Communication & Interaction

[Ever Student]

Hi there,

When we are talking about pragmatics, we just have a communication regardless dealing with interaction. My question is on the difference between "interaction" and "communication". For example, in case of integrative and pragmatics tests, "communication" has an important role while on functional tests the most important thing is having "interaction". Can you please help me out?

[Raymott]

Hi there,

When we are talking about pragmatics, we just have a communication regardless dealing with interaction. My question is on the difference between "interaction" and "communication". For example, in case of integrative and pragmatics tests, "communication" has an important role while on functional tests the most important thing is having "interaction". Can you please help me out?

They sound like the same thing. Do you have any reason to think they have different meanings in this context? Or have the different terms been used just for variety?

[Ever Student]

As I read in "testing language skills from theory to practice" by Farhady, pragmatics and integrative tests have both communication but lack of interaction. Reading about Functional testing, I see an "interaction" term. Actually he mentions that both pragmatics and integrative tests have just communation, on the other hand, "functional testing" has both interaction and communication.

[Raymott]

As I read in "testing language skills from theory to practice" by Farhady, pragmatics and integrative tests have both communication but lack of interaction. Reading about Functional testing, I see an "interaction" term. Actually he mentions that both pragmatics and integrative tests have just communation, on the other hand, "functional testing" has both interaction and communication.

It's mystifying! I'd have to read the whole page myself to sort that one out.

[Ever Student]

It's mystifying! I'd have to read the whole page myself to sort that one out.

Ok.

[fountofwisdom]

The difference between the two is simple: communication is when one person informs another: interaction needs the person to respond. I would suggest that "Hi there" is possibly too informal a start.

[Ever Student]

The difference between the two is simple: communication is when one person informs another: interaction needs the person to respond. I would suggest that "Hi there" is possibly too informal a start.

Hi fount,
Thanks for your explanation. Well, I will try to write in formal English.

[Linguist__]

The difference between the two is simple: communication is when one person informs another: interaction needs the person to respond. I would suggest that "Hi there" is possibly too informal a start.

The problem with that is that can someone communicate without interaction taking place? A response doesn't have to be verbal. If I say something to someone, interaction and communication has taken place. I have communicated something verbally and it has been received by someone else. The interaction is that the person listened, and possibly made eye contact.

I don't really understand the initial question. I don't know what 'integrative' and 'functional' tests are. For me, though, communication is defined as follows:

Information exists encoded at one place;
It is decoded;
It is then transmitted from the place it exists;
It is received at another place;
The information is then encoded at the place it was received.

In this way, communication doesn't really exist without interaction. I doubt interaction exists without communication - there is always some sort of contingency: one person does something that leads to another person doing something as a result. That is what interaction is. That is what communication is.

[Ever Student]

Yes, you are right; however, in that book I refer to before on pragmatics, integrative and functional tests, the author mentioned that the two first examples coud have communicated without having interaction so the later, funtional tests, came and played roles of both communication and interaction at that time. Funtional tests have done very rarely and they spend most time as well as cost to make a real situation for giving a test.