Page 8 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Unit 1: Speaking Skills

to remain silent for those gaps. But don’t worry. Once you stop using fillers like those, notes
appropriate words will come to you with a little effort at articulation.
6. Understand the Listener: A good speaker must understand the listener before talking.
People vary in terms of their education, culture, intelligence level, maturity, etc. The
speaker should put himself in place of the listener and adjust his speech according to the
needs and abilities of the listener.
7. Natural Voice: The speaker should use his natural way of speaking. In order to look
sophisticated some speakers use a foreign accent. This reduces the effectiveness of
communication. Remember the most efficient speakers across the world are those that
speak with a neutral accent. So, a speaker should cultivate a pleasing voice and natural
style.

8. Logical Sequence: Before speaking, different ideas to be conveyed should be arranged in a
logical order. It helps to make the speech forceful.
9. Conviction: A speaker must have conviction in what he says. Careful understanding,
sincerity of speech, and intelligent planning are required to develop conviction in speech.

self assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
1. When a speaker keeps on talking for long, his message is lost and his listeners tend to
become inattentive.

2. An oral message becomes more effective when it is precise and concise.

1.2 Barriers to effective oral communication

Several things can prevent the message from reaching the intended recipient or from having the
desired effect on the recipient. There may be some fault in the communication system which may
prevent the message from reaching. Some of these defects are in the mechanical devices used
for transmitting, that is, the medium; some are in the tools we use for communicating, that is,
language or other symbols used for encoding; Some are related to the sender or the receiver.
The Barriers or negative forces may affect the effectiveness of communication by acting upon any
or all of the basic elements of communication process and sender/receiver/channel.
As the barriers to communication influence the major variables in the communication process,
they may be categorized on various bases. Though the list of barriers is exhaustive and there are
many ways in which the barriers can be categorized, one of the oldest categorization of barriers
is stated below:
1. Semantic barriers: Different people assign different meanings to one specific message. This
is due to the problems with meaning, significance, and the sending and reception of the
meaning and content of the message.
2. Organizational barriers: This type of barrier develops due to the problems with physical
distance between members with respect to their functional specialization of tasks, power,
authority and status relationship, values held, and ownership of information.
3. Interpersonal barriers: These barriers also develop in the process of communication. They
are based upon the relationships, values held, and attitudes of the participants in the
process of communication.
4. Individual barriers: These are also called psycho-sociological barriers. The problem of this
barrier arises due to differences in individual competencies to think and act, which would

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