Receptive And Productive Skills

&

Communication Implications

Report prepared on the instruction of:

Esteemed Teacher and Instructor for the course:

“Communication Skills”

Report prepared by:

Benzene Group – Bcsf06 (Section: afternoon)

Student name Roll No.

Umair Ehsan Bcsf06a018

Ghulam Mohyuddin Bcsf06a027
Naseem Rafiq Bcsf06a028
Abdullah Malik Bcsf06a029
 Executive summary

In the modern age, the communication caries paramount significant.

The importances of communication skills are relatively tremendous. These
skills are awfully needed in each and every field of life for success, specially
confronting the competitors.

The communication skills comprise of two sorts of skills namely

“Receptive skills and productive skills. Listening and Reading are receptive
skills while Speaking and Writing are productive skills. It is worth-
mentioning that both receptive and productive skills do not take place
simultaneously. Listening precedes speaking and reading precedes writing.

Making the best use of receptive and productive skills depends upon
the high magnitude of determination. These skills may go astray if we do not
make the best use of them. In that event the success in life cannot be
even thought of.

The students become scholars by utilizing their receptive and

productive skills. For the purpose, however, they should take benefit of the
opportunities, now abundantly available around them. The written work of
earlier generations can also be benefited.

The ability to communicate information and ideas is a prerequisite for

professional achievements the communication skills become even more
critical as national affaires are transformed into the global affaires.

The best way to develop the communication skills is through a

fundamental approach that becomes sophisticated as the basis skills are
mastered. The communication skills thus developed by working will be
applicable to all communication contexts. All barriers before the
communications can be removed with the development of communication
skills.
Introduction: -
The communication competency comprises of Receptive and
Productive skills. One can improve these skills if he knows one’s
communication competency. The significance of Language, being the
medium of communication is paramount.

Learning a second language is not that different from learning the

first. Reading, writing, Speaking and listening are necessary for the same.
But all these factors cannot happen at the same time. Listening precedes
speaking and reading precedes writing.
 Receptive And Productive Skills

&

Communication Implications

Receptive Skills: -
Listening and reading are the receptive skills. The students passively
receive and process the information through these Skills.

Utilization Of Receptive skills: -

For adequate receptive skills, the habits of listening and reading are to be
improved. A student should be a good listener. He should be a careful reader as
well. Through a curiosity of high magnitude and a thirst of knowledge he may
acquire maximum receptive skills. But his competence to produce something
remains questionable until it attains perfection. A student may understand a well-
written essay but still he may be unable to produce one till he becomes perfect
through a constant hard practice.

For an excellent output, an adequately strong input is necessary. Now input

demands certain things like vigilance, absorption, concentration so far as listening
is concerned. As far reading is concerned, it necessitates extensive study. The best
selection of reading material, different opinions and viewpoints on the same
subject, work of competent authors/writers.

Writings of different styles such as based on romance, or reality, simple and

complex writings. A considerably large receptive vocabulary and psychological
approach on a certain topic are additional requirements of reading as receptive
skill. The books on different subjects like, science, geography, history, geology,
botany, zoology or biology etc have different touches of the same language. A vast
circle of terminology is used therein. Hence the study of such subjects requires
much more carefulness.
Imagination – The exercise of receptive Skills: -

Imagination is richly increased through listening and reading. This is due to

the absence of visionary aspects. The mind has to be active enough to develop
itself the image of what is being listened or read. The impact of this activity of the
mind on the productive skills is tremendous. It widens the outlook a look a lot,
creating the ability of output to the maximum extent.

Benefits Of receptive Skills: -

Being with competent personalities, listening them carefully and paying full
attention upon their lectures would simply mean gaining the treasure of knowledge
without any difficulty. This way, the inner self of a good listener is showered upon
with proficient and witty expressions of such learned persons.

Same is the case with reading. Pausing into mind the knowledge through
studying well written material actually means benefiting the company of its
written knowledge is transmitted from our mind to another by means of two
receptive skills i.e. listening and reading and this goes on consecutively generation
after generation. Libraries, educational organizations and lectures halls are the
places for transmission of knowledge/information through listening and reading. A
student becomes a scholar with the blessing of these two skills.

