The Transactional Model of Communication

Analysing theories, models and principles of communication

Transactional model of communication involves exchanging of information between the sender and the receiver by allowing each to take turn in sending or receiving messages. The model is used for executing interpersonal communication (Schneider and Arnot, 2018). The strength of transactional model is that it allows the teachers while educating focus on the psychological determinants of stress related to the students that are guiding them to respond and control their behaviour (Kossyvaki et al. 2016). However, the weakness of the model is that it does not lead to consider the influence of social, biological and environmental factors that are creating barrier between teacher and students in developing communication (Muñoz and Contreras, 2018).

The linear model of communication includes the one-way process of transmission of a message to another with meaning without providing the receiver to provide feedback or response (Bolkan et al. 2017). Thus, it is based on the receiver regarding the way they are going to interpret the message. The strength of the model is that it can provide intentional results as perceived by the sender but the weakness is that continuous communication is unable to be developed by using the model as well as leads the teachers make sure if the communicated information was effectively interpreted in a true manner by the student (Baranek et al. 2015). Thus, using this model creates confusion for the teachers to understand if the lesson has been properly understood by all students.

Explaining ways in which principles, theories and models regarding communication can be applied to learning, teaching and assessment

The use of nature of communication model in the educational setting is based on the nature of the model suggested by the institution to be adopted. The use of transactional model leads the children in the educational setting to move away from childish interaction to adult conversations where they directly inform their views and confusion regarding any lesson to the teacher for initiating discussion to effectively understand the lesson in a critical way (Heatly and Votruba-Drzal, 2017). Thus, this model is best suited to be used by the teacher in the classroom to interact with students while educating a lesson and solving problems regarding the lesson.

The linear model of communication is used in teaching while communicating any lesson to the children through the use of email, video, television and others (Kamps et al. 2015). This is because while using this nature of models to communicate the children do not have scope to directly interact with the teachers to clarify their doubts or raised question. Thus, they are provided with the freedom to interpret the information from their extent of understanding irrespective of the meaning tried to be informed by the teachers.

Analysing principles, theories and models regarding assessment

In Norm-referenced assessment is executed to understand whether the students or individuals who have taken the assessment have performed in a better way or worse compared to the hypothetical average student. This is determined by comparing scores against the result of the performance of statistically selected group of assessment takers who are of same age or grade level and have already taken the test (Pereira et al. 2018). As mentioned by Yudkowsky et al. (2019) the norm reference test is beneficial because they provide information regarding the way an individual is performing the tests compared to other people who are present in the reference group. Thus, this assessment helps to determine the progress of the individual compared to average people. The limitation of norm-referenced test is that selected reference group may not be proper to represent current population of interest. In addition, the assessment is unable to measure the advancement of population as a whole and is only effective when the individuals fall within the population as a while (Frederickson, 2018).

In criterion-referenced assessment is the assessment style in which the scores of the test is used for generating a statement regarding the behaviour being expected of an individual with such a score (de Leeuw, 2016). The criterion-referenced assessment helps to judge an individual’s efficiency regarding what extent they can correctly answer questions related to the material being read and studied by them (Zhang et al. 2017). Thus, it is beneficial as it helps to understand the efficiency of a particular individual on a specific subject matter they have studied. The limitation of criterion-referenced test is that the results received cannot be generalized to understand the overall efficiency and performance of an individual (Yudkowsky et al. 2019).

The one of the major principles of assessment is validity and reliability which informs that the assessment required to be true in nature and has to be framed logically without any manipulation or discrimination towards the participants so that real progress scores of the people are revealed (Biasutti and Frate, 2017). The validity and reliability in the assessment are beneficial because it assures that the scores revealed are informed without any contamination of characteristics that may show inappropriate progress of an individual. The sufficiency principle of assessment indicates that the test is required to be adequate to test the progress or efficiency of the students (Bannink et al. 2015). The benefit of sufficiency in an assessment is that it helps to seek proper information regarding the progress of wide number of individual in a similar group.

