COMMUNICATION

The term Communication refers to the process by which information is exchanged or shared
between two or more individuals.

Communication is not limited to human beings: it takes place also in the animal as well as plant
kingdoms. However, we are concerned here only with communication between human beings.

The next question one might ask is: What is meant by ‘information’?

‘Information’ refers to the ideas, feelings, opinions etc. that can be communicated by one
individual to another. Whatever we know, believe or feel about the world and wish to share with
others, is ‘information’. The sentences below are all examples of information:

i. Two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen combine to form a single molecule
of water.
ii. My doctor has advised me not to smoke.
iii. It’s hot today, isn’t it ?
iv. Americans are more friendly than Europeans.

The first sentence states a universal truth ; the second states a fact, while the other two sentences
express feelings or opinions. All of them convey information.

GENERAL VERSUS PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

A distinction is often made between General Communication and Professional (Business)

Communication. ‘General’ communication is the kind of communication that goes on in
ordinary, ‘everyday’ situations and is mostly social in nature. An example of general
communication would be two friends talking to each about the weather or about a cricket match
which they have just witnessed.

‘Professional’ or ‘Business’ Communication is, as the name suggests, communication that is

related to the professional or business world : the world of commerce and industry, of buying
and selling, demand and supply etc. – in short, the hard, practical world of economic activity.

Human beings are as much economic creatures as they are social animals. It is difficult to isolate
economic activity from activity that is not economic. Therefore, the differences between
‘general’ and ‘professional’ communication are differences only of degree and not kind.
Everything that is true of general communication is true also of Professional English : the
principles are the same. However, because of ‘globalization’ and the proliferation of business
activity across the world, communication has become much more of an urgent need in the
business world than it ever was before. Certain ‘problems’ which may go unnoticed in general
communication can get dramatically highlighted in the context of business communication and
can cause unforeseen consequences. It is for this reason that everyone seems to be interested in
Communication now and future engineers and business managers are required to undergo
courses in Communication.
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THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

The process of communication is controlled by a number of factors, which are represented in the
diagram below.

context

topic

message
signal

---------------------------------------------------------------------
sender / encoder  channel  receiver /
decoder
(speaker / writer) ----------------------------------------------------------------------
(listener / reader)

code
language / body language

 feedback 

‘noise’ (filters and barriers)

Figure 2 The factors in the process of communication

i Participants

For communication to take place, there must be two or more participants taking part in an
exchange of information. The process of communication begins when one participant ‘sends’ or
gives some information to the other participant or participants. The term Sender is used to refer
to the first participant while the term Receiver is used for the other participant(s). We also use
the terms Encoder and Decoder for the Sender and Receiver respectively. In spoken
communication, the Sender is referred to as the Speaker and the Receiver as the Listener, while
in written communication they are referred to as the Writer and Reader respectively.

The following events take place during the process of communication:

1 The Sender selects the ‘idea’ (or ideas) which he/she wishes to communicate to the Receiver.
Before the process of communication begins, ideas exist in the mind of the Sender (as well as the
Receiver) in vague ‘shadow’ forms. The Sender first gives a clear shape to these ideas. This
stage is referred to as ‘ideation´ -- the ‘birth’ of an idea.

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Simultaneously, the Sender converts ideas (mentally) into the words of a language. This process
is referred to as encoding.

During the process of encoding, the Sender also combines words together to form sentences,
through which ‘messages’ are generally communicated.

2 The words or sentences are either spoken or written by the Sender, so that they can reach the
Receiver. In oral (spoken) communication, words are converted into sound waves, which travel
through the air to the ears of the Receiver. In written communication, words are converted into
visible marks made on paper or some other medium and are read by the Receiver.

3 When the Receiver receives the ‘message’ sent by the Sender (in either spoken or written
form), he/she re-converts the words (mentally) into the ‘meanings’ which the Sender was trying
to communicate through words. These meanings are stored in the Receiver’s short-term memory.
This process is known as decoding.

Receivers rarely remember the actual words used by the Sender. If asked to recollect the
Sender’s words, the Receiver will usually replace them with different words, although the
meaning is retained. This shows that Receivers are focused on meanings rather than the words
through which they are communicated.

4 After the Receiver has received the Sender’s message, he/she will usually let the Sender know
whether or not the message has been received and understood. This is known as feedback, which
can be provided in different ways.

