ENGLISH FOR ORAL COMMUNICATION Communication Effectively in Spoken English in Selected Social Contexts.

INRODUCTION. Communication is an essential part of our lives. We communicate with different people at different times and ways. De Vito (1991, p.5) suggests that communication is an act by one or more persons of sending and receiving messages that are distributed by noise, occur within a context, have some effect and provide some opportunity. Communication requires a sender, a message and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. Good oral communication skills will help us acquire knowledge more effectively especially when we are able to ask questions, express opinions and ideas and summaries information. Business and professional people also depend a lot on oral communication skills when they interact with customers, make reports or give explanations, participate in meeting and hold informal discussions with employers and employees. Many corporate organizations and professional position also require people who are able to understand and speak English well and convincingly. Knowing English opens job and employment opportunities in many countries and markets. Multilateral institutions and agencies also expect the candidates to have good English-speaking skills. Oral communication is a two-way process that requires both speaker and listener. Therefore, oral communication involves two crucial skills which listening and speaking. Listening is the skill that is the least taught formally. It is not a communication action, it is a human action. Effective listening requires to listen intently and pay close attention to the speaker. According to Devito (2009), effective listening comprises five components which are Receiving, Understanding, Remembering, Evaluating and Responding. Receiving is paying attention to a signal. Hearing is different with listening. Hearing is sound waves strike the ear drum and cause vibrations that are transmitted to the brain. It is automatic and effortless. However, listening happen when the brain gives the sounds meaning. It is unnatural and requires effort not like breathing. When we listen, we concentrate on the verbal as well as non-verbal

message. Understanding is making sense of a message. This is the stage where we learn to decipher the meaning of the message from the emotional tone of the speaker. Remembering is residual message. It will saving them for use later on. Evaluation the massage means that we make some judgments about it. This process often done unconsciously by the listener. Responding is giving observation feedback to the speaker. We can respond in two ways which is respond while the speaker is talking or respond after the speaker has stopped speaking. Seek first to understand.. Then to be understood Covey (1997). Listening skill is that the skill we will most in oral communication. Most people define oral communication narrowly, focusing on speaking and listening separately. Traditionally, when people describe speaking skill, they do so in context of public speaking. Recently, however, definitions of speaking have been expanded ( Brown 1981). Wood (2009) lists three principles that explain oral communication and fourth concerning speech quality is obtained from Camp & Satterwhite (2002) which is Interpretation of symbols create meaning, Rules in communication, Punctuation affects meaning and Voice attributes. There are seven forms that oral communication often takes; Intrapersonal communication, Interpersonal communication, Small group communication, Public communication, Mass communication, Corporate communication and Intercultural communication. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the sender. ORAL COMMUNICATION Oral communication is referring to spoken verbal communication, typically relies on words, visual aids and non-verbal elements to support the conveyance of the meaning. Oral communication includes discussion, speeches, presentations, interpersonal communication and many other varieties. A great presenter must capture the attention of the audience and connect with them. There are three models of communication Linear model, Interactive model and Transaction model. The Linear Model is a one-way or linear process in which the speaker speaks and the listener listens. Shannons (1948) of the communication process is an important ways, the beginning of the modern field. It not only explain how communication happens but, why communication sometimes fails. Shanons model breaks the process of communication down into eight discrete components. An information source; presumably a person who creates a

message. The message; which is both sent by the information source and received by the destination. A transmitter; the mouth (sound) and body (gesture) create and modulate a signal. The signal; which flows through a channel. Noise; in the form of secondary signals that obscure or confuse the signal carried. A receiver; in face to face communication a set of ears (sound) and eyes (gesture). A destination; presumably a person who consumes and processes the message. However, Shannons model isnt a model of communication. It is instead, a model of the flow of information through a medium. Speaker only speak and never listen, listeners listen and never speak or send messages. Schramm (1995) in Wood (2009) came out with a more interactive model that saw the receiver or listener providing feedback to the sender or speaker. The speaker or sender of the message also listens to the feedback given by the receiver or listener. Both speaker and listener take turn to speak and listen to each other and they can communicate better if they have common fields of experience or fields which overlap. However, the interactive model does not indicate that communicators can both send and receive message simultaneously. This model also fail to show that communication is a dynamic process which changes over time. The third model is transactional model. The model shows that the element in communication are interdependent. Each person in the communication act is both a speaker and a listener, and can be simultaneously sending and receiving messages. The communication process reacts depending on factors such as their background, prior experiences, attitudes, culture beliefs and self-esteem. That means, the communication is ongoing and continuously changing process or spontaneously. The communicator know when the time to receive or sending the message. In the transactional model, two people communication with multiple message through what may be multiple channels and with parallel message. As with other models, the message may be distorted and the people may be distracted, resulting in misunderstanding that fuels and hinders the model. For example the transactional character between teacher and students in worth noting. They influence each other. We have all had teachers that seem to treat us disfavor. The result is that we may react negatively to being treated as such. The negative responses reinforce the teachers original attitudes and expectation. This also quite evident in children/parent relationship. Parenting is not based just on what parent think they should do. Children influence parents just as much as influence their children.
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INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION Interpersonal Communication is defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependents upon one another and have a shared history. It can involve one on one conversations or individuals interacting with many people within a society. A primary concept of interpersonal communication looks at communicative acts when there are few individuals involved unlike areas of communication such as group interaction, where there may be a large number of individuals involved in a communicative act. Interpersonal communication can be further broken down into four main areas; the sender, the individual who is actively partaking in communication, the receiver, the individual who is receiving the communication, the message, the message being sent by the sender and the feedback, the response to the sender from he receiver. This form of communication may range the impersonal to the very personal. Impersonal communication is while we talk with a person we do not really care. When we are using impersonal channel during everyday communication with other people, we are acting quite normally. We are doing just what we need to do and making a rational choice to protect ourselves by intentionally not getting too close. This communication also show our respect for others who might feel shy, uncomfortable even threatened by the closeness created by too much personal energy. We are more protected but less connected . Whenever people are using personal communication, they are noticeably more connected but less protected . This communication occurs when we talk with people who close to us, for example, our best friend, family members and colleagues. For example, when we are talking with a friend, we may be smiling, nodding our head in agreement, and we may even have an excited tone when we speak. Interpersonal communication can be conducted using both direct and indirect mediums of communication such as face-to-face interaction. Successful interpersonal communication assume that both the message senders and the message receiver will interpret and understand the message being sent on a level of understood meaning implications. Being good at interpersonal skills is one of the greatest assets anyone can have. Therefore, there are some guides to have more effective interpersonal skills such as creating interest and catching the attention, build a rapport, self confidence, threes company, honesty and empathy and also optimism. Effectiveness at interpersonal communication leads to positives

