taking techniques
Systems of Note taking
Cornell Notes
When using the Cornell note-taking system a column of white space is left to the left side of the notes that are written as they come up. Questions or key words based on the notes are written in the white space after the session has ended. The Cornell method requires no rewriting and yet results in systematic notes.
Charting
Charting is creating a graph with symbols, or table with rows and columns. Graphs and flow-charts are useful for documenting a process or event. Tables are useful for facts and values
Outlining
While notes can be written freely, many people structure their writing in an outline. A common system consists of headings that use Roman numerals, letters of the alphabet, and the common Arabic numeral system at different levels. A typical structure would be:
First main topic
Subtopic
Detail
Detail
Subtopic
Second main topic
Subtopic
etc.
However, this sort of structure has limitations in written form since it is difficult to go back and insert more information. In a way to make writing so comfortable, some adaptive systems are used for paper-and-pen insertions, such as using the back side of the preceding page in a spiral to note insertions.
Mapping
Mapping technique of note taking
Here, ideas are written in a tree structure, with lines connecting them together. Mind maps are commonly drawn with a central point, purpose or goal in the centre of the page and then branching outward to identify all the ideas connected to that goal. Colours, small graphics and symbols are often used to help to visualize the information more easily. This note taking method is most common among visual learners and is a core practice of many accelerated learning techniques. It is also used for planning and writing essays.
Sentence method
Every new thought is written as a new line. Speed is the most desirable attribute of this method because not much thought about formatting is needed to form the layout and create enough space for more notes. Also, you must number each new thought.
SQ3R System of note taking
SQ3R is a method for taking notes from written material, though it might be better classed as method of reading and gaining understanding. The term itself, is one of Cornell note taking techniques, which stands for Survey – Question – Read – Recite – Review (or Re-skim).
In order to use this method effectively, the reading material is skimmed to produce a list of headings, which are then converted into questions. These questions are then considered whilst the text is read to provide motivation for what is being covered. Notes are written under sections headed by the questions as each of the material’s sections is read. One then makes a summary from memory, and reviews the notes.
