Communication theory has undergone a major route in its development, from ancient Greek rhetoric and Transactional Analysis, Neuro –Linguistic Programming, Palo Alto school techniques. Communication concept is used in various sectors of private understandings of knowledge. From the Latin word "communication", communication acquires a metaphysical timbre, surprising a double dimension: the sacred and the community. We call human communication a transactional type process by which people transfer energies, emotions, feelings and meanings change, in terms of education, communication has the role of premise, source, means and effect.



Levels of communication
Human communication can be carried out on five levels: intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, mass communication, public communication and group communication.

Intrapersonal communication
It is a genuine process of communication, even if the transmitter and receiver is the same, and encoding and decoding messages is not absolutely necessary.



Interpersonal Communication

This involves the sounding of our inner world, the communication in and to itself. It can take the form of direct and indirect and it has multiples targets:
-         persuading the interlocutor
-         recognition of personal value
-         satisfy the emotional needs, control and domination needs
-         creating and maintaining human connections.

Public communication

It is a specialized form of communication between people who have roots in ancient rhetoric.

Mass Communication
Assume a manufacturer of institutional written messages, spoken, visual or audiovisual, addressed to a large audience. This type of communication does not receive effective feedback.

Group communication

This type of communication unfolds in small human collectivity and allows the community to exchange ideas and emotions, offers conditions to share experiences, and discussions in order to end conflicts or to solve problems.

Research has highlighted the relationship between information, its flow and group dynamics. Yona Friedman proved that at the level of global group, the communication is an illusion, regardless of the means of communication to the caller. The valence in communication concept was introduced and this represents the number of people with which an individual may communicate (at receiving or at sending). Receiving capacity of a human being is made by the relationship between information and time, estimated at 40 bits / sec. The second concept introduced by Yona Friedman is the capacity of transmission, defined by the relation between information received and the information transmitted.

Yona Friedman shows the groups from a perspective of the information, identifying two types:  egalitarian and hierarchical group. In a group, the hierarchy is established based on information balance of each individual, the balance being the difference between the influences that the individual receive and those that he pursues. When the balance is equal for all members of the group, the group is egalitarian and if the balance is different, the group is hierarchical. Yona Friedman defines influence as “the result of an exchange between one and several individuals, the influence of the former being measured by the effect of exchanging information on the behavior of others”.

Group communication techniques

Without a reliable recipe, you can talk about an effective strategy which allows the shaping of an effective work, the communication, networking group. Directions of interest are: group training activities, especially the maintenance activities.



Group training activities. The important objectives of these activities are:
-         Mutual understanding and self knowledge;
-         Knowledge and awareness of personal learning style;
-         Stimulation and the awareness of the participation level in group activities;
-         Fostering empathy;
-         Ensuring assuming the role / task group.

To streamline the work group, to make it work as a team, it is welcome the concern to identify the appropriate role of the members, or the role of the under groups members.  It is considered that the roles assumed in the group are: team worker, the evaluator, the completing member, the company worker, technical assistant, the researcher, the modeler, the president.

Team worker – is the guarantee of the effective cooperation, through his qualities of a good listener his ability to adapt easily, through flexibility and empathy; he brings his contribution to achieving the objectives and he has a good exercise of diplomacy.

The evaluator – thinks critically and takes decisions after following a consistent analysis. He occupies key positions that require reliability and consistency.

Completing member – he engage in activities with clear purpose, he sets priorities and he works accurately. He makes the fine analysis of things and he gives the attention to details.

The company worker – is very effective because of the discipline, the power of self control, and because of the preference for hard work. He proves loyalty.

The researcher – he follows what is useful and he responds to others ideas and he develop them easily.

The technical assistant – he is maintaining the quality standards show constant concern for the assimilation of technical and specialized knowledge.

The modeler – is an extrovert person who aims to win. He has a lot of energy and he mobilizes others to action. He works even under pressure and he makes appropriate and useful changes.

The president – a person who is working individually, is exploiting his own creative spirit, intellect. He is weak in communication and he reacts violently to criticism. He is defending and develops his own ideas but he engages effectively in solving complex problems.

Maintaining group activities. Those activities have as a target:
-         to ensure group cohesion and to build a collaborative relationship by avoiding the creation of certain small groups, avoiding the “churches”.
-         to promote the group identity through a positive attitude and also a positive image about themselves.
-         to ensure the participation of the group members to the group discussions.
-         active listening skills training in order to achieve the objectives mentioned above; questionnaires can be used, worksheets, etc.

I will enumerate some techniques for effective communication in the group, relevant to the issues mentioned and applied in the work with pupils / students, and in the adult learning activities:
- The Coat of Arms technique
- the rotary communication technique
- the Turtle technique
- Panel discussion
- Brainstorming technique, etc.

