TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION PRESENTTATION UNIT
- 1. Technical Communication Dr Shalini Shah Department of English and Humanities, PCE
- 2. Importance • Technical communication helps to advance our economy by ensuring viable research and development, safeguarding design and manufacturing, and protecting consumers through accurate and informative documents. Good technical writing will: Help employers understand and complete job tasks more successfully.
- 3. • Technical communication entails a purposeful transaction between sender and receiver that provides specific information for practical and specific purposes (informing, instructing, persuading) and is usually geared towards the needs of a specific audience. Technical communicators produce a wide variety of documents and other products.
- 4. • Proposals and requests for proposals • Technical or research reports • Documentation records • Product specifications • User guides • Online help, technical support • Reference information • Consumer literature • Marketing literature • Technical journalism
- 5. Syllabus • Introduction: Objective, scope course and outcome of the • Introduction of Technical Communication: Definition, aspects, forms, importance, LSRW • Comprehension of Technical Materials/Texts and Information Design & Development: Reading, comprehending, Kinds of tech. docs, etc. • Technical Writing, Grammar and Editing: Process, Grammar, Letters, email, Resume, Job application, MoM, etc. • Advance Technical Writing: Technical Reports, Format, Project proposal, Characteristics, Technical articles, etc.
- 6. Reading Material • Technical Communication: Principles and Practice : Meenakshi Raman and Sangeeta Sharma, Oxford University Press • Effective Business Communication: M. V. Rodriques, Concept Publishing Pvt. Ltd. • English Grammar: M. Joshi, Vardhman Publishers. • Effective Technical Communication: M. Ashraf Rizvi, McGraw Hill Education
- 7. Communication & its Process • Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding. • Communication through which ideas can be defined as the process two or more persons cometo and understanding among exchange themselves .
- 8. • Communication establishes relationships and makes organizing possible. intends, whether to accomplish • The sender unconsciously, communicating . consciously or something by • In organizational contexts, messages typically have a definite objective: to motivate, to inform, to teach, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire. • Effective communication in the organization centers on well-defined objectives that support the organization's goals and mission.
- 9. • To ensure efficient and effective accomplishment of objectives, information is exchanged. Information is passed upward from employees to supervisors and laterally to adjacent departments. Instructions relating to the performance of the department and policies for conducting business are conveyed downward from supervisors to employees. The organization carries information from within the department back up to top management.
- 10. • Management furnishes information about how things are going, notifies the supervisor of what the problems are, and provides requests for clarification and help. Supervisors, in turn, keep their employees informed and render assistance. Supervisors continually facilitate the process of gaining necessary clarification and problem solving; both up and down the organization. Also, supervisors communicate with sources outside the organization, such as vendors and customers.
- 11. • Communication is the process by which a message or information is exchanged from a sender to a receiver. For example a production manager (sender) may send a message to a sales manager (receiver) asking for sales forecasts for the next 6 months so they can plan production levels. The sales manager would then reply (feedback) to the production manager with the appropriate figures.
- 12. • This is an example of internal communication, i.e. when communications occur between employees of a business. Communication therefore links together all the different activities involved in a business and ensures all employees are working towards the same goal and know exactly what they should be doing and by when. • Effective communication is therefore fundamental to the success of a business. A business will of course need to communicate with people or organizations outside of the business. This is known as external communication. For example a marketing manager will need to tell customers of a new special pricing offers or the finance director may need to ask banks for a loan.
- 13. • Effective communication is all about conveying your messages to other people clearly and unambiguously. It's also about receiving information with as little distortion as possible. Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages muddled by the sender, or misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity. In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
- 14. • It was largely Chester Barnard (American business executive public administrator, and the author of pioneering work in management theory and organizational studies) in the late 1930‘s who meaningfully developed communication asa vital dynamic of organizational behavior. Communication Techniques,which he considered tobe written and oral language were deemed not onlynecessary to attain organization purpose but also a potential problem area for the organization.