5 Often (but not always), the Sender and the Receiver exchange roles after one ‘phase’ of
communication is over. The Receiver now becomes the Sender and the Sender becomes the
Receiver.

ii Code

We used the terms encoding and decoding to describe what the ‘Sender’ and the ‘Receiver’ do
during communication.

‘Encoding’ is the process of using a code to create messages, while ‘decoding’ is the process of
recovering meaning from a message with the help of a code. ‘Decoding’ is thus the reverse of
‘encoding’.

A code is defined as a system of symbols used for the purpose of communicating messages.

A symbol is an ‘object’ which represents a certain meaning. An example of a symbol is the

‘skull-and-crossbones’ sign which represents the meaning ‘Danger’.

iii Channel

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The term ‘channel’ refers to the medium which carries information from the Sender to the
Receiver. We can think of a channel of communication as a ‘pipeline’, similar to the pipes that
carry water in a water-supply system. Information has to ‘flow’ through the channel.

In oral communication, information is carried from the Sender to the Receiver by means of
sound waves which travel through the air and can be heard. Communication takes place here
through the auditory channel. Oral communication can be either ‘face-to-face’ or carried out
with the help of a telephone. Communication over a telephone requires a different set of skills
from face-to-face communication, because of the differences in the channel.

In written communication, the Sender produces visible marks on paper or some other medium
(such as the electronic screen of a computer monitor) which are seen (read) by the Receiver.
Communication takes place in this case through the visual channel.

The nature of written communication has also undergone a change with the coming of
information technology. Communication through e-mail messages, for example, requires
different skills from the ones required for writing a conventional ‘letter’.

iv Message

The term ‘message’ refers to the form in which information is sent or received in verbal
(linguistic) communication. A ‘message’ can be a single word, a group of words, a single
sentence or a group of sentences etc. Every message usually has a ‘start’ as well as a ‘finish’,
both of which are indicated in different ways.

Signal

The term signal is sometimes used to refer to non-verbal messages (mostly in the form of
gestures, facial expressions etc.) Each signal generally communicates a simple meaning and is
fixed in form. For example, when a listener yawns in the middle of a conversation, this is often a
‘signal’ that he/she is bored and is not listening to the speaker attentively. This particular
meaning is always conveyed through the same signal – a yawn, and never a smile.

v. Topic

Human communication is usually about something – some event, action, object, person etc. that
exists in the environment and needs to be talked or written about. This is called the ‘topic’ or,
sometimes, the ‘reference’.

vi. Context

The term ‘context’ refers to the total setting in which communication takes place, including the
time, the place, the Sender, the Receiver, the channel, code, topic etc.

Communication is heavily dependent on Context. When we think about communication, we have

to consider the total context carefully -- such questions as “Who is the speaker (or writer ?)” ;

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“Who is he/she speaking to ?”, “ Where ?”, “When ?”, “About what ?” etc become important.
Unless a person is sensitive to context, he/she cannot communicate successfully.

vii Feedback

The term ‘feedback’ refers to the reverse flow of information (from the Receiver to the Sender)
through which the Receiver indicates to the Sender whether or not the information sent by the
Sender to the Receiver has been received and understood.

Feedback is an essential part of communication: it is only after feedback has been received that
the process of communication can be said to be complete.

Communication is essentially a ‘two-way’ process – a process of sharing.

When we communicate, our personal experience and view of the world has a strong influence on
the messages that we form in our minds and communicate to others. Each one of us sees the
world through a mental ‘filter’, which colours our communication.

The Sender sees the world through one set of filters and the Receiver sees it through a different
set. Each message has to pass, therefore, through two sets of filters.

In this case, the filters are mental or psychological. But they can be cultural as well. An
American, for example, sees the world differently from an Indian, because of cultural filters.
A filter can sometimes be so powerful that it ‘blocks’ or prevents communication altogether. The
filter then turns into a barrier.
Noise

Anything that hinders or obstructs communication is referred to as noise. Filters as well as

barriers, whether psychological, cultural or linguistic, constitute ‘noise’.
In addition, ‘noise’ can also be physical. For example, if two people are trying to talk to each
other in on a crowded street, there may be a lot of physical noise which prevents them from
hearing each other.

