COMMUNICATION

Trust me it’s not a boring explanation

By Melchizedekh (SLP)

The Threefold Cord of Communication

Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 12, the last part says: “…a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” The literal interpretation of this verse is different, but the point I’m drawing your attention to is the fragment: ‘a THREEFOLD CORD is not quickly broken’. Similarly, our communication, with the important threefold cord bound together, will be complete and effective.

Greetings to the readers! I’m going to shed my perspective on communication barriers and how, theoretically, it can be strengthened. Just like breathing is important for human life, communication in our personal and professional (aka social) life plays a major role, as it can help us to excel. One distinct characteristic of humans is that we all have the most complex form of communication.

What Is Communication?

I would like to help you understand what communication is: the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using other mediums. It is an active, two-way process where we give and take knowledge or information. This very blog that you’re reading is a form of communication; though I’m not receiving from your end, yet I share what I want you, the readers, to understand – the message I’m trying to convey.

Communication in School Education

Now I want to draw your focus to communication occurring in the life of young minds. The reason we enroll our children in schools is to gain knowledge and improve their quality of life and that of others around them. Truly, education opens many doors of opportunity to find value in the time we spend in this life.

Think about your time in school: communication involved understanding what was taught through books and teachers, and expressing that knowledge clearly on answer sheets. Communication is an important factor in determining success in school. Those who are unable to communicate effectively often fail to reach their full potential.

This is my point: academic success is achieved only when the child learns to communicate. Once children learn to communicate properly in context with books, teachers, peers, themselves, and their families, their success will not be restricted to academics alone.

The Three Strands of Effective Communication

Now that we have a little understanding about communication, let’s connect it with the analogy of the THREEFOLD CORD. Communication is our cord of three strands, which is not quickly broken. The three important strands that make up the cord of communication are COGNITION, BEHAVIOR, and LANGUAGE.

Cognition – Our First Strand

Cognition is understood as the internal mental processes that allow a person to interpret information and respond to their environment. Cognition cannot be seen directly, but it can be inferred from behavior. This statement introduces our second strand, BEHAVIOR.

Behavior – Our Second Strand

Behavior means any observable action that an organism performs. In other words, the activity of living organisms, everything a person does. Behavior is the only visible and measurable aspect of cognition; in other words, it gives shape and form to cognition. Oral and written language is expressed as behavior; this brings us to our final strand, LANGUAGE.

Language – Our Third Strand

Eloquent speech is often considered a sign of wisdom. Without language, speech is void. One striking difference between us and animals is that their brains are not equipped with the ability to perceive, process, or perform complex linguistic structures. They also possess the vocal structure to produce a wide variety of sounds like we do; hence, their speech consists of just sounds with little meaning.

Let’s define language: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols or signs used for human communication.

Communication and Academic Success: Putting It All Together

Now that we’ve understood what makes communication, I would like to end with an example. When a student solves a math problem, you don’t see the thinking itself; you see the answer. When someone remembers your birthday, you don’t see memory; you see the correct response.

As you read this simple example, you can infer that a correct response means successful communication, whereas an incorrect response means unsuccessful communication. The mental operation required to solve the problem speaks of cognition, the act of writing the answer represents behavior, and language serves as a medium to transfer mental operations (cognition) into something that we can see (behavior). The entire process is what I refer to as COMMUNICATION.

I think when you think about communication, you can come up with many such examples.

May your communication be strong.

I appreciate the time you spent reading this blog.