UNIT 1: THE COMMUNICATION ESSENTIALS
LESSON 3: MODELS OF COMMUNICATION
There are a number of models of communication that illustrate and explain the elements
or components of human communication process. Basic among the various models are the
communication actors (sender and receiver), message, channel or medium, and feedback. In
some models, communication barriers (noise or filters) are recognized as a factor adversely
influencing the communication process. The models that are widely used to explain the
communication process include the Shannon-Weaver Model, the Interactive Model, the
Transactional Model, and Lasswell’s Model of Communication.
Shannon and Weaver Model
In the Shannon and Weaver Model, both Claude Elwood Shanon (American
mathematician) and Warren Weaver (scientist) explain that the message starts from the person
who has the information. The sender is the source of information. The information commences
from the mind to the mouth of the sender and comes out as a “signal” which is conveyed to the
receiver after several disturbances that can either be environmental or psychological. The sender
transmits the message to the minds of other individuals, its end point. This model is considered
one of the simplest models of communication because feedback is absent. This model is more
applicable to “person to person” being a “sender-receiver” type of communication. Foulger,
however, criticized Shannon’s model by saying that it “isn’t really a model of communication. It
is, instead, a model of the flow of information through a channel and an incomplete and biased
model that is far more applicable to the system it maps, a telephone or telegraph, that it is to
most other media” (2004, p. 8).
Noise
Information Transmitter Receiver Destination
Source
Message Signal Received Message
Encoded Decoded
Feedback
The Interactive Model of Communication
In the Interactive Model, there are two sources: the source of the message and the
recipient. Both participants send and receive messages or feedback from the other. The message
is the information being exchanged. Feedback takes place after the first message has been
received, and is returned to the message initiator. The presence of feedback is important in the
, Interactive model. According to Wilbur Schramm, both sender and receiver alternate roles and
create meaning by sending messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological
contexts (1997). Two sender-receivers exchange messages.
Sender / Encoding Message Decoding Receiver /
Legislator Worker
Receiver / Decoding Feedback Encoding Sender / Worker
Legislator
Transactional Model
In the Transactional Model of communication, the speaker and recipient are considered
both sender-receiver because it assumes that communication is concurrent. For example, when
you talk to someone, he or she gives you immediate feedback through non-verbal expressions
such as hand gestures, facial expressions, or bodily movements. The process does not dissuade
you from continuously expressing yourself through verbal language. Communication participants
are not labelled as “senders and receivers”, but are referred to as “communicators.”
Noise Noise
Channel of Feedback
Field of Field of
Experience Experience
Sender and Message Receiver and
Receiver Sender
Channel of Feedback
Noise Noise
LESSON 3: MODELS OF COMMUNICATION
There are a number of models of communication that illustrate and explain the elements
or components of human communication process. Basic among the various models are the
communication actors (sender and receiver), message, channel or medium, and feedback. In
some models, communication barriers (noise or filters) are recognized as a factor adversely
influencing the communication process. The models that are widely used to explain the
communication process include the Shannon-Weaver Model, the Interactive Model, the
Transactional Model, and Lasswell’s Model of Communication.
Shannon and Weaver Model
In the Shannon and Weaver Model, both Claude Elwood Shanon (American
mathematician) and Warren Weaver (scientist) explain that the message starts from the person
who has the information. The sender is the source of information. The information commences
from the mind to the mouth of the sender and comes out as a “signal” which is conveyed to the
receiver after several disturbances that can either be environmental or psychological. The sender
transmits the message to the minds of other individuals, its end point. This model is considered
one of the simplest models of communication because feedback is absent. This model is more
applicable to “person to person” being a “sender-receiver” type of communication. Foulger,
however, criticized Shannon’s model by saying that it “isn’t really a model of communication. It
is, instead, a model of the flow of information through a channel and an incomplete and biased
model that is far more applicable to the system it maps, a telephone or telegraph, that it is to
most other media” (2004, p. 8).
Noise
Information Transmitter Receiver Destination
Source
Message Signal Received Message
Encoded Decoded
Feedback
The Interactive Model of Communication
In the Interactive Model, there are two sources: the source of the message and the
recipient. Both participants send and receive messages or feedback from the other. The message
is the information being exchanged. Feedback takes place after the first message has been
received, and is returned to the message initiator. The presence of feedback is important in the
, Interactive model. According to Wilbur Schramm, both sender and receiver alternate roles and
create meaning by sending messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological
contexts (1997). Two sender-receivers exchange messages.
Sender / Encoding Message Decoding Receiver /
Legislator Worker
Receiver / Decoding Feedback Encoding Sender / Worker
Legislator
Transactional Model
In the Transactional Model of communication, the speaker and recipient are considered
both sender-receiver because it assumes that communication is concurrent. For example, when
you talk to someone, he or she gives you immediate feedback through non-verbal expressions
such as hand gestures, facial expressions, or bodily movements. The process does not dissuade
you from continuously expressing yourself through verbal language. Communication participants
are not labelled as “senders and receivers”, but are referred to as “communicators.”
Noise Noise
Channel of Feedback
Field of Field of
Experience Experience
Sender and Message Receiver and
Receiver Sender
Channel of Feedback
Noise Noise
