Adeola Abdulateef Elega

LIST OF FIGURES 
Figure 1: Shannon and Weavers Model of Communication .................................... 15 
Figure 2: Dean Barnlund(1970) Transactional Model ............................................... 17 
Figure 3: Osgood-Schramm Circular Model of Communication ............................. 19 
Figure 4: Signs and Symbols .................................................................................... 29 
Figure 5: Thumbs up .................................................................................................. 31 
Figure 6: Eye contact ................................................................................................. 35 
Figure 7: Daumen halten (I will hold my thumbs for you) ........................................ 38 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Chapter 1 
INTRODUCTION 
Interpersonal communication skills international students use to communicate in an 
environment in which the medium is different from their mother tongue and medium 
of instruction is explored with respect to Nigerian students who study in North 
Cyprus. Nigeria is a multilingual country with English language as her official 
language. In the present study, the focus is on Nigerian students who study in the 
Eastern Mediterranean University located in Turkish Republic of North Cyprus in 
Fall 2014. In North Cyprus, the official language is Turkish. With this respect, 
Nigerian students use a variety of interpersonal communication strategies in order to 
survive in a country where they cannot speak the language. 
Communication is a vast concept. It lives with man and is inevitable for our 
existence. Communication is one of the ultimate factors that make up the society. 
Man accomplishes every act of his everyday activity because communication is made 
possible. It is as important as the air we breathe. As humans we maintain a 
relationship because we have to share information among ourselves. The word 
communication is educed from a Latin word, “Communico”. Communico means to 
share in English (Jian & Choudhary, 2011 p. 23). Communication happens to be 
culture bound as it varies in meaning at different ends. The way a certain group of 
people communicate differs from the way some others do owing to the way of life of 
each group. It is important to be able to communicate in every environment if not it 

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is like living one’s life in his own world all alone which makes communication a 
very viable tool of human extant. At all levels, communication is ultimately 
necessary. A crisp definition of communication in its simplest form is the 
transmission of message from a source to a receiver (Baran, 2005 p.4). 
Messages are sent at different levels. Communication process takes place within an 
individual level (intrapersonal), communication between people when messages are 
sent from person to persons (interpersonal), communication under this category are 
group communication, organizational communication and mass communication. For 
the benefit of this study, the focus is interpersonal communication. It is necessary to 
have a clear picture of what interpersonal communication is before we discuss it in 
full details.
Interpersonal communication is a kind of communication that requires an exchange 
of information between people. How relevant is interpersonal communication to 
everyday life is a question that might be asked. According to Wood, “Interpersonal 
communication is central to our everyday lives. We count on others to care about 
what is happening in our lives and to help us sort out through problems and 
concerns” (Wood, 2007 p.10). Also argued by her in a simple and concise way is that 
interpersonal communication is a recognizable kind of give and take communication 
between people (Wood 2007, p.20). Interpersonal communication surrounds every 
day of our existence. Even when we sleep we still communicate with our gestures. 
To lay more emphasis, I will say interpersonal communication is just as close to us 
as our shadow. It is almost impossible for one not to be involved in interpersonal 
communication.

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