Classroom Communication - Communication Notes

Introduction

Classroom communication refers to the exchange of information, ideas, and feedback between teachers and students within an educational setting.

Classroom Communication

• Communication in Teaching-Learning Process: Communication is a critical aspect of any teaching-learning process. Its effectiveness significantly influences the achievement of intended learning outcomes.

  Factors Affecting Classroom Communication

  • Teachers
  • Students
  • Message
  • Instructional methods and media
  • Learning environment
  • Understanding the nature of communication is crucial for enhancing its effectiveness. Communication skills can be honed through training and practice, requiring conscious knowledge and strategic judgment.

Benefits of Improving Communication Skills: Enhancing communication skills leads to more effective and satisfying communication experiences for individuals.
Symbol-Based Communication: Communication is symbol-based, involving the organization, selection, and transmission of symbols to ensure that the intended meaning is perceived by the receiver.

How to effectively manage classroom communication

1. Be clear: When communicating with students, try to be always clear about what you want to say. If there is any ambiguity or lack of clarity in the choice of words, then the message will be misinterpreted by students. Students should also try to be as clear as possible during interaction with their teacher and classmates.
2. Keep it precise: There is one another principle known as K.I.S.S., which stands for ‘Keep It Short & Simple’. To maintain clarity, the message should be conveyed in a simple and short form.
3. Take artful pauses: For becoming an effective communicator, one should know about the time to talk and time for staying silent. A teacher should take a pause after finishing the unit or topic, so that students can revise it once and share their queries. To develop critical thinking, decision making, and creative thinking in students, the teacher should take pauses or short breaks instead of teaching continuously.
4. Know your students: The teacher should invest time in knowing about the prior knowledge, potential, talents, and needs of the students so that he/she can plan the classroom activity according to the requirements of students.
5. Be humorous: A teacher should be humorous so that students can enjoy learning. If a teacher is too strict, then students might sit silently in her class due to fear of punishment, but they will lose interest in class. So, a teacher needs to know when to be strict and when to have fun with students. Humorous nature of students and teachers facilitates learning and makes it enjoyable.
6. Empathy: The teacher should be empathetic. Empathy and sympathy are two different emotions. Sympathy means feeling pity or sorrow on seeing a person’s situation, while empathy means to feel the pain of another person.
7. Promote equity: The teacher should not be biased towards students and favour any of her students due to any reason. Rather, for a teacher all students should be equal. If any student needs help of the teacher, then it should be provided without any sort of discrimination.

1. Let students ask questions: Some teachers insult or criticize students who ask questions in class. Such behaviour adversely affects the confidence of students. Once insulted the student will not ask any question next time, even if he has doubts. So, students should be encouraged to ask questions and teachers should welcome these happily. 
2. Encourage students’ participation: The classroom environment should be such that it encourages students to participate in learning. If students are to act only as passive listeners, then they will lose interest in the class. Activities should be chosen in such a way that participation of students is maximized.
3. Understand facial expressions of students: Some students may not be able to share their queries and problems with the teacher. So, the teacher should have the ability to read their faces to know if they are able to understand the topic or not. Facial expressions can also show the level of interest of students. 
4. Ask questions: The teacher should also ask questions to students while teaching to test their understanding of the topic. Questions can be asked before starting a topic to know their prior knowledge so as to know if beginners’ level or advanced level teaching is required. Always spare five to ten minutes during the lecture for question-answer session. If students know they have to answer questions at the end of lecture, they will listen attentively.
5. Motivate students: The teacher should make sure that classroom communication is motivating and not discouraging. Devote time in class for discussing about great personalities and their experiences. A teacher should share his/her own experiences to motivate students. This will help him in developing cordial relations with them.
6. Plan classroom activity: For effective classroom communication, the teacher should plan the activities, use of teaching aids, evaluation, etc. in advance. The course plan should be communicated to students. They should know about the test schedule.
7. Do not tolerate bad behaviour: A teacher should have cordial relations with students but that does not mean that he should tolerate bad behaviour in class. Once tolerated, students will think it is acceptable in class. The purpose of teaching is all-round development of students. To attain this purpose, make students learn about good and bad behaviour. If need arises, punish them appropriately.
8. Give students choice: Students will enjoy learning when they have a choice. They will be doing things as per their own interest. They can be given options of different activities, or it can be like ‘what would you like to do first, solve questions or prepare for project?’, this way students will have a choice about what they want to do first, but they will also know that they have to do both.
9. Respect: Respect is very important for effective communication. If the speaker and receiver do not have respect for each other, then they will not listen to what the other person is saying. Students must respect their teacher. The teacher should welcome questions from students.
10. Use different techniques and aids to break monotony of lecture: Lectures can become boring and students will lose interest in it. To keep it interesting, different aids can be used.
11. Reinforce learning: After teaching a topic or unit, the teacher should assess the learning of students by asking questions. If they have any doubts, queries, and problems, then the teacher should explain it again. For effective classroom communication, reinforcement of learning is very important.
12. Active listening: Active listening is a must have for effective communication. There will be problem in understanding the message if it is not listened to actively. It is also important for responding back and providing feedback.

Cole and Chan's Stages of Communication

According to Cole and Chan, the typical process of classroom communication, which mirrors the general process of communication, involves five distinct stages:

1. Formulation of Message:

   • This is the initial stage where the sender (e.g., the teacher or student) develops the idea or information they wish to communicate. It involves selecting the content and deciding on the purpose of the message.

2. Message Encoding:

   • At this stage, the formulated message is converted into a suitable format for transmission. This could be verbal (spoken words), written (text), or non-verbal (gestures, facial expressions). Encoding ensures the message is structured in a way that can be easily conveyed and understood.

3. Message Transmission:

   • This involves the actual sending of the encoded message through a chosen channel or medium. In a classroom setting, this could be through speaking, writing on the board, using visual aids, or digital platforms. The transmission method should be appropriate for the context and the audience.

4. Message Decoding and Interpretation:

   • The receiver (e.g., the students or teacher) interprets the transmitted message by decoding it back into meaningful information. This requires the receiver to understand the symbols and language used by the sender. Effective decoding depends on the receiver’s prior knowledge, attention, and perceptual abilities.

5. Feedback and Evaluation:

   • In this final stage, the receiver responds to the message, providing feedback to the sender. Feedback helps the sender evaluate the effectiveness of the communication and understand whether the message was correctly interpreted. It can be verbal (questions, comments), non-verbal (nods, facial expressions), or written (responses to assignments). Feedback allows for adjustments and clarifications to enhance understanding and communication efficiency.

These stages ensure that communication within the classroom is clear, effective, and conducive to learning. They highlight the dynamic and interactive nature of classroom communication, where both the sender and receiver play active roles.