Islamic view point about receptive Skills: -

The revelation of Holy Quran was started with emphasis on reading (Iqra).
Then for learning was impressed upon. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) was advised
just to listen instead of repeating the verses of Quran during the course of
revelation. Thus the two receptive skills of the most capable personality i.e. the
Holy Prophet (PBUH) transformed the world in a very short period of 23 years.
Afterwards, till the present moment mankind including us has been benefiting the
auspicious product of Holy Prophet’s listening and studying the Holy book Quran
in the form of Islam, the perpetual code of life.

Receptive skills – The shower of blessings: -

All the inventions have been made so far, and all the achievements mankind
has on its credit are the miracles of receptive skills.
In other words all these wonderful outputs could become possible only due
to the excellent inputs through listening and reading, which can be termed as the
keys of success in every field of life.
Realization of the value of receptive Skills: -

We see that deaf and blind persons are special persons who are generally
deprived of the successful life.
So we being endowed with the faculties of hearing and seeing should
always remain thankful to Almighty Allah. Our receptive skills are insect and we
can make the best use of them.

Non-utilization of receptive Skills: -

If we do not make the best use of our receptive skills they would go astray
and consequently we would lose the blessing of life and some time life itself too.
Keeping ears and eyes for them best utilization is an urge of nature. If we do not
respond this urge we can be considered as deaf despite having the faculty of
hearing and we can be taken as blind despite possessing the faculty of seeing. For
instance both a blind man and an illiterate person cannot be acquainted with the
number of the wagon or bus of their route. Similarly, both a deaf person and one
who is not intentionally listening piece of advice are equally away from their
benefit.

Benefits of receptive Skills for a student: -

A hard and tough competition always goes on among the students and
scholars for the achievement of ultimate success. The student, who are vigilant,
curious and having thirst of knowledge make the best use of their receptive skills.
They are good listener and untiring readers they are fond of being with learned
personalities for listening their lectures and they like to spent their maximum time
in reading books, so as to enrich their mind with more and more knowledge, till
the could be able to produce wonderful things at their own.

The Role of Receptive Skills in Enhancing

Second Language Acquisition: -

Language acquisition takes place when the learners realize how meaning is
expressed accurately. Acquisition is possible even without production practice.
There is a high correlation between listening and general language development.
One of the rarely found non-North American listening-based study was carried out
by Damhuis (1993) in Netherlands. The results strengthened the view that
comprehension-based activities along with communicative oriented ones facilitates
second language acquisition.
Listening-based studies: -

Asher, Kusudo and Torre (1983) compared the efficacy of TPR over
traditional college foreign language instruction. The subjects taking listening-
based TPR instruction were between the ages of 30 and 60. The treatment lasted
for only 32 hours. At the end, they were compared to younger, adolescent college
students who were assumed to be better acquirers. Then, the control group
underwent 75 hours of systematic instruction in reading and writing. Although the
listening group had not received any such instruction, the results showed that in
terms of grammar knowledge and reading performance, they scored as high as the
other despite of the differences in the length of instruction and age range. The
results clearly showed that listening experience positively affected the
development of reading ability. The same researchers replicated the research for
Spanish learners and found similar results.

Illustration for reading-based studies: -

Elley and Mangubhai (1983) studied the effects of pleasure reading
activities at some Fijian Primary schools. While the experimental group was
exposed to book floods, the control group underwent a formal second language
instruction. At the end of the first year, the reading group improved considerably
in terms of receptive skills. At the end of the second year, the experimental group
outperformed the other even in writing and speaking.

Almost every study designed to investigate the effects of comprehension-

based instruction on second language proficiency development has arrived at
positive results.

Productive Skills: -

Speaking and writing are productive skills. The students possessing

efficient productive skills are able to produce something. Their product can be an
essay, a book, a research paper or a speech.

Speaking Skills: -
Speaking skill needs a strong input, a vast out look and refined ideas. More-
even, it requires psychological order of expression as well. All these things are
necessary to give the speaker a confidence to express what he is going to
communicate. The foremost purpose of communication is to convince the listeners
for the viewpoint of the speaker. So the speaker should himself very much clear
about his views point. No ambiguity of any kind and on any point should be there
in his mind. He should be well-versed with the magnetic impect of the wording
and its meaning. He should select appropriate words keeping in view the ability of
the listeners.

