Week 2, 2014

Friday

Intro, presentation

The communication process...

Why? 

The course curriculum for English 6 says that you should be aware of: 

Hur språk, bilder och ljud används för att påverka till exempel i politiska tal och reklam.

Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place to another.

Although this is a simple definition, when we think about how we may communicate the subject becomes a lot more complex. There are various categories of communication and more than one may occur at any time. The different categories of communication are:

Spoken or Verbal Communication: face-to-face, telephone, radio or television or other media.

Non-Verbal Communication: body language, gestures, how we dress or act - even our scent.

Written Communication: letters, e-mails, books, magazines, the Internet or via other media.


Visualizations: pictures, graphs, charts, maps, logos and other visualizations can communicate messages.

The Communication Process

A message or communication is sent by the sender through a communication channel to a receiver, or to multiple receivers.  

The sender must encode the message (the information being conveyed) into a form that is appropriate to the communication channel, and the receiver(s) then decodes the message to understand its meaning and significance.

Misunderstanding can occur at any stage of the communication process. Effective communication involves minimising potential misunderstanding and overcoming any barriers to communication at each stage in the communication process.

The sender can have all kinds of intentions with his message. When get exposed to communication, whether it's written or spoken there are some questions that are really important to ask, especially in the fields of politics, advertising and religion:

* Who is the sender?

* What is the sender's political/economical/religious background?

* What are the sender's intentions? To influence? To entertain?     To argue? To inform?

 
Language - as a means of communication - in order to persuade/influence/inform/argue

Language is power! And those who master it can persuade us all... Or!?


Persuasive language is all around us in our daily lives. In the media, including printed media, television and the internet.In political speeches and commercial. Even songs and literature are ways to influence/persuade. 

Have a look at these facts on persuasive language techniques!

Also have a look at this clip with further information about persuasive techniques.

Persuasion in political speeches

When holding a political speech, which purpose is to convince/influence - communication skills are vital!

Have a look at the this clip about president Obama:

Language techniques - (political) speeches:

Transcendence (the ability to take the listener to another place: using vivid and descriptive language)

Repetition – very common in political speeches.

Gestures and voice (paus – give the listener time to think, gives impact to what you just said)

Appearence:

Body language - powerful words can be neutralized by a body language that lacks confidence. If you are nervous, you can still appear confident by standing tall and proud. Hold your head high, speak load and clear. Be prepared, try to stay calm and focused.
  

Eye contact

How YOU can benefit from being familiar with the communication process and especially persuasive language techniques:

1. You become more aware! When you are aware of why people communicate in a certain way you can decide whether you agree or not, whether you want to buy something or not. YOU DECIDE - and you do not let anyone else decide for you!  


* You can learn to write in a convincing and argumentative way. You can write for example essays or letters to the editor in order to change things you do not agree with. 

For example organizations such as Amnesty International, which writes letters to persuade important people to release prisoners of conscience. 

* You can learn to speak in a persuasive way in order to convince people. This might come in handy when holding speeches or talking to people in more formal situations. Or when just trying to persuade or influence people in general!

Your task for Monday!

I want you to study ads and commercial on your TV/computer/phone or in magazines/news papers during this weekend. Find an ad or a commercial where you can clearly identify which persuasive language technique they have used in this particular commercial/ad. Be ready to tell the others on Monday (in groups) about your ad/commercial.