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Communication and its Forms

Communication and its Forms
 
Pictures
- Describe each picture. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method of communication. Talk about your personal experience.

- Look at the pictures. Talk about what these people feel. Support your opinion by describing their facial expressions and postures.

- Look at the pictures and guess from the gestures of the speakers the topic of their conversation and their mood. What languages and gestures do people use in these situations?

- Name the ways of communication shown in the pictures. Add some more sources of communication. Which of them is the most important for you?

- Compare and contrast the pictures, saying which sort of communication is better and why.

Discussion
- What do you understand under „communication“?
- What are the modern ways of communication?
- How does a modern communication influence human relationships?
- Face-to-face communication is better than the other types of communication, such as letters, e-mail, or telephone calls. Do you agree?

5. Talk about and describe different strategies people use to learn foreign languages. Which do you use? What do you consider the most different aspect of the English language?

- Name and describe some situations in which you are forced to use body language. Describe some gestures.
- Have you got access to a computer? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using computers?

8. What are the benefits of writing letters and e - mails? Think about positive and negative sides of both these ways of communication.

- Discuss the following questions:  What language do most tourists use when they come to your country? Is it important to speak the language of a country you are visiting? Why? Why not?
- Explain why we use different expressions (vocabulary) at home, at school, among friends.
- What do you use the Internet for? List the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet.
- What forms of communication are there? Are there differences between young and old people’s communication? Give your opinion.
- How do you communicate with your friends, family members, other young people, teachers and strangers? Are there any differences?
- How do inventions help people communicate? Are there any disadvantages?
- Do you prefer communicating with people via the mobile phone and/or the Internet? Why? Why not?
- What are the basic differences between formal and informal English? Give examples of standard and colloquial words or expressions.
- How does the Internet influence human relationships? Explain the pros and cons of e-mail communication.
- Is it important to study foreign languages? Why? Why not?
- Why, in your opinion, is English considered a world language? Compare English with other foreign languages you have studied. Which of them is easier for you and why?
- Do you use the Internet to download songs? What do you think of it?
- Have you ever bought anything per Internet? What are the advantages/disadvantages of ordering goods per Internet shops?
- Have you got access to a computer? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using computers?
- Do you think modern ways of communication are more impersonal than traditional ones?
- How have mobile phones and the Internet changes the way we keep in touch with friends and family?
- Choose three methods of communication /fax, letter, meeting, email, mobile phone, face-to-face, online chat/. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Talk about your personal experience.
- Describe some gestures that have special meaning.
- Name some symbols and explain their meaning. /dove/

Role-plays and simulations
- You have been asked to give a short presentation on the following topic: Mobile phones should be banned in public places. Give pros and cons. /Simulation/

- Recommend your friend who is learning English what would be the best way to improve his language skills. /Role-play/

- You want to have the Internet connection at home but your parents are strictly against. What are your arguments to convince them? What might be their arguments? /Role-play/

- Your friend asks you for some advice to prepare for English leaving exams. Recommend several learning strategies you regularly use and are satisfied with. Do not forget to warn him/her of possible problems in the learning process. /Role-play/

- Discuss with your partner: The use of computers is changing the world for the worse not for better. /Role-play/

- Discuss with your partner: Mobile phones should be banned in public places. /Role-play/

Komunikácia a jej formy
- typy komunikácie a jej význam /verbálna, neverbálna/
- komunikácia v rôznych situáciách /na verejnosti a v súkromí medzi mladými, mladými a staršími, na ulici, v rodine, v každodennom živote, vo výnimočných situáciách/
- moderné formy komunikácie /mobilný telefón, počítač – elektronická pošta, internet/
- jazyk ako dorozumievací prostriedok /výučba svetových jazykov, ich využitie, rozšírenosť a využitie cudzích jazykov/
- jazyk štandardný, hovorový, slang, odborný

A.
Human beings use their language /system of sounds, words, patterns/ to communicate thoughts and feeling. On the other hand, we also use systems of signs, symbols, and gestures for conveying information.  Music can be the universal language; we can understand the language of flowers. Like all animals, we have a complex body language of gestures, postures and facial expressions. Our bodies are constantly talking. We smile, frown or make different gestures, shapes with our hands, etc. Sometimes we join words with gestures, other times our bodies show our feelings or thoughts. When we yawn, we are tired or bored. Sitting with eyes and mouth wide open means that we are fascinated. Banging your fist on the table or stamping your feet expresses anger, shaking hands or hugging conveys pleasure or satisfaction. We produce thousands of signs every day. We are able to understand non-verbal performers like mime artists or dancers who “speak” body language fluently.