- 15. • The word Communication describes the process of conveying messages (facts, ideas, attitudes and opinions) from one person to another, so that they are understood. • Communication is the process whereby speech, signs or actions transmit information from one person to another. This definition is concise and definitive but doesn‘t include all the aspects of communication. There are other definitions, which state that communication involves transmitting information from one party to another.
- 16. • Communication is a process of transmitting and receiving verbal and non verbal messages that produce a response. The communication is considered effective when it achieves the desired reaction or response from the receiver, simply stated, communication is a two way process of exchanging ideas or information between human beings.
- 17. • Communication can be defined as the process through which two or more persons come to exchange ideas and understanding among them. Communication is the understanding, not of the visible but of the invisible and hidden. These hidden and symbolic elements embedded in the culture give meaning to the visible communication process. Communication among people does not depend on technology but rather on forces in people and their surroundings. It is a process that occurs within people.
- 18. • No matter the type or mechanism of communication, every instance of communication must have a message that is being transferred from sender to receiver. In order for communication to be successful, the sender and receiver must have some signs, words or signals in common with each other so the sent message can be understood. • The ideal definition of communication is a 2-way interaction between two parties to transmit information and mutual understanding between themselves. The interchange of information from one party to another is best communicated when a discussion is available so the receiver can ask questions and receive answers to clarify the message.
- 19. • There are at least three general types of communication goals: • 1) Self Presentation Goals (who we are and how we want to be perceived), • 2) Relational Goals (how we develop, maintain, and terminate relationships), • 3) Instrumental Goals (how we manipulate others, gain compliance, manage interpersonal conflict, use and recognize interpersonal influence strategies (anchoring and contrast effects, reciprocity, commitment, liking, social proof, authority, and scarcity etc.)
- 20. • Barnard listed seven specific communication factors which are especially important in establishing and maintaining objective authority in an organization. • The channels of communication should be definitely known. • There should be definite formal channel of communication to every member of an organization. • The line of communication should be as direct and short as possible. • The complete formal line of communication should normally be used. • The person‘s serving as communication centers should be competent. • The line of communication should not be interrupted while the organization is functioning • Every Communication should be authenticated.
- 21. • In 1948, Shannon was an American mathematician, Electronic engineer and Weaver was an American scientist both of them join together to write an article in “Bell System Technical Journal” called “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” and also called as “Shannon-Weaver model of communication”. • This model is specially designed to develop the effective communication between sender and receiver. Also they find factors which affecting the communication process called “Noise”. At first the model was developed to improve the Technical communication. Later it’s widely applied in the field of Communication.
- 22. • The model Information deals with various source, transmitter, concepts like Noise, channel, message, receiver, channel, information destination, encode and decode. • Shannon's (1948) model of the communication process is, in important ways, the beginning of the modern field. It provided, for the first time, a general model of the communication process that could be treated as the common ground of such diverse disciplines as journalism, rhetoric, linguistics, and speech and hearing sciences.
- 23. • The model's enduring value is readily evident in introductory textbooks. It remains one of the first things most students learn about communication when they take an introductory communication class. Indeed, it is one of only a handful of theoretical statements about the communication process that can be found in introductory textbooks in both mass communication and interpersonal communication.
- 24. • Shannon's model breaks the process of communication down into eight discrete components: • 1. An information source -Presumably a person who creates a message. • 2. The message -which is both sent by the information source and received by the destination. • 3. A transmitter- Transmission is readily generalized within Shannon's information theory to encompass a wide range of transmitters. The simplest transmission system, that associated with face-to-face communication, has at least two layers of transmission. The first, the mouth (sound) and body (gesture), create and modulate a signal. The second layer, which might also be described as a channel, is built of the air (sound) and light (gesture) that enable the transmission of those signals from one person to another.
