1. Honing Communication Skills through activity based method-A Study—Shanthi

Abstract

Effective Communication Skills are fundamental to success in many aspects of life. Many jobs require strong communication skills and people who communicate effectively have better interpersonal relationships. Hence Anna University has prescribed communication skills laboratory (GE2321) for engineering students to enrich their employability skills. In the English laboratory, students learn how to participate in Group Discussion, present a paper and attend an interview so on. To prepare the students for online exam, they have also been given exercises like gap filling, cloze test, passage reading, etc. Though these worksheets, mock GDs and mock presentation make them to improve their employability skills, the teacher felt that there is a need still to improve their speaking and listening particularly. So the teacher planned to engage them by conducting various activities to improve their LSRW skills on the whole. This article presents an overview of the action research done by conducting activities in the language laboratory.

INTRODUCTION

Activity based teaching method acts as an Active problem solver for the students. It enhances creative aspect and also creates a place for reality learning. It provides varied experiences to the students to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, experience, skills and values. It builds the students’ self-confidence and develops understanding through works. A saying says-“Communication works for those who work on it.” Since team work plays a vital role in modern scenario, activity based teaching gives an opportunity for learner to work cooperative and collaboratively. Therefore, at the beginning of the semester, apart from worksheets, group discussion and presentation, the teacher planned to conduct activities which are a student friendly educational aid to foster self-learning. The teacher wishes to compare the students’ perspectives after the study and report the consequent changes in students’ perception of their involvement in the activities conducted in the lab.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this action research is to find out to what extent activities conducted in the language laboratory could help students to acquire various skills.

ACTIVITIES DONE

The activities were intentionally set from the easier to the more challenging. Clear instructions were given before the start of the activities so that students understood the rules well and what they were going to do. The teacher supported the students who had difficulties during the activities. The teacher wishes to enlist the sample of the activities conducted apart from worksheets, group discussion, mock interview and presentation.

· JAM

· Hot seat

· Role play

· Pictorial talk

· Ship wreck

· Story telling

· Enacting a drama

· Enacting a joke

· Adzap

· Puzzles

· Debate

· Listening Activity

· LSRW activity where all skills takes place

· Desert Activity

· Summary of an article from “The Hindu”

· Review of a film

METHODOLOGY

Action research is a process of study done by systematically collecting data by using various tools in order to come to some conclusions about what future practice should be. It involves a self-reflective cycle of identifying a situation or problem, planning a change, acting and observing the processes and consequences, and then re-planning and so forth. It offers a valuable opportunity for teachers to be involved in the research to collect first-hand information. Thus an action research was applied in this study to enable the teacher researcher to reflect upon her teaching and improve her students’ situation.

For the past three months, students were made to involve in various activities (individual or in a group) in the language lab to develop their LSRW skills. As we are in the end of this semester, the teacher planned to use questionnaire as a tool to get feedback from the students about the language lab. A questionnaire consists of 12 questions (5 open and 7 closed questions) were given to the students for their opinion. Students of 3^rd year were chosen. The teacher felt that they will be able to evaluate better about the language lab, since they have communications skills lab for V and VI semesters. The questionnaire was given to the students of ECE department who were of 42. Out of 42 students, some of them were above average, some were in average standard and some were below average standard because many of them were from Tamil medium background.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Due to time constraint, the present study was confined to 42 students of ECE department.

Though it was the minimum sample size, the findings might be a reflective of the motivation and attitudes of those participated in this study.

FINDINGS

Over the past decade increasing attention has been focused on the importance of communication skills for engineering students in India. The interaction of engineering knowledge with attributes such as communication, team work and interpersonal skills will definitely help the engineering graduates to prepare themselves for work place.The questionnaire was administered to the students of ECE department. Though it has been given to few numbers of students, it seems worthwhile to present some of the findings which may be of interest.

The analysis of the data was based on the students' responses to seven questions, for which they have to give yes or no. Most of the students came with positive responses. The table below has shown the percentage of the data analysis for the closed set of questions given to the students.

1. Tabular Column For Analysis Of Closed Questions