relations with friends, families, colleagues and business clients and the lack of it leads to relationships deterioration. SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION Small group communication can be defined as more than three people and ( depending on the definition ) 12 to 15 as many as 20 people. If made up of 2 or more than 12, 15, or 20 then it is not a group. There are different definitions as to how many make up a small group. This generally takes place in a contact that mixes interpersonal interactions with social clustering. Small group communication also can be group discussion, interview in personnel selection, conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops. The functions of small group communication in academic institutions are students often form small group which meet regularly for study discussions or to work collaboratively on projects. At the workplace, small group may meet to discuss issues related to work or for problem-solving or team-building purpose. The types of small group communication depend on the purpose of the group. Task oriented group are created for business, clubs, teams, charity and religious group. Task oriented group have purpose of generating ideas or solving problems. The most common group is social groups. Its consists of friends who get together and enjoy each others company. While all groups will have both social and task dimensions, some group are predominantly social in their orientation. Example of these group would be families and social clubs. These group for our safety and solidarity needs and they help us develop selfesteem. Work group function to complete a particular task. In a work group, the task dimension is emphasized. The group members pool their expertise to accomplish the task. Example of this would be workplaces, campus organizations or juries. In the academic context, class discussion also form from the small group communication. Students are more able to learn together when you face each other in small circle. Students also support each other in learning when you make a commitment to solve problems jointly through discussion and shared explanations. More effective cooperative learning occurs when students maintain a commitment to sharing insights with each other. Four or five heads are better than one when it comes to responding to an assignment. When students apply small group

communication, they develop skill in leading, making decisions, building trust and managing conflict. All of these skills are value in todays workplace. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION Public communication also know as public speaking, involves communication between a speaker and an audience. It is a process of speaking to a group of people in structured or deliberate manner. This audience may range from just a few people to thousands or even millions of people. The aim of the speaker is usually to inform or to persuade the audience to act, buy or to think in a certain way. In public speaking, as in any form of communication there are five basic elements often expressed as who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects? Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components that embrace such things as motivation speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service, large group communication and mass communication. The importance of public speaking is that improves our social skills, academic and professional skills and public speaking. Public speaking gives many people nightmares, but if you enjoy it there multiple career options. Public speakers must be effective communicators who can motivate, inspire and inform their audiences. Jobs for public speakers exist in a number of career fields. Some jobs require public speaking tasks a daily basis, while other mix public speaking and other responsibilities. As mentioned several times before, public speaking will provide us with great benefits in our personal and professional life in the year to come. Public speaking help us to develop our confidence, presentation skills and influence on the world around us. Public speaking help us hone our organizational skills, critical thinking and listening capabilities; and the expression of our beliefs, opinions and values. All of which are essential to success in most work environments. Whether it is in small group, face-to-face or large meeting context, we will be expected to express our ideas in an appropriate, effective and clear way. Additionally, success with public speaking in the workplace means understanding the needs of our audiences and developing message intended for them. Although most work environments and career tracks vary, most organizational setting require public speaking for the purpose of reports, all of which involve

researching, organizing and disseminating information. This information is often presented in the form of reports and public relations speeches. Regardless of the type of report, it is important that we make ourselves understood and take responsibility for the information we are presenting (OHair et al., 2001). In particular, OHair et al. (2001) outline four types of reports commonly used in the workplace; technical, staff, progress and investigative. Even if we are not a born orator, we can definitely learn to be a better speaker than we already are. With the right training, we can overcome feeling of self-consciousness and fear of speaking at length to an audience. There are some public speaking tips on how to overcome this fear and speak more confidence in public; prepare yourself, rehearse a few times, dress accordingly, be focused and natural and have the right frame of mind. Keep these pointers in our mind before giving the speech and prepare ourselves to be the confident speaker which we never thought we could be. CONCLUSION Oral communication, interpersonal communication, small group communication and public communication are the main skills on communicating effectively in spoken English in academic and work purpose. From the three models of the communication; linear, interactive and transaction model, transaction model has the complex process of communication compared the two others models. It is ongoing and continuously changing process and the element in communication are interdependent. In this model, communicators can send and receive message simultaneously. The most effective communication is when the communicators has good speaking and listening skills. Therefore, communicators should prepare themselves with all the skills. So that, they can deliver the message successfully. To improve the speech, they need for speech training and attend the communication skills programs. Communication is continuous. Thus, no matter how hard we try, we cannot simply stop communicating.

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