SCCA 1013

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN STUDENTS LIFE

According to Hybels & Weaver II (2009), communication is a process that use of symbols,
verbally and nonverbally, intentionally or unintentionally, generate meanings (information, ideas,
feelings, and perceptions) within and across various contexts, cultures, channels and media. It also
can be defined as a systematic process where individuals interact with and through symbols to
create and interpret meanings which are systematic implies that it involves a group of interrelated
parts that affect one another, meanwhile process means it is ongoing and perpetually in motion
(Wood, 2015).

As we can see communication is important to all who titled as a student either in their daily
life or during their university life. In student life, communication will occur when they when they
need to deliver and transfer the information to the receiver. They need to use good communication
skills in order to achieve the understanding in delivering the message, therefore students should
understand precisely that communication play important roles such as the necessity in group
discussion, enhance the confidence and improve leadership skills in their student life in order to
communicate effectively and efficiently with others.

Firstly, the important role of communication in student life is, it is a requirement in group
discussion. In student’s life, coursework assigned and a student is the thing that cannot be separate
and it is compulsory to those who titled as a student. These assignments are required in all subjects
they take either individually or in the group. In group assignments, communication plays the
important role where each student need to create a good discussion among the participants for the
group assignments to achieve the best result. Communication is a medium that used by student to
express their opinions during the discussion. Commonly in group discussion, students will use
Schramm’s model of communication which is interactive communication where the students will
deliver the information and get feedback from others (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). For example, in
every group discussion, student need to communicate effectively and efficiently in order to deliver
the opinion and information regarding their assignment, so that the other team members can really
understand and they will give some comment or feedback about the opinion delivered. From the
situation given we can see interaction will occur between students while discussing in group.
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As we can see nowadays, there are certain students that lack good communication and do
not know how to be more valiant in delivering the message to others. This is because there is some
restriction in order for them to have an effective communication such as environmental factors,
lack of experience and fear in giving opinion (Winterson, 2010). As students, they should
overcome the restriction and be more confident or have the courage to adapt the life as a student.
Other than that, students must be able to get along with society around to create good interaction
and they have to convince people around in everything they do especially in class. For instance, in
class where students are required to present in front of the lecturer and other members. In this
situation, students have to convince the lecturer about the topic they present in order to get the best
score. Normally, in this situation lecturer prefer transmission model of communication also known
as classic model of communication which is consist one-way communication where the lecturer
only listen to the presentation (Wood, 2015). However, there is certain lecturer will implement the
interactive and transactional model of communication where the lecturer will give feedback or
comment regarding the presentation (Berko, Wolvin, & Wolvin, 2007). Evaluation of the
presentation is based on how the student convinces the audience and it turns out that
communication plays the good role to enhance the confidence of the student.

Through communication, student can show their talent where they can use communication
as a way or platform to accentuate their flair. Usually, the educational institute such as IPTA and
IPTS will create and open a platform for those who titled as a student. The purpose of this action
is to improve the leadership skills in student where they will represent the other students to fight
for the right. Those who will represent the other student will use their voice to speak out their right
as a student and voice out their dissatisfaction regarding the learning system provided or
dissatisfaction that arise among them. For example, in Northern University of Malaysia (UUM)
has created an association called as Student Representative Council (MPP). The purpose of the
establishment of MPP is to ensure that they can encourage their students to be brave to voice out
their right. In order to be the one of the MPP, students should join the election that will hold once
a year and if they were nominated, they should deliver their manifesto to other students. Usually,
those who were nominated will use different manifesto to impress and persuade others. We can
see this action as a public communication, where a speaker will address a large number of
audience. The audience may ask questions afterward but their major role is to listen and evaluate
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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

what the speaker want to say (Trenholm, 2011). In order to make the other students impress with
the manifesto, they need to make sure that, what they want to deliver reach to the audience. So,
they need to communicate well and be more confidence while delivering the manifesto. If the
communication went well, the others will have more confident to choose the student as their leader.

To conclude, communication is very important and useful in student life. As a student, they
should use communication as a medium to use it in a group discussion, enhance the confidence
and improve the leadership skills. Students will know communication will give them an access to
the world if they know how to use it well. The main point is they just need to know how to deliver
the message effectively and efficiently. In order to do that, they need to be more knowledgeable,
so they will be seen as wise and knowledgeable person to the audience. Nowadays, technology has
become more advance and there are many ways for students to communicate, so they can use other
ways to improved themselves and practice the communication skills to achieve their goals of a
student.
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INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

REFERENCES

Berko, R. M., Wolvin, A. D., & Wolvin, D. R. (2007). Communicating: a social and career
focus (10th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hybels, S., & Weaver II, R. L. (2009). Communicating Effectively (9th ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill.

Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2011). Theories of human communication (10th ed.). Long
Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Trenholm, S. (2011). Thinking through communication: an introduction to the study of human

communication (6th ed.). USA: Pearson Education.

Winterson, D. (2010). Principles of communication. New Delhi: Centrum Press.

Wood, J. T. (2015). Communication mosaics: an introduction to the field of communication.

Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.