Module 4: EVALUATING MESSAGES AND IMAGES

Course Objectives:

1. Evaluate multimodal texts critically to enhance receptive (listening, reading, viewing)

skills.
2. Convey ideas through oral, audio-visual, and/or web-based presentations for different
target audiences in local and global settings using appropriate registers
3. Adopt awareness of audience and context in presenting ideas

Overview:

This module talks about evaluating messages and images. It discusses the different
components in evaluating messages such as identifying the what is the message, its purpose,
ways to convey messages, and target audience.

Nowadays, the communication world continually requires us, sources of messages to

decide quickly and send messages rapidly. According to Brantley and Miller (2007), research
has shown that people who prepare and send effective messages are able to: understand the
importance of the communication cycle; incorporate the principles of effective communication
into their responses to other people’s messages.

Therefore, the true secret in sending messages effectively relies on how the source
convey his ideas using different platforms that will suit target audience, whether in local or
global settings. Moreover, he should embrace awareness as to the context in presenting his
ideas to achieve willingness and enhance the listening, reading, and viewing skills of his
audience.

Course Materials:

What is the message?

In communication cycle, message is one of the elements that gives information and
ideas to its intended receiver or audience. In rhetorical studies and communication studies,
the message is the information conveyed by: (a) words (in speech or writing, and/or (b) other
signs and symbols (Nordquist, R. 2017). Therefore, message whether verbal or non-verbal, or
both, makes up the content of the communication process. The source or sender starts the
process by conveying the message to a receiver (cited in Nordquist, Richard “message
communication”).

§ Verbal and Non-verbal Content

A message may include verbal content (i.e., written or spoken words, email, text
messages, phone calls, snail mail, sky-writing, etc.) and will include non-verbal content,
artifacts, and clothing, vocal variety, touch, timing, etc.) intentionally or not, both verbal
and non-verbal content is part of the information that is transferred in a message. If non-
verbal cues do not align with the verbal message, ambiguity is introduced even as
uncertainty is increased. (John O. Burtis and Paul D. Turman, Leadership Communication
as Citizenship. Sage, 2010)

§ Messages in Classical Rhetoric

“Both Cicero and Quintillian accepted the Aristotlian Notion that a rhetorical
message concists of effective use of logical (logos), ethical (ethos), and pathetic proof
(pathos). The rhetor who has command of these three persuasive strategies, the hel, is
in a good position to motivate an audience.” (Golden, et al., 2003

§ Messages in the Media

“A well-defined message has two key components. First, it is simple, direct, and
concise. Second, it defines the issues on your own terms and in your own words.”
(Obstler, 1990)

“People who are highly media literate are able to see much more in a goven message.
They re more aware of the levels of meaning. This enhances understanding. They are
more in charge of programming their own mental codes. This enhances control. They
are much more likely to get what they want from the messages. This enhances
appreciation. Thus, people operating a higher levels of media literacy fulfill the goals
of higher understanding, control, and appreciation.” (Potter, 2008)

What is the purpose of the message?

According to Jennifer Lombardo, MUD school instructor and freelance artist,

“determining the purpose of your message is the first step in deciding what you want to say
and how much you want to say it. Once you have the goal selected, it is then easy to tailor the
message in order to reach your audience. It is essential to choose whether to inform, persuade,
or offer goodwill via message in the workplace.”
 § Informative Message

There can be used to share or convey information, usual, repetitive, everyday

tasks, directions, codes, processes and procedures in the workplace. The message
should be very clear, straight to the point,a nd easy to understand.

Informative messages are designed to influence understanding: to make it

clearer or more developed. They are not designed to change or reinforce opinions,
through sometimes that occurs as a side effect. Examples of informative messages are
State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President, orientation of newly hired
employees, organization and committee meeting, etc.

§ Persuasive Message

These occur when a person tries to convince another person or group to take
certain specific actions. It should be as specific as possible and the purpose should be
observable and measurable.

A persuasive message follows a persuasive strategy AIDA (Attention, Interest,

Desire, and Action).