Information loss

Because of the presence of ‘filters’ in every system of communication, the ‘message’ that the
Receiver receives is seldom the same as the one which the Sender sends. Some ‘distortion’ of the
message is almost inevitable.

In some cases, some of the information encoded into the message by the Sender may be lost
during the process of communication and may not reach the Sender, resulting in ‘information
loss’. It is also possible for a Receiver to ‘add’ or ‘interpolate’ some information which was not
present in the original message sent by the Sender.

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Redundancy

All communication, therefore, is imperfect. An efficient communicator is aware of this and tries
to compensate for the defects existing in the system of communication. For example, to
compensate for information loss, Senders often put more information into a message than is
necessary, so that even if some information is lost in transmission, enough information can still
get through to the Receiver.

All languages have a quality called redundancy which allows them to carry more information
than is needed, in order to compensate for information loss during communication. For example,
in the sentence “Five boys met me yesterday”, there are two ‘signals’ which convey the idea of
plurality (more than one) : the word ‘five’ and the plural ‘-s’ ending in the word ‘boys’. Even if
the sentence was “Five boy met me yesterday “, we would still get the ‘plural’ meaning. But an
extra indication of plurality (‘boys’) is provided, so that even if we miss one of the signals, there
is still another signal available to carry the meaning.

Communicative focus

We referred above to the principal factors of communication: Sender, Receiver, Channel, Code,
Message, Topic, Context and Feed-back.

Each one of these factors is important, but sometimes one or more of them becomes specially
prominent in the process of communication.

ACTIVITY

1 In each of the sentences below, which of the ‘factors’ of communication (Sender, Receiver,
Code etc.) is being focused upon ?

I I became an orphan when I was only two years old.

ii You richly deserve this honour.
iii You said you have two ‘sister-in-laws’. You should have said ‘sisters-in-law’.
iv Sorry, I can’t hear you. There’s some problem with the phone line.
v Your e-mail was so funny !
vi Inflation is expected to rise next month.
Vii The meeting will be called off as only two members have turned up.
viii I didn’t understand a word of what they said, but I loved it !

( The focus is on :
i. sender ii. receiver iii. code iv. channel v. message vi. topic vii. context viii. feedback)

The Information Gap principle

In any kind of communication, information is transmitted from a Sender to a Receiver. If the

Receiver already has the information which the Sender is trying to convey, he/ she is unlikely to
be receptive to it. No one likes to be told things that they already know!

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Communication works on the ‘Information Gap’ principle. Transmission of information is
possible only if there is a ‘gap’ between the information which the Sender intends to transmit on
any given topic, and the information that the Receiver already possesses on the same topic.

The Sender must, therefore, try to make an ‘informed guess’ about the Receiver’s state of
knowledge or information. If the Sender believes that the Receiver already has the information
which he/she is about to transmit, he/ she should not attempt to transmit this information.

Information which is already known to the Receiver is called ‘old’ or ‘given’ information, while
information which the Receiver does not have is referred to as ‘new’ information.

Every message must communicate some ‘new’ information. However, if the information is
totally new, the Receiver will not be able to understand the message. The Receiver must have
some ‘background information’ which helps him/her to decode the message. Messages should,
therefore be a mixture of ‘old’ and ‘new’ information.

Information overload

If too much new information is ‘fed’ to the Receiver, he/she will be unable to take it in. It is
necessary for the Sender, therefore, not only to mix new information with old, but also to break
the information down into small ‘chunks’ – just as a mother breaks food down into small ‘bite-
size’ morsels for her baby. (If this is overdone, however, the Receiver may feel insulted !)

After some information has been communicated, the Sender should seek feedback from the
Receiver, to make sure that the information has been taken in, before providing some more
information.

‘Information Overload’ also describes a situation where so many different messages are received
that the Receiver is unable to cope with the information.
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Although we are mainly concerned in this book with verbal communication (communication
through language), it is equally important to understand the phenomenon of non-verbal
communication or body language.

Non-verbal communication commonly takes the following forms :

i. gestures made with the head, shoulders or hands – for example, the shaking of the head from
side to side to communicate refusal or disagreement ; the shrugging (upward and downward
movement) of the shoulders to communicate the message “ I don’t know!” or “I don’t care !” ;
the closing of one eye in the gesture known as ‘winking’, which can communicate different
messages ; the waving of the hand to communicate a greeting or the message “ Come here !” etc.
; the shaking of the raised index finger, with the other fingers bent back, to convey a warning
(“Be careful!”), the raising of one finger to the lips to signify “ Be quiet !” etc.

