UNIT 1 Critical Literacy, communication and Interaction 1

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CRITICAL LITERACY, COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION 1 (GE3A)

University of ArubaFAS: SW&D / OG&M

September 1, 2009UNIT 1

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TODAY’S PROGRAM:1. Introduce ourselves2. Course organization & logistics3. Introduce the course, 6 units and framework

4. Focus on Unit 1 of the course: Communication and Interaction, humans as social beings. Sharing and negotiation of meaning, interpretation and identity

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INTRODUCING OURSELVES… Welcome to our learning community! What do I mean with the concept of a learning

community? We form a group (students together with

instructor) who, for a while and motivated by common vision and will, are engaged in the pursuit of acquiring knowledge, abilities and attitudes. We inspire and support each other during this learning journey. We are building together our own learning environment

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CORE PRINCIPLES OF LC:

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LC MEMBERS: Let’s here each others voices, tell something

about yourself and what you expect to learn from this course

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COURSE ORGANIZATION & LOGISTICS… 6 units A unit weekly Assignments (individual and team projects) Written Exam Wikispace:

Assignments Reading instructions; core concepts etc Room for discussion, further questions (students can

try to answer, I’ll give guidance) More information on the subjects (non-mandatory)

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LINK:www.criticalliteracycommunication.wikispaces.comwww.criticalliteracycommunication.wikispaces.com

More guidance: Module description Reading list

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FRAMEWORK: 6 UNIT THEMES 1. Communication and Interaction, humans as social

beings. Sharing and Negotiating meaning, interpretation and identity

2. Making sense of the world and its codes. The meaning of Literacy

3. The verbal code, Human Language4. Discourse as means for social action, constructing

realities and persuasion5. Stepping into the cultural dimension. Intercultural

communication and its contexts6. New literacies for the 21st century and our

globalizing world. New ways of reading and what it means to be media literate

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Communication and Interaction,

UNIT 1Communication and Interaction

Humans as social beings,Sharing and negotiation meaning, interpretation

and identity through codes

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OBJECTIVES: To present a starting point for the understanding of

human communication processes To explain the properties and dynamics of the

communication process To approach the communication process in a

contextual manner To try to make the ‘intangible’ communication process

more ‘tangible’ by focusing on the different components of the process

To translate the communication process in terms of transactions of ‘codes’

To relate communication with the concept of identity (To explain the meaning of effective communication

and communicative competence beginning of UNIT 2)

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COMMUNICATIONTO BE HUMAN Human communication -the ability to symbolize

and use language- separates humans from animals!

Communication with others is the essence of what means to be human!

We conduct a life through communication

We define ourselves Is a vehicle; to initiate,to maintain and to terminate

relationships

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ETYMOLOGY = the study of the history of words and how their

form and meaning have changed over time: Communication: from the Latin "communicare“

literally means "to put in common", “to share". The term originally meant sharing of tangible things; food, land, goods, and property.

‘communicare’‘ TO PUT IN COMMON’

‘to share’

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HUMANS ARE SOCIAL BEINGS Our essence being social The world is web of relationships: So, communication has a social function!

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WHY DO WE COMMUNICATE? Biological motives (nurturing a child, helpless,

need of attention, need for security) Interpersonal motives (one’s identity shapes and

re-shapes itself through interaction with other and the world)

Social/sociotal motives (societies are based on cooperation networks in the broadest sense of the word)

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SO MANY DEFINITIONS… Different, numerous, depending on what

perspective you choose! holistic approach properties of communication,

rather than 1 definition. And when we refer to ‘communication’ in a

certain context, we will use the lasso technique and define the perspective and properties we choose to focus on!

