Sending and Receiving: Chapter 2

  1. The person with the idea to transmit is called the ______.
  2. What are the basic parts of a communicated message?
  3. ______
  4. ______
  5. ______
  1. The person who is going to get the message is called the: ______.
  2. What are the five channels of communication?
  3. ______
  4. ______
  5. ______
  6. ______
  7. ______
  1. What is feedback?
  2. What does context refer to in the context of communication?
  3. What does the term noise refer to in the context of communication?
  4. Give an example of NOISE you might experience while talking to a friend in his/her house.
  5. The word “house” is a symbol for ______.
  6. If I tell you that I have a blue vase with sunflowers in it, what do you imagine? Draw it.
  7. Will your drawing match what is on my desk in my room? Why or why not?
  8. What is encoding?
  9. What is decoding?
  10. T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock says the following:

If one, settling a pillow by her head,

Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.

That is not it, at all.”

Who is encoding? Who is decoding? What kind of a message might have been sent in which the words would fail as Prufrock so fears?

  1. Based on the paragraph about “Denotation and Connotation,” when someone learns a language by immersion, what are they relying on? Why might that cause some really funny problems (or not so funny!)?
  2. I walk into the house. My mom looks at me, and says, “ok,…. what happened at school today?” How does she know something bad happened? (She was ALWAYS right).
  3. Choose a partner. Using only body language (facial expressions, shrugs, etc.) communicate to your partner a mood (e.g. frustration). Each should do this activity for 5 different moods. How often were you correct?
  4. What are the five categories of nonverbal communication? Define each briefly.
  5. What are the five categories of Kinesics? Briefly define each, or cite an example.
  6. With your partner, and a third person, do the following. Stand a comfortable distance from each other. Now, look each other in the eyes. The third person should count off seconds (one a thousand two a thousand etc.) until one of you breaks contact. Try this a few times, and switch partners. What is the average length of time before we simply must break eye contact?
  7. Discuss this—why were some students more comfortable than others maintaining eye contact? Be honest- discuss your background, country of origin, etc.
  8. Again with your partners, walk around the room for a minute. Stop a few times to putter with something. Then, approach each other. Stop when you feel comfortable. A third person should watch, and measure the distance between you. Note if you are male/ male, male/female, female/ female. Note if you are good friends, or simply classmates. Pay close attention and see if one or the other continued moving after the first person stopped. Did that person close the distance or step further away? Compare your findings to those noted on page 27.
  9. How do you think we acquire this sense of proxemics?
  10. With your partners, think of ways in which proxemics could be used to your benefit as a speaker.
  11. Survey the class—
  12. “How do you greet your relatives?”
  13. “How do your relatives greet you?”
  14. Do you know anyone who is always reaching out to touch you while he/she speaks to you? How does this make you feel? Do you know where this person is from in the world?
  15. On page 29, we learn about an unexpected form of communication—what we wear. Look around you. Based on what each person is wearing today, make a judgment of his/her mood. Then, ask if you are accurate. What was the rate of your accuracy?
  16. What constitutes perception?
  17. Of the 5 influences on perception listed on page 31, which one do you do most frequently? Give an example.
  18. Of the mistakes in perception discussed on page 32-33, which do you think is most common? Give an example.
  19. Define: pitch, volume, rate, and resonators.
  20. What are three common problems involving the mechanics of speaking? (34)
  21. Read the “In Careers” on page 35. Why do you think that being bilingual, or learning a second language can help us be better decoders?
  22. Do some voice games with your partner. Try to change the resonance of your voices. Try to muffle your voice. Make your voice twangy! Move your tongue, lips, and jaw, and see how that changes the sound of your voice. Reba claims that her unique sound comes from how she holds her jaw- watch her sing, and you can see her jaw moving forward and back as she creates her haunting sound.
  23. Go to the following link, and watch!