Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public
Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
18. Communication as interaction is an exchange of information between two or more
individuals.
19. You could think of representation as spin and presentation as facts.
20. Each time someone communicates, a worldview is being shared through the
selection of terms, regardless of how much thought has gone into the construction of a
message.
21. Cultural expectations are reinforced when someone violates them.
22. Shared relational knowledge does not necessarily enable you and another person to
assign unique meanings to certain words or symbols.
23. Both signs and symbols are arbitrary representations of something else.
24. Some people claim that internet activism is just as meaningful as and even more
effective than other forms of activism.
25. Communicating in a manner consistent with another person’s cultural expectations
will result in increased liking by that person.
26. A communication frame pulls our attention toward certain things and away from
others.
27. Using the term illegal alien instead of undocumented worker represents the
presentation side of the message, not the representation.
28. Your message is conveying information (presentational) while providing a glimpse
into your perspective and how you want your friend to view the situation
(representational).
Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public
Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
29. Communication frames are based partly on a person’s perspectives of situations
and relationships with others.
30. A shared understanding of these frames is what enables people to make sense of
Short Answer
1. What is the difference between a symbol and a sign?
2. Give an example of how symbols can be different in different cultures.
3. Give an example of a common word or phrase that can be accompanied by verbal or
nonverbal symbols that impact meaning and send different messages depending on
how it is delivered.
4. Give an example of how cultural expectations can be violated.
5. Explain why the relational connection between the sender of a message and a
receiver is sometimes less than obvious.
6. Describe how the symbolic act of waving can have multiple meanings.
7. Name one way in which determining meaning is more complex than it seems.
8. Describe how group members’ relationships with one another outside the group
setting affect group decision making.
9. Give an example of how communication frames help to direct/coordinate your
interactions.
10. Communication requires that symbols convey meaning, what a symbol represents.
Give an example of a symbol whose meaning has changed over time? How?
11. Why do you think knowing the unique meanings associated with symbols is so
important to establishing membership or connecting with a group?
12. The medium affects the meaning of a message. Describe an instance when the
medium could be a distraction and could, potentially, alter the meaning of the message.
13. How is communication as transaction more sophisticated than communication as
Essay
1. Explain how everyday conversations create, maintain, or challenge one of the
following: culture, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, meaning, or reality.
2. Explain why it can be problematic to interpret a symbol correctly in a communicated
message.
3. Explain how communication can be both representational and presentational.
4. Explain the constitutive approach to communication.
5. Explain why the perspective of “communication as action” is limited in its usefulness.
6. Explain why communication is never neutral.
7. Explain how the link between relationships and communication can be used to study
all communicative activity.
8. Explain why it is important to study communication, even though you have been
communicating your entire life.
9. Explain how communication frames help people understand their role in a
conversation and what is expected of them.
10. Give one example of how framing assumptions help people make decisions about
what symbols are used and how these symbols should be interpreted.
11. Explain why people do not always agree on what exactly is taking place in a
particular interaction.
12. Explain how relationships are literally talked into existence.
13. At first glance, the notion of communication being both presentational and
representational is difficult to grasp. Explain the difference.
14. Explain the difference between saying “I love you” in a relational context and in a
situational context.
15. Explain how different media systems might result in different meanings assigned to
the same message.
16. In some situations, people are often taught and encouraged to adjust how they
normally communicate to match the expectations of the other person. However, is
communicating in a manner consistent with someone else’s cultural expectations but
inconsistent with your normal communication style unethical?
17. Are there situations when people can agree on a single frame? If so, how might that
be determined?
18. Based on the definitions of communication as presentational and communication as
representational, describe how a person might describe a movie they watched from
both perspectives.
19. Frames provide you with additional context and information in any communication
interaction. Think back to recent conversation with someone. What might have been
said by you and by that other person to frame the interaction?
20. Based on the constitutive approach to communication, explain how relationships are
formed.
21. Chapter 1 discussed cultural challenges associated with the use of symbols.
Describe a recent cultural difference in terms of communication you have personally
experienced. How did you overcome it?
22. Describe communication as interaction and provide one representative example.