LSRW Skills for Undergraduates - ELT Voices - India — … · 2012-11-17 · LSRW Skills for Undergraduates ... Key words: LSRW, Communication, Interpersonal communication, Presentation

LSRW Skills for Undergraduates

Dr. Richa Tewari is working as an Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Humanities in Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology,Kanpur. She has been teaching Professional Communication in B.Tech., MCA & MBA courses for over years. Her area of PhD researchis American English Literature. She has offered wide-ranging paperson the multifaceted growth of Professional Communication skills inNational & International seminars/conferences and also in therenowned journals/magazines.

Abstract

In the globalized backdrop, good LSRW skills are the keys to unlock the doors to success.

These skills help to build strong relationship and better understanding which are so vital in our

personal and professional life. To be successful in any field one needs to know and understand

how to communicate effectively. Professionals having strong hold on communication skills are

considered assets for any organization. Such professionals set higher level of standards and

add value to the organizational set- up. At present times besides domain knowledge employers

look for sound communication skills in job aspirants. These undergraduates need a specific set

of language skills for their success in education and career. Employers are also voicing their

concerns about the need for better LSRW skills among students. The professional profile of a

modern qualified should include well-developed communication skills and high English

language proficiency to help him achieve success in the modern highly competitive global

work arena. When students graduate from the college and become real professionals, they will

find that English appears even more crucial. For non-native English speakers, unfortunately,

most of the professionals speak English as the first language or the working language. In order

to understand and coordinate with their colleagues and accomplish their projects smoothly,

professionals have to speak good English.

Key words: LSRW, Communication, Interpersonal communication, Presentation skills.

E L T V O I C E S I N D I A

February 2011 ISSN : 2230-9136

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Introduction

1. The Importance of English for Undergraduate Students

2. English Teaching Pedagogy: The Indian Scene

Professionals who are proficient in communication skills have a considerable edge over those

who have not. Lack of communication skills will certainly make them deficient in resources. Job

aspirants face several tough challenges in the global job market if their communication skills are

not up to the mark. Inadequate proficiency in English language, lack of exposure, low level of

confidence and weak soft skills do not let them uphold in the global marketplace.

Thus, LSRW training is essential for any undergraduate programme. Institutes that keep

themselves well stocked and well equipped in terms of communication will be able to meet the

language requirements of the globalized world. Even the employers require a number of efficacies

with an emphasis on an increased ability to communicate and good foreign language skills.

Communication skills are considered as a salient feature in the making of a global professional. In

a multilingual society, modern professionals must also be able to communicate effectively in a

shared tongue.

English is becoming more and more important today. That's why before starting teaching we must

tell our students about it. For non-native English users, English is very important because it is

widely spoken all around the world. Knowing English allows people to enjoy their life and work

no matter where they are. For students whose mother tongue is not English, mastering English is

even more important, not only for their academic life but also for their prospective career.

In order to master the subject knowledge and skills better, students should have English language

competence. Most of the literary and scientific papers or journals in the world are written in

English. Most of the graphs are also marked in English. Most of the professors in various

universities also conduct their lectures in English. Hence, students should at least master the Basic

English ability to deal with the countless English lectures, labs, projects and papers.

When students graduate from the college and become real professionals, they will find that

English appears even more crucial than it used to be. In order to understand and coordinate with

their colleagues and accomplish their task fluently, professionals have to speak good English.

All in all, non-native English students should try hard to improve their English ability, which

could help to make both their school life and career more successful and enjoyable.

English Language Teaching in India has not much changed for years and it is hardly different from

the postcolonial ELT methods where Shakespeare and Milton are taught with the same style as

was done 100 years back. First, the students do not feel comfortable with the age-old texts today

and secondly, they have nothing to do in the monotonous classrooms but listen to a lecture. With

the inception of Communicative Language Teaching in the 1960s, English teaching/learning

seems to be much affected positively and in the recent past, there have been some hopeful signs of

modifications and modernization, not just in teaching and learning but also in the use of English:



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1. ESP(English for Specific Purposes) is introduced in some Indian schools.

2. With the rise in computer expertise and Internet, the new generation has realized the

importance of the preferred language of the global information highway (English) and for

them English is no longer associated with colonial overtones. They see it as a necessary vehicle

for upward and onward mobility, not just within India but also overseas.

3. The widespread availability of cable TV in India has made the native English available to the

Indians (through BBC, CNN, MTV, etc.) and due to this exposure, people feel increasingly

comfortable with the different native varieties and have stopped being threatened by them.

4. Technology has been infused with teaching of English in the form of Language Labs.

5. Reframing of the curriculum by various universities on English Language Teaching pattern is

still going on.

When we learn a language, there are four skills that we need for complete communication. When

we learn our native language, we usually learn to first, then to , then to , and

finally to . These are called the four "language skills":

Skill #1: Listening

Skill #2: Speaking

Skill #3: Reading

Skill #4: Writing

Students should be given practice in listening to the sounds of the language to be able to recognize

them, to distinguish between them to mark stress and recognize and use the right intonation in

sentences.

1. To enable students to develop their listening skill so that they may appreciate its role in the

LSRW skills approach to language and improve their pronunciation.

