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Mid-term ReviewLecture 7.1

University of Alberta

ALES 204

Nancy Bray

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Housekeeping

Centre for Writers

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Lecture Outline

Module 1 - What is communication?

Module 2 - Essentials of communication, part 1

Module 3 - Essentials of communication, part 2

Module 4 - Essentials of communication, part 3

Module 5 - Informative communication

Module 6 - Visual communication

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Module 1:What is communication?

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What is communication?

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Definition of communication

“Deliberate or accidental transfer of meaning” -- Gamble & Gamble, p. 4

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7 essentials of communication

1.People

2.Message

3.Channels

4.Noise

5.Context

6.Feedback

7.Effect

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Gamble & Gamble model

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5 myths of communication

1.Everyone is an expert

2.Communication will solve every problem

3.Communication can break down

4.Communication is inherently good

5.More communication is better

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Résumés

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5 common mistakes in résumés

1.All about job seeker and not employer

2.Responsibilities vs accomplishments

3.Not specific, no specific examples

4.Too much info

5.Poor design

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Steps to a good résumé

1.Research the employer

2.Research yourself accomplishments what+how+results

3.Build a master résumé

4.Choose type of résumé

5.Tailor the résumé for each employer

6.Proofread!

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Alternatives to traditional résumé Video, slidecast

LinkedIn

Job portfolio (web or paper)

Professional bios

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Module 2: Essentials of communication, part 1

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Intercultural communication

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What is culture? a system of knowledge,

beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that are acquired, shared, and used by members during daily living

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What is co-culture?

groups of persons who differ in some ethnic or sociological way from the parent culture

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What strategies do co-cultures use to interact with dominant culture? Assimilation

Accommodation

Separation

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5 dimensions of culture

1.Individualism vs collectivism

2.High-context vs low-context

3.High power distance vs low power distance

4.Monochromic vs polychromic

5.Masculine vs feminine culture

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Hierarchies

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What is a hierarchy?

Relationship structure

Pyramid

Everyone is subordinate, except leader

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Why hierarchies?

Communication flow

Coordination

Responsibility/authority

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Disadvantages

Communication difficulties

Silos

Can’t change quickly enough

Can be opaque in low power distance culture

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Upward communication What subordinates are

doing

Unsolved problems

Suggestions for improvement

How subordinates feel about each other and their jobs

YouYou

BossBoss

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Lateral communication

Task coordination

Problem solving

Sharing information

Conflict resolution

Building rapport

Critical for success

YouYouCo-worker 1Co-worker 1 Co-worker 2Co-worker 2

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Downward communication

Job instructions

Job rationale

Feedback

Corporate culture

Most important in job satisfaction

YouYou

Subordinate 1Subordinate 1 Subordinate 2Subordinate 2

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Professional e-mail

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Parts of an e-mail

1.Professional e-mail address

2.Bcc or Cc

3.Subject line

4.Attachment name

5.Greeting

6.Opening sentence

7.Body

8.Closing sentence

9.Closing

10.Signed Name

11.Signature Block

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Module 3: Essentials of communication, part 2

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Cover letters

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A good cover letter can

Make a good first impression

Target the employer’s needs

Showcase your personality

Close gaps in your work record

Highlight skills and accomplishments

Demonstrate your writing skills

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8 steps to a good cover letter

1.Research the employer

2.If e-mail: create a good subject line

3.Start with a greeting

4.The lead line

5.The sales pitch

6.The closer

7.Closing line

8.Proofread carefully

Source: http://susanireland.com/letter/how-to/

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Audience

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How to research

1.Find existing research

2.Talk to your audience

Interviews

Surveys

Focus groups = group interview of 10-12 people

3.Build (a) profile(s) and create a (many) personas.

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AudienceProfiles A written summary of everything that you have discovered

about your audience

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Audience Personas

An imagined, stereotypical character which you create to help better communicate

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What you want to know:

Demographics

AgeGenderSocioeconomic categoryCultureGeographic locationProfession

Psychographic

Values and attitudesMedia consumptionActivities (pastimes)

Relationship to you

What do you share?What is different between you?What is in it for your audience?

