Dr .Bharti Rathore & Ms. Mohini Bachani
Lecturers, Waymade College of Education Vallabh Vidyanagar, Anand
Abstract
As Waymade College of Education is an English Medium college, it is essential for the staff members to communicate in English. The administrative staff plays an important role in creating the image of the institution because they communicate not only to in-house persons but also to the outside agencies. And hence, their level of understanding when somebody communicates with them and their way of communicating with others, are important as well. They also need to correspond to the various institutions such as university, UGC, experts, students, parents etc., and while doing so it is expected that they should be precise and clear in the use of the language (English) with a view to avoiding confusion and misunderstanding. That is why the researchers undertook this research to develop language competence of the administrative staff.
Introduction :
As Waymade College of Education is an English Medium college, it is essential for the staff members to communicate in English. The administrative staff plays an important role in creating the image of the institution because they communicate not only to in-house persons but also to the outside agencies. And hence, their level of understanding when somebody communicates with them and their way of communicating with others, are important as well. They also need to correspond to the various institutions such as university, UGC, experts, students, parents etc., and while doing so it is expected that they should be precise and clear in the use of the language (English) with a view to avoiding confusion and misunderstanding. That is why the researchers undertook this research to develop language competence of the administrative staff.
Statement of the Problem / Title of the Study:
Preparation and Try-out of a Course for developing English Language Skills of the administrative staff at Waymade College of Education
Rationale for the Study:
Though the administrative staff at Waymade College of Education has been using English for various purposes like informing the common public about our college, telling the students about various rules and regulations, talking with authorities of the university, corresponding through formal letters yet it was observed that sometimes their selection of words was not proper and sometimes words were mispronounced. Sometimes they were not able to select appropriate words while writing and hence committed mistakes in the use of verbs, articles and prepositions. Thus, their communication – oral as well as written was not very effective .In fact, this made us feel that a basic course in developing English Language Skills can help them to become more effective at their work at the office.
Objectives:
Ø To study the problems of the administrative staff in understanding and using English both in oral and in written form
Ø To prepare a course for developing English Language skills of the administrative staff at Waymade College of Education in English
Ø To study the impact of the course for developing Communication Skills of the administrative staff at Waymade College of Education
Course
The course for developing English Language skills of the administrative staff has been designed keeping the needs of the target group in mind. The course consists of various tasks based on the language skills – Listening, Speaking, reading & writing. The main purpose of this course is to assist the office staff in using effective communication skills while communicating orally or in writing. It should help them to be clear, concise and fluent.
Research Questions:
What are the problems faced by the administrative staff at Waymade College Of Education in using English?
How can the English Language skills of the administrative staff at Waymade College Of Education be enhanced?
Design:
Methodology:
This is an experimental study based on the Pre-Test, Post-Test design.
Population / Sample
Sample of this contained following members from the administrative staff of Waymade College Of Education
Mr. Bimal Patel, Office Incharge
Mr. Amit Macwan Office Assistant
Mr. Keval Thaker Computer Lab Technician
Mr.Bhavin Prajapati Library Assistant
Procedure: To carry out this action research following procedure was followed.
Pre-test- A pre-test was conducted to check their language competence at present both written and oral . The test paper consisted of the following language items---
Comprehension Passage- To check their reading skill and comprehension.
Fill in the blanks with appropriate words from the brackets – To test basic knowledge of some basic grammatical rules and their application.
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the words given in the brackets —To test their knowledge of use of correct form of verbs in the given context.
Complete the following dialogue—To test the communicative competence
Write up on the given topic –To test their writing skill
Questionnaire- To know the requirements of the office staff a questionnaire was administered on them. The Questionnaire consisted of the following questions-
What are the special areas in which they require help?
What is the nature of their work?
How much language competence do they already have?
What problems are they facing in using English at the College?
Interview- To ascertain the needs and requirements of the office staff an interview was conducted in which questions regarding their language skills and their requirements were asked.
Course- To meet their demands and requirements a course was designed for them. This course consisted of the following tasks—
Listening to the dialogues and talking about them
Preparing similar types of dialogue
Talking about the materials given i.e. leaflet of the bank, invitation cards, advertisements, wrappers etc.
Observing /listening to the different ways of making a request and forming a dialogue for the same
Observing /listening to the ways of dealing with people on the phone and preparing the dialogue for taking the message on the phone
Observing /listening to the ways of showing direction of different places and preparing guidelines for the stranger to go to the university by showing the right directions.
Pronunciation practice with some words and tongue –twisters
Spelling of the frequently used words
Studying the various notices/circulars/letters and preparing of that kind
Resource Persons- For this course, the resource persons were-
Dr. Bharti Rathore, Lecturer, Waymade College of Education
Ms. Mohini Bachani, Lecturer, Waymade College of Education
Ms. Varsha Thaker, Lecturer, Waymade College of Education
Mr. Rakesh Ranjan, Lecturer, Waymade College of Education
Post-test- After the completion of the course a post test was conducted to ascertain their progress in language skills. The test judged their reading and writing skills, their competence after the action research and effectiveness of the programme in official work. This test included following types of question items –
Comprehension of the Dialogue - To check their reading skill and comprehension.
Fill in the blanks with appropriate words from the brackets – To test basic knowledge of some basic grammatical rules and their application.
Dialogue- building on the given situation and Preparing a circular - To test their communicative competence
Writing the correct spelling – To check their knowledge of spellings (commonly used)
Write up on the given topic –To test the writing skill
Analysis-The coordinators of the course Dr. Bharti Rathore and Ms. Mohini Bachani analyzed the results, the procedure and reached to the following conclusions-
Findings-
Ø The participants enjoyed the sessions and could learn many things in terms of using the language.
Ø They were always motivated to attend the classes and do the assigned work.
Ø They developed interest and competence in using the language.
Ø They started using language more efficiently in official work.
Ø They felt that though they acquired some proficiency in language. They need to enhance their skills in the language.
Ø They realized that this was only a beginning and not an end in the direction of having competence in using the language
Suggestions-
To make this action research more effective following suggestions were made by the coordinators-
Ø This type of action research should be of longer duration.
Ø The office staff should regularly practice what they had learnt.
Ø There should be regular monitoring about their using the language.
Ø More opportunities should be provided to them so that they can use the language in a better way and thereby learn, too.
Ø We should have sympathetic attitude towards their mistakes.
Ø In case of errors, proper guidance should be given to them.
Considering this, the coordinators have decided to conduct the second phase of this research with the feasibility and the availability of time.
Ref:
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Aggarwal, J.C. (2002). Educational Research – An Introduction. New Delhi, Arya Book Depot.
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Charels,P.L(1981). Developing language skills in adults attending English improvement course. An unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Vadodara: CASE, M.S. University of Baroda.
Chauhan, K. (2001). The Effectiveness of Simulation as a Technique to Develop the Skills of Public Speaking among the Pre-Service Teachers (B.Ed English). H.M Patel Institute of English Training and Research, V.V.Nagar, Sardar Patel University, V.V.Nagar.