Farther, he can make his speech more effective with suitable illustration,
proverbs and quotations. Truthfulness should be the axel of his speech. For the
solid and for reaching impact he should avoid emotionalism as far as he can.
Realities on ground have their own emotional aspect. He should keep his speech
restricted to the ground realities.

Writing skills: -

For communication point of view the writing should be implicit, clear and
in functional language. Un-necessary details should always be avoided.
Sometimes a certain point or sub topic gets expands and expands and the core or
main topic is over-sighted. Consequently the effectiveness of communication is
affected adversely.

Clarity is the fundamental requirement of a written work. The writer should

be very much clear with what he wants to communicate. Each and every point
should be explained explicitly, so as to ensure effectiveness of his communication.
The functional language is an other basic need of writing skill. Relevant terms for
the respective field should be used as and when required

For having a firm grip on writing skill study of the work of competent, able
and proficient writers is indispensable. An other important factor of an excellent
writing skill is to develop stamina for carrying out reading and writing for a long
time at a stretch.

A writer should be a good analyst as well. He should posses a fast power of

conclusion for making speedy decisions. Summing up the whole written work and
making a summary of it is the beauty of writing skill.

A student is always in need of improving his writing skills. Libraries can

also help him a lot. However, he should be careful in selecting the books and other
written material for study in order to get his faculties of heart and mind
enlightened. Through extensive reading he can be a good writer in the times to
come.

Commonly perceived differences between speaking and

writing: -
 Speaking Writing

Characterised by hesitations, interrupts, Relatively concise

selfcorrections, re-starts, fillers →
→redundancies

Characterized by stress, pitch, accent, Characterized by spelling and punctuation

intonation conventions

Relies on gesture and paralanguage It has less modal modifications

Concrete, fragmented, (mainly / often) Elaborate, complex, abstract, formal
Informal, context-dependent

Characterized by turn-taking Characterized by monologue

There is a mutuality of exchanges The relationship between the sentences

operates at several levels, which gives a
thematic unity to texts. This thematic unity
is built up from logical progression and
grammatical linkage

It is less organized or structured, Organised and structured. There are more

Syntactically simple, characterized by short subordinations and passives used.
or coordinated sentences Sentences are longer.

It has a lower degree of lexical density and It has a higher degree of lexical density and
a lower ratio of structure (function) words a higher ratio of structure (function) words

(Based on Harris, J. 1993. Introducing Writing. Harmondsworth: Penguin English. and

Hyland, K. 2002. Teaching and Researching Writing. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited.)
Differences between speakers and writers: -

Speakers Writers

Can refer to people, objects and so on in Do not share an immediate environment

the shared environment by pointing with with their readers and have to make explicit
gestures or by using pointing words references to people and objects

Can check whether they are being
understood by looking at the listener’s
expression, by asking or by being directly
prompted
Have limited means of knowing once the
text is finished whether the reader will
understand the message – need to anticipate
the potential misunderstandings and
appropriate levels of shared knowledge

In conversation they are encouraged by Have to find ways of motivating

‘listener markers’ such as ‘mm’ and ‘yes’ themselves to continue creating a
and - in live conversations – by gestures text

Can backtrack and fill in information that Have to have a plan in order to achieve
may have been omitted – precise sequence both a sequence and a selection that will
is not a prerequisite of effective lead to effective communication
communication

(From Harris 1993:4)

COMUNICATION IMPLICATION: -

Beside receptive and productive skill communication also implies certain

other things, which are required to be taken ease of. These are ethics, common
communication barriers, the communication process and mutual understanding.
An effective communication skill leads to personal and professional success.
Communication must conduct critical analysis in preparing messages for
communication contexts. These include information management, critical thinking
and goal setting. There are certain communication barriers. Communication must
remains aware of them. Communication also implies relationship between its
different parts, which need to be strengthen for removal of the barriers/problems
come across the way of