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8 PROPERTIES/DEFINITIONS:

1. Process2. Dynamic3. Interactive - Transactive4. Symbolic5. Intentional – unintentional?6. Contextual7. Ubiquitous (omnipresent)8. Cultural

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DYNAMIC PROCESS Ongoing, ever-changing, and continuous Doesn’t have a specific beginning or endpoint Not static, always moving, change analogy: human body is a process: it is always

aging communication is always developing. For verbally their may be a beginning/end. Non-

verbally is more intangible. it does not stop, is irreversible: it affects future

communication Can’t be captured easily: flexible, fluid, adaptive Models, pictures, graphs give just a little help; ‘the

dynamics of communication’ are impossible to replicate identically

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TRANSACTIVE-INTERACTIVE It happens between people Active participation of people, sending and

receiving, consciously directing: two-way flow Transactional implies simultaneously sending and

receiving; negotiations Example: tell me what you did last weekend? See

how I communicate with you, with my eyes and my face expressions, while listening to your story…

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UBIQUITOUS Simply means that communication is everywhere,

done by everyone, all the time. Whenever one goes there is communication happening

“ one cannot not communicate” (Watzlawick et.al)Ok, let’s get philosophical, what does this mean?

“ one cannot not communicate”

???

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LOGIC OF THIS ARGUMENT:Reasoning:(a) Behavior has no opposite, one cannot not

behave in an interactional setting. (b) All behavior has informational (message) value,

since behavior is informative, it is communicative

(c) And one cannot not behave, then one cannot not communicate

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COMMUNICATION IS SYMBOLIC The fundamental difference between information

and communication Example:

informationcommunication

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INFORMATION VS. COMMUNICATION Everything that reaches our human senses is

information. What ‘you’ use as information, depends on your needs, knowledge and experience

Communication implies signals (example sounds and images) that are symbolic in their nature.

Symbolic = an arbitrarily selected and learned stimulus that represents something else. They don’t have any natural relationship with what they represent.

Symbols are the vehicle by which the thoughts and ideas of one person can be communicated to another person.

Both verbal as non-verbal symbols are arbitrary!

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(UN)INTENTIONAL? Communication is intentional people

consciously engage in interaction with a purpose!

Eduard: “ do you want to go tonight to the movies?”Sarah: “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea”

Communication is unintentional think about the statement: “One cannot not communicate?”

PURPOSE=FUNCTION

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PURPOSE FULFILLED? Effective communication implies that the purpose

of a communication utterance was fulfilled! “Did he get my message?”“ I didn’t mean that at all, you misunderstood me completely” “ That Is precisely what I meant”

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COMMUNICATION IS CONTEXTUAL Communication is dependent on the context in

which it occurs What is context?

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CONTEXT (1) Refers to the setting, situation, circumstances,

background and overall framework within which communication occurs.

example, study the following picture, and imagine the context where the communication process takes place:

multilayers

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“GIRL TALK”

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DIFFERENT CONTEXTS Psychical context: girlfriends talking to each other

after class, in the university’s beautiful garden Social context: friend to friend (relationship) Psychological context: each girlfriend’s thoughts

and emotions

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CONTEXT (2) A world filled with people producing

communication utterances: people who have social, cultural and personal identities, knowledge, beliefs, goals and wants, and who interact with one another in various socially and culturally defined situations (Schriffrin, 1994)

We can perceive this world as a frame (frames in frames) that surrounds the communication process

Our meanings and understandings of a utterance are dynamic, and constantly re-adjusted in the progression of communication

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CONTEXT (3) Dimensions of context are not fixed and

immutable Instead they are dynamically and socially

constituted by the communication processes themselves.

Communication is constrained by context, but it also reveals, sustains, and provides context

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COMMUNICATION IS CULTURAL Culture shapes communication, and

communication is culture-bound A specific context that influence communication:

the cultural context This topic will be extensively elaborated in UNIT 5

of this course.

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CAN YOU GRASP IT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omc-LerO92c

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CAPTURING THE PROCESS Communication is a dynamic process! Now let’s

try to ‘take a picture’ of this process; let’s try to capture it for the purpose of awareness, analysis and reflection.

What components are involved in this process?