It explains how the receiver benefits from fulfilling a request-before the request
is made (Brantley & Miller, 2007)

§ Goodwill Message

These are used to show a sense of kindness, friendliness, gratitude, regret,

sympathy, congratulations, invitations, and appreciation.

According to Mary Ellen Guffrey (1998), goodwill messages carry good wishes,
warm feelings, and sincere thoughts to friends, customers, and employees. Example of
goodwill messages are messages of appreciation, congratulations, sympathy, etc.

The Reader and the Audience

Both reader and audience are receivers of message. However, they differ on the source
and the way they receive messages. A reader interprets written messages by reading aloud or
by eyes. On the other hand, audience receive message by listening to oral messages.

The reader of anu test plays a vital role of providing interpretations concerning what
has been read. By definition, a reader is someone who reads a particular newspaper, book, or
magazine with a particular skill.
 Interpretation of the text is done through seeing relationships of the elements
presented. You may accept or reject a text depending on its effect on you. There are instances
that you respond based on your emotions and some do this based on their intellect.

Reading comprehension requires readers to know and understand the text being read.
One’s excellent decoding skills would not be enough. More than skills like this would be
understanding of the written text. Reading comprehension is not a single step or easily
acquired skill. By Prado and Plourder (2002) in Harvey (2010), it is a process that involves
thinking, teaching, past experiences, and knowledge.

One of the factors that affect one’s reading comprehension is the process of reading
being practices using the text being read. There are 3 processes of reading and it include”
Bottom up, Top Down, and Interactive.

o Bottom-up

This is the process of reading from “text to mind” in which the reader only
interprests what he or she understands from the material. This is used when the reader
doesn’t have an idea yet about the topic and that all understanding comes from the text.

o Top-down

This is the process of reading from “mind to text” in which the reader
incorporates his or her prior knowledge to the text he or she is currently reading. This
is used when the reader already has a background idea about the topic of the text.

o Interactive

This is the combination of bottom up and top down processes. How does this
happen? This process is commonly used when the reader a;ready has a prior
knowledge about some parts of the text that he is able to interpret it from mind to text.
Moreover, the reader is still able to gain new knowledge from which he is able to use
the bottom up process.

What do we do with messages?

Messages come from the texts being read. These could be evaluated by the readers in
different ways; hence, they begin to have different levesl of reading comprehension.

Messages may also come from different materials such as printed texts (i.e., magazines,
articles, newspapers, journals, researcher, booksm and the like) nad online texts. These may
be shown in different ways and may be given various interpreations based on their
presentations.
 But how do culturally diverse learners respond to these texts?

Hamp-Lyons (1998) and Kroll (2003) found that essay readers from different cultures
responded to essays in different ways. This appeared to be a partial atrteibute to their
linguistic/rhetorical backgorunds. This becomes an issue, then.

Factors Affecting Varied Interpretation of Texts

• Social Environment
• Home Environment
• Culture Environment
• Experiences
• Intellectual Level
• Language Differences

Ways Used to Convey Messages from Various Texts Read

There are different ways by which we can interpret messages from various texts and
these ways may also vary based on our level of understanding. For example, kids would
interpret the meaning of a story based on images that they see from the text. In this time that
everybody has been facing globalization, kids normally look for pictures, graphs, charts, or
symbols since most of them are visual/global learners. Hence, the use of images would be
very useful in writing to elicit a number of responses from them.

This also applies to students to students in the higher level. Sometimes, they prefer to
see and get meaning of a text through images. These students are considered global learbers-
those who can analyze things through illustrations.
They would probably choose reading materials which are presented below:
 In addition, readers may also use images as symbols of how they understand the
meaning of a text. They give responses through pictures. When we ask them to describe their
families, one of them may get a family picture to tell us how his/her family looks like.

For youngsters who are inclined of using social media, one way by which they can
interpret a text, or any observation is through their own stories.

Stories can help clarify key values and also help demonstrate how certain tasks are
performed within an organization. With this, their interpretations of things may also be sent
and delivered to other people through social media sites. There are instances that they include
a photo to give emphasis.