Verbal communication is spoken language, which is often spontaneous and accompanied by a demonstration of a process. We may repeat our sentences on request or explain them in another perhaps simpler way if necessary. The spoken word is usually face to face which may allow the speaker to ask questions. In verbal communication we can use stress, tone and the modulation of the voice to express different meanings. Spoken language can also include laughter, sighs and long expressive pauses to produce additional meaning. Speech includes many ´ums´ and ´you knows´and other filler phrases for thought. When something has been said it cannot be taken back. Speech establishes a relationship between the skilled speaker and their audience and is a particularly good tool for persuasion.

Written communication requires more thought and planning, and is often expresses in rather more formal terms, the ideas are more structured and better organised with suitable examples included. Written words can be read several times which will aid their understanding, but they my need to include lengthy explanations – especially if they include a description of a process or set of instructions.  Written communication is one-way, and the reader is not usually able to make immediate reference to the writer to ask for more explanation or further examples. Although written language may be more exact and well structures, it will not allow the reader to fully appreciate the feelings and attitudes of the writer at first hand, as the spoken word does. The role of punctuation is to allow for expression and emphasis. Most writers make several copied of a document and carefully proofread and edit their work to eliminate error. Writing is a better form of communication for recording facts and ideas. Texts can be longer and more complicated in content as they can be studied later.

Sign language is a system of hand movements and gestures which represent words and ideas. Native North Americans used to use sign language to communicate between tribes which had different languages. Today, there is different form of it being used all over the world, mostly by the deaf. There is no one international sign language, and even in Slovakia, sign languages differ from region to region.
According to some scientists a gesture is any action that sends a visual signal to an onlooker. To become a gesture, an act has to be seen by someone else and has to communicate some piece of information to them. While the hand-wave is a primary gesture /it had no other existence/, the sneeze is a secondary or incidental gesture. Its primary function is mechanical – a sneezer´s personal breathing problems and its secondary role a warning to companions that a sneezer may have caught a cold. A symbolic gesture indicates an abstract quality that has no simple equivalent in the world of objects and movements. One meaning can be signalled by different actions: in Europe if you tap your forefinger against your temple, it means a sign of stupidity but in Arabic countries you touch your lower eyelid with the tip of the forefinger. Several meanings may be signalled by the same action. We should learn symbolic gestures of other nations as we learn their vocabulary.

A certain type of communication is sometimes kissing and hugging. People usually only kiss someone on the mouth if they are having a romantic relationship. Parents and children will also kiss each other on the cheek or forehead. People also sometimes kiss each other on the cheek in order to greet each other or say goodbye. People can kiss hello or goodbye on both cheeks. It is fairly common for people, when they are kissing someone on the cheek, not to actually kiss them, but instead to make a kissing movement, next to their cheek. It is unusual for men to kiss each other unless they are homosexuals.

Sometimes symbols and even colours can communicate without any words being used at all. Owls, for instance, represent wisdom in English speaking countries, so there’s often one on educational materials or school signs. In mostly western countries, black is the colour of death, so if there’s a black flag hanging outside a building, everybody knows someone died thee. In man Asian cultures, white is the colour of death.
Many of us prefer talking to others face-to-face to talking to them over the phone. There are different kinds of conversation: formal, informal, chattering, gossiping. Most of us find it embarrassing to remain silent in company, and we feel we have to fill silence by saying something. Other like silence and don’t use a lot of words. Silence can sometimes communicate ideas more powerfully than speech.
When in danger, we send a mayday. A system of sending messages, using dots and dashes or short and long sounds or flashes of lights, is called Morse code. When travelling, we usually read pictograms or drivers find their way from signs.

