The SMCR Model Of Communication

Introduction

Communication is a “systemic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meaning” (Wood, 2004). Some see communication as a process where “A sends a message to B upon whom has an effect” while some see communication as a form of “negotiation and exchange of meaning”. (Devito, 1986) “Situated at the crossroad of several discipline [and] communication process” (Mattelart & Mattelart 1998, p.1) the discipline of communication has developed into two distinct schools of thought. The Transmission school of thoughts sees “communication as a unilinear process” ( McQuail, 1994). And the second school which was developed in reaction to this was the cultural context school of thought and it stress

SMCR being the Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR), this model distinguished Shannon and Weaver’s linear model into parts that was easier to understand. Berlo’s Model was “derived from … Shannon and Weaver model”( Smith, David H. 1972) Berlo’s approach was a straightforward transmission models that makes use of “senses” for a better communication. Hence he came up with the model stressing the importance of the variable in the communications. The 5 verbal communication skills which will help to decode and encode includes, culture, attitude, knowledge, sense, writing, reading and reasoning. And so, in Berlo’s Model we saw that the primary conceptual basis has been used despite being heavily critiqued from the reception and cultural context school of thought. The Sender, Message and Receiver plays an important part in this model which explains how we human communicate but does not show the feedback

(Health, 2013) In this model we can see that the sender is being signified as the encoder, and the receiver being the decoder. This circular model shows that redundancy is important and that both the sender and receiver is the same person. Feedback was also included in this model as the main focus.

This model was no longer a linear model; it was a reciprocal and two-way rather than uni-linear where both the sender and receiver would transmit the message via a medium and the receiver would then confirm that the message was correctly understood. This model has feedback which shows that communication is no longer a one way but a two way process. This allowed the feedback which was not evident in the other theories listed above. (Jim, 2009)

Even in Schramm circular model, the Sender, Message and Receiver model was still used as a primary conceptual basis. This proves that despite being heavily critiqued, the Sender, Message and Receiver model is still relevant in theorizing and research communications.

Stuart