Ma’am Zahida Khatak

Esha-Te-Razia
Bs-Psy(sec-A) 3rd Semester
Communication Skills Assignment 1

Reaction Paper On Article Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving

Effectiveness by Fred C.Lunenburg
Dr. Fred C. Lunenburg is the Merchant Professor of Education at Sam Houston State University.
He wrote this article about communication and all important topics related to it, in 2010 Sam Houstan
State University. The aim of this article is to help by giving good and better understanding that how
anyone can improve their communication skills.
In the beginning he define communication as the process of transmitting information and common
understanding from one person to other and then further he explained the elements in communication
exchange i.e sender and receiver. The sender who convey his idea and receiver to whom the idea has
sent. The elements in the communication process determine the quality of communication. The sender
encodes his message by selecting the words of his choice and then he needs a proper channel or
medium to sent that message to some specific audions. A problem in any one of these elements can
reduce communication effectiveness.
Further more the writer also include some barriers to effective communication. He explained in detail
that how could the noise can affect the communication. The author, George Bernard Shaw wrote“The
greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished”. Four types of
barriers are mentioned i.e process barriers, physical barriers, semantic barriers and psychosocial
barriers. There are some more sub headings in process barriers which are
1. Sender barrier
2. Encoding barrier
3. Medium barrier
4. Decoding barrier
5. Receiver barrier
6. Feedback barrier
While explaining psychosocial barriers he describe some major areas where communication
breakdowns most frequently occur in schools i.e sincerity empathy self-perception role perception
efforts to distort the message images etc.
Next he discuss some guidline for improving communication. Several communication theorists
(Cheney,2011;Keyton,2011Tourish,2010) have gleaned ten commandments of good
communication, which are particularly applicable to the sender. The list is
1. School administrators need to clarify their ideas before communicating.
2. Administrators need to examine the true purpose of each communication.
3. Administrators need to consider the total physical and human setting.
4. Administrators need to consult with others, when appropriate, in planning communications.
 5. Administrators need to be mindful, while communicating, of the overtones as well as the
basic content of the message.
6. Administrators need to take the opportunity, when it arises, to convey something of help or
value to the receiver.
7. Administrators need to follow up their communication.
8. Administrators need to communicate for tomorrow as well as today.
9. Administrators need to be sure that their actions support their communications.
10. Administrators need to seek, not only to be understood, but to understand—be a good
listener.
Then he elaborated some responsibilities of receiver for eg stop talking, put the talker at ease, show
a talker that you want to listen, remove distractions etc.

Conclusion:
The main points of good communication is to both sender and receiver must be willing to have a
distraction less communication and they both need to follow some certain rules because
communication is process of transmitting information.

My reaction:
First of all the points mentioned in above article are focusable. These are the attributes we can
attain for a fruitful communication. The barriers mentioned are those we face everyday. The writer
concluded it very beautifully that every person can easily understand.
The reason we could not get the better talk within our surroundings is because we don’t give
proper attention to talker and also we don’t stop doing things we were doing. Our such behavior
lesser the courage of talker and make him confuse sometime.
Some other ways that can be adopted are the receiver should not put taunting or sarcastic look on
his face and for the sender it must be a part of communication that he will not talk in a way that the
other person feel guilty or pointing direct finger toward a specific person this will lead to low
effective communication. Asking questions can also be more interactive and involving of both
sides the receiver and sender.
Some instruction we can add for good transmission of information is the sender should talk less
and effective. He should not make the message so long and also he should avoid using extra word
which can cause boredom to receiver. People wants to get
The most impressive line I have taken from this article is that nature gave us two ears but one
tongue, which is showing a hint that we should always listen more than talk and it will lead us to
better interactions with our surroundings. Where ever we see lack of communication or interaction
it can trace back to less listening more talking and judging.
As far as the logic matters this article contain very useful and easy ways which can be adopted by
us. After reading it i think there is no doubt all the points are without any ambiguity.