Explaining ways in which principles, theories and models regarding assessment can be implemented in learning assessment

The norm-referenced assessment can be included in the learning environment by arranging intelligence quotient test for students where the test is to understand which student is the most efficient compared to others. Thus, arranging such test examines the efficiency of a single individual compared to other average students which are the key motive of the norm-assessment test (Nelson and Dawson, 2017). The criterion-reference test can be implemented in learning assessment by arranging quizzes regarding a study material being educated by the teacher at the class. This is because it would lead the teacher to understand to what extent each of the children has understood the learning material being provided (Medaille et al. 2019).

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References

Bannink, R., Broeren, S., Heydelberg, J., van’t Klooster, E. and Raat, H., 2015. Psychometric properties of self-sufficiency assessment tools in adolescents in vocational education. BMC psychology, 3(1), p.33.

Baranek, G.T., Watson, L.R., Turner-Brown, L., Field, S.H., Crais, E.R., Wakeford, L., Little, L.M. and Reznick, J.S., 2015. Preliminary efficacy of adapted responsive teaching for infants at risk of autism spectrum disorder in a community sample. Autism research and treatment, 2015. 99-123.

Biasutti, M. and Frate, S., 2017. A validity and reliability study of the attitudes toward sustainable development scale. Environmental Education Research, 23(2), pp.214-230.

Bolkan, S., Goodboy, A.K. and Myers, S.A., 2017. Conditional processes of effective instructor communication and increases in students' cognitive learning. Communication Education, 66(2), pp.129-147.

de Leeuw, J., 2016. Rubrics and Exemplars in Writing Assessment. In Leadership of Assessment, Inclusion, and Learning (pp. 89-110). Springer, Cham.

Frederickson, N., 2018. Curriculum-based assessment: broadening the base. In The Assessment of Special Educational Needs (pp. 147-169). Routledge.

Heatly, M.C. and Votruba-Drzal, E., 2017. Parent-and teacher-child relationships and engagement at school entry: Mediating, interactive, and transactional associations across contexts. Developmental psychology, 53(6), p.1042.

Kamps, D., Thiemann-Bourque, K., Heitzman-Powell, L., Schwartz, I., Rosenberg, N., Mason, R. and Cox, S., 2015. A comprehensive peer network intervention to improve social communication of children with autism spectrum disorders: A randomized trial in kindergarten and first grade. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(6), pp.1809-1824.

Kossyvaki, L., Jones, G. and Guldberg, K., 2016. Training teaching staff to facilitate spontaneous communication in children with autism: Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI). Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 16(3), pp.156-168.

Medaille, A., Goldrup, S. and Abernathy, T., 2019. Assessing Rigor in Teacher Education: Do NCTQ’s Guidelines Measure Up?. The Teacher Educator, 54(1), pp.72-89.

Muñoz, W. and Contreras, O.R., 2018. Transactional Communication Strategies to Influence Pre-service Teachers' Speaking Skill. Gist: Education and Learning Research Journal, (16), pp.33-55.

Nelson, R. and Dawson, P., 2017. Competition, education and assessment: connecting history with recent scholarship. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(2), pp.304-315.

Pereira, A.G., Woods, M., Olson, A.P., Van Den Hoogenhof, S., Duffy, B.L. and Englander, R., 2018. Criterion-based assessment in a norm-based world: how can we move past grades?. Academic Medicine, 93(4), pp.560-564.

Schneider, C. and Arnot, M., 2018. Transactional school-home-school communication: Addressing the mismatches between migrant parents' and teachers' views of parental knowledge, engagement and the barriers to engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, pp.10-20.

Yudkowsky, R., Park, Y.S. and Downing, S.M. eds., 2019. Assessment in health professions education. Routledge.

Zhang, S., Du, J., Chen, P., Xin, T. and Chen, F., 2017. Using Procedure Based on Item Response Theory to Evaluate Classification Consistency Indices in the Practice of Large-Scale Assessment. Frontiers in psychology, 8, p.1676.