Elements of Effective Communication

by Randal S. Chase, Wayne Shamo

Elements of Effective Communication is a textbook for Communication 1010, an introductory course in interpersonal and business communication. The course covers all aspects of human communication, including relationships, group communication, organizational communication, public speaking, rhetoric, mass communication, and communication with the new social media. The course is most appropriate for students who major in a subject other than communication but who need education in the fundamentals of human communication in all of its contexts. Table of Ch. Title (Scripture Refs) 1.Course Introduction 2.Introduction to Human Communication 3.Communication Meaning, Language and Context 4.Perception 5.Self-Awareness and Concept 6.Nonverbal Communication 7.Interpersonal Pragmatics 8.Interpersonal Part 2 Relationships 9.Small Group Decision Making 10.Avoiding Groupthink 11.Presenting Small Group Communication 12.International Communication and Diversity 13.Intercultural Communication 14.Negotiation and Conflict Resolution 15.Conflict Climate 16.The Ethics of Communication 17.Critical Thinking Part 1 Arguments 18.Rhetoric 19.Interviewing Principles 20.Interviewing Surveys, Health Exams & Employment Interviews 21.Effective Written Communication 22.Writing for Professionals 23.Public Speaking Principles 24.Introduction to Public Speaking 25.The Ethics of Public Speaking 26.Student Speeches 27.The First Speech 28.Anxiety 29.Listening 30.The Audience 31.The Speaker 32.Selecting a Speech Topic 33.Finding Information 34.Preparing Your Speech 35.Organizing and Outlining 36.Critical Thinking in Communication 37.Introductions and Conclusions 38.Language Use and Style 39.Delivery 40.Presentational Aids 41.Informative Speaking Strategies 42.Informative Organization 43.Persuasive Speaking Strategies 44.Persuasive Speaking Organization 45.Special Occasion Speeches 46.Conclusions

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Randal S. Chase spent his childhood years in Nephi, Utah, where his father was a dry land wheat farmer and a businessman. In 1959 their family moved to Salt Lake City and settled in the Holladay area. He served a full-time mission in the Central British (England Central) Mission from 1968 to 1970. He returned home and married Deborah Johnsen in 1971. They are the parents of six children—two daughters and four sons—and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren.

He was called to serve as a bishop at the age of twenty-seven in the Sandy Crescent South Stake area of the Salt Lake Valley. He served six years in that capacity and has since served as a high councilor, a stake executive secretary and clerk, and in many other stake and ward callings. Regardless of whatever other callings he has received over the years, one was nearly constant: he has taught Gospel Doctrine classes in every ward he has ever lived in as an adult—for a total of thirty-five years.

Dr. Chase was a well-known media personality on Salt Lake City radio stations in the 1970s. He left on-air broadcasting in 1978 to develop and market computer-based management, sales, and music programming systems to radio and television stations in the United States, Canada, South America, and Australia. After the business was sold in 1984, he supported his family as a media and business consultant in the Salt Lake City area.

Having a great desire to teach young people of college age, he determined in the late 1980s to pursue his doctorate, and he received his PhD in communication from the University of Utah in 1997. He has taught communication courses at that institution as well as at Salt Lake Community College and Dixie State College of Utah for twenty-one years. He is currently a full-time tenured faculty member in the Communication Department at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah.

Concurrently with his academic career, Dr. Chase has served as a volunteer LDS Institute and Adult Education instructor in the CES system since 1994, both in Salt Lake City and St. George, where he currently teaches a weekly Adult Education class for three stakes in the Washington, Utah area. He has also conducted multiple Church history tours and seminars. During these years of gospel teaching, he has developed an extensive library of lesson plans and handouts that are the predecessors to his many gospel study guides.