B.
Many psychologists say that men’s and women’s conversations are different. Men like to talk about themselves whereas women like to talk about each other or other people.
One general conclusion from dialect surveys is that female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than male speakers with the same general social backgrounds. Forms such as ´I done it´and ´he ain´t´ can be found often in the speech of males, and ´I did it´and ´he isn´t´in the speech of females. When Europeans first encountered the different vocabularies of male and female speech among the Crib Indians, they reported that the different sexes used different languages.

C.
Because of developments of technology, there are new forms of communication almost every day. How we communicate verbally has changed over the last decade. The older generation used to just live with home phone, faxes and maybe walkie-talkie, but the average child today texts messages his friends using his mobile phone, surfs the Internet to find information for school and emails foreign friends half a world away. It is very common to see people speaking, laughing or arguing into a small box. Sometimes they seem a little crazy. Some people spend hours chatting with friends in Internet chat rooms, without ever having met them. If some people consider these new ways of communication a necessity of modern life, others feel rather limited, like they have lost their time and privacy.
Modern technology influences people in such way that coming back home we switch on TV or radio and they replace our missing communicators. Many people talk to their appliances /Come on, boil! / but they usually do not expect a reaction. Other possible types of communication are mobile phone or e-mails. They are very popular these days and people can send a message to whom it may concern very quickly. It once seemed that the telephone had made writing to people unnecessary. E-mail has allowed us to find its benefits again, because it respects the demands of more urgent business. E-mails are usually more informal than letters.  We can write a two-line message to someone on another continent or send a joke to someone in the next office.

The Internet was started by the military. In the 1960s the Pentagon were worried about communications after a nuclear war. And in 1969 they thought of linking computes into a network was destroyed, other parts could continue working. Later, people in universities all over the world began to use the network to share ideas. They used it for work and for fun. In the 1980´s, people started calling it the Internet. In the mid-1990´s the Internet began to grow fast.
There are many things people can do on the Internet: do the shopping, e-mail friends, get information for school, find advertisement /to be informed about latest trends/, find what is on in the town /in the theatre, cinema, what exhibitions are held/, pay bills /gas, phone, electricity/, chat with friends and share ideas, play games, look for a job on special websites, download films and songs, learn to know new people.
Of course, there are not just advantages of the Internet, but also disadvantages. Firstly, computers as such, not just the Internet, destroy communication. People surf the Internet rather than talking to family members. Secondly, hackers /people who enter other people´s computer programmes without permission and they can misuse the information/ are a great problem too. Thirdly, spams /the e-mails, mainly advertisements/ are sent to a large number of people, especially when they are not wanted. Moreover, there are many viruses, which can attack one´s computer programme. Computers, as well as the Internet, may cause many diseases, mainly eye diseases. If people use the Internet too often, they may be later addicted on it.

SMS
/Short Message Service/ is a perfect communication method for the busy modern lifestyle. Like email, the text message has altered the way we write in English, bringing more abbreviation and a more lax approach to language construction. The 160-character limit on text messages has led to a new, abbreviated version of English for fast communication. Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important when you are sitting on the bus, hurriedly typing “Will B 15min late – C U @the bar.Sorry! :-)”.

Useful vocabulary:

fax, letter, meeting, email, mobile phone, face-to-face, home phone, online chat, addressee, ampersand /&/, answer, apologize for, asterisk, at /@/, attachment, braces /()/,  colon, comma, complaint, dash, dial, drop sb a line, exclamation mark, full stop, greeting, hyphen, inverted commas, italics,  lower case /malé písmená/, question mark, quotation marks, receiver /slúchadlo/, request, semi-colon /bodkočiarka/, shrug one´s shoulders /pokrčiť ramenami/, stammer/stutter /koktať/, swear words /nadávky/, upper case, wave, whistle, yell, language, grammar, vocabulary, communicative skills /listening, reading, speaking, writing/, reception, production, interaction, mediation, formal, informal, colloquial, dialect, slang, jargon, varieties of language, standard English, spoken and written, fluency, accuracy, appropriacy, pronunciation, signs, signals, hand signals, Morse code, sign language, gestures, mime, shake, nod, make a sign, motion, wink, cry, shout, symbol, emblem, logo
Zones.sk – Najväčší študentský portál
https://www.zones.sk/studentske-prace/anglictina/7085-communication-and-its-forms/