Elements Of Speech Communication

I. Participants - are those who are involve in the communication.

a. Sender – encode their thoughts and feelings into messages through verbal symbol or
non-verbal behavior.
b. Receiver – they decode or process the messages and behavior sent by the sender and
react to them
II. Context – refers to the interrelated conditions of the communication. It consists of such
factors as:
a. Physical Milieu – where the communication takes place, the time of the day, the
environmental conditions, distance between or among the communicators and seating
arrangements
b. Social Milieu – the nature of relationships existing between or among communicators
c. Psychological Milieu – communicator’s mood or feelings
d. Cultural Milieu – beliefs, values, and norms shared by a large group of people
e. Historical Milieu – the background provided by previous communication incidents
between or among the communicators and which affects understanding in the current
exchange
III. Messages – meanings or ideas and feelings that are encoded and sent by means of verbal and
non-verbal symbols then received and decoded into one’s own ideas and feelings
IV. Channels – means of accessing the message whether via visual channel (refers to light waves
that carry the non verbal symbols such as facial expressions, gestures, and movements) or via
the auditory channel (refers to the sound waves that carry verbal symbols such as words,
vocal cues, tone, rate, pitch, and volume).
V. Noise – refers to the distraction that interferes with the accurate transmission and reception of
a message. These distractions can be any or all of the following:
a. External Noise – sights and sounds and any other distractions in the environment
b. Internal Noise – distractions within the communicator
c. Semantic Noise – unintentional meanings caused by certain symbols, ethnic slurs,
profanity and vulgar speech
VI. Feedback – signifies non verbal responses to messages like murmurings or asides, nod
and/or facial expressions. Through feedback, the sender will know whether and how his/her
message is heard, seen, and understood.

Types of Communication

I. Verbal Communication – verbal or oral communication uses spoken words to

communicate a message
II. Non-Verbal Communication – it includes body language, gestures, facial expressions,
and even posture
III. Written Communication – written communication is essential for communicating
complicated information, such as statistics or other data, that could not be easily
communicated through speech alone