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ii. facial expressions – for example, the raising of the eyebrows and widening of the eyes to
express surprise; ‘frowning’, to express anger or displeasure ; the wrinkling of the nose and lips
to show disgust or dislike; the stretching of the lips into a smile to express pleasure or skepticism
(disbelief) etc.

iii. postures or positions and movements of the body and the hands while sitting, standing,
walking etc. For example, an upright sitting or standing position is generally taken as an
indication that the person you are speaking to is listening attentively and with an open mind. A
‘slouching’ position, with the back bent and the shoulders ‘hunched’ (held loosely) suggests a
casual and somewhat indifferent attitude. On the other hand, an excessively stiff and upright
‘military’ posture may indicate some hostility on the listener’s part. If the listener is leaning
forward, with the head slightly tilted and eyes slightly widened, this shows a high degree of
attention and interest.

The position of the arms and hands during communication is often significant. Keeping the arms
crossed across the chest is said to indicate a ‘defensive’ attitude on the listener’s part, showing
that he/she will not be easy to convince. Biting one’s fingernails or ‘drumming’ on the table with
one’s fingers are said to be signs of nervousness.

Voluntary and involuntary body-language

Some of these gestures, facial expressions and postures are produced deliberately and
intentionally, in order to communicate a certain message. They may or may not accompany
verbal messages: for example one may say “No!” and shake one’s head at the same time; or, one
may simply shake one’s head without saying anything.

If one uses a gesture together with a spoken message, the gesture normally reinforces the spoken
message and makes communication more effective. Speakers who gesture with their hands while
speaking are normally more effective than speakers who never make any gestures. However,
excessive use of gestures can be distracting.

Other forms of body-language may, however, be involuntary and unconscious. For example, a
feeling of anger often causes a tightening of the facial muscles, of which one may not even be
aware. When one is listening to someone, one might unconsciously assume a ‘slouching’
position, with the body relaxed and loose. Such a position generally conveys indifference to what
the speaker is saying – but this may not be the message intended.

Although body language plays an important part in communication (it has been said that as much
as 70 percent of the total information we convey to others is communicated via body language) it
is difficult and generally unnecessary to teach someone how to use body-language. We are not
sure exactly how body language is acquired -- whether it is some kind of instinctive behaviour or
whether it is ‘learnt’ behaviour that we pick up by observing and imitating others unconsciously.

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Eye-contact

Speakers who have to address large audiences (e.g. lecturers in a college classroom) are
generally advised to maintain ‘eye-contact’ with their audience – i.e., to look directly into their
eyes and faces. It is said that the person being addressed has a greater feeling of involvement if
you look at him/her while speaking, whereas if you look in some other direction while you
speak, the person who is being addressed or who is addressing you may feel that he/she is being
ignored and slighted.

This does not seem to be a universal rule, however. In many cultures, particularly Far Eastern
cultures (China, Japan, Korea etc.) looking directly into a person’s face and eyes while speaking
is considered to be aggressive behaviour, specially if he/she is older or ‘superior’ in position. In
these cultures it is considered polite to look downwards while speaking or being spoken to.

In American culture, making eye-contact during conversation is supposed to represent the virtues
of honesty and sincerity, and persons who ‘look away’ are believed to be ‘shifty’ and unreliable.
However, even in American culture, it is considered impolite to ‘stare’ at a person who is
speaking to you.

Communication between people from different cultures, e.g. an American and a Japanese person,
can often be hampered by these differing attitudes to eye-contact. The Japanese may consider the
American rude because he/she looks directly into the other’s eyes; the American, on the other
hand, may consider the Japanese to be evasive and unreliable because he/she avoids direct eye-
contact, as a mark of respect.

Personal appearance (dress etc.)

If you are invited to a wedding or some other formal social occasion, you would normally be
expected to go neatly dressed, in clean clothes, with your hair tidily combed etc. Your personal
appearance sends out a message, which could be interpreted as “I consider my host and my
fellow-guests sufficiently important for me to pay special attention to my appearance.” On the
other hand, if you go in crumpled and dirty clothes, your personal appearance sends out the
message “My host and fellow-guests are not so important that I need to pay attention to my
appearance.” This message may not be relished by your host or fellow guests.

