The University of Melbourne, in association with Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, produced an influential white paper as the foundation document for their “Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills” (ATC21S) project, in which they state that the most essential communication skills for adolescents are as follows (Binkley et al. 2010):

• The ability to listen to, and understand, various spoken messages in a variety of communicative situations, and to speak concisely and clearly.

• The ability to read and understand different texts, adopting strategies appropriate to various reading purposes (reading for information, for study or for pleasure) and to various text types.

• The ability to write different types of texts for various purposes. To monitor the writing process (from drafting to proofreading).

• The ability to formulate one’s arguments, in speaking or writing, in a convincing manner and take full account of other viewpoints, whether expressed in written or oral form.

• The skills needed to use aids (such as notes, schemes, maps) to produce, present or understand complex texts in written or oral form (speeches, conversations, instructions, interviews, debates).

Source: Approaches to teaching and learning in the Diploma Programme (pre-publication)