U3 Communication: Communication styles Flashcards
What is communication?
The transmission of a message from one person to another
What are humans constantly communicating?
Their:
- Thoughts
- Feelings
- Observations
- Hopes
How is communication social?
- It involves inter-relationships among people
- It requires that people acquire a shared understanding of what particular sounds, words, signs and gestures mean
- It’s the means through which people influence others and are influenced by them
What does communication require?
- A message
- A speaker/sender of a message
- A hearer/listener of the message
Why is communication usually more complex than just the three simple components?
- The speaker can also be a listener
- There may be multiple messages, which might contradict each other
- Messages may be verbal (spoken) or non-verbal
- Use of different media (visual, spoken, written) can affect the way a message is received
- Different communication styles impact how effectively a message is conveyed
What is an individual’s communication style dependent on?
- The culture they were raised in
- Their socioeconomic background
- Their gender
What does communication style involve?
- Accent
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Types of ideas attempted to express
What is communication style often considered as?
An attribute: something we have or are
What are the three communication styles?
- Assertive
- Aggressive
- Passive
What are the features of an assertive communication style?
- Beliefs, feelings, opinions and thoughts are expressed in an open, respectful way that doesn’t violate the rights of others
- Actions and words are used to express boundaries in a calm and confident manner
What are the features of an aggressive communication style?
- No respect for others
- Disregard for other’s needs, feelings and opinions
- Safety of others is sometimes compromised
- Involves demanding, manipulative, angry and self-promoting behaviour
- Body language involves fist clenching, crossed arms and scowls
What are the features of a passive communication style?
- No respect for themself
- No importance given to own needs, feelings and opinions
- Own needs are put after everyone else’s
- Allows others to decide how things turn out
- Body language includes covering face, looking down and avoiding eye contact
Who are the two theorists on the impact of social background on communication style?
- Bernstein
- Labov
What was Bernstein interested in and what did he claim?
- The relationship between language style and social class
- He claimed people from the working and middle classes in the UK used different kinds of language codes
What, according to Bernstein, are language codes?
Types of language used that reflect particular social groups
What is the working class?
People that work for wages in jobs such as manual labour and industry
What is the middle class?
People that work for salaries as professionals in in the public service
What are the two language codes proposed by Bernstein?
- Restricted language code
- Elaborated language code
What is restricted language code?
Language using short and simple sentences
What is elaborated language code?
Language using complex, precise sentences
How are restricted code and elaborated code different in terms of abstract ideas?
- Restricted code rarely involves abstract ideas
- Elaborated code often involves abstract ideas and future possibilities
How is compliance gained differently with restricted and elaborated code?
- Restricted code: commands are used to gain compliance
- Elaborated code: explanations are used to gain compliance
How is the use of descriptive words different with restricted and elaborated code?
- Restricted code doesn’t use many descriptive words
- Elaborated code uses many descriptive words
How are restricted code and elaborated code different in terms of context provided within sentences?
- The meaning of a sentence in restricted code only makes sense with context
- The whole meaning of a sentence in elaborated code is clear from the sentence alone
Which language codes does each social class use, according to Bernstein?
- Working class: restricted code
- Middle class: both restricted code and elaborated code
Why did Bernstein introduce the ideas of restricted and elaborated language codes?
To explain the relatively poor performance of working class school students on language-based subjects when they were achieving the same as their middle class classmates on mathematical subjects
When is restricted code better than elaborated code?
In situations where there’s a lot of shared and assumed knowledge in a group of speakers
What message does the use of restricted code carry and why?
- A social message of inclusion, as it’s acknowledged that as person is ‘one of us’
- Because restricted code uses shared understandings, meaning and background knowledge
When is elaborated code better than restricted code?
In situations where speakers can’t restrict their language due to no shared understandings
Why did Bernstein believe that middle class students have access to both restricted and elaborated codes?
They are more geographically, socially and culturally mobile than working class students
What effect did Bernstein believe the fact that working class children could only use restricted code have?
- He believed they had a language deficit due to being only able to use restricted code
- He believed this limited their ability to benefit form education
What influence did Bernstein’s theory have?
- Prompted education programs for young poor children in the USA during the 1960s and 1970s
- The programs helped the children overcome their educational disadvantage by teaching them language they would need to know before they start school
Why was Bernstein’s suggestion that restricted codes can’t effectively deal with new knowledge and ideas challenged?
It was often misunderstood, particularly in the USA
What did Labov say about communication style?
- He studied children from New York who spoke Black English Vernacular (now called African American Vernacular English)
- He believed that AVVE is different to English, but is just as complex and rule-governed as standard English, and therefore not deficient
- He was concerned that teachers were being told not to accept AVVE as it was believed to be useless of learning and evidence of mental inferiorriy
- His work encouraged linguists today to accept that language styles are just differences in language use rather than being inferior/superior to other styles
What did Tannen do in relation to communication styles?
She recorded conversations between men and women to identify and understand gender differences in speech style
What did Tannen propose?
Two communication styles:
- Report talk: a type of talking used by men to gain and hold public attention to negotiate and maintain the status
- Rapport talk: a type of talking used by women to establish and maintain relationship and intimacy by developing understanding and negotiating differences, involves private conversations where experiences are shared
What did Tannen say about ‘hedges’?
- She said that rapport talk used by women includes hedges
- Hedges are words or phrases used to lessen the impact of a statement or request being made
- It has been noted by others (Dallos) that hedges are actually use dby both men and women as a strategic device, rather than a sign of softness
How did Tannen believe her two communication styles developed?
- They developed from childhood where boys and girls are socialised differently in terms of expectations about language styles
- Girls are taught to maintain relationships through talking
- Boys are taught to maintain relationships through actions
What did Tannen say about communication styles affecting relationships between men and women?
- Lack of understanding and differences in communication styles can lead to disputes between men and women
- Men and women understanding the differences in each other’s reasons for their way of talking can reduce disputes
