COMM1007 Key Terms

Johnson || Tuesday, Thursday 12:30pm

Channel

The medium through which an encoded message is transmitted from a source to a receiver

Decoding

The process of drawing meaning from the symbols that were used to encode a message

Encoding

Taking an abstract notion and providing it meaning through the application of symbols

Environment

The context in which the communication process takes place

Feedback

The receiver’s response to a message that is sent to the sender

Interactive Model of Communication

Communication theory that views communication as a two-way process that includes feedback and the environment

Linear Model of Communication

Theory that views communication as a one-way process in which a source conveys an encoded message through a channel to a receiver, who then decodes that message

Message

The content or idea that the source tries to convey to the audience

Noise

Anything that can change the message after the source encodes and sends it

Reciever

The person or audience that a message is being transmitted to

Source

The person responsible for inventing the idea on which he or she intends to speak and crafting that idea to an audience

Transactional Model of Communication

The theory that views communication as a constant process in which all parties simultaneously play all roles of sender and receiver

Communication Apprehension

The fear or anxiety associated with real or anticipated communication with another or others

Phobias

A persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Convincing yourself that something is going to happen before it does, thus leading to the occurence of what you originally expected

Systematic Desensitization

The process whereby a person is slowly introduced to a fear such that each time he or she overcomes the fear the intensity is decreased

Ethics

Involve morals and the specific moral choices to be made by a person

Global Plagiarism

Taking an entire piece of work and saying that it is your own

Incremental Plagiarism

Using part of someone else’s work and not citing it as a source

Patchwork Plagiarism

Taking ideas from more than one piece of work and putting them together into a new piece of work, and then presenting them as original work without giving due credit to the sources

Patchworking

Taking original source material and changing a few words in it, but not enough to consider it a paraphrase, all the while not citing the original source material

Plagiarism

Taking the intellectual achievements of another person and presenting them as one’s own.

Co-cultures

Groups that are impacted by a variety of smaller specific cultures that intersect in our lives

Culture

The distinctive ideas, customs, social behavior, products, or way of life of a particular nation, society, people, or period

Dialogue

Speaking in a way that encourages others to listen and listening in a way that encourages others to speak

Ethnicity

A group of people who identify with each other based on a common experience, which might include geographic or national origin, ancestry, history, cultural and social norms, religion, race, language, ideology, food, dress, or other factors

Ethnocentric

Believing your group’s perspective is the only correct one and thus judging others based on their conformity to your way of doing things

Gender

A social construction that includes the all of the beliefs, attitudes, actions and roles associated with being masculine or feminine

High-Context Cultures

Language in which a great deal of meaning is derived from the nonverbal expressions, environment, and situation in which the communication is taking place, and less emphasis is placed on the words

Ideology

Set of ideas, beliefs, and ideals that form our worldview and provide a basis for action

Low-Context Cultures

The language used in an interaction, in which little emphasis is placed on the nonverbal communication, environment, and situation

Race

A set of physical characteristics shared by a group of people, such as skin color, body type, facial structure, and hair color

Sex

Refers to one’s biological classification as male, female, or intersex based on one’s reproductive organs and chromosomes

Sexual Orientation

The sex and gender to whom a person is romantically and sexually attracted to

Accent

Nonverbal behaviors that augment a verbal message

Articulation

Physically producing the sound needed to convey the word

Complement

When the action demonstrates the message contained in the verbal content

Extemporaneous Speech

A speech delivered with notes but without the entire speech in front of the speaker

Impromptu Speech

A presentation done with little or no preparation

Manuscript Speech

When a speaker has an entire speech written out word-for-word in front of him/her as he/she speaks

Memorized Speech

When a speaker commits an entire speech to memory and delivers with no notes in front of him/her

Physical Delivery

Elements of speaking that deal with the body

Pronunciation

The accepted standard of how a word sounds when spoken

Regulate

Nonverbal actions that help govern the course of a speech or interaction

Repeat

When physical actions restate verbal messages

Substitute

Physical actions that take the place of verbal messages

Verbal Delivery

Elements of speaking that deal with voice

Brief Example

An example that makes a very quick point and can be effective at any point in a speech

