DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN STUDENTS

Communication plays an important role in our everyday life. Good communication is therefore vital for effective functioning in the work environment. There is overwhelming evidence that proficiency in communication skills can make any individual more versatile, and thus more competitive in the workplace. Communication is a mode, which helps every one of us to transfer our messages, thoughts, feelings, thinking, imagination and ideas. This is a function pre-installed or naturally exists in every human being to show his/her existence by language. Thus, every student certainly needs effective and impressive communication skills. As a result, there are growing expectations from educational institutions to cater the needs of the workplace. One of the major issues we need to address includes, what measures should be taken to make the students work-ready‘? In this perspective, Teachers have an important role to play in enhancing the communication skills among students. Considering the diversity in the classroom, there is a growing demand to use innovative methods and strategies, including framing good quality instructional resources to enhance various sub-skills of communication among our students. An attempt is made in this article, to contribute to the ongoing discussion in the changing contexts of communication skills from the perspective of preparing our students to face future challenges. The paper shares ideas on enhancing the four core elements of Communication skills, including listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in order to get an edge up in the competition for work and employment.