English Language Teaching: Reverberating and Contextualising Communication Skills

Introduction: “English is the window through which you can see the outer world”, said Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister and one of the greatest statesmen of India. Communication skill is the gateway into the globalized world, and language has become the distinguishing feature to connect human beings with others. 

 

Language is a means of communication skills, transcending thinking into action and action into ideas. Human beings distinctively possess language traits, and it is a human phenomenon that they communicate their experience through language. People utter sounds, write letters, or send emails to convey messages, and the learners or readers process the sounds or letters to get the meaning.    

    

Language is distinctively a human possession. Language is said to be an organized noise, where sound, form, and meaning are the three basic components to form a system of communication. Language is organized at three levels: phonological, syntactic, and semantic. 

 

The phonological aspect deals with sounds and their organization; the syntactic part deals with forms and their organization. The semantic aspect deals with meaning and its manifestation in the phonological and syntactical patterns of language. Human beings communicate their experience through language. 

 

People utter sounds or write letters or emails, to convey meaning, and learners or readers process the sounds or letters to get the meaning.

 

Krishna Menon, Jawaharlal Nehru’s hand-picked Defence Minister, was asked by a journalist a small question, “Sir, what is the secret of your good English?” Krishna Menon responded, “You people picked up, but I have learned English.” 

 

Language is generally defined as a means or medium of communication. Human beings communicate their experience through language. Ever since the British colonized other countries, the English language also started spiraling effect on reaching the officials.

 

Listening Skills: Listening skills commence at birth, and as the child grows, she starts listening and hearing what others speak. Understanding the words, phrases, and sentences in context is gradually improved. 

 

Following the direction given orally, instructions and commands, adhering to simple narratives and descriptions grasping a speaker’s substance and core idea are imminent for a more significant and broader understanding. 

 

Listening to radio broadcasts, and TV programs and attending any cultural, scientific, social, or educational togetherness make wider attention for a reasonable period.

 

Michael Nicholas, who has done extensive research on listening, points out that one has to listen with his eyes and ears wide open. Listening is not a school subject like reading and writing and is rarely taught. 

 

So, people see it as a natural part of growing up if they can follow movies, classroom lectures, and instructions. Recent studies point out that listening takes up fifty to seventy-five percent of a student’s classroom time and is one of our primary means of interacting with people personally. 

 

Careful listening is crucial during meetings and briefings. We listen intensively when we listen to obtain information, solve problems, or persuade or dissuade others. “Every activity involves listening to a lesser or a greater degree.”

 

Speaking Skills: Speaking is an art. In cities, particularly megacities, one can always find advertisements featuring ‘speak English in thirty days, ‘learn English in sixty days, and so on. 

 

But the reality is different as these coaching institutes cater to students’ just an immediate thirst and do not offer in-depth language and communication. 

 

Janhavi Panwar, daughter of a school teacher in the Panipat district of Haryana, India, was just fourteen years when she learned to speak fourteen languages, including Japanese. 

 

This Delhi University graduate student, a child prodigy, tremendously developed her speaking skills and became prominent in training the civil service probationers at Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Indian Administrators Services, Mussoorie.

 

Reading Skills: “Reading maketh a man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man,” wrote Sir Francis Bacon. Reading is an excellent exercise for the mind as jogging is for the body. 

Most great leaders, businessmen, scientists, researchers, teachers, and other professionals used to be avid and voracious readers. People who read have a better chance of success, and improved reading efficiency enables human beings to make informed decisions faster. 

Also Read: Importance of Communication Skills

People prefer reading to shaping ideas, and successful men and women spend a lot of time reading to acquire updated information on current affairs and subjects.

 

Writing Skills: If anyone happens to be at Oxford, Cambridge, or any other Ivy League university, it used to be a common signpost ‘Publish or Perish.’ 

 

Writing is perhaps the most difficult of all the language skills, and even seasoned writers have to make drafts of what they wish to convey before they finalize their paper. 

 

Everyone who can write and publish is respected in our society, where good and intellectually molded papers and manuscripts are given importance. 

 

More than everything, our examinations usually use the written mode, and those who cannot write well lose marks and grades. Ironically, sometimes, the one who knows the subject well also may not score well because of less proficiency in the subject.

Also Read English Language Education: Its History and Importance in India!

Conclusion: Communication skills are undoubtedly the pre-eminent and predominant employability skills of any individual who is aspiring to be a good professional.

As ‘good communication is a priority for everyone, the linguistic aspect has become an important medium of communication, and the lingua-franca through which we connect to others has become prominent and renowned. 

 

The English language skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (LSRW), which are fundamental features for effective communication in English, perpetuate and legitimate the power of becoming a wonderful professional.

Also Read: LANGUAGE: The Most Beautiful and Powerful Gift to Humans

Written By:
Professor Sam Nesamony,
Centre for Languages and Communication,
Faculty of Mass Communication & Media Technology
SGT University, Gurugram