On the other hand, a person who appears to be ‘over-dressed’ is often considered to be a ‘dandy’
and may not be liked.

Your appearance can, therefore, say a lot for you, without your opening your lips. Again, this
‘rule’ of communication may be more culture specific than universal. On the whole, in a modern
society, where most people are pressed for time, personal appearance seems to have become less
important than it was a generation ago.

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Touching

In some cultures, it is common for people to touch each other’s bodies (usually on the back,
shoulders or arms) when talking to each other informally, in a natural gesture of friendliness. In
some other cultures, however, physical contact of this kind is disliked and avoided.

Personal Space

It is said that in Middle Eastern cultures, standing or sitting close (i.e., at a distance of less than 1
metre) to the person you are conversing with is interpreted as a sign of friendliness and goodwill.
On the other hand, if one stands or sits too far away, one may be considered ‘aloof’ and
unfriendly.

The reverse seems to be true of many Western cultures. Americans, for instance, like to keep a
distance of at least 2 feet between themselves when talking to each other. Most people from
Western cultures think of themselves as individuals rather than as members of a social group,
and as individuals they value their privacy. ‘Personal space’ is very important in Western
cultures and most people do not like to share their personal space with others.

How close you stand or sit to the other person while communicating is also an important aspect
of ‘body language’, which can have an impact on the success of communication.

Attitude to time

Lastly, the attitude that one has to time, as reflected in one’s social behaviour, can also affect
communication. In many Western cultures, specially in German culture, punctuality is regarded
as an essential social trait. By observing punctuality, you show respect for the person you are
meeting or supposed to meet; on the other hand, if you are late for an appointment, it may be felt
that you are not showing sufficient respect to the other person.

Body language, or non-verbal communication, can have many different forms or manifestations.
A good communicator must be sensitive to the different social attitudes that are communicated,
in different cultures, through body language.

Some textbooks on Communication devote much space to a detailed description of various forms
of Body Language in different cultures and suggest that if we make use of them appropriately,
this may help to make communication more effective. As we have said already, it is difficult to
teach Body Language. However, a few simple ‘rules of thumb’ may be sufficient:

1. Be ‘natural’ in your use of gestures, facial expressions etc. Do not try to imitate the gestures
of others.

2. Make eye-contact when you are speaking or being spoken to, but do not make prolonged
eye-contact. Do not stare.

3. Do not be ‘stiff’ and rigid in the way you sit or stand when you are speaking. Do not, on the
other hand, be excessively ‘casual’ and relaxed in your posture. Be natural.
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4. Keep a reasonable distance between yourself and the person you are speaking to.

5. Be neat in your personal appearance but do not ‘overdress’. Do not be casual in appearance
unless you know the person you are speaking to fairly well.

Audience Analysis

The more you know and understand about the background and needs of your audience, the better
you can prepare your speech.

 Knowing your audience —their general age, gender, education level, religion, language,
culture, and group membership—is the single most important aspect of developing your
speech.
 Analyzing your audience will help you discover information that you can use to build
common ground between you and the members of your audience.
A key characteristic in public speaking situations is the unequal distribution of speaking

time between the speaker and the audience. This means that the speaker talks more and the
audience listens, often without asking questions or responding with any feedback.
Key Terms
 Audience: One or more people within hearing range of some message; for example, a
group of people listening to a performance or speech; the crowd attending a stage
performance.
 Audience analysis: A study of the pertinent elements defining the makeup and
characteristics of an audience.
 Audience-centered: Tailored to an audience. When preparing a message, the speaker
analyzes the audience in order to adapt the content and language usage to the level of the
listeners.

Benefits of Understanding Audiences

When you are speaking, you want listeners to understand and respond favorably to what you are
saying. An audience is one or more people who come together to listen to the speaker. Audience
members may be face to face with the speaker or they may be connected by communication
technology such as computers or other media. The audience may be small and private or it may
be large and public. A key characteristic of public speaking situations is the unequal distribution
of speaking time between speaker and audience. As an example, the speaker usually talks more
while the audience listens, often without asking questions or responding with any feedback. In
some situations, the audience may ask questions or respond overtly by clapping or making
comments.
Audience-Centered Approach to Speaking

