Communication: Styles & Bernstein Flashcards
Communication definition
Involves the transmission of a message from one person to another
Communication is social in 3 ways (Vaughan & Hogg (1998))… Elaborate
- Involves inter-relationships among people
- Requires that people acquire a shared understanding of what particular sounds, words, signs and gestures mean
- Is the means whereby people influence others and are in turn influenced by them.
What does communication require?
A speaker/sender of a message
A hearer/listener of the message
The message
What is communicated depends not only on the content of the message but also…
how the content is conveyed
The use of different media (visual, spoken, written) can affect…
the way our messages are recieved.
What are communication styles?
The cultural and social aspect of language; it involves accents, vocabulary, grammar and ideas being expressed.
The style that we learn to speak in depends on the…
culture we are raised in, our socioeconomic background and our gender.
What are the 3 basic communication styles?
Passive
Assertive
Aggressive
Assertive style:
Express your beliefs, feeling, opinions & thoughts in an open respectful manner, not violating the rights of others.
Actions of assertive communicators
Uses actions & words to express their boundaries in a calm, confident manner
Aggressive style:
No respect for others.
Disregard for anyone else’s needs, feelings, opinions & ideas & sometimes compromises safety of others.
How are aggressive communicators identified?
Through their demanding, manipulative, angry & self-promoting behaviour.
Body language: fist clenching, crossed arms, scowls or staring at someone
Passive style:
Often silent (often lack respect for themselves), while not giving any importance to their own needs, feelings, opinions & wants.
Puts their own needs after everyone else’s, allowing others to decide how things will turn out.
Body language of passive style:
Covering the mouth, looking down, avoiding eye contact & crossed arms
Basil Bernstein (1949-2000) was interested in…
the relationship between language style and social class
Berstein (1949-2000) claimed that…
people from working and middle classes (UK) used different kinds of language codes
What are language codes?
Types of language used, reflecting particular social groups.
Berstein considered that working-class people used a … code, why?
Restricted code.
Working-class people’s conversation relied on preserving traditional roles and ways of interacting.
Berstein considered that middle-class people used a … code, why?
A restricted code & elaborated code (in their interactions).
Middle-class people wanted to develop ideas in relation to their personal experiences.
Bernstein introduced the construct of…, why?
elaborated & restrictive language codes
As a way for accounting for the relatively poor performance of wc school pupils on language-based subjects, when they were achieving as well as their middle-class counterparts on mathematical topics.
Berstein’s research study involved…
showing a group of children a cartoon strip and recording their account of what it depicted.
How is restricted code identified?
Short + simple sentences used w/much information conveyed non-verbally
Much of meaning only makes sense if the context is known
Few descriptive words used
Commands are frequently used to gain compliance
The ‘here and now’ is stressed
Abstract ideas are rarely expressed
How is elaborated code identified?
Complex, precise sentences used
meaning is clear from the sentence alone
More use is made of descriptive words
Explanations are usually used to gain compliance
Reference is made to events in the past or future
Abstract ideas, future possibilities & so on are expressed easily & often
What situation works better for restricted code?
Where there is a great deal of shared and assumed knowledge in the group of speakers
Restricted code doesn’t refer to…
restricted vocabulary
elaborated code doesn’t entail…
colour use of language
Berstein argued that
wc students had access to their restricted code(s) but mc students had access to BOTH restricted & elaborated codes
mc students were more geographically, socially and culturally mobile.
Bernstein considered that WC children had a…
language deficit because they could only use restricted code. Therefore it limited their ability from education.
Berstein’s theory had a major influence on…
education programs for young children in the US in 1960s and 1970s w/ various projects
Berstein suggested that…
restricted codes cannot deal effectively w/new knowledge and ideas.