Expert Testimony

Testimony from someone who has conducted extensive research on the topic, has significant experience with the topic, or holds a position that lends credibility to his or her ideas on the subject matter

Extended Example

An example that takes time, and the importance lies in the details

Hypothetical Example

An example that is fictional

Mean

The average of all the scores in a distribution, which calculated by adding all of the scores and then dividing by the total number of scores

Measures of Central Tendency

Statistics that indicate where the middle of a distribution lies, including the mean, median, and mode

Median

The middle number in a distribution of numbers

Mode

The score that appears most often in a distribution of numbers

Peer Testimony

Testimony from someone who is in the same peer group as the audience, but who is not necessarily an expert on the topic

Real Example

An example that is factual

Standard Deviation

A measure of variability that indicates how spread apart the numbers are in a distribution

Statistics

Numbers that summarize and organize sets of numbers to make them easier to understand or visualize

Testimony

Using the words of other people as evidence

Clincher

The final statement of your speech

Internal Preview

Serves as an outline of what is to come next in a speech and is often combined with transition statements

Internal Summary

A statement that summarizes what you already have covered and precedes transitions

Signposts

Key words that signal to the audience that you are moving from one part of the speech to another

Thesis

A carefully worded, one-sentence summary of exactly what you will cover in your speech

Transition

Connective statements that signal you are finished with one point and moving on to another

Demographics

Categories of definable characteristics of groups of people, such as age, race, religion, socioeconomic status, education level, and sexual orientation

Brainstorm

To create a list of possible topics and keep adding to this list as you think of new ideas

Concept Map

Also known as a mind map, is a visual representation of the potential areas you could cover in your speech

General Purpose Statement

A brief statement representing what you aim to do with the speech; there are three types

Specific Purpose Statement

A narrower version of the general purpose statement that identifies what you will talk about, what you will say about it, and what you hope the audience will take away from the speech.

Abstract

Words are not concrete or tangible items; they are only representations

Alliteration

Repeating the same consonant or vowel sound at the beginning of subsequent words

Ambiguous

Language that does not have precise, concrete meanings

Antithesis

When two ideas that sharply contrast with one another are put side by side in a parallel structure

Arbitrary

Symbols used to represent things that are not intrinsically connected to those things

Archetypal Metaphors

Metaphors that use common human experiences to describe another object

Bookend Story

A narrative in which the speaker tells the first part of a story as an attention getter in the introduction of his/her speech and then finishes the story in the closer at the end of the conclusion

Hate Speech

Attacking a person or group of people based upon their gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, social actions, or any other category that indicates applications of a negative, unwarranted stereotype

Hierarchal

Language that is structured according to more or less, higher or lower

Metaphors

Linguistic device that allows for comparisons between two objects by highlighting qualities of each object in explicit comparison

Metonymy

Using a tangible object to represent an otherwise intangible thing

Mixed Metaphor

Metaphors that compare two objects that have no logical connection with each other

Narrative

A story

Parallelism

Similarly structuring related words, phrases, or clauses of speech

Profanity

Language which is vulgar and irreverent

Repetition

Repeating words and phrases

Simile

Linguistic device that compares two things through the use of “like” or “as”

Synecdoche

Using one part of something to represent the whole thing

Bias

An unfair preference or distortion of information

Boolean Operators

Using words such as “and,” “but,” and “or” when typing in search terms to focus the results

Coordination

All information on the same level has the same significance

Division

Principle that if a point is divided into subpoints, there must be two or more subpoints

Subordination

Process of creating a hierarchy of ideas in which the most general ideas appear first followed by more specific ideas

Bar Graph

A graph which shows two axes and bars going either horizontally or vertically to represent total achievement

Charts

Visual depiction of summaries of numeric data

Graphs

A type of chart that illustrates numeric data by using a visual diagram

Histogram

A visual representation of a frequency table in which the categories are placed on the horizontal axis, while vertical bars are used to represent the number (or frequency) of individuals that fit into that category

Line Graph

A graph that uses lines drawn along two axes to show growth, loss, or flat developments over time

Model

A three-dimensional representation of an actual object