Teaching Communication Skills – A Pedagogical, Transformative Approach

Abstract

While the fear of speaking may prevent some students from speaking in  seminars  altogether,  those  that  do sometimes  find their  nerves  restrict  them from adequately sharing their views and intelligence, resulting in an embarrassed, unconfident  student who then promises him/herself never to speak up again. Students may feel fear at  the possibility  of embarrassing themselves  and  appearing  foolish  or saying the ‘wrong’  thing. After graduation, students need oral presentation skills to succeed in the workplace. Employers look for graduates with excellent oral presentation skills. Communication skills are important for people entering the workforce. Thus the role of educational institutions and specifically of the instructors offering oral presentation courses is important in helping students to improve their skills. Training plays a significant role to improve public speech skills of students.This study aims to explore the issues related to public speech training programs for students, parameters which should be used as pedagogy to improve their public speech skills. Four experiments were performed on students based on 30 parameters.