People use images of objects which they want to emphasize or sometimes, things that
they want to advertise. Visual narratives are also being created by many of these
readers/interpretations/presenters. These have also been used in Semiotics, as mentioned by
Molnar (2011).

The Target Audience

We normally consider our audience whenever we write a letter, a book, or any

scholarly materials. Yes, we find it difficult to begin writing due to lack of appropriate
vocabulary of terms to be used but this would be easier if we become specific of our target
audience.

As cited by Kranz (2007), knowing the audience will also help to determine the degree
of formality with which we should write. He added that knowing who we are writing for
should dictate whether to use conventions like contractions for informal writing or those
mechanics for formal/technical writing.

The messages which we would like to deliver should fit the target audience of the
material. With this, we should have knowledge about their backgrounds; hence, they would
understand the material which we prepared.
Love your audience: Different ways to help them understand your message (Everse, 2011)

• Keep the message simple, but deep in meaning.

• Inspire, educate, and reinforce them.
• Use 21st century media and be unexpected

Key Concepts of Media Literacy

The Key Concepts of Media Literacy framework serves as a basis for developing critical
understandings of the content of mass media, the techniques used, and the impact of these
techniques. Also, the Key Concepts of Media Literacy can be very helpful in the construction
of media texts for different purposes.

The term “text” includes any form of written, spoken, or media conveying meaning to
an audience. Text may use words, graphics, sounds, and images in presenting information. It
may be in oral, print, visual, or electronic form.

GUIDE QUESTIONS IN MEDIA TEXT

KEY CONCEPTS
ANALYSIS
1. All media messages are constructed. a. What is the message of the text?
b. How effectively does it represent reality?
c. How is the message constructed?

2. Media have embedded values and points a. What lifestyles, values, and points of
of view. view are represented in the text?
b. Who or what is missing?

3. Each person interprets the message a. What message do you perceive from the
differently. text?
b. How might others understand it
differently? Why?
4. Media have commercial, ideological, or a. What is the purpose of the text?
political interests. b. Who is the target audience of the text?
c. Who might be disadvantages?
d. Who created the text and why?

5. Media messages are constructed using a a. What techniques are used and why?
creative language having its own rules b. How effective are the techniques in
supporting the messages or themes of the
text?
c. What are the other ways of presenting the
message?
 Enrichment:

Here are some tips!

Tips on How to Deal with Audience (David, n.d.)

1. Lea Learn about audience. Korean readers differ from Chinese Readers and so as
Puerto Ricans who differ from Mexican readers. Do not assume all readers of any
one ethnic group are alike. Hence, they all give different interpretations.
2. Read books on body language and cultural communications. Different people
would interpret things based on what they already know and from where they
embraced those things.
3. Use slang that is being used but the audience; hence, there will be no mismatches.

Assessment:

Choose an advertisement (image or video) them make a media analysis of it using the key
concepts of media literacy. Follow the format below

KEY CONCEPTS GUIDE QUESTIONS ANALYSIS

In the first column, type all the 5 key concepts in each row, and guide questions for
each key concept in the seconds column. On the other hand, your analysis, which are your
answers to the guide questions will be in the third column.

Include the image of the advertisement you have analyzed before the table of analysis.
If you will use video advertisement, include a screen capture of the video followed by its link.

Save your work in PDF format then upload it on the posted classwork in google
classroom.
 References:

Agustin, Racquel, et al. Communication in Multicultural Contexts: Meanings and Purposes.

Panday-Lahi Publishing House, Inc. 2018

J.L Golden, et al., The Rhetoric of Western Thought, 8th ed. Kendall Hunt, 2003.

Obstler, Peter, Working with the Media. Fighting Toxics: A Manual Protecting Your Family,
Community and Workplace, ed. By Gary Cohen and John O’Connor. Island Press, 1990.

W. James Potter, Media Literacy. 4th Ed. Sage, 2008

Wakat, Geraldine S. et al., Purposive Communication. Lominar Publishing, Inc. 2018.

www.mamillanddictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/reader

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