Professional communication Skills Glossary

Ambiguous

a disconfirming response with more than one meaning, leaving the other party unsure of the responder's position.

Articulation

the process of correctly pronouncing all the necessary parts of a word.

Ambushing

a style in which the receiver listens carefully to gather information to use in an attack on the speaker.

Artifact

a simple object or ornament representing significant cultural meaning.

Attending

the process of focusing on certain stimuli from the environment.

Channel

the medium through which a message passes from sender to receiver.

Climate

the emotional tone of a relationship as it is expressed in the messages that the partners send and receive.

Communication

the process of human beings responding to verbal/nonverbal behavior. A human survival skill needed to maintain contact with the world.

Concise

to be clear and brief.

Connotation

the emotional associations of a term

Consensus

agreement between group members about a decision.

Credibility

the believability of a speaker or other source of information.

Chronemics

the study of how humans use and structure time

Conversation Narcissism

when one turns the attention of the conversation to oneself

Critical Listening

a style in which the goal is to evaluate the quality or accuracy of the speaker's remarks

Debilitative Apprehension

an intense level of anxiety about speaking before an audience resulting in poor performance.

Defensive Listening

taking innocent comments as personal attacks.

Denotation

the objective, emotion-free meaning of a term.

Emotional Intelligence

an assortment of noncognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person's ability to successfully cope with environmental demands and pressures; also known as EQ.

Empathy

the ability to perceive another's experience and communicate that perception back to the person.

Empathetic Listening

a style in which the goal is to help the speaker solve a problem.

Environment

physical location and personal history surrounding the communication.

Equivocal Terms

words that have more than one dictionary meaning.

Euphemism

a pleasant term substituted for a more direct, less pleasant term.

Evaluative Listening

a style in which the goal is to judge the quality or accuracy of speaker's remarks.

Extemporaneous Speech

a presentation planned in advance but presented in a direct, conversational manner.

Facilitative Apprehension

a moderate level of anxiety about speaking before an audience that helps improve the speaker's performance

Faulty Assumption

incorrect perceptions that lead us to believe that we have heard the message before or that the message is too simple or too complex to understand.

Feedback

the discernible response of the receiver

Haptics

how touch effects the communication process.

Impromptu Speech

a presentation given without preparation.

Informational Listening

a style by which one strives to understand another person or idea.

Insensitive Listening

the failure to recognize the thoughts or feelings that are not directly expressed by a speaker, and instead accepting the speaker's words at face value.

Insulated Listening

a style in which the receiver ignores undesirable information

InterpErsonal communication

a process in which the parties involved consider one another as unique individuals.

IntrApersonal Communication

a process involving only one person, such as talking to yourself.

Jargon

special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.

Kinesics

the study of body movement, gestures, and posture

Listening

the active process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and acknowledging verbal messages

Manuscript Speech

a presentation that is read word-for-word from a prepared text.

Mass Communication

the transmission of messages to large, usually widespread audiences

Memorized Speech

a presentation that is learned and delivered by rote without a written text

Message

a person's words and actions.

Message Overload

excessive written or verbal information.

Monochronic

a nonverbal means of communication that emphasizes punctuality in beginning and completing a task.

Noise

a force that interferes with the process of communication.

Pitch

the highness or lowness of one's voice

Polychronic

a nonverbal means of communication that emphasizes flexibility in beginning and completing tasks

Proxemics

the study of how people and animals use space.

Pseudolistening

pretending to be attentive.

Rate

the speed at which one speaks.

Receiver

the person who decodes the message.

Relative Terms

words that gain their meaning through comparison.

Selective Listening

a style in which the receiver responds only to messages that interest them

Self-concept

the set of perceptions each individual holds of themself.

Self-Disclosure

the process of deliberately revealing information about oneself that is significant and that would not normally be known by others

Self-esteem

the degree of regard a person holds for themself

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

a prediction or expectation of an event that makes the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise.

Semantics

the study of meaning of words and phrases in language.

Sender

the person who encodes and delivers the message.

Slang

a type of language that consists of words or phrases that are informal.

Soft Skills

personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.

Syntax

the arrangement of words in a sentence

Theme

a complete sentence describing the central idea of a speech, usually found in the first paragraph.

Volume

the loudness of one's voice