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Perception

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What is perception?

process by which we make sense out of experience

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Stages of perception

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Things that affect perception

Figure-ground principle

Perceptual schema like stereotypes

Closure

Selective perception

selective perception = means of interpreting experience in a way that conforms to one’s beliefs, expectations, and convictions

selective exposure = tendency to expose oneself to information that reaffirms existing attitudes, beliefs, and values

selective attention = tendency to focus on certain cues and ignore others

selective retention = tendency to remember those things that reinforce one’s way of thinking and forget those that oppose one’s way of thinking

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Self-concept

Self-concept = self-image + self-esteem

Self-image = mental image of yourself

Self-esteem = evaluation of yourself

Is partly subjective

Is multifaceted

Johari window

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Ways that we perceive others

First impressions

Stereotypes and prejudice

Self-serving biases

Allness

Facts and inference

Empathy

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Module 3:Essentials of communication, part 3

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Language

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What is language?

a unified system of symbols that permits the sharing of meaning

symbol = that which represents something else

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Triangle of meaning

Word

Thought

Thing

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Bypassing

miscommunication that occurs when individuals think they understand each other but actually miss each other’s meaning

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Types of meaning

denotative meaning = dictionary meaning; objective or descriptive meaning of a word

connotative meaning = subjective meaning; one’s personal meaning for a word

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Influences on meaning

Time

Place

Experience (think of jargon)

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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

belief that labels we use help shape our thinking, our worldview, and our behaviour

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Non-verbal behaviour

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Non-verbal communication

Human messages and responses not expressed in words

Sometimes we are unaware of actions

Sometimes we use non-verbal communication purposefully

Mixed message: message that occurs when words and actions contradict each other

Awareness of non-verbal communication will help us be better communicators

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Nine channels of non-verbal communication

a.Kinesics (body)b.Voice (paralanguage)c.Proxemics (space and distance)d.Appearancee.Coloursf. Clothing and artifactsg.Timeh.Touchi. Smell

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Module 5: Informative communication

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The writing process

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Why is writing hard?

Speaking is natural and low-stakes

Writing is unnatural = mediating with technology

Writing is high-stakes. We can’t take it back

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Beaufort model of writing expertise

Writingprocess

knowledge

Subjectmatter

knowledge

Rhetoricalknowledge

Genreknowledge

Discoursecommunityknowledge

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How do expert writers write?

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What is rhetoric?

How to use language effectively to communicate a message

Has a bad rap = often linked to deceiving speech

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Readability and plain language

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Readability

How easily a text is understood

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Readability statistics

Average American and British adult reads at the Grade 9 (Age 13) level

Most popular novels at Grade 7 level

Most newspapers at the Grade 11 level

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Readability measures

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula

Flesch Reading Ease Score

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How to increase readability

Reduce sentence length

Avoid 3-syllable and more words

Choose words with Anglo-Saxon roots over their Latin-root equivalents, i.e., ‘dog’ over ‘canine’.

Use plain English principles

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Plain language

“The writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a cooperative, motivated person a good chance of understanding it at first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood.” -- Oxford Guide to Plain Language

Also called plain English

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Four main features of plain language

1. Common, everyday words

2. Refer to the reader as ‘you’, the writer as ‘we’

3. The use of the active voice

4. Short sentences

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Informative communication

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What is informative communication?

Effort to deepen understanding and to increase awareness

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Audience and goal

Lay Audience

Expert

Representation of real world

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Types of informative communication

Informatory = effort to increase awareness

Explanatory = effort to deepen understanding

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Four components of effective instructions (informatory)

1.Desired state = the goal that the user must accomplish

2.Prerequisite state = what the user must know/have before beginning

3.Interim state = steps that the user must take to get to final goal

4.Unwanted states = states to avoid

Based on Farkas (1999)

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Steps for an effective explanation

1.Define concepts by their essential, not associated, meaning

2.When presenting a confusing concept, give an array of varied examples

3.Offer “non-examples”, i.e., closely related, but distinct concepts

4.Encourage learners to practice

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Learning a new genre

1.What is the purpose?

2.Who is the audience?

3.What are the expectations of the genre?

a.Language

b.Design

4.What is the process?

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Module 6: Visual Communication

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Information Overload

Your message is competing with millions of other messages

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Improving your visual design:

Gives your message a better chance of being seen

Gives your message a better chance of being understood

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CRAP Principles of Design

1.Contrast

2.Repetition

3.Alignment

4.Proximity

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Typography and Colour

Typeface (font) must match content

Colour must suit content

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How to make things stick

1.Simple

2.Unexpected

3.Credible

4.Concrete

5.Emotion

6.Stories

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Gestalt theory

Whole is greater than sum of its parts

Closure

Figure Ground

Continuation

Proximity

Similarity