Oral Communication
Getting Students to Improve Their Oral Communication Skills
Introduction
Hello readers,
Welcome back to my blog! This week's focus will be on oral communication and getting students to improve their oral communication skills. Oral communication is an essential aspect of our daily lives. It is an integral part of how our society functions. Not only do students need to work on their academic skills but it is important that they hone in other skills that can help enhance their learning and future employability prospects. As such, I will be discussing a few ways to get students to improve their oral communication skills.
Hello readers,
Welcome back to my blog! This week's focus will be on oral communication and getting students to improve their oral communication skills. Oral communication is an essential aspect of our daily lives. It is an integral part of how our society functions. Not only do students need to work on their academic skills but it is important that they hone in other skills that can help enhance their learning and future employability prospects. As such, I will be discussing a few ways to get students to improve their oral communication skills.
Relating to Curriculum
The Ontario language arts curriculum discusses how oral communication skills are essential for one's development of literacy and overall for learning and thinking. As the document states, "Through talk, students not only communicate information but also explore and come to understand ideas and concepts; identify and solve problems; organize their experience and knowledge; and express and clarify their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Listening and speaking skills are essential for social interaction at home, at school, and in the community" (Ontario, 2006, p.9). By helping students build these skills from an early age, this will allow them to meet the required expectations. The Oral Communication strand has three overall expectations, as follows:
Students will:
- "listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
- use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;
- reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situation" (Ontario, 2006, p. 9-10)
To get students to demonstrate great oral communication skills, this requires a focus and development of skills and strategies to get students to become effective listeners and speakers, as well as getting them to understand how to interact with others.
The Ontario language arts curriculum discusses how oral communication skills are essential for one's development of literacy and overall for learning and thinking. As the document states, "Through talk, students not only communicate information but also explore and come to understand ideas and concepts; identify and solve problems; organize their experience and knowledge; and express and clarify their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Listening and speaking skills are essential for social interaction at home, at school, and in the community" (Ontario, 2006, p.9). By helping students build these skills from an early age, this will allow them to meet the required expectations. The Oral Communication strand has three overall expectations, as follows:
Students will:
- "listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
- use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;
- reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situation" (Ontario, 2006, p. 9-10)
To get students to demonstrate great oral communication skills, this requires a focus and development of skills and strategies to get students to become effective listeners and speakers, as well as getting them to understand how to interact with others.
It's more than just speaking
With regards to oral communication, it goes beyond just speaking and knowing how to speak well. Communication is about being able to pass information from one person to another. This means that not only is the speaker who is transmitting the message important but also the listener who is receiving the message is equally important. This is because while the message being told needs to be transmitted in an efficient manner, the person listening to it needs to be able to make sense of it for proper communication to occur. Julian Treasure's video below on "5 ways to listen better" talks about how we are losing our listening. A key message from his video is that "We spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we're not very good at it. We retain just 25 percent of what we hear." Knowing those statistics, it is important that educators work on strategies to get students to listen and be able to retain information better. Effective communication skills pertain to the words you choose, the way you say them, how you receive and interpret information, and the way you present non-verbal communication. That is why it is important to teach listening skills in our classrooms. The picture above outlines what active listening looks like, sounds like, and feels like. It is important for future educators to get a sense of these attributes for active listening so that when you are teaching, you can ensure that your students are showcasing their listening skills properly. There should not only be an emphasis on considering what we say to someone as listening is a vital part of good verbal communication. This tool ties well with the grade 8 curriculum expectations, OC1.1 Purpose, OC1.2 Active Listening Strategies, and OC1.9 Presentation Strategies. Here are a few links to listening challenges that you could incorporate in your classroom: Link 1 - Communication and Listening Exercise, Link 2 - Paper Tear Communication, Link 3 - Drawing Twins Activity.
With regards to oral communication, it goes beyond just speaking and knowing how to speak well. Communication is about being able to pass information from one person to another. This means that not only is the speaker who is transmitting the message important but also the listener who is receiving the message is equally important. This is because while the message being told needs to be transmitted in an efficient manner, the person listening to it needs to be able to make sense of it for proper communication to occur. Julian Treasure's video below on "5 ways to listen better" talks about how we are losing our listening. A key message from his video is that "We spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we're not very good at it. We retain just 25 percent of what we hear." Knowing those statistics, it is important that educators work on strategies to get students to listen and be able to retain information better. Effective communication skills pertain to the words you choose, the way you say them, how you receive and interpret information, and the way you present non-verbal communication. That is why it is important to teach listening skills in our classrooms. The picture above outlines what active listening looks like, sounds like, and feels like. It is important for future educators to get a sense of these attributes for active listening so that when you are teaching, you can ensure that your students are showcasing their listening skills properly. There should not only be an emphasis on considering what we say to someone as listening is a vital part of good verbal communication. This tool ties well with the grade 8 curriculum expectations, OC1.1 Purpose, OC1.2 Active Listening Strategies, and OC1.9 Presentation Strategies. Here are a few links to listening challenges that you could incorporate in your classroom: Link 1 - Communication and Listening Exercise, Link 2 - Paper Tear Communication, Link 3 - Drawing Twins Activity.