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Since there is usually limited communication between the speaker and the audience, there is
limited opportunity to go back to explain your meaning either during the speech or afterward.
When planning a speech, it is important to know about the audience and to adapt the message to
the audience. You want to prepare an audience-centered speech, a speech with a focus on the
audience.
In public speaking, you are speaking to and for your audience; thus, understanding the audience
is a major part of the speech-making process. In audience-centered speaking, getting to know
your target audience is one of the most important tasks that you face. You want to learn about the
major demographics of the audience, such as general age, gender, education, religion, and
culture, as well as to what groups the audience members belong. Additionally, learning about the
values, attitudes, and beliefs of the members of your audience will allow you to anticipate and
plan your message.
Finding Common Ground by Taking Perspective
You want to analyze your audience prior to your speech so that during the speech you can create
a link between you, the speaker, and the audience. You want to be able to figuratively step inside
the minds of audience members to understand the world from their perspectives. Through this
process, you can find common ground with your audience, which allows you to align your
message with what the audience already knows or believes.
Gathering and Interpreting Information

Audience analysis involves gathering and interpreting information about the recipients of oral,
written, or visual communication. There are very simple methods for conducting an audience
analysis, such as interviewing a small group about its knowledge or attitudes or using more
involved methods of analyzing demographic studies of relevant segments of the population. You
may also find it useful to look at sociological studies of different age groups or cultural groups.
You might also use a questionnaire or rating scale to collect data about the basic demographic
information and opinions of your target audience. These examples do not form an all-inclusive
list of methods to analyze your audience, but they can help you obtain a general understanding of
how you can learn about your audience. After considering all the known factors, a profile of the
intended audience can be created, allowing you to speak in a manner that is understood by the
intended audience.

Practical Benefits for the Speaker

Understanding who makes up your target audience will allow you to carefully plan your message
and adapt what you say to the level of understanding and background of the listeners. Two
practical benefits of conducting an audience analysis are (1) to prevent you from saying the
wrong thing, such as telling a joke which offends, and (2) to help you speak to your audience in a
language they understand about things that interest them. Your speech will be more successful if
you can create a message that informs and engages your audience.

Analyze the audience to find the mix of ages, genders, sexual orientations, educational levels,
religions, cultures, ethnicities, and races.

Key Points

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  A speaker should look at his or her own values, beliefs, attitudes, and biases that may
influence his or her perception of others.
 Guard against egocentrism. A speaker must not regard his or her own opinions or interests
as being the most important or valid.
 Look at others to understand their background, attitudes, and beliefs.
 Focus on audience demographics such as age, gender, sexual orientation, education,
religion, and other relevant population characteristics to analyze the audience.
 The depth of the audience analysis depends of the size of the intended audience and the
method of delivery.

Key Terms

 Egocentrism: Preoccupation with one’s own internal world; the belief that one’s own
opinions or interests are the most important or valid.
 Demographics: The characteristics of population such as age, gender, sexual orientation,
occupation, education; classification of the characteristics of the people.

Look Inward to Uncover Blinders

A public speaker should turn her mental magnifying glass inward to examine the values, beliefs,
attitudes, and biases that may influence her perception of others. The speaker should use this
mental picture to look at the audience and view the world from the audience’s perspective. By
looking at the audience, the speaker understands their reality.
When the speaker views the audience only through her mental perception, she is likely to engage
in egocentrism. Egocentrism is characterized by the preoccupation with one’s own internal
world. Egocentrics regard themselves and their own opinions or interests as being the most
important or valid. Egocentric people are unable to fully understand or cope with other people’s
opinions and a reality that is different from what they are ready to accept.
Understanding Audience Background, Attitudes, and Beliefs
Public speakers must look at who their audience is, their background, attitudes, and beliefs. The
speaker should attempt to reach the most accurate and effective analysis of her audience within a
reasonable amount of time. For example, speakers can assess the demographics of her audience.
Demographics are detailed accounts of human population characteristics and usually rendered as
statistical population segments.

