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After considering the different features of oral and written language, we need to point out that nowadays with the use of technology there can be some common aspects between oral and written communication. On television, for instance, as well as on the radio, the feedback between the speaker and the audience is limited even though they use oral language. On the contrary, computer on-line messages and chats use written language but both the addresser and the addressee are present, so there is immediate meaning negotiation and room for non-linguistic devices such as pictures, drawings or even ‘emoticons’. There is also a reasonable degree of spontaneity, role swap, correction, inaccuracy and improvisation. For these reasons, the media and the press belong to a category of communication called mass communication. Let us revise now these categories of communication. McLuhan in the sixties drew the threads of interest in the field of communication into a view that associated psychological and sociological phenomena with the media employed in modern culture. He claimed that ‘the medium is the message’, and differentiate different categories of communication. First of all, intrapersonal communication is concerned with the needs which motivate us and the way in which we communicate according to the notions of self which we have. Interpersonal communication is concerned with perception and the use of non-verbal behaviour. Group communication refers to the behaviour in groups and the different roles people take. Mass communication, already mentioned, deals with the media (the press, the radio, television...). Finally, extrapersonal communication refers to direct communication with anything other than another person (artificial intelligence). Behind all this, and not belonging to a specific category, lie general communication concepts and principles. Many of the most significant messages that we deal with are concerned with values and beliefs about ourselves, about others, about the way we live. III. THE COMMUNICATIVE FACTORS Let us now deal with the last part of the essay, the communicative factors. In the act of speech, Roman Jakobson isolated six elements: sender, receiver, context, message, contact and code. An act of communication can be explained as follows: The addresser (transmitter, sender, speaker) sends a message to the addressee (receiver, hearer, listener...) who gets the message conveyed by the sender. In order to be operative, that is, meaningful, the message requires in the first place the reference to a context (situation, object...), which must include a surrounding reality and/or some necessary knowledge shared by the participants. In the second place, the message requires a code common to the participants (this code is a set of signs organised by rules or conventions). Finally it requires a contact, a physical channel and a psychological connection between the addresser and the addressee through which they can set up and keep communication. For each of these factors, Jakobson identified a function in a communicative act. What follows is his taxonomy of language functions. o Emotive or expressive function is centred on the sender, and the sender is the most relevant element. The types of messages that can be labelled under this category are exclamations, interjections... messages of pure emotion. o Conative function is directed to the addressee. It finds its purest grammatical expression in the vocative and imperative. o Aesthetic or poetic function focuses on the message. The form becomes the most important aspect, for instance, a song or a poem. o Metalinguistic function focuses on the code. We use it to speak about the code itself. For example: a synonym of ______ is ______ . o Phatic function appears in messages whose aim is to keep the cohesion of communication (the channel). We use them when we speak to avoid a breakdown of the conversation. For example, can you hear me?. In relation to this function, there are two important elements to consider: noise and redundancy. We use redundancy to compensate the noise, to avoid a failure in communication. o Referential or representative is the most common function. The main element is the context so it is always present, directly or indirectly. We use the language to speak about reality. To finish with, I would like to add that Halliday categorises the communicative situation in terms of three components for the analysis; field of discourse, tenor of discourse and mode of discourse. The first one refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place. The second one refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the participants, their statuses and roles. Finally, the mode of discourse refers to the symbolic organisation of the text, the status that it has, and its function in the context including the channel and the rhetorical mode. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY In a nutshell, what I have developed in this essay is the notion of language for communication. Starting with the definition of language, I have explained the typical act of communication pointing out the difference between competence and performance. After that, I have highlighted some differences between oral and written communication to finally establish the factors of communication and its functions. Personally, I believe that by knowing what communication is and the processes it entails we can gain a deeper understanding of the communicative competence and of how languages are learned. All of this will make us better-trained teachers and our students will benefit greatly from it. In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used: • Brewster, J. Ellis, G. and Girard, D. The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Penguin. London, 1992. • Hymes, D.H. On communicative competence. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971. • Crystal, D. The language revolution. C.P.P. Cambridge, 2004. • Matthews, A., Spratt, M. and Dangerfield, L. At the Chalkface. Nelson. Edinburgh, 1991. • Savignon, S. Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice. Addison-Wesley. Reading, Mass., 1983. • Widdowson, H. G., Teaching Language as Communication. OUP, Oxford, 1998. Further sources: • http://www.educ.ar • www.educaciontrespuntocero.com