HOW TO IMPROVE FOUR SKILLS

NISAR AFZAL WATTOORoll no. 1336

Dept. of Industrial Engineering & Management

DCETKarachi

FOUR SKILLS

Listening Speaking Reading Writing

Basic Communication Skills Profile

________________________________________________Communication Order Learned Extent Used Extent Taught

____________________________________________

Listening First First Fourth Speaking Second Second Third Reading Third Third Second Writing Fourth Fourth First

A famous saying "We were given two ears but only

one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking."

How to Be an Effective Listener

Understand the complexities of listening Prepare to listen Adjust to the situation Focus on ideas or key points Capitalize on the speed differential

Organize material for learning

How to Be an Effective Listener (cont.)

Want to listen Delay judgment Admit your biases Don’t tune out “dry” subjects Accept responsibility for understanding Encourage others to talk

How to Be an Effective Listener (cont.)

Establish eye contact with the speaker Take notes effectively Be a physically involved listener Avoid negative manners.

Speaking The most valueable way to convey

information.

improve speaking skills. Engage your audience

Help your audience stay focused by choosing topics they can relate to and including in your message carefully, especially at the beginning.

improve speaking skills. Get to know your audience

In order to pick the right combination of topics to focus on so your audience will become interested at once, research what the audience is interested in.

improve speaking skills. Stay positive

Aside from giving the audience hints on what they really want to hear about, other appealing factors for the audience include positive messages that focus less on failures.

improve speaking skills. Be concise

Aside from giving the audience hints on what they really want to hear about, other appealing factors for the audience include positive messages that focus less on failures.

improve speaking skills. Give your work a captivating title

Dedicating time to craft the body of your message is as important as creating an original name for your speech or message. This is never stressed enough ““ your title should wake the audience’s interest so they anticipate reading or listening to your message.

Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually acquired over years of instruction and practice.

The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled Reading(Scarborough, 2001)

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE STRUCTURES VERBAL REASONING

LITERACY KNOWLEDGE

PHON. AWARENESS

DECODING (and SPELLING) SIGHT RECOGNITION

SKILLED READING: fluent execution and coordination of word recognition and text comprehension.

LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION

WORD RECOGNITION

increasingly

automatic

increasingly

strategic

Skilled Reading- fluent coordination of word

reading and comprehension processes

Problems with “slow readers”Problems with “slow readers”

They are almost always less fluentThey are almost always less fluent

Usually know the meanings of fewer wordsUsually know the meanings of fewer words

Usually have less conceptual knowledgeUsually have less conceptual knowledge

Are almost always less skilled in using Are almost always less skilled in using strategies to enhance comprehension.strategies to enhance comprehension.

10 Tips to Improve Reading Skills You don't have to be a great

reader to get the point. Know WHY you're reading. You don't need to read all of what

you DO read You don't need to read all of what

you DO read.

Scan before you read. Prioritize your reading.

Optimize your reading environment. Once you start, don't stop! Focus. Remember, you're reading

with a purpose, so focus on that purpose and the material.

Practice! The more you read, the better reader

you'll become (and smarter, too)!

Key points

Our students find writing the most difficult of the communication skills.

BUT over 95% of the marks in our degree course are associated with the assessment of written work by

academic staff (so what are we assessing?).

Outcome = Knowledge*Skills*Writing ability

AND Employers (and most parents) expect our graduates to be able to write well after 17 years in the education

system!

Writing Skills

Strategies for Improving Writing Skills

Objective:

To put in place a sustainable support system to demonstrate to each student the need for high quality written work, to identify weaknesses, and to provide the appropriate assistance.

Tips and possible ways

Extra assistance for students that have problems through:

small-group tutorials given by specialists from English language;

one-to-one advice from a member of staff or another departmental champion

peer tutoring

Exercise

Write letter Groups of eight Look at each letter in pairs Make written changes and comments Group chooses a representative Representative records good and bad points Representative presents points to rest of

class

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

ANY QUESTION?