For an analysis of audience demographics for a speech, focus on the same characteristics studied
in sociology. Audiences and populations comprise groups of people represented by different age
groups that:

 Are of the same or mixed genders

 Have experienced the same events
 Have the same or different sexual orientation
 Have different educational attainment
 Participate in different religions

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  Represent different cultures, ethnicities, or races
Speakers assess the audience’s attitude – a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects,
event, activities, or ideas – toward a specific topic or purpose. The attitudes of the audience may
vary from extremely negative to extremely positive, or completely ambivalent. By examining the
preexisting beliefs of the audience regarding the speech’s general topic or particular purpose,
speakers have the ability to persuade the audience members to buy into the speaker’s argument.
This can also help with speech preparation.
Tips for the Speaker
The depth of the audience analysis depends of the size of the intended audience and method of
delivery. Speakers use different methods to become familiar with the background, attitudes, and
beliefs of audiences in different environments and using various mediums (e.g.,
videoconferencing, phone, etc). For a small audience, the speaker can simply speak with them in
a physical environment. However, the speaker is addressing a larger audience or speaking via
teleconferencing or webcasting tools, it may be useful to collect data via surveys or
questionnaires.
Key Points
 A successful speaker is able to step outside her own perceptual framework to understand
the world as it is perceived by members of her audience.
 The speaker engages in a process of first encoding his or her ideas from thoughts into
words, then forming a message to be delivered to a group of listeners, or audience. The
audience members attempt to decode what the speaker is saying so that they can
understand it.
 The better the speaker knows the members of the audience beforehand, the better the
speaker can encode a message in a way that the audience can decode successfully.
 One of the most useful strategies for adapting your topic and message to your audience is
to use the process of identification to find common ground with them.
 You can use your analysis to create a theoretical, imagined audience of individuals from
the diverse backgrounds you have discovered in your audience analysis. Then you can
decide whether or not the content will appeal to individuals within that audience.

Key Terms

 Encode: to turn one’s ideas into spoken language in order to transmit them to listeners
 Message: the verbal and nonverbal components of language, sent to the receiver by the
sender, that convey an idea
 Decode: to translate the sender’s spoken idea/message into something the receiver
understands by using his or her knowledge of language based on personal experience
Identifying with the listeners
Step in to the minds of your listeners and see if you can identify with them. A successful speaker
engages in perspective-taking. While preparing her speech, the speaker steps outside her own
perceptual framework to understand the world as it is perceived by members of the audience.
When the speaker takes an audience-centered approach to speech preparation, she focuses on the
audience and how it will respond to what is being said. In essence, the speaker wants to mentally

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adopt the perspective of members of the audience in order to see the world as the audience
members see it.
Encoding and Decoding

The speaker engages a process of encoding his or her ideas from thoughts into words, and of
forming a message which is then delivered to an audience. The audience members then attempt
to decode what the speaker is saying so that they can understand it. To better imagine this
process, consider the example of encoding and decoding as it applies to the idea of a tree. I know
that my audience is in New England and that they are familiar with oak trees. I use the
word tree to encode my idea, and because my audience has experienced similar trees, they
decode the word tree in the way that I intended. However, I may be thinking about a tree (a palm
tree) that is in Hawaii, where I used to live, when I use the word tree to encode my idea.
Unfortunately, when my audience decodes my word now, they are still thinking about the oak
tree and will not see my palm tree. The audience no longer shares my perspective of the world or
my experience with trees.

Finding Common Ground

The more you find out about your audience, the more you can adapt your message to the
interests, values, beliefs, and language level of the audience. Once you collect data about your
audience, you are ready to summarize your findings and select the language and structure that is
best suited to your particular audience. You are on a journey to find common ground in order to
identify with your audience. One of the most useful strategies for adapting your topic and
message to your audience is to use the process of identification. What do you and your audience
have in common? And, conversely, how are you different? What ideas or examples in your
speech can your audience identify with?
Creating a Theoretical, Imagined Audience

Create a theoretical, imagined situation to test your view of an audience for practice. You can use
your analysis to create what is called a “theoretical, universal audience. ” The universal audience
is an imagined audience that serves as a test for the speaker. Imagine in your mind a composite
audience that contains individuals from the diverse backgrounds you have discovered in your
audience analysis. Next, decide whether or not the content of your speech would appeal to
individuals within that audience. What words or examples will the audience understand and what
will they not understand? What terms about your subject will you need to define or explain for
this audience? How different are the values and opinions you want your audience to accept from
the present attitudes and beliefs they may hold?

Tips for the Speaker

In summary, use your knowledge of the audience to adapt your speech accordingly. Adopt the
perspective of the audience in order to identify with them, and test out your ideas with an
imagined audience composed of people with the background you have discovered through your
research.

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