Discuss communication as a transaction, and provide a specific example that demonstrates this concept.

What will be an ideal response?

- Communication is often viewed as a highly complex and transactional process-the simultaneous sending (encoding) and receiving (decoding) of messages. Most face-to-face communication does not occur as a series of distinctly separate actions. The transactional perspective considers the listener's reaction to our message, but it goes further and explains how people simultaneously act as speaker and listener in communication situations. In any given interaction, people talk, offer feedback, and respond as each person contributes through constant participation.
- Consider an interaction between a professor and the student she suspects has committed plagiarism. If the exchange is viewed as a transaction, we would look simultaneously at the professor and the student. The professor may vary the content or tone of the conversation based on the student's nonverbal behaviors. Simultaneously, the student may respond to the professor's communication cues by changing his behavior.
- Student examples will vary.