Utilizing debates in the classroom
The use of debates allows for educators to effectively work on oral communication skills as this is where listening and speaking meet. Debates work as a method of training students on varying aspects of oral communication like public speaking and listening. It also works on other skills like critical thinking, research skills, and understanding multiple perspectives. The article "10 Benefits of Debating in Classrooms: Importance of Debate in Education" provides readers with the benefits of teaching debating. Specifically, it showcases 10 benefits which are as follows:
1. Improved critical thinking skills
2. Acquire better poise, speech delivery, and public speaking skills
3. Increased student retention of information learned
4. Improved listening note-taking skills and increased self-confidence
5. Enhance teamwork skills and collaboration
6. More confidence to stand up for the truth when a discussion is promoting falsehoods or inaccuracies
7. Learning better ways to graciously state one’s point with gentleness
8. Help students identify holes in their theories and concoct more balanced arguments
9. Help students better structure their thoughts
10. Debating is lots of fun!
The value of debating can be easily seen when considering these ten benefits of debating. An introduction to debating activity can be a debate on mindless topics as showcased by the image off to the side. By picking a debate topic like debating chocolates, this allows students to get introduced to the characteristics that make up a debate. With the mindless debate, it provides students with an opportunity to work on their listening skills and their response skills so that when they are given more complex topics to debate, they already have the needed skills to successfully debate. This section goes hand in hand with the grade 8 specific expectations 1.2 Active Listening Strategies, 1.3 Comprehension Strategies, and 1.4 Demonstrating Understanding. Students will be better able to showcase oral communication when it is demonstrated to them in a meaningful way like through the use of debates.
The use of debates allows for educators to effectively work on oral communication skills as this is where listening and speaking meet. Debates work as a method of training students on varying aspects of oral communication like public speaking and listening. It also works on other skills like critical thinking, research skills, and understanding multiple perspectives. The article "10 Benefits of Debating in Classrooms: Importance of Debate in Education" provides readers with the benefits of teaching debating. Specifically, it showcases 10 benefits which are as follows:
1. Improved critical thinking skills
2. Acquire better poise, speech delivery, and public speaking skills
3. Increased student retention of information learned
4. Improved listening note-taking skills and increased self-confidence
5. Enhance teamwork skills and collaboration
6. More confidence to stand up for the truth when a discussion is promoting falsehoods or inaccuracies
7. Learning better ways to graciously state one’s point with gentleness
8. Help students identify holes in their theories and concoct more balanced arguments
9. Help students better structure their thoughts
10. Debating is lots of fun!
The value of debating can be easily seen when considering these ten benefits of debating. An introduction to debating activity can be a debate on mindless topics as showcased by the image off to the side. By picking a debate topic like debating chocolates, this allows students to get introduced to the characteristics that make up a debate. With the mindless debate, it provides students with an opportunity to work on their listening skills and their response skills so that when they are given more complex topics to debate, they already have the needed skills to successfully debate. This section goes hand in hand with the grade 8 specific expectations 1.2 Active Listening Strategies, 1.3 Comprehension Strategies, and 1.4 Demonstrating Understanding. Students will be better able to showcase oral communication when it is demonstrated to them in a meaningful way like through the use of debates. Building oral communication skills through presentations
Another effective way of getting students to work on their oral communication skills is through getting them to be able to present properly. By having great presentation skills one is able to acquire intangible skills that will be valuable to them in and out of school settings. A student's ability to communicate effectively, especially when they are giving oral presentations, can help boost their oral communication skills. In doing so this allows students to work on their verbal and nonverbal skills that are involved in delivering their message. I believe that it is important for educators to get students to do presentations Through the use of presentations, this allows students to practice all language systems areas and skills. For students to be better communicators they have to be good presenters. By using presentations this can allow for educators to work through grade 8 specific expectations like 2.1 Purpose, 2.3 Clarity and Coherence, and 2.5 Vocal Skills and Strategies. For tips on getting students to work on their presentation strategies, Arlin Cuncic's article "20 Public Speaking Tips for Students" showcases strategies that work to helps students present better.
Another effective way of getting students to work on their oral communication skills is through getting them to be able to present properly. By having great presentation skills one is able to acquire intangible skills that will be valuable to them in and out of school settings. A student's ability to communicate effectively, especially when they are giving oral presentations, can help boost their oral communication skills. In doing so this allows students to work on their verbal and nonverbal skills that are involved in delivering their message. I believe that it is important for educators to get students to do presentations Through the use of presentations, this allows students to practice all language systems areas and skills. For students to be better communicators they have to be good presenters. By using presentations this can allow for educators to work through grade 8 specific expectations like 2.1 Purpose, 2.3 Clarity and Coherence, and 2.5 Vocal Skills and Strategies. For tips on getting students to work on their presentation strategies, Arlin Cuncic's article "20 Public Speaking Tips for Students" showcases strategies that work to helps students present better.
Conclusion
The phrase "practice makes perfect" works really well with regards to oral communication skills. If we want students to be successful in this aspect of learning, we need to continuously be providing them opportunities to practice and grow. Whether this is through the use of debates or presentations, there are many ways to get students to become effective communicators we just have to ensure that we are providing them with the resources needed to do so.
- Miss Imam
The phrase "practice makes perfect" works really well with regards to oral communication skills. If we want students to be successful in this aspect of learning, we need to continuously be providing them opportunities to practice and grow. Whether this is through the use of debates or presentations, there are many ways to get students to become effective communicators we just have to ensure that we are providing them with the resources needed to do so.
- Miss Imam
- Miss Imam
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