Foundations of Communication

Without communication, there would be no teaching and learning.  As educators, we need to learn how to communicate effectively if we want our students to be successful.  In this blog, I will be teaching about communication, and will inform you about different communication techniques to allow you to be a successful communicator in your classroom.  We will start out by discussing the foundations of communication.

There are three domains of communication: communication pedagogy, developmental communication, and instructional communication.  Communication pedagogy is "determining appropriate ways to teach communication competencies" (Cooper & Simonds, 2011).  It is the study of communication, and the effect it has on your teaching in the classroom.  Developmental communication is "how individuals acquire, or develop, communication skills" (Cooper & Simonds, 2011).  Communication researchers suggest that teachers should concern themselves with how students develop communication competencies.  Instructional communication is how to use communication to teach.  All teachers need good communication skills to be effective in the classroom.  A teacher may be an expert in her content area, but if she cannot communicate her knowledge to her students effectively, then no learning is taking place.  

These three domains; communication pedagogy, developmental communication, and instructional communication, provide the foundation of communication.  As educators, we need to understand all three of these domains, and the importance they have on us as teachers.  Without effective communication, our students will not succeed, thus we need to learn about communication to better ourselves, and help us become more prepared to teach.