Effective Communication Skills
Today, India is one of the fast growing economies. As a result of this, job market is expanding. Unfortunately, not many engineering graduates are grabbing the job opportunities as their proficiency level of English is not up to the mark. Engineering students should not be satisfied with just mathematics, thermodynamics, alkali, chips and transistors. They must work on enhancing their English language skills, communication skills, and soft skills. The engineers must focus on improving their command over grammar, comprehension, report writing, seminar presentations, GD and interview techniques etc. Effective English communication skills are vital to engineering students to enhance their academic performance, employability and personal effectiveness. Today's job market wants candidates who have good communication skills and a dynamic personality. Organizations look for people who can work in teams and who can get along with their colleagues comfortably. Employers are keen on recruiting only those students who possess a right mix of technical skills and soft skills. Hence, it is high time students realized that communication skills in English and soft skills play a pivotal role in their personal as well as professional lives.
Identify your problems:
Many students find it difficult to overcome their English language problems as they lack proper awareness and exposure. Some of their language and communication problems are...
- Incorrect pronunciation.
- Incorrect grammar.
- Inability to use the right word in the right context.
- Inability to adjust their pace, pitch and tone depending on different situations.
- Inability to speak clearly and audibly.
- Inability to comprehend quickly while reading.
- Inability to write effective reports.
- Inability to give seminar presentations impressively.
- Inability to face interviews confidently.
Use of the Right Approach:
Learn some useful tips for all skills/sub skills
Get tips from experts and various books on improving the four language skills, viz., listening, speaking, reading and writing and the sub skills, viz., pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and spelling. And you must realize that you need to be equally good at all the skills and sub skills. Grab opportunities for practicing all skills/sub skills. You must take responsibility for your own learning. You must get opportunities to practice various skills in various situations. You must be very active and get involved in discussions and debates on various topics. It is also a good idea to recall and talk about the language learning techniques and strategies. Also, you must check which of them are effective and which of them are not so effective. You must use the 'good' strategies more often. You must try new styles of learning and apply what you learn in various situations.
How to improve?
You should improve your oral communication by grabbing opportunities to practice conversations, JAM sessions, speechmaking, group discussions, debates, seminar presentations, telephoning, interviewing and role-playing. Written communication can be improved by way of keeping diary entries, letter writing, essay writing, summarizing, report writing, chatting on the net, ‘emailing’ and 'smsing'.]
Tips for proficiency:
- Learn words in context.
- Listen to Radio and watch as many English programmes on T.V. as possible and try to repeat the dialogues of the characters by imitating them.
- Do not hesitate to speak to your friends or classmates in English.
- Listen to music in English and repeat lyrics later even though you do not understand everything that is being sung.
- Play as many grammar games/ language games as possible.
- Use CDs with listening activities and practice listening exercises using headphones.
- Try to speak on telephone enquiring about a product/ service.
- Maintain vocabulary notes. New vocabulary can be learnt from newspapers, books, dictionaries, thesaurus etc. Try to learn at least twenty new English words every day.
- Use all the new words you have learnt in real life situations.
Follow the above mentioned tips diligently so that you can improve your communication skills in English and become more employable. Students of engineering can also learn and practice the above at the University Training Centers. Try to follow the above mentioned tips and practice the exercises diligently so that you can become proficient in English. Try to read the books recommended below and also make an attempt to browse the websites mentioned below. They will remain as a constant resource for updating your communication skills in English.
Why Good Communication Skills?
Within a few months after Vijay passed his BTech with a distinction, his ordeals began. He knows all his subjects thoroughly well, but unfortunately his English is not good. All his attempts to get a good job have been going in vain and he now has several sleepless nights. He regrets his negligence while at the university towards improving his communicative abilities and has now realized that unless he improves his English, he has no chance of getting a job in a good company.
This is the story of not Vijay alone, but thousands of engineering graduates. While on campus, they did not recognize and appreciate the need for improving their proficiency in English language and their communicative abilities. They did not improve their English language skills, soft skills and interview techniques.
The need for good communication skills, a good command over English language and proficiency with soft skills cannot be ignored. Today, the ever expanding industry is craving for youth with vibrant personality and first-rate communication skills. Often we hear in the recruitment corridors, particularly in the multinational companies, that innumerable jobs remain vacant for want of suitable candidates equipped with good communication skills. Effective communicative abilities not only decide whether one gets a job or not; but when one does get a job, they decide what kind of responsibilities one can be assigned and how attractive the pay packet is. So, possessing effective communication skills is not only the golden key to getting a good job, but also the fabulous route to go up the ladder in any organization.
