Olha Zaluzhna
(Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University)
BACKCHANNELING AS AN INDESPENSABLE ELEMENT
OF THE COMMUNICATIVE CYCLE
Communication can be concisely defined as ‘the meaningful exchange of information’ between two or more people [5, p. 117]. In other words, it is the process of encoding, transmitting, and decoding meaningful messages (both verbal and non-verbal) with the purpose of generating and sharing certain common knowledge.
The transactional model of human communication, which is widely acknowledged nowadays, shifts the focus from the message itself and puts the emphasis on the meanings generated, transmitted, and interpreted during the communication process, the final goal of which is to create shared understanding [1, p. 47–48].
The above model grounds itself on Wilbur Schramm’s theory of the communication cycle which consists of 7 basic elements: the sender, the receiver, and the message transmitted from the former to the latter with the help of certain channel(s) (as a rule, auditory or / and visual) which first goes through encoding process (verbal, non-verbal, or the combination of both) when sent by the sender, and later through decoding process when interpreted by the receiver. The communication cycle loops with the feedback stage when the receiver, having comprehended the message, react in some way to the sender’s message [4, p. 176]. At the same time, there is one more important element which can hamper the efficiency of the communication process while creating certain shared knowledge, i.e., communicative noise which can be defined as anything complicating the message being received (e.g., physical noises, psychological condition, cultural differences, etc.) [5, p. 128–130].
One of the premises on which the theory of communication lies is that ‘most language usage is interactive, involving rapid turn-taking’ and believed to be ‘universal infrastructure for language’ [3, p. 6]. It presupposes that while the sender transmits the message, the receiver comprehends it; then the receiver’s turn comes to transmit the message. This cycle of turn-taking repeats again and again as the interaction unfolds.
However, in actual situations of communication both the sender and the receiver are simultaneously engaged in speaking and listening processes [2]. On the one hand, this still means that when two participants are involved in communication cycle, one person (the sender) is primarily transmitting the message while the other (the receiver) is primarily perceiving it. On the other hand, at the same time the receiver is generating subsidiary messages, in such a way encouraging the communication process and indicating their active involvement.
This happens due to the existence of what is defined as backchanneling, i.e., strategies used by the receiver to indicate their engagement in the interaction process. Those can be both verbal (interjections such as yeah, ahah, wow, etc.) or non-verbal (a nod of the head, a smile, a gesture such as a thumb up, etc.). Backchanneling is believed to be an indispensable part of efficient human interaction as it encourages cooperative person-person interaction, indicating the receiver’s active involvement in the communication process and their interest in the information transmitted through the sender’s message(s).
Notably, nowadays it is not only oral communication which makes an active use of backchanneling techniques. In modern digital interactive written communication (e.g., instant messaging), which allows the use of emoticons, emojis, stickers, etc., backchanneling regains its relevance and importance, providing for the cooperative efficiency of the communication cycle process.
Thus, backchanneling though not being an obligatory element necessary for transmitting and comprehending the message, remains an indispensable part of human communication process (both oral and written).
REFERENCES
- Barnlund C. A Transactional Model of Communication. Language Behaviour. De Gruyter Mouton, 2013. P. 43–61.
- Lala, MilhoratP., Inoue K., Ishida M., Takanashi K., Kawahara T. Attentive listening system with backchanneling, response generation and flexible turn-taking. Proceedings of the 18th Annual SIGdial Meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Saarbrücken, Germany : Association for Computational Linguistics, 2017. P. 127–136.
- Levinson S. C. Turn-Taking in Human Communication – Origins and Implications for Language Processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Vol. 20. Issue 1. P. 6–14.
- Littlejohn S. , FossK. A. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. SAGE Publications, 2009. 1105 p.
- Velentzas J., Broni G. Communication Cycle: Definition, Process, Models and Examples. Recent Advances in Financial Planning and Product Development. İstanbul: WSEAS Press, P. 117–131.