Communicative Strategies and Resolution of Communication Breakdown

Review of Communication Barriers

  • Language Barrier: This involves a misunderstanding arising from the use of specific jargons, as well as an individual having zero to little knowledge of specific words, definitions, and terms.

  • Physiological Barrier: This barrier concerns the person's physique, anatomy, or physical attributes.

    • Examples include speech defects, such as difficulties pronouncing the letters "r" or "s," which make it hard for others to understand the message.
    • Hearing impairments or an inability to hear well or clearly are also categorized as physiological barriers.

  • Physical Barrier: This concerns the environment and physical entities present during communication.

    • Issues include noise problems, signal interference, and defects in the transmitter or hardware used for communication.

  • Psychological Barrier: This involves the communicator’s state of mind during a conversation.

    • Significant factors include experiencing anxiety, being too sad, or being too angry, all of which make it difficult to process the conversation.

  • Attitudinal Barrier: Often confused with psychological barriers, this specifically refers to the attitude toward the subject matter or the person speaking.

    • If a communicator has a grudge against someone or simply dislikes them, the communication will be less successful.
    • Aversion to a topic can create a barrier, such as an individual refusing to talk about "love" because they recently experienced a breakup.
    • This barrier often stems from subjects that trigger negative emotions or memories.

Overview of Communicative Strategies

  • Communicative strategies are used to resolve and prevent communication breakdown.
  • They are essential if a communicator wishes to find ease in starting, sustaining, and ending a conversation smoothly and efficiently.
  • These strategies cover the "pre," "during," and "post" phases of communication to ensure the process is successful.

Nomination Strategy

  • Nomination involves how a person starts a conversation or the communication process.
  • This is often found difficult due to several factors: not knowing the person, lack of friendship, lack of knowledge about the topic, or an environment that does not work to an individual's advantage.
  • Techniques for Nomination:
    • Using similar fields of experience to build a connection.
    • Asking questions or making statements the other person can relate to.
  • Classroom Examples:
    • On the first day of school, asking a classmate: "Do you have a pen?" or "You are from which class before?"
  • Professional Examples:
    • In a corporate setting: "What is your position?" or "How was the experience in the company?"
  • Social and Situational Examples:
    • To gain attention: "Hi, how are you?", "Who is your favorite Hollywood actor?", "Do you play Mobile Legends?", or "You know I have this friend who also knows you; her name is Jade."
  • Specific Warnings:
    • Nomination strategies are sometimes used maliciously by scammers or human traffickers to get the attention of unaware people. Children should be instructed on what to do when strangers use these tactics.

Turn-Taking Strategy

  • Turn-taking is employed to give all speakers an equal opportunity to talk.
  • It is vital in organized speaking engagements to ensure no speaker feels left out or insulted.
  • Application in Groups:
    • Using physical arrangements, such as a circle, and establishing an order, such as clockwise or counter-clockwise.
  • Application at Work:
    • Following the order of positions or seniority.
    • Using alphabetical order to determine the sequence of speakers.
  • Verbal Suggestions for Turn-Taking:
    • "We will use draw straws for the order of speeches."
    • "Can somebody from this class evaluate his speech?"
    • "Let us finish the marketing team first and open the table for questions after."
    • "Next product from the next department, please."

Topic Shifting Strategy

  • Topic shifting involves moving from one topic to another or from one aspect of a topic to a different aspect.
  • Scenarios for Shifting:
    • Parent and Child: A mother might try to shift a child's focus from the toy section back to the grocery list (detergent, toiletries).
    • Employer and Employee: An employee whose shift ends at 5:00 PM might need to shift the conversation from a last-minute request at 4:58 PM to the reality of going home.
    • Relationship Situations: Shifting away from a breakup conversation or shifting from a disliked topic to a different one.
  • Suggested Phrases:
    • Formal: "Our next topic is…" or "Let us now move to…"
    • Casual/Formal: "By the way, what is the update on the new material?" or "Which reminds me of your task for next week."

Restriction Strategy

  • Restriction involves statements used to limit a speaker or multiple speakers. This is often the responsibility of the organizers.
  • Contexts for Restriction:
    • Public Speaking/Impromptu: Setting a limit of 30 seconds to think and 2 minutes to talk.
    • Symposiums: Informing the audience and speakers of the time limits and speaking order.
    • Debates: Regulating how many minutes each speaker has and how many seconds are allowed for a Point of Information (POI).
    • Research Defense: Setting strict durations for presentations.
  • Common Limits:
    • Time/Duration.
    • Language (e.g., "Use the English language only").
  • Examples:
    • "We have a minute to talk about…"
    • "Let me hear first from the marketing group."

Topic Control Strategy

  • Topic control is a macro-strategy that serves as an umbrella for turn-taking, topic shifting, and restrictions.
  • The goal is to prevent interruptions and control the provision of topics until they are clearly communicated to the audience.
  • Techniques:
    • Establishing an agenda at the start of a meeting.
    • Using procedural statements: "After the second minute, the rest of you may ask questions."
    • "We stick only to our plan for our product demo."
    • "Let us finish the marketing team first and open the table for questions after."\n

Repair Strategy

  • Repair is used to address problems in speaking, listening, and comprehension. It is critical for resolving reasons behind communication breakdown.
  • Attentive Listening: Communicators must know when to use repair strategies. While they should be used as soon as possible, they must not disrupt the speaker at a disadvantageous moment.
  • Educational Context: Students might use nonverbal cues or hand-raising to ask a teacher to slow down or reiterate a point.
  • Service Industry: Staff at restaurants are trained to use formal repair statements when they cannot hear an order due to low volume.
  • Examples of Repair Phrases:
    • "Pardon?"
    • "Sorry, come again?"
    • "Sorry, I did not hear it. Could you say it again?"
    • "I don't understand; could you make it louder?"
    • "I think I need to search for the meaning of that word first."

Termination Strategy

  • Termination is used to end a topic or an entire conversation.
  • Difficulties in Termination:
    • Enjoying the company/topic and not wanting it to end.
    • Disliking the person/topic but not wanting to offend an enthusiastic speaker.
  • Social Application:
    • With a best friend after a long time: "Let's just catch up soon again" while providing contact information to ensure the relationship continues.
  • Corporate Application:
    • Adhering to schedules: "It is about time," "I have a minute left; do you have questions?"
  • Examples:
    • "See you again soon."
    • "It is so nice talking to you again."
    • "What a conversation, and thank you so much for listening."

Future Applications

  • Successful communication is necessary to establish good relationships. Miscommunication leads to misunderstandings, which rarely result in positive outcomes.
  • Upcoming areas of study include:
    • Speech Styles
    • The Seven C’s of Communication
    • Patterns of Development