Let’s visualize and appointthe components

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COMPONENTS INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS Sender & Receiver (continuous role switching) and their

psychological personal world consisting of: accumulated knowledge, experience, attitudes, believes…

Channel Medium Message Coding of message Decoding of message Multiple layers of context Negotiation of meaning interpretation Feedback Noise

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WE USE A MODEL TO HELP CAPTURE THE PROCESS

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But models, just like maps, or frames only capture a specific aspect of reality: always keep this in mind!

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COMMUNICATION MODELS When trying to capture the communication process

in order to analyze it, models can be helpful! What is a model? =a systematic representation of an object or event

in idealized and abstract form. The act of abstracting eliminates certain details to focus on essential factors

= it is a metaphor. it allow us to see one thing in terms of another

= is merely a picture; that is even distorting, because it stops or freezes an essentially dynamic interactive or transactive process into a static picture

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FISKE, 1990 Chapter 1 and 2 introduces the concept of communication

models. Objective: to understand the functions of models and

illustrate the range of this approach of communication theory

Models:1. Shannon and Weaver’s model (1949)2. Gerbner’s model (1956)3. Laswell’s model (1948): Who says what in which channel

to whom with what effect?4. Newcomb’s model (1953)/Westley and MacLean’s model

(1957) masscommunication5. Jakobson’s model (1960)

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EXAMPLES OF MODELS (1):

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EXAMPLES OF MODELS (2):

Gerbner’s model: perception and meaning

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CAN THESE MODELS CAPTURE NEW FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS?

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LEVEL OF COMM.PROCESS (COMM.FORMS): Intrapersonal (e.g. processing information,

reflecting) Interpersonal (e.g. a couple, friendly/formal

conversation) Intragroup (e.g. family) Intergroup or association (e.g. local community) Institutional/organizational Society-wide (e.g. mass communication;

magazine, TV, internet, radio)

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THE CASE OF SOCIAL MEDIA On what level is the communication process

happening?

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NEGOTIATION OF IDENTITIES The ‘self’ (self-identity) is based on innumerable

messages about the ‘self’ that the individual gets from the world.

Relationships and the input (messages) they give us about ourselves, helps form (shape and re-shape) our identities.

This is a continuous process Interpersonal communication plays an important

role in the negotiation of identities But also the groups we want to belong to , we

belong to or don’t belong to shapes our identities (social identity)

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THE ‘SELF’ IN NEGOTIATION WITH OTHERS

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OUR IDENTITY… Identity is changeable, constant in a process of

shaping and re-shaping Identities are observable; we communicate it in

differ forms (our cloths, language we use, our behavior, communication is behavior

Identities are a product of their time (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice characters vs. Facebook generation)

We look for acknowledgements (bevestiging) in our communication with others.

Our ‘self’ is reflected through the mirror that others put in front of us

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REFLECTION SO FAR…Please reflect on the interplay between the shaping of identities and communication.How does your own identity relate to communication? Can you describe how ‘you are’ in communication? How do you relate to others when communicating and what this says about your identity?

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SO FAR: Communication is a dynamic process We make sense of ourselves and the world we live

in by negotiating meaning, interpretation and identities through messages

Sender and receiver interactions are based on coding and decoding of messages. Messages are composed of codes

Stepping into ‘the code’ zone…

CODES

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PROPERTIES OF CODES! codes are systemized (language, sentences, words,

alphabet, agreement upon meaning of arbitrary signs: A B etc.) (verbal/non-verbal codes)

All codes convey meaning: they are vehicles for messages, ideas, rules

Codes depend upon agreement amongst their user and upon a shared sociocultural background

All codes perform an identifiable social or communicative function

All codes are transmittable by their appropriate media or channels of communication

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BRIDGING UNIT 1 TO UNIT 2: From unit 1- human beings are social, they

communicate and make sense of their selves and their world through codes (messages, ideas, conventions, rules etc.)

Being Literate means here, being aware of and being able to deal with these codes (coding and decoding process)

Next week’s theme deals with:

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THEME NEXT WEEK:

Making sense of the world and its codes

The meaning of being ‘Literate’