THE NEED OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS TO THE

TECHNICAL STUDENTS IN THE COLLEGES OF

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduction
Communication skills1 are not just synonymous with fluency in a language. It
involves both spoken and written skills, revealing the personality of the
communicator. Mastery in Communication could be gained by the developing the
four skills2 Listening Speaking, Reading and Writing.

Different Levels of Communication

Extra personal communication refers to the Communication between a human and
non- human. It is a method of communication refers to the domestic animals or
birds. Intrapersonal communication is a communication within the individual. Selfmotivation, self- confidence are the result of intra personal Communication.
Interpersonal communication is a common and the important level of
communication. This could take place in direct and indirect methods of learning.
Organizational communication takes place at various level. It needs to have a
proper networking system to facilitate communication. Organizational
Communication could be further classified into International Operational, External
Operational, and Personal. Mass communication refers to newspapers, television
and radio. Usually advertisement for a product, press interviews come under this
category.

English as a Universal Medium of Communication

English is considered as a medium of language which is necessary for a global
means of communication. It is a universal3 medium of language in which we
convey everything by means of communication. It is also considered a link
language4 and has become the language of the common man. A little effort should
be made to learn and improve the language with effort and endeavor. Hence
English is considered and rightly termed as the universal language in the right
perspective.

Relavance of communication skills in the recent day Scenerio

Communication is a process of passing information and understanding from one
person to another. It is a process of meaningful interaction among human beings. It
brings previous experiences, feelings, thoughts, attitudes and an ongoing activity. It

is always changing, always in motion. It grows and develops. It is dynamic and

systematic. Sometimes it is intentional and unintentional. It is both interaction and
transaction in reality and nature. It is pleasant and comfortable to listen, speak,
read and write. It helps learners to acquire competence and skills in
Communication. The study of Communication and efforts to develop skills of
communication is important and essential because communication is absolutely
necessary for business in life. Persons in all profession need to cultivate
communication skills. Doctors, Engineers, Charted Accountants, Actors and others
in the business industry, managers of all kinds of organizations, educators, besides
persons engaged in business enterprises have to engage daily in some kind of
business Communication . Multinational companies are established all over the
world. They want to appoint talented persons who are able to communicate well.
Information and ideas could be gathered and passed to the officials in an
organization at any time but they expect good persons who are at commands in
language. The important skill for anyone in the world of work is ability to
communicate. This means being able to express ideas effectively in writing and in
speech. Employers have always emphasized the importance and relevance of
Communication skills and the current trends in the business environment to
advance in our career. Effective communication skills are essential.
Communication brings more confidence.6 there are four aspects that would help
the learners to communicate effectively. Secondly, when we intend to say
something, we have to pick up the right words to express ourselves exactly.
Thirdly, we depend on what we say. The fourth point is listening. So, effective
Communication is based on both listening and speaking. Effective Communication
would help us to express ourselves better and change our environment toward our
own thoughts and beliefs. In brief, Communication is a significant part of our life
and important and relevant in the present day scenario.
A Proposal to Improve Communication Skills
Students and learners should improve language by means of listening, speaking,
reading and writing skills. It requires constant practice. They have more chance to
learn and improve from college to place of work. In general the performance of the
students would be evaluated by means of conducting Interviews, Group
Discussion, Presentation Skills and other performance.

The Objectives and Relevance of Language Skills

The objectives of communications skills associated with students with effective
speaking and listening skills in English and make a chance from college to
workplace smoother and help them to excel in their job or work. Lastly the

performance of the students at placement level would be considered by their

performance Interviews, Group Discussion, Presentation Skills and other activities.

The Need of Communication Skills for Engineering Students

For language learning vocabulary building/word power is essential for the primary
learners to improve language and correct pronunciation of a particular word,
common errors and Functional Grammar. The learners slowly and steadily learn
the art of reading and answering questions properly.

Analysis of the Learners

The questions are based on ideas and perspectives presented by the students to
learn and acquire skills of writing and organizing materials into paragraphs with
required and acceptable sentence structure. Discussions are made by students main
and supporting ideas, themes and details. Communication skills help the students
to acquire their all-round ability8 for their overall effort and endeavour in life.
Conclusion
Practice sessions are conducted to inculcate language learning in the form of
students to prepare their own Resume and Report, Presentations on given topics,
Group Discussions and Mock Interviews made them and revealed the great
personalities in their career.

ENGLISH COMMUNICATION FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

FROM RURAL AREAS AND ITS REMEDIES
INTRODUCTION
The IT revolution and globalization of business have brought technical
communication to the forefront of academia and industry. With the whole world
becoming the global market and businesses becoming diverse and result oriented,
professionals and technocrats are facing new challenges in communications every
day. A success in this competitive environment depends not just on acquiring
knowledge and hard skills, but also on developing effective technical
communication skills. This paper aims at making aware the engineering students of
rural area and encourages them to improve their communication skills.

IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH
English is the most important language in the world. The spread of British Empire
introduced English in India, Africa, south Asia, Australia, New Zealand and
America. It came to these countries as the language of business, travel and
exploration and then become the sole medium of instruction. Now it is the official
language of international business, air traffic control, shipping, United Nations
Diplomacy, world banking, science and technology, academic research, space
travel and global computing. It is the major medium of education, publishing and
international negotiation. It is perhaps the most flexible of all languages. Therefore,
people belonging different parts of the world widely use English. It is the lingua
franca of the world. The world is developing in field of science and technology.
Scientific inventions in Germany, France, and Russia cannot reach India through
any language other than English. Therefore, a scientific invention in Germany or
Russia will have become outdated and old by the time it reaches to Indian
scientists through translation. Education has multiplied the role of English
language, because universities worldwide often use English as the common mode
of learning and communication. English is an international language of the
Constitute, the Supreme Court, the High Court, and official departments. English is
firmly rooted in the soil of India. A person in Tamil does not speak Hindi, however
he can understands English. Thus, English is a link language. Different people can
communicate with one another with the help of English. English is a confidence
builder language. It will get you anywhere. If you are good speaker in English
means good in all. Therefore, engineers have to communicate in English.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
The word communication in English is making a charisma in these days. It has the
power to make the whole world revolve around it. It is central to all activities.
Everybody has realized the importance of communication and therefore, they want
to be a better communicator. It has left no field untouched: be it a medical, or
engineering, Arts or Law, or even Sports or Music. In commerce or Business it has
become a must. In academics if you ignore communication you will literally ruin.
It wont be an exaggeration if I say you wont survive without communication. If
you want to earn bread and butter, you will have to learn communication. If you
want to give voice to your requirements, you will have to learn communication. If
you want to get a good job, learn to tell that you are fit and capable for it. If you
want to get promotion, impress your boss with your effective communication. If
you want your work get done learn to persuade and please others by talk. Gone are
the days when work was got done under the force of power and pressure of
authority. People were helpless and lacking self respect. The fast growing
technology and spread of knowledge has made people aware of their rights and
status. The relationships between subordinates and superiors are growing tensed.
Personal opinions, attitudes and beliefs often act as strong barriers to effective
communication. It is obviously difficult to communicate with the people
effectively if they have quite rigid views, fixed opinions and strong prejudices. It
disrupts the interrelationship and poses a challenge to management. Therefore, the
organizations have changed master- servant relationship into partnership
relationship. The changing scenario has given birth to a concept of team work. It
shows us the necessity of developing team spirit, proceeding with joining hands.
You have to respect others perspectives. We have to stay in tune with our own
emotions, as well as emotions of others. You have to offer your personal view
points clearly and honestly to avoid confusion. You have to encourage others,
praise others, make people valued and appreciated in you communication. If you
let others know that they are valued they are likely to give their best. Getting the
work done in effective manner has become more important than having the most
knowledge. Employers give considerable value to graduates acquiring a diverse set
of skills in different work environment. Besides analytical and problem solving
skills, subject specific knowledge, research and improved decision making ability,
management skills, understanding of other culture, confidence and competence to
work in international environment are considered the most essential qualities for
engineers. However, at the bottom of these lies an effective communication skill. If
students fail to see the broader scenario of the corporate world and ignore the
communication skills, it can endanger a shallow level of understanding. The
growing importance placed on oral communication skills by employers has been
echoed internationally in these two three decades. Knowledge and technical know

how are clearly important, but these requires to be presented with excellence.
Effective communication re-enforces positive impression of the engineer. Lack of
serviceable communication skills contributes to the low profile of engineering in
general public. A more proactive and accessible style of communication can be
more engaging for the people. Indeed oral skills, presentation skills are considered
one of the best career enhancers and to the single biggest factor in determining a
students career success or failure.
NATURE OF TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
We may define technical communication as a transmission of scientific and
technical information form one individual or group to another. This exchange of
professional information may include simple definitions of tools, complex
descriptions of machines and process, or sophisticated explanation and
interpretation of scientific principles. Effective technical communication is a
dynamic interchange that may involve a systematic understanding of scientific and
technical subjects. The three important requirements of effective technical
communication are:
1. Subject competence, 2. Linguistic competence and 3.Organizational
competence.

Subject Competence
Subject competence is the first requirement of technical communication. It is the
possession of appropriate knowledge of a particular technical subject matter as
well as the possession of highly sophisticated technical or professional skills. An
inadequate background in the subject or lack of information might lead to
incomplete and ineffective communication.