2. To equip students with necessary training in listening so that they can comprehend the speech

of people of different backgrounds and regions.

Listening skills may be developed through working on the following:

Listening for general content

Listening to fill up information

Intensive listening

Listening for specific information

3. What is LSRW?

listen speak read

write

3.1. Listening Skills:

Objectives

Strategies:



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3.2. Speaking Skills:

Objectives

Strategies:

3.3. Reading Skills:

Objectives

Strategies:

3.4. Writing Skills:

Objectives

1. To make students aware of the role of speaking in English and its contribution to their success.

2. To enable students to express themselves fluently and appropriately in social and professional

contexts.

Speaking skills may be developed through working on the following:

• Understanding paralinguistic (voice quality, volume, pace, voice modulation, articulation,

pronunciation, etc. ) attributes

• Oral practice

• Describing objects/situations/people

• Individual/Group activities

• Extempore, debate, group discussion, role play, public speaking, Role play, etc.

• Just a Minute (JAM) Sessions.

1. To develop an awareness in the students about the significance of silent reading and

comprehension.

2. To develop the ability of students to guess the meanings of words from context and grasp the

overall message of the text, draw inferences, etc.

Reading skills may be developed through working on the following:

• Skimming the text

• Reading and understanding of textual materials

• Understanding the gist of an argument

• Identifying the topic sentence

• Inferring lexical (Use of Dictionary/Glossary/ Listing Jargons) and contextual meaning

• Recognizing unity, coherence and emphasis of sentences and paragraphs

The students should be trained in reading skills using the prescribed text for detailed study. They

should be examined in reading and answering questions using 'unseen' passages which may be

taken from the non-detailed text or other authentic texts, such as magazines/newspaper articles.

1. To develop an awareness in the students about writing as an exact and formal skill

2. To equip them with the components of different forms of writing, beginning with the lower

order ones.



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Strategies:

4. ClassroomActivities to Develop LSRW Skills:

4.1. ListeningActivities:

(1) Theater Games for Students in Class: Focusing Energy through Fun

(2) Games based on Listening Comprehension

Writing skills may be developed through working on the following:

• Basic skills of simple and short composition

• Writing sentences

• Techniques of creative and critical writing

• Use of appropriate vocabulary

• Paragraph, essay and précis writing

• Coherence and cohesiveness

• Narration / description

• Note Making

• Formal and informal letter writing

• Editing a passage

By practicing the above said strategies undergraduates may improvise their LSRW skills to the

desirable extent. In view of the increasing importance of English language teaching and learning

in India and other non-native countries, encouragement for such programmes must yield a great

success in bringing about achievement in developing the ability skills related to LSRW.

Teachers should conduct multiple classroom activities for developing communication skills of the

learners. Communicative games based on LSRW help to reduce hesitation and develop self

confidence amongst students.

Making students listen to an English conversation, showing English documentaries in the

classroom, broadcasting programs, activating the College English board, reading famous sayings

related to listening skills and rewarding the super listener after giving the students a challenging

listening quiz may be advantageous to undergraduates. Other activities to improve students'

listening skills are:

Teachers may use different theater games to augment their lessons taught in the classroom. These

games are designed to focus students' energy to encourage listening, develop their confidence to

encourage verbal participation, and cultivate their trust to foster openness.

Before the class session, choose a short article from a newspaper, magazine, or journal to share

with the class. The subject is not important, but the article should have many details in it. Casually

mention at the beginning of a class period that you will read an interesting article and would like to

share it with them. Read the article to the class.

After you have finished reading the article, ask questions based on the article you just heard. Have

each student take out a blank sheet of paper. Ask students eight to ten questions based on details



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from the article.Ask them to write their answers on the sheet of paper. Have students switch papers

and then tell them the answers.Ask students why they did not remember much after listening to the

story. Discuss how they could improve their listening skills.

Before the class session, choose different dialogues/statements and write them down on chits.

Divide students into groups. There must be at least 6-7 members in each group. Call a member

named 'A' from any group. Offer him/her a chit to read silently. Then, A will go to B and whisper

the dialogue of the chit into the ear of B; B will do the same to C, C to D and so on. The last member

has to utter that dialogue aloud in front of everyone. Mistakes in pronunciation and poor listening

skills often lead to miscommunication, and negatively affect the message that one delivers.

Ask for three volunteers from the group to participate. Have the three volunteers lined up in a

straight line in front of the rest of the group. Begin a story with a basic introduction. Once you

complete the first sentence, the first person in the line has to pick up the story and ad lib. Every so

often, call out "next" and the next person in the line has to pick up the story. Record the story with

an audio recorder for future reference.After the game is complete, ask specific questions about the

story that was just told. See how many people can remember the details of the story. Take time

afterward to process with the entire team about the importance of listening and understanding.

Speaking activities might be ensued in the form of Theme Presentations, competitions for reading

aloud, skit, plays, broadcasting programs, quizzes, and then rewarding the super speaker. Other

fruitful activities are:

The best way to be able to see how our students think, speak and argue effectively is to see them go

through a debate. Debate exercises speaking and listening skills, and targets critical thinking skills

as well. This workshop will help teachers teach debate to their students and implement debates in

the classroom. It will also give a few activities and drills that will help hone debating skills, as well

as provide discussions about how to evaluate and adjudicate a debate.