Although it seems simple the meaning of communication is more complex and full of substrate. Communication has many meanings, a lot of goals and as many ways of expression and manifestation. People are living in the community by things virtue that they have in common and communication is how they get to have things in common. Communication is one that provides similar intellectual and emotional dispositions, similar ways of responding to expectations and requirements.



There are several types of communication:
-         intrapersonal communication which is communication to and by itself
-         interpersonal communication which is communication between people
-         group communication – which is the communication between group members and the communication between group members with other people
-         mass communication – which is communication received or used by a large number of people.

The purpose of communication is: to inform others, to alert others, to explain something, to persuade, to describe things or feelings, etc.

Communication is made on three levels: verbal, Para verbal and nonverbal. If there are no contradictions between these levels, communication may be effective; otherwise the message sent will not have the desired effect.

Communication is very effective on personality because today, the individual is defined according to others, and the behavior is a construction of the person interacting with others. The interaction is attracting concomitant the communication.

And so, if we communicate more, we have better chances to create strong personalities.

Communication is the individual’s key to society and to integrate into it. Lack of communication draws to imminent removal of the group, team, company, etc.

The art of communication is a natural process or a skill with which we are born. We learn to communicate, that is why we must study what we learn, so we can use our knowledge more effectively. Any communication involves creation and exchange of meanings. These meanings are represented by “signs” ad “codes”. It seems that people have a real need for “reading” the meaning of any human activity. Observing and understanding this process may cause us to be more aware about what happens when we communicate.

Teaching communication specificity is determined by circulated educational contents, followed by the purpose of teaching, by its organized and systematic nature, by the subordination in relation with a set of rules and principles of the psycho-pedagogical and of the relationship teacher – student particularities.

According to Adler and Towne’s opinion the most part of the all messages are communicated through nonverbal communication. These include the tangible messages (posture, gestures, eye contact and physical contact), space communication (distance between two people who converse) and paralanguage (tone, intonation, accent used, speech rate, volume, etc.).

There are many ways to improve communication and for example, to avoid blockages that can interfere with the child’s communicate behavior we must know that the interlocutor attitude is learned and this implies:

-         to know how to listen
-         to listen until the end
-         to show interest in the topic addressed
-         to show interest in terms of the other
-         to take into account the views of others, etc.

17 rules for a good communication

- sent messages addressed at the first person (the language of responsibility), focused on what the transmitter is feeling and on the speaker's behavior, preventing so the defensive reactions in communication; the communication process is more complete, it can be communicated emotions and describe behaviors without making evaluations and attacks to the person.



- be spontaneous in expressing personal opinions, try not to impose your points of view. Manipulation is a form of communication which is transmitting the non accepting message and disbelief in the taken decisions.

- listen carefully, the active listening is a way to listen and respond which brings to an improvement of mutual understanding and to overcoming the obstacles in communication. The empathetic communication contains messages of understanding, compassion and affection for the speaker.

- avoid stereotypes and prejudices because they are leading to negative opinions about others, they are the cause of some actions and negative emotions, are taking to discrimination, violence and genocide.

- leave the speaker the possibility to make a negative evaluation of their actions or attitudes, criticism does not necessarily lead to changing the other persons.

- use messages which will help the speaker in finding alternatives, possibilities to solve a certain situation. Often the advice is perceived by the other person as an insult over his intelligence, as a lack of trust in the capacity of the person to solve his own problems.

- avoid threats, insisting in applying a punishment for solving a problem / situation will generate negative feelings.

- avoid moralization, this causes anxiety feelings, stimulates resentments and block the honest statement of the other person.

- give proof of equality, the superior attitude may cause the forming of a faulty communication relationship, encourages the development of conflicts. Equality means unconditional acceptance and respecting each person, no matter the culture level or professional training.

- be aware of the sentimental factors, trying to convince through logical arguments or logical evidence may lead to frustration, it can even block the communication.

- ask for more information, ask open questions, one at a time, these are giving the speaker the possibility to open to you, in order to explore the thoughts and feelings, he is convinced that you are interested in what he says.

- use paraphrases, it is a communication method which has its role in clarifying the message, to easily communicate the needs. But do not use it too often.

- give the possibility to explore alternative solutions by using the brainstorm, by using reflective listening, talking possible results of choosing one of the alternatives, obtaining a commitment.

- use the diversion / deviation tactics if you wish to change the course of the conversation to the concerns of the person to your own concerns.

- use verbal confirmations, visual and non verbal, like the sounds which make the speaker to understand that you are listening to him with interest and respect.

- read the body language, focus on the key factors: face expressions, eyes expressions, the voice tone, the gestures, etc.

- ensure the necessary comfort while communicating.