Page 7 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes In fact, oral communication is not only the most popular but also the most powerful and effective
form of communication that occurs between human beings. Compared to it, the volume of written
communication is small and confined to formal and official contexts. In offices and business
organizations too, people speak much before and much more when compared to, writing. Oral
communication takes place through face-to-face talks (both formal and informal), telephone,
loudspeaker, etc.

In this unit, you will learn the principles of oral communication, the role of non-verbal
communication in speaking and the tips of improving public speaking skills.

1.1 Principles of effective speaking

The following steps should be taken to make oral communication effective:

1. Clarity: The speaker should pronounce his words clearly and correctly. He must talk
distinctly and slowly. When a person speaks fast or munches words the oral message is
likely to be misunderstood. The way a person speaks his dialogue exercises much influence
on the audience. Clarity of expression just is the aim at all times.
2. Brevity: Oral communications often suffer from too much of talking. When a speaker keeps
on talking for long, his message is lost in a sea of words and his listeners tend to become
inattentive. Therefore, the message must be kept as short as possible. However, the speaker
should not appear unclear, abrupt or discourteous.
3. Precision: An oral message becomes more effective when it is precise and concise.

Example: It is better to say ‘cut down costs by ` 100 instead of saying ‘reduce costs’. The
message should not be vague or incomplete.
Words ought to mean clearly what they are intended to say.
4. Right words: The first caution is to ensure that you know the meaning of the words that you
use. Some words have more than one meaning while some others carry different meanings
for different persons. Be sure about what your words will convey to a trained reader.

Example: City, town and metropolis are three different words and care should be
exercised before using them.
Therefore, words should be chosen carefully and their meaning clarified in the context of
usage. The speaker should not presume that the listener would mean the same thing from
a word, which s/he means.

Task You will find that the word ‘metro’ has at least three different meanings in
day-to-day usage. Find out them for yourself. Also find more such words that have
multiple meanings.

5. Avoid Hackneyed Phrases and Clichés: Speakers often use hackneyed phrases and clichés
like ‘you know’, ‘I see’, ‘you see’, ‘what I mean’, ‘isn’t,’ etc. Such phrases interrupt the flow
of speech and obstruct the quick grasp of meaning besides causing boredom. Speakers
should ensure that they do not use these phrases unconsciously or consciously and a good
way of overcoming these phrases is to be conscious about not using them when speaking.
Most of us use them as connectives, filling up a gap when we do not have the correct
word/phrase. Keeping them consciously out of your usage would mean that you will have

2 lovely Professional university