Start this game by calling out a random word. The next person must use the last letter of that word

to come up with a new one. For example, if the starting word is cat, the next word might be tree.

Give students stricter guidelines to increase the game's level of difficulty. For instance, do not

allow repeats, restrict words to a specific category or only allow words that contain a certain

number of letters.

Presentation is considered an art. Now a days business organizations pay special heed on

(3) Detecting Miscommunication due to Poor Listening Skills

(4) Crazy Story

4.2. SpeakingActivities:

(1) Hit the Podium (Using Debate in the Classroom)

(2) Heads and Tails

(3) Making Theme Presentation



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presentation skills. A recent research study observed that graduates are expected to give oral

presentation as part of their work. Team work is considered as a main skill in industry. Presentation

skills encourage oral communication of the professionals and provide them a suitable platform to

transform their information and knowledge. It also helps to develop confidence level and reduces

hesitation. Group tasks and presentation enhance interpersonal skills.

Role-play activities help to build team spirit and students get the chance of learning by doing. It

can be done by assigning different types of roles like negotiators, buyers, sellers, and so on. Role

play is an integral part of personality development. Oral communication skills are required not

just for internal matters but also for external matters. Role-play will encourage self-awareness

while role reversal will contribute to the students understanding of empathy of knowing how the

other side perceives professionals.

Teachers can also organize mock interviews and group discussion to sharpen the communication

skills of the learners.

Motivating students read lessons every day in the classroom and at home, broadcasting

program(what they read last night), summarizing stories and reading texts, making their own

dictionaries, time for discussing the students reading, reading competitions and rewarding the

super reader may be fruitful for students. Other activities are:

Design a game around improving student's reading comprehension. Write short paragraphs of text

onto various index cards with a comprehension question on the back. Place students together in

small groups of no more than 3 students, and have them work together to answer each question.

Correct answers should lead the groups to another hidden index card in the room, and finally lead

to some sort of prize. This activity encourages teamwork while at the same time helping improve

reading comprehension.

Another way to turn comprehension activities into games is to provide sentences with missing key

words. Students should read the sentences and write in whatever word they feel is most

appropriate based on the rest of the sentence. This activity not only improves reading

comprehension, but will train students to use context to learn new vocabulary words.

Prepare for the game by collecting an assortment of newspaper articles. Separate the articles from

their headlines. Divide the class into two groups, giving one half the headlines and the other half

the articles. The object of the game is for students to match each headline with its corresponding

article.At the end of the game, students take turns reading the articles to the class.

(4) Role Play

(5) Mock Interviews and GD

4.3. ReadingActivities: Vocabulary and Reading ComprehensionActivities for Students

(1) Index Card

(2) Match Headlines with theirArticle



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4.4. Writing Activities:

(1) Three Minute Writing

(2)You're not yourself today

Conclusion

ces

The key in motivating students towards writing is to plan activities that will capture the

curiosity of students and that will be fun. Writing competitions (essays, short stories, poems,

etc.), teaching students about writing for specific purposes, and rewarding the super writer

may be beneficial. The following activities have been tried by students and have high

motivational value.

Students are given a specific topic or title to write about with the understanding that they only

have three minutes in which to write about it. The fun is in the time limit and in the interesting

paragraphs that students develop. After the students have had some experience with writing

within a time limit, their writing will become more and more creative.

In this writing activity students are told they are not themselves today, they will become

someone else. Prepare index cards with different roles the students are to pretend to be in their

stories. Example: "You're not yourself today.... you are a pirate looking for treasure on a

deserted island."

Besides, conduct writing workshops on letter, report, proposal, résumé, paper, poster, and

project writing and provide remedial feedback to the learners.

In the present scenario professionals certainly need effective and impressive LSRW (listening,

Speaking, reading, Writing) skills. There is a great need to frame course materials and develop

methods and strategies so as to enhance LSRW skills of undergraduates. Students require

LSRW skills to express and share their experience, knowledge, ideas and thoughts in an

effective manner and to harness a better understanding and harmony for the common benefit of

the society.

LSRW skills thus can be developed by rigorous training programmes and a lot of practice

work. It requires persistent efforts. It is possible by applying various methods discussion in the

classes, studying famous speeches, mastering the art of oral presentation and by active

participation in presentations, seminars, workshops, conferences, group discussions, etc.

Keane, A and Gibson, I.S. Communication trends in firms: implications for undergraduate

courses. International Journal of Engg. Edu., (1999)

Kitao, K., Why do we te

Referen

ach English? The Internet TESLJournal, (1996).

http://www.britishcouncil.org/

http://depssa.ignou.ac.in

http://www.elanguages.org

http://www.eltweekly.com



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LSRW Skills for Undergraduates - ELT Voices - India — … · 2012-11-17 · LSRW Skills for Undergraduates ... Key words: LSRW, Communication, Interpersonal communication, Presentation