Understanding Communication Models

Think about all the different ways you communicate each day. You text-message your sister to check in, you give a speech in your communication class to an engaged audience, and you exchange a knowing glance with your best friend at the arrival of someone you mutually dislike. Now reflect on how these forms of communication differ from each other. Sometimes (like when text-messaging), you create messages and send them to receivers, the messages flowing in a single direction from origin to destination. In other instances (like when speaking in front of your class), you present messages to recipients, and the recipients signal to you that they’ve received and understood them. Still other times (like when you and your best friend exchange a glance), you mutually construct meanings with others, with no one serving as “sender” or “receiver.” These different ways of experiencing communication are reflected in three models that have evolved to describe the communication process: the linear model, the interactive model, and the transactional model. As you will see, each of these models has both strengths and weaknesses. Yet each also captures something unique and useful about the ways you communicate in your daily life.