advantages of written communication over oral messages.

advantages of written communication over oral messages.

  • Submitted By: chydy12
  • Date Submitted: 08/25/2014 6:55 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1235
  • Page: 5

Written communication is basically any form of interactive communication that uses written words to convey a message. Some of the forms of written communication that are commonly used include memos, manuals, electronic mail, job descriptions and bulletins among many others. Written communication is one of the main forms of communication, the other being spoken or oral communication. Oral communication is the language or the word you are spoken that come from your mouth. Forms of oral messages are telephone, face to face communication and teleconferencing.
Sean McPheat (2010:54) purports that “Written communication does not allow for non-verbal communication-the most important aspect of getting your meaning across.” For example, it can be difficult to convey tone of voice, humor, sarcasm or other shades of meaning in writing alone. However, in oral communication it can use non-verbal communication thereby enhancing the way of getting your meaning across.
Written communication provides a permanent record which can be saved for later study, whereby you refer to the record all the times which helps you to remember some important information for example students at Women’s university in Africa are encouraged to take notes during lectures so that they can always refer back to their notes whenever they want to prepare for their exams, because humans have limitations in their memory. Whereas in oral communication there is no record and students will not have anything to refer back to. Leena Sen. (2006:29) says “What makes written communication different from oral communication is that it is permanent and forms a part of documentation that can be referred as and when required.”
Written communication can also be very useful as a defense during legal issues, for instance students at Women’s university in Africa are given student handouts when they register with the university so that they will be able to read and understand the rules and requirements of the university...

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