Syllabus and Strategy:
Keeping the need for well groomed engineering graduates in mind and in view of the increasing demand for English as a tool for global communication, universities such as Osmania University, Hyderabad and JNT University, Hyderabad and Anantapur have redesigned their English curricula recently. These universities and several such others have been continuously revising their English syllabus with the objective of developing the communicative competence of students and also to cater to the needs of the industry.
Osmania University offers a course in Engineering English with components in interpersonal communication; listening and speaking skills; writing paragraphs, reports, resumes and letters; vocabulary enrichment techniques; remedial language with special emphasis on common errors and reading strategies and techniques in the first semester. In the second semester, the syllabus includes soft skills such as presentation skills, PowerPoint presentations, role plays, group discussions, interview skills and public speaking skills. The entire course is taught in a student centered method with lots of opportunity for activity and interaction, using pair work, group work and language games. In both the semesters, students get ample opportunity to use the English Language Laboratory for practicing English sounds and speech and to improve their listening and speaking skills. The two prescribed textbooks ‘Communicative English’ and ‘A Handbook for English Language Laboratories’ help the students achieve the objective of improving their English proficiency and communicative competence.
The JNTU also has similar components in its English syllabus with stress on skills development and practice of language skills. The course includes listening & speaking skills, reading & writing skills, remedial grammar, vocabulary building with plentiful opportunity for classroom discussion and interaction. The two prescribed textbooks ‘Enjoying Everyday English’ and ‘Inspiring Speeches and Lives’ serve as tools to achieve the objective of improving the English proficiency of the students. The syllabus also includes the English Language Lab with focus on production and practice of English sounds with emphasis on use of English in everyday situations and contexts.
Why Good Communication Skills?
Within a few months after Vijay passed his BTech with a distinction, his ordeals began. He knows all his subjects thoroughly well, but unfortunately his English is not good. All his attempts to get a good job have been going in vain and he now has several sleepless nights. He regrets his negligence while at the university towards improving his communicative abilities and has now realized that unless he improves his English, he has no chance of getting a job in a good company.
This is the story of not Vijay alone, but thousands of engineering graduates. While on campus, they did not recognize and appreciate the need for improving their proficiency in English language and their communicative abilities. They did not improve their English language skills, soft skills and interview techniques.
The need for good communication skills, a good command over English language and proficiency with soft skills cannot be ignored. Today, the ever expanding industry is craving for youth with vibrant personality and first-rate communication skills. Often we hear in the recruitment corridors, particularly in the multinational companies, that innumerable jobs remain vacant for want of suitable candidates equipped with good communication skills. Effective communicative abilities not only decide whether one gets a job or not; but when one does get a job, they decide what kind of responsibilities one can be assigned and how attractive the pay packet is. So, possessing effective communication skills is not only the golden key to getting a good job, but also the fabulous route to go up the ladder in any organization.
Syllabus and Strategy:
Keeping the need for well groomed engineering graduates in mind and in view of the increasing demand for English as a tool for global communication, universities such as Osmania University, Hyderabad and JNT University, Hyderabad and Anantapur have redesigned their English curricula recently. These universities and several such others have been continuously revising their English syllabus with the objective of developing the communicative competence of students and also to cater to the needs of the industry.
Osmania University offers a course in Engineering English with components in interpersonal communication; listening and speaking skills; writing paragraphs, reports, resumes and letters; vocabulary enrichment techniques; remedial language with special emphasis on common errors and reading strategies and techniques in the first semester. In the second semester, the syllabus includes soft skills such as presentation skills, PowerPoint presentations, role plays, group discussions, interview skills and public speaking skills. The entire course is taught in a student centered method with lots of opportunity for activity and interaction, using pair work, group work and language games. In both the semesters, students get ample opportunity to use the English Language Laboratory for practicing English sounds and speech and to improve their listening and speaking skills. The two prescribed textbooks ‘Communicative English’ and ‘A Handbook for English Language Laboratories’ help the students achieve the objective of improving their English proficiency and communicative competence.
The JNTU also has similar components in its English syllabus with stress on skills development and practice of language skills. The course includes listening & speaking skills, reading & writing skills, remedial grammar, vocabulary building with plentiful opportunity for classroom discussion and interaction. The two prescribed textbooks ‘Enjoying Everyday English’ and ‘Inspiring Speeches and Lives’ serve as tools to achieve the objective of improving the English proficiency of the students. The syllabus also includes the English Language Lab with focus on production and practice of English sounds with emphasis on use of English in everyday situations and contexts.
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