The communication process

Now that you’ve learned a bit about the writing process, it is also important to understand what communication is and how it works. If you want to become a more effective writer, you first need to become an effective communicator.

What is communication and how does it work?

Many people don’t fully understand what it means to communicate something (or with someone), even though we think we do. This is a major reason why communication can often fail or break down.

In the past, communication scholars viewed communication as a straightforward process: a sender sends a message to a receiver, then the receiver receives it. Easy! This is how a lot of people think communication works, but it makes the receiver very passive (that is, they aren’t doing anything). If this model were true, miscommunications would rarely occur. Today, communication scholars recognize that what’s happening is more complicated, and we should, too.

In 1948, C.E. Shannon proposed a more complicated theory, which we’ve used to provide a more accurate definition of communication. This theory is based in the meaning of the word communication itself, which comes from the Latin word ‘communicare’ which means “to share or to participate” (Madhuri).  Specifically, communication can be defined as “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior” (“Communication”, def. 1.a).

For successful communication to occur, both senders and receivers must participate actively in the communication process, and they must possess a shared system of understanding to communicate.