Linguistic Competence
Linguistic competence, on the other hand, is the possession of appropriate
language skills and the ability to present scientific facts or information clearly
and objectively. As technical communication involves technical presentation of
data in reports, proposals, research papers, technical bulletins, manuals, and
handbooks, linguistic competence includes several functional skills.

Organizational Competence
Since technical communication is a systematic and structured presentation of
information, it involves a process of logical and thematic organization.
Organizational competence is the ability to organize technical information in a
logical and structured way. It includes several skills such as the ability to

sequence thoughts in a sentence, organize a paragraph according to the needs of

the reader and the topic, use appropriate logical ordering, and provide thematic
coherence to expression. The fast growth of technical knowledge coupled with
the development of information technology has changed the way we
communicate in professional situations. We prefer fast, interactive, and result
oriented forms of communication such as voice mail, email, video transmission,
teleconferencing, videoconferencing, intranet transmission, and so on to the
traditional and slow forms of communication such as letter, memos, newsletter,
and so forth.
IMPORTANCE AND NEED FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
The functional importance of technical communication for an individual of an
organization cannot be overemphasized. Whether you are an executive working
in a multinational company, an engineer working at the shop floor level, a
scientist working in a premier scientific lab, or a technical student of a
professional institution, you need effective technical communication skills in
order to be successful. With the information revolution and socio-economic
changes in the new millennium, the importance of effective technical
communication skills has increased, the whole world has become a global
market and the transfer of technical information is playing a key role in
economic growth and transformation. As the professional world becomes more
diverse, competitive, and result-oriented, the importance of technical
communication skills continues to increase. Revolution in information
technology is having a profound impact on technical communication task, and
new kinds of communications task or skills will be required in the changed
technological environment. These skills include ability to understand and explain
complex technical information in a simple and familiar style, ability to
understand and explain quantitative data, cultural awareness, capability, and
ability to analyze and priorities information. The changes that have taken place
in the field of science and technology reflect several developments in the way
technical communication skills are viewed. In fact, there has been a shift in
perspective, so that communication skills take priority over technical and
professional skills. There is no doubt that good writing and speaking skills are
essential to job success. It is also true that some technical skills are as important
as communication skills but knowledge of technical or professional skills will be
useless if one does not know how to communicate the information and elicit that
result from the use and application of these technical and professional skills.

REMEDIES
Development of Inner Urge
It is the general observation that the engineering students value technical subjects
and underestimate the subject Communication skills. Students neglect it.
Considering the scenario of corporate world if they feel that they should develop
their communication skills they will make progress.
Need to Enrich Vocabulary and Sentence Construction
Language consists of words and sentence structures. Each day they must learn at
least five new words and try to use them in their own sentences. The old method of
displaying charts of difficult words, phrases and their applications on the walls and
daily observance of them will help a lot.
Listening
Students must develop a habit of careful listening of English news, lectures, and
explanations during tutorials, practical sessions, seminars, technical presentations,
academic discussions, and academic interactions and so on. The modern Language
Labs cater all their needs. They must make most of it. One cannot be an effective
communicator unless one becomes an effective listener.
Speaking
Speaking skills are very important for a persons professional survival and growth.
It gives practice of articulating words and boosts confidence in speaking. The
students of rural area must be encouraged to ask questions in order to remove their
fear, as they hesitate to ask questions considering that they may commit error or go
wrong. Opportunities must be given to them to voice their opinions, agreements,
disagreements, and suggestions, the credits should be given for participating
discussions, making presentations of project, product, graphs, tables, charts plans,
maps. They must be ensured that speaking skills are the single most important
criteria in hiring professionals.
Reading
Like listening and speaking, reading is crucial to effective communication.
Students need to read technical and business documents: reports, proposals,
magazine articles, letters, and instruction manuals. It is hard to imagine any
academic professional or business work that does not require efficient reading
skills.

Writing
It is said that Reading maketh a complete man, speaking maketh a ready man and
writing maketh a perfect man. Writing is very important for students and
professionals in all fields. They should practice writing projects reports lab reports,
summary, synopsis, abstracts, and subject notes. As they go higher on the ladder of
their career they will have to handle the correspondence independently. They will
require writing business letters memos, email messages, proposals, minutes, notes
reports, professional summaries and so on. Both professional and students need
excellent writing skills to survive and excel in their pursuits as there is hardly any
academic or professional activity that does not require writing skills.
CONCLUSION
Students must keep in mind that, Where there is a will there is a way , and
Success often comes to those who try. They may come across the hindrances in
their path but they are not to discourage them but to improve their quality of
excellence. The excellence is never a chance but it is a result of hard and sincere
efforts. In this modern era the advance technology is at their disposal. If they do
not take benefit of it who are at fault?