4 COMMUNICATION TOPIC IELTS

 Non-verbal communication – similar to sign language, but this can be clear, pre-arranged signals..  misunderstand, unreliable messages/ phone calls, lack of facial expression/ person

COMMUNICATION Vocabulary

Types of spoken communication

 A discussion – when two or more people discuss a specific matter It is often a formal

situation where topics are discussed, often from different points of view

 A conversation – where two or more people talk informally There may not be a specific

topic to discuss or different points of view

 A dialogue – very similar to a discussion, although often more formal and with the aim

of finding a solution to a specific problem

 An interview – a formal meeting where a person is asked questions and their answers are

either evaluated or reported

 A monologue – a single person speaking for a prolonged period This is often used in

acting, but can also indicate that someone has dominated the conversation and it is only them speaking

 A speech – when a speaker talks in front of an audience for a given purpose (e.g A

wedding speech)

 A lecture – a speech given to an audience or class, especially for teaching purposes

 A debate – similar to a discussion, but often used as a formal contest of different points

of view (e.g A political debate)

communicating without speaking

 Body language – how a person positions themselves (e.g Facing someone, looking at the

floor, crossing their arms) that tells us how someone feels

 Non-verbal communication – similar to sign language, but this can be clear,

pre-arranged signals A policeman directing traffic, for example, often uses his/her arms to tell

drivers where to go, when to stop etc – this is non-verbal communication

 Sign language – use of the hands to show words and meaning used by (and to

communicate to) deaf people

Language

 Mother tongue – (also called ‘native language’ or ‘first language’) this is the language

you were brought up listening to and speaking

 Bilingual – the ability to speak fluently and accurately in two languages

 Multilingual – the ability to speak fluently and accurately in more than two languages

 Polyglot – a person who is multilingual

Types of communicator / listener

 Active listener – someone who listens and asks feedback questions to make sure they

understood

 Inattentive – someone who does not pay close attention to what is being said or shown

Miscellaneous vocabulary for communication

 Gossip – talking about the personal or private affairs of other people (often based only in

rumours, not facts)

 Hint – an indirect clue or indication, something not said directly (e.g ‘she hinted that she

would like a new computer for her birthday, but didn’t say so directly’)

 Confession – admitting something that was wrong, illegal or shameful (he gave a

confession to the police about the car he stole)

 Body language - communicating with your body (wave, slouching) censorship - deleting

or covering parts of media (books, movies, websites)

 Colleague - somebody that you work with

 Facial expression - communicating using facial features (smiling, winking)

 Gossip - talking about other people The information is often untrue

 Journalism - the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one

of the media

 Pamphlet - a small paper book that contains information about an argument

 Propaganda - when the media favours certain kinds of stories or distorts messages to influence the opinions of behaviour of people

 Social media - online tools for communication such as facebook and twitter

 Tabloid - a newspaper having pages half the size of those of a standard newspaper

Usually includes information about celebrity gossip and sensational headlines

 Telecommunication - communicating over long distances

 User-friendly - if something, especially something related to a computer, is user-friendly,

it is simple for people to use

ample questions

Q1: what is the most remarkable advantages of mobile phones?

 contact friends and family anywhere and any time, not miss important calls, use for

emergencies or in need of help, take photos to capture memories, connect to the internet and

check emails

Q2: how did people contact each other before the telephone was invented?

 letters, telegrams, urgent messages, invention of telephones

Q3: what inconvenience may the use of mobile phones cause?

 busy with cell phones even when important events are going on, limit face-to-face time with friends and family

Q5: what difficulties may arise when people communicate without being able to see each other, by telephone or e-mail for example?

 misunderstand, unreliable messages/ phone calls, lack of facial expression/ personal touch

Sample reading

How technologies benefit communication

Throughout history, developments in technology and communications have gone hand-in-hand, and the latest technological developments such as the internet have resulted in the advancement

of the science of communication to a new level

The process of human communication has evolved over the years, with many path-breaking

inventions and discoveries heralding (báo hiệu, dấu hiệu, đưa tin) revolutions or a lift from one

level to another

1 The invention of pictographs (chữ tượng hình) or the first written communication in the

ancient world heralded written communication These writings were on stone and

remained immobile (bất động).

2 The invention of paper, papyrus, and wax, culminating (cực điểm là) in the invention of the

printing press in the 15th century, made possible transfer of documents from one place to

another, allowing for uniformity (sự đồng dạng) of languages over long distances.

3 The latest revolution is the widespread application of electronic technology such as

electronic waves and signals to communication, manifesting (biểu lộ) in the electronic creation

and transfer of documents over the world wide web

Speed and costs

The most significant impact of technology on communication is the spread of the internet and the

often required re-typing on the typewriter before the final version Sending the letter across a distance to someone else required a visit to the post office and a postage stamp Faster methods such as telegrams had severe limitations in text, and remained costly

Computers and the internet have made easy the process of creating and editing documents and applying features such as spell check and grammar check automatically Email allows sending the document to any part of the globe within seconds, making telegrams and even ordinary letters

mostly obsolete (đã lỗi thời) The internet has thus increased the speed of

communications manifold (nhiều lần), and reduced the costs drastically.

Quality

The huge amount of knowledge accessible by a click of the mouse has helped improve the

quality of communication Translating a text from an unfamiliar language to a familiar language, seeking out the meaning of an unknown word, and getting follow up information on an

unfamiliar concept are all possible thanks to the internet

Technology allows easy storage and retrieval (sự truy tìm lại) of communication when needed,

especially verbal communication, the storage of which was very difficult before It now becomes easier to rewind and clear misconceptions rather than make assumptions, or contacting the

person again to clear doubt

Change in style

The invention of new gadgets such as mobile phones makes communication easier by allowing people to communicate from anywhere An underestimated impact of mobile gadgets is their

impact on the nature of communications The nature of such impact includes the following:

 the possibility of high quality communication from anywhere in the world to anywhere else at low costs has led to a marked decline in face-to-face communications and to an increased

reliance on verbal and written communication over electronic mediums

 the small keyboards in mobile phone and other hand-held devices that make typing difficult has resulted in a radical shortening of words and increasing use of symbol and shortcuts, with

little or no adherence (sự liên quan gắn bó) to traditional grammatical rules Such change now

finds increasing acceptance in the business community

 communication has become concise (súc tích) and short, and the adage (câu châm

ngôn) “brevity (sự ngắn gọn, súc tích) is the soul of wit” finds widespread implementation,

though unintentionally

Accessibility

The answer to the question of how technology has changed communication is incomplete

without a mention of technology's role in the democratization (sự dân chủ hóa) of

communication systems Technology has brought down the costs of communication significantly and improved people’s access to communication

The proliferation (sự gia tăng nhanh) of online forums, live coverage of news, and other such

media related initiatives have resulted in world wide access and participation in news and

information for almost everyone

In the realm (lĩnh vực) of business, access to communication or privileged information

was hitherto (cho đến nay) a major source of competitive advantage Technology helps remove

such barriers and ensure a level playing field in this aspect for the most part

Nature of communication

The ease of communication and the spread of interactive communication methods such as instant messengers and video conferencing have increased the volume of communications but reduced their average length People now communicate whatever comes up instantly, and tend to break

up different topics into different communications

Finally, technologies integral (ko thể thiếu) to the internet help spread the net of communication

by tracking down old friends, shedding light on new business opportunities, creating new

opportunities for business and personal purchasing, and similar ventures