1 How to successfully communicate with other people

The main reason for speaking or writing is to communicate with other people. This consists of giving them a written or spoken message they can understand and respond to. As illustrated by Figure 1, communication takes place when a sender, who could act as a speaker or a writer, sends a message to a receiver, who can be a listener or a reader. The receiver often responds to the sender by speaking or in writing.

Figure 1 The communication process

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This image shows two boxes. The box on the left is labelled Sender (speaker/writer) and the box on the right is labelled Receiver (listener/reader). A right-pointing arrow, labelled Message, connects the left box to the right box. A left-pointing arrow, labelled Feedback, connects the right box to the left box.

Figure 1 The communication process

In this section you will look at the challenges of everyday communication and learn how essays can be a form of communication between students and tutors.