COMMUNICATIONS

INTRODUCTION

1.1            BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY

Communication is a process where people share information, ideas and feelings. It involves not only the spoken and the written words but also body language, personal mannerism and styles, the physical environment and anything that adds meaning to a message Hypes and Weaver, (1986:6).

According to Hasan, (2010:3) he defined communication “as a process of sharing or exchanging ideas, information, knowledge attitude or feelings among two or more persons through certain signs and symbols” in everyday activities, communication is a system through which the message are sent, and feedback is received. It is therefore the process of transferring a particular information or message from the source desired, definite to a particular destination.

Ugboajah, (1985) says that “the concept of communication” includes: the spoken words, signals, gestures, pictures, visual displays, all the signs and symbols by which human beings try to convey meaning and value to one and other.

One of the main elements of communication messages is perception. The effectiveness of communication is limited by the receiver’s range of perception. Also people perceive only what they expect and understand.

Every normal person engages in communicative act everybody, some act more easily to be understood than others. Communication is a social act and unless one is s engaged in monologue it involves at least two persons Okwudire (2009:68).

According to Encylopedia of Children’s Health (2013) communication is much more than words going from one person’s mouth to another’s ear. In addition to the words, messages are transferred by the tone and quality of voice, eye contact, physical closeness, visual cues and overall body language.

Every normal child in the world acquires language which is spoken in his/ her speech community without any formal teaching. A normal child under goes series of communication development, these development processes includes:

i.          The development of speech

ii.        The development of language

iii.     The development of communication

Development as defined by Briggs and Nte, (2009:3) is “the progressive acquisition of physical (motion) cognitive (thought) linguistics (communication) skills and attributes”. All normal children must undergo all the developmental stages of communication development.

For this world congress on communication development (WCCD 2007:xxxiii) sees communication development as a social process based on dialogue, using broad range of tools and methods such as listening, building trust, sharing knowledge and skills, building policies debating and learning for sustained and meaningful change.

The main focus of this study is to carry out a survey on the parental involvement in the communication development of their child. And also to advice and encourage parents to participate more fully in the early stages of their children’s life.

1.2            STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          In our society, it is a known fact that some parents fail to be involved in their children’s communication development. This can be seen in the lack of parental involvement of some parents. Some of these parents feel the bringing up their children is the duty of their maids, siblings and relatives.

          This study seeks to investigate and find out the following problems:

          The nonchalant attitude of parents concerning their child’s communication development.

          It also seeks to find out the importance of good parental involvement in the early stages of child development.

          The researcher believes that this work would serve as a guide to all parents who have interest and want to be fully involved in their children communication development.

1.3     OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.     To find out what roles parents play regarding their children communication development.

2.     To investigate and find out the background of parents who are involved in their children communication development.

3.     To find out what the outcomes of parental involvement.

4.     To know the factors that contribute to the success of parental involvement.

5.     To investigate and find out the barriers to effective parental involvement.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

          Based on the nature of this study, the following research questions were drawn out.

1.     What are the roles of parental involvement in children communication development?

2.     What are the backgrounds of parents who are involved?

3.     What are the outcomes of parental involvement in the communication development of children?

4.     What factors contribute to the success of parental involvement?

5.     What are the barriers to effective parental involvement?

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

          The researcher believes that the finding of this study will be of great help to future researchers in related areas.

1.     The result of this study will make parents to know the importance of parental involvement in the acquisition of speech, language and communication of their children.

2.     The result of this study will make it known that parental involvement is a key factor to communication development.

3.     It will serves as a means of creating awareness of the need for parental involvement in the communication development of children.

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          The study is limited to Choba community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers Stated and the scope of the study is centered on children between the ages of zero (0) to 0ne (1) Year.

1.7     LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

          The research encountered a lot of problems, in the cause of this work, these include, high cost of transportation, finance, photocopying of relevant materials.

          A lot of explanation where needed to get the questionnaire completed and frequent contact with respondents.

REFERENCES

Briggs, N & Nte, A. (2009). Journal of Child Developmental and Communication Disorder (JCDCD): Prospects and Challenges for the 21th century. Page 1. Nigeria: University of Port Harcourt Press.

Encyclopedia of Children’s Health (2013). Accessed from http: www. Encyclopedia com. Retrieved: by February 2014.

Hasan, S. (2010). Mass Communication Principles and Concepts. India: CBS Publishers & Distributors Ltd.

Hybels, S & Weaver, R. L. (1998). Communicating Effectively. USA: The McGraw Companies Inc.

Okwuire, A. N. (2009). Journal of Child Development and Communication Disorders (JCDCD): Communication Disorders Autistic Children. Page 68-75. Nigeria: University of Port Harcourt Press.

Ugboajah, F. D (1985). Mass Communication, Culture and Society in West Africa. New York: Hans Zell Ltd.