- 25. • 4. The signal- which flows through a channel. There may be multiple parallel signals, as is the case in face-to-face interaction where sound and gesture involve different signal systems that depend on different channels and modes of transmission. There may be multiple serial signals, with sound and/or gesture turned into electronic signals, radio waves, or words and pictures in a book. • 5. carrier or channel- which is represented by the small unlabeled box in the middle of the model. The most commonly used channels include air, light, electricity, radio waves, paper, and postal systems. • 1. Noise, in the form of secondary signals that obscure or confuse the signal carried-Given Shannon's focus on telephone transmission, carriers, and reception, it should not be surprising that noise is restricted to noise that obscures or obliterates some portion of the signal within the channel.
- 26. • 2. A receiver-In Shannon's conception, the receiving telephone instrument. In face to face communication a set of ears (sound) and eyes (gesture). In television, several layers of receiver, including an antenna and a television set. • 3. A destination-Presumably a person who consumes and processes the message.
- 27. Criticism of Shannon-Weaver model- • 1. One of the simplest model and its general applied in various communication theories. 2.The model which attracts both academics of Human communication and Information theorist to leads their further research in communication. 3. It’s more effective in person-to-person communication than group or mass audience. 4. The model based on “Sender and Receiver”. Here sender plays the primary role and receiver plays the secondary role (receive the information or passive) 5. Communication is not a one way process. If it’s behaved like that, it will lose its strength. For example: Audience or receiver who listening a radio, reading the books or watching television is a one way communication because absence of feedback. 6. Understanding Noise will helps to solve the various problems in communication.
- 28. LISTENING
- 29. ACTIVE LISTENING TECHNIQUES TAKE NOTES LISTEN LIKE A MANAGER BE SUPPORTIVE TO THE SPEAKER DO NOT INTERRUPT THE SPEAKER DO NOT CHANGE THE TOPIC DO NOT SEEK SELF ATTENTION DO NOT DISMISS THE TOPIC AVOID MULTITASKING ASK QUESTIONS ASK OPEN QUESTIONS KEEP SUMMARIZING REPEAT SEEK CLARIFICATION FOCUS ON MESSAGE SHOW CARE AND EMPATHY AVOID POSITIVE BIAS/INFLUENCE
- 31. Continued…
- 33. Continued…
- 34. WHAT MAKES AN ACTIVE LISTENER? • An active listener is serious about the whole process of communication. • S/he pays attention to the speaker’s stance, perspective, point of view, bias and prejudices. • S/he is intensely involved in the interaction and expends maximum energy to have full comprehension of the subject matter. • Through their eye contact, receptive body language, and appropriate facial expressions and nonverbal affirmations, they make the speakers feel delivering message to them a pleasing and pleasurable experience.
- 36. BARRIERS TO ACTIVE LISTENING • Inadequate language base: Weak language proficiency, lack of technical vocabulary, combined with fear and shyness, will hinder the progress of learning a new subject. • Partial Listening: Partial listening occurs when people happily indulge themselves in multitasking and allow themselves to be distracted easily. • Disinterestedness : Due to disinterestedness in the subject, during a conversation, the listener may focus on other interesting subjects. • Pre-judging the Speaker/the Speech: The listeners form biased opinions by looking at the speaker’s look, dress and mannerism. The bias against the speaker can be formed due to one’s own gender and colour preferences. Even the status of the speaker, depending on whether it is high or low, can affect the logical thinking of the listener. • Negativity towards the Speaker: The major cause of poor listening is due to the listener’s emotional, mental and psychological mind-set. If there is any dislike for the speaker and disapproval to his/her ideas, the listener will certainly reconstruct distorted and negative message.
- 37. DIFFIDENCE : Some listeners suffer from a defeatist attitude. Hence, underestimate their self-capabilities and decide in advance that they cannot understand what they are going to hear. Mostly, new students and participants in a conference suffer from this kind of self- diffidence and affect the listening process.
- 38. OVER-ENTHUSIASM/INTOLERANCE : • There are listeners who often become over enthusiastic and intolerant and start supplying gaps in the speaker’s ideas. This generally comes out of impatience from the listener’s side who finds the speaker slow to communicate his/her ideas. • So the listener advances the questions and interferes quickly preventing the speaker to finish the talk on his/her own pace. In the process, the listener assumes the speaker’s flow of thoughts in advance and impedes his/her own mind from active listening.
- 39. • DEEP-ROOTED BELIEFS : Sometimes one tends to become close minded due to one’s own deep rooted beliefs and convictions. Socio- culturally embedded beliefs and convictions become so strong and firmly rooted in one’s minds and act as barriers to new thoughts and fresh ideas. • For instance, if one has a deep rooted conviction on caste system based arranged marriage, then the person will not be able to openly listen to a talk on the benefits of inter-caste love marriage. Such deep- rooted beliefs lead to superficial listening and cause disagreement with the speaker’s stance and view point.
- 40. Barriers to Communication • Wrong assumption • Varied perceptions • Differing background • Wrong inferences • Blocked categories • Categorical thinking • Limited vocabulary • Clash of verbal and non-verbal messages • Emotional outburst
- 41. • Communication selectivity • Cultural variations • Poor listening skills • Noise in the channel • Too many transfer stations • Fear of superiors • Negative tendencies • Use of inappropriate media • Information overloaded
- 43. REFERENCES • Bonet, Diana. The Business of Listening: Third Edition. New Delhi: Viva Books, 2004. • • Hargie, Owen. Ed. The Handbook of Communication Skills: Third Edition. London: Routledge, 1986. • • Kratz, Abby Robinson. Effective Listening Skills. Toronto: ON: Irwin Professional Publishing,1995. • • Nelson, Paul E. & Judy C. Pearson, Confidence in Public Speaking. London: Oxford University Press, 2004.
- 44. Linguistic Ability (LSRW) • How to teach listening skill • How to teach speaking skill • How to teach Reading skill • How to teach writing skill
- 45. Listening Skill • Listening comprehension is the receptive skill. • Listening means to understand what we hear. • Two types of listening : • Interactive (we chance to speak) Calls, discussion and face to face conversation. • Non-interactive (we don't have a chance to speak) Watching TV and sermons.
- 46. Speaking Skill • Speaking is the productive skill. • It includes : interactive, (discussion, dialogue) partially interactive ( Lecture ) • non-interactive (Sermons and Speeches)
- 47. How to teach Speaking Communicative Teaching • Mistakes should be welcomed. • Actions with Speaking. • Activities imitating, answering verbal cues, interactive conversation, oral presentation Content of speaking should be practical and useable in real life. • Provide appropriate feedback but don't interrupt communication. • Address both interactive fluency and accuracy. • Encourage strategies like asking for clarification, paraphrasing, gestures, and initiating.
- 48. Reading Skill • Reading is the receptive skill in the written mode. • It can develop independently of listening and speaking skills. • Reading can help build vocabulary that helps listening comprehension. • Reading is interactive, socio-cognitive process • A text, a reader, and a social context.
- 49. How to Teach Listening • Beginners should be given more chances for listening. • Speak slowly and as close to natural speed as possible. • Using shorter sentences, and the number and length of pauses in your speech Reduce distractions and noise. • Use equipments like TV/ radio, tap recorder . Repeat or play the text twice or thrice. • Give them a listening task as home task listening news.
- 50. How to Teaching Reading • For beginners, reading text should be simple in terms of grammar and vocabulary. • The text should be relevant to the context, real life and background knowledge of reader. • Use reading strategies prediction, Guessing from the context/ skimming and scanning. • Silent Reading vs. Reading Aloud • Reading aloud improve pronunciation and silent reading focus comprehension.
- 51. Writing Skill • Writing is the productive skill in the written mode. • It is more complicated and seems to be the hardest of the skills. • It involves not just a graphic representation of speech/ but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way. • Good writing conveys a meaningful message. • Free writing Vs process writing Free for collecting ideas and process for polishing writing piece.
- 52. How to Teach Writing • Copying text word for word • Writing what you dictate • Imitating a model • Filling in blanks in sentences or paragraphs • Taking a paragraph and transforming certain language, for example changing all verbs and time references to past tense • Summarizing a story text/ video, or listening clip.
- 53. Conclusion • All four skills support each other since, they are interconnected therefore, cannot be taught independently • Listening and reading both rely on input from an outside source and require knowledge of the language, background knowledge, and comprehension skills. • The productive skills of writing and speaking are more complex as they necessitate taking knowledge of a language a step further to actually produce new language.
- 54. • All four skills facilitate language learning. • Language learning is like learning swimming. • You cannot teach swimming to someone by sitting at the bank of river and giving lecture. • For this purpose you will have jump in the river. • In the same way, language cannot be learned by just cramming the rules of grammar or lecture. • It can be learnt through conversation and discussion.
- 55. Style in Technical Communication • Successful communication depends upon the correct use of language and a good style of writing. • One may learn the correct use of language, but has to cultivate a good style of writing. • The former concerns grammar, usage, spelling, capitalizations and punctuation, the latter concerns the organization of ideas through proper choice of words, arrangement of words into sentences, grouping of sentences into paragraphs, sections and chapters. • The use of abbreviations, approach to the reader, idiom, use of visual aids, the format and layout of the report are all aspects of style.
- 56. Brevity, Clarity and Objectivity • Scientific and technical writing is different from literary writing in a number of ways. • Primarily, the aim of technical writing is to inform rather than to entertain. • Hence, the style of writing adopted is generally simple and concise. • The primary objective of Technical Writing is to transmit information briefly, clearly and efficiently. • Hence, Scientific and technical writing is objective in content and systematic in form. • It is always precise, exact, and to the point so that it may have the desired effect on the reader and lead to the required action. • Every written communication has a specific purpose and a specific audience. It should be carefully planned and constructed to fit both.
- 57. Use of Simple Language • The primary objective of Technical Writing is to transmit information briefly, clearly and efficiently. • This can be achieved only through simple, direct and unadorned style. • The first step towards a simple and clear style is to use simple language. • One must choose a short word rather than a long word, a plain and familiar word rather than a fancy or unusual word and a concrete word rather than an abstract word.
- 58. Choice of words • The first and foremost objective of the technical report is to enable the readers grasp its meaning quickly and accurately. • This is possible only through proper choice of words, which can enhance the readability and clarity of the message. • To achieve this objective, use of simple, plain and short words is recommended in technical writing. For example: • The agreement was effected. • The agreement was made. • We expect to commence work on this project immediately. • We expect to start work on this project immediately.
- 59. The plain word or familiar word • Everybody working near these tubes should be cognizant of the danger of explosion. • Everybody working near these tubes should be aware of the danger of explosion.
- 60. Avoid Verbosity (Wordiness) • Wordiness is one of the most common ESL mistakes. It happens when a writer, either intentionally or unintentionally, uses far too many words or unnecessarily complex or abstract words. Wordiness can seriously detract from the coherency and quality of your writing and frustrate your readers. • For simple, clear style, eliminate from your writing every word that does not contribute to the meaning or clarity of your message. Long-winded phrases should be avoided. Don't use words that add nothing. • Don't write because of the fact that, if simple because will suffice. On the other hand, don't eliminate so many words that your writing reads like a telegram. If a word adds anything worthwhile to your sentence in terms of meaning, grace rhythm, emphasis - let it remain. Remove it if you don't miss any of these.
- 61. Example of the Wordiness • There is a famous author who lives on my block. • There are some animals that thrive in arctic temperatures. • It is rarely the case that people refuse to help. • It is a fact that most of us like to be praised. • She positively expects to win this election. • The results were very surprising.
- 62. • A famous author lives on my block. • Some animals thrive in arctic temperatures. • People rarely refuse to help. • Most of us like to be praised. • She expects to win this election. • The results were surprising.
- 63. Discreet Use of Jargons • Jargon encompasses all technical terms. • Such terminology is useful and often necessary in technical communication restricted to people working on the same or similar subjects. • Technical terms become jargon only when carelessly used for wider audience. • Jargon is a special language of a particular field or profession. • We can’t expect lawyers to say habeas corpus in English just because the rest of us don't understand. • The Jargon of any given field is often the most efficient means of communication within that field. • It becomes offensive when handy English equivalents are available or people outside the field are expected to understand, what is said.
- 64. Avoid Colloquial Diction • Colloquial diction is a language that reads like spoken English. • In some contexts, colloquial diction is perfectly appropriate. • This is mostly used in fiction as conversational lines for the characters and is considered as a private style. • In Public style or scientific reporting - Colloquial diction is not desirable. e.g. The president was apparently unaware of his appointment with this real important guy in Moscow.
- 65. Example of Colloquial Diction • I’ve made out a will; I’m leaving myself to the National Health. I’m sure they can use the jellies and tubes and syrups and glues, the web of nerves and veins, the loaf of brains, and assortment of fillings and stitches and wounds.
- 66. Explanation of the example • Here, the language is casual. The speaker is addressing someone, or a group of someone, who he feels comfortable with. he isn’t trying to elevate his speech to make himself sound more impressive or as though he’s been educated to some extreme degree. • That isn’t the poem of the poem, and would, therefore, make little sense. Instead, he uses simple words and phrases to make fun of death, the process of making a will and “the National Health”. • It is the reference to “the National Health” in the second line that helps a reader place this poem. It refers to “The National Health Service,” a distinctly British institution.
- 67. • Bamboozle – to deceive. • Bo bananas, or go nuts – go insane or be very angry. • Wanna – want to. • Gonna – going to. • Y'all – you all. • Be blue – to be sad. • Buzz off – go away.
- 68. Avoid Cliché • A cliché is a trite (stale or stereotyped), overused expression or combination of words. • A cliché, or cliche, is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being trite or irritating, • It is usually a tricky phrase that was fresh and vigorous when it was first coined because it involved a certain surprise element. • But when such a phrase is used over and over again, it becomes so familiar that it loses all impact. • Like an overplayed phonograph, it is hardly even heard.
- 69. • I was stopped dead in my tracks. • The ship of state is in troubled waters. • Education is what we are all about. • Quality says it all.
- 70. Use of the Passive Voice • In the passive voice, the subject is the receiver of an action rather than the doer of it. Passive voice is employed by writers when they want to evade or conceal the responsibility for someone’s behaviour. e.g. I regret to inform you that your application has been rejected. As the passive voice is sometimes vague and less economical than the active voice, good writers tend to avoid it except when it is genuinely useful. The passive voice may be preferable, for example, when the real doer of an action is either unknown or, in the context of a discussion, relatively important.
- 71. Use of Subordination • A common failing of technical writers is the expression of ideas of unequal importance in constructions that seem to give equal weight. Meaning can be grasped more quickly and more easily if subordinate ideas are indicated and put in subordinating constructions. A sentence should express the main thought in a principal clause. Less important thoughts should be expressed in subordinate clauses. • Example: This machine which has been imported from Japan and it is easy to operate. This machine, which has been imported from Japan, is easy to operate.
- 72. What to follow ..... • Brevity • Clarity • Accuracy • It is the quality of being brief but comprehensive in expression. • Accuracy demands exactness and precision. • Clarity in Communication is the quality of being unambiguous and easily understood. • Clarity is achieved when the communicator has communicated his or her meaning to the reader or listener.
- 73. • Using Direct language: Using Specific words and concrete words and expressions. ( I beg your pardon. Could you please repeat that? etc.) • Avoid exaggeration, artificial eloquence, and ornamentation • Use direct sentences. • Brevity can be achieved by: Avoiding Repetition, Avoiding Wordiness .
- 74. • First feature of technical communication is accuracy, which includes accuracy of information as well as accuracy of expression. • One must assure oneself of the accuracy of information before communicating. • ABC of Technical Communication: Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity. • Style in technical communication is the way one speaks or writes to convey technical information. • Style in Tech. Com. depends on the audience, the the purpose of communicative context, and communication. • Style is formal in a technical report or professional presentation and informal as a personal letter or casual conversation.