ORAL COMM 11: Communication Barriers & Speech Contexts

ONLY DEFINITION OF TERMS. Be aware that the quiz will most likely be situational!

Communication Barriers

These are factors that prevent us from effectively exchanging and understanding messages.

Language Barrier

A barrier that occurs when people who speak different languages attempt to interact.

Semantic Barrier

A barrier that occurs when the meaning of words, symbols, or phrases is misunderstood or interpreted differently by the sender and the receiver.

• Example: LOL to younger generations means “Laughing Out Loud,” while it means “Lots Of Love” to older generations.

Syntatic Barrier

A barrier that involves grammar mistakes like verb tense shifts, differing sentence structures, and even misspelled words.

• Example: “Watch out for” (Warning) and “Watch for” (Look out)

Physical/Environmental Barrier

It is any physical limitation that can interfere with the communication process.

• Examples: Noise, poor lighting, distance, and physical obstruction between speakers.

Physiological Barrier

It refers to the physical maladies that prevent messages from being received correctly, such as actual blindness or deafness and even a splitting headache or sleepiness.

• Any type of pain is under this barrier.

Emotional/Psychological/Mental Barrier

It is a barrier that prevents people from fully expressing their emotions or feelings to one another. This can be due to a lack of trust, fear of vulnerability, or difficulty in understanding the other person’s point of view.

Cultural Barrier

A barrier that occurs due to the differences in culture.

Kinship under cultural barrier

• Family ties

• These principles generally form the basis of societal organization. Families consisting of at least one parent and one child are customary in all societies, but there are many differences beyond this.

Sexuality under cultural barrier

Societies vary significantly in the degree to which they encourage or discourage intimacy and its different forms at different stages of life.

Gender under cultural barrier

Categorizing children into the binary categories of female and male is fairly common, but there is significant cultural variability in the toleration of switching categories and the number of these.

Religion under cultural barrier

These beliefs and practices are features of all known societies, but they vary significantly between cultures.

Dress code under cultural barrier

When you travel the world, you quickly learn that some cultures encourage conservative dress codes, such as covering your shoulders and knees in public.

Food and eating habits under cultural barrier

Includes not only what you eat, but when.

Cultural Taboos

These are forbidden practices in some cultures while it is normal to others.

Intercultural Communication

• A concept created by Edward T. Hall, an American Anthropologist.

• It is the process of exchanging information, ideas, and meanings between people from different cultural backgrounds. It involves understanding and respecting cultural differences in language, behavior, values, beliefs, and communication styles to ensure effective and meaningful interaction.

Cultural Iceberg

It is a metaphor used to explain that culture has both visible and invisible elements. The visible part, like clothing, food, language, and customs, is what we can easily see and observe. However, the larger, hidden part beneath the surface, such as values, beliefs, attitudes, thought patterns, and social norms, greatly influences behavior but is not immediately visible.

Intrapersonal Communication

The internal monologue within us.

Internal discourse

Refers to the communication that occurs within your own mind. It includes your thoughts, reflections, self-talk, and mental processing of ideas or feelings.

Vocal discourse

It is when you express your internal thoughts out loud to yourself, like talking to yourself to reason through a problem or motivate yourself.

Written discourse

It is when you communicate your thoughts to yourself in written form, such as journaling, note-taking, or writing reminders, helping you organize and clarify your ideas.

Interpersonal communication

It is what we normally think of as communication since it involves at least one other or some others.

Dyad

A communication interaction between two people. It is the simplest form of interpersonal communication, allowing direct, personal, and often more intimate exchanges of ideas, feelings, or information.

Group

Involves three or more people who interact and communicate with each other. This is more complex because it requires managing multiple perspectives, coordinating roles, and achieving shared goals or understanding among members.

Psychological Context

What the participants bring to the interaction, such as needs, values, personality, habits, and character.

Relation Context

Refers to the nature and history of the relationship between the people communicating. It includes factors like how close they are, the level of trust, the roles they play (e.g., friend, coworker, family member), and their past interactions.

Situational Context

Deals with the psychosocial “where” the exchange happens.

Environmental Context

Deals with the physical “where” they are communicating.

Cultural Context

It includes all the learned behaviors and rules that affect the interaction.

Public Communication

It is the act of conveying a message to a large audience and is often used to inform, persuade, or influence people. It typically occurs in settings like speeches, lectures, or presentations, where the speaker shares ideas or information with the goal of shaping the audience’s knowledge, attitudes, or actions.

Mass Communication

Refers to the exchange of information or ideas among large numbers of people simultaneously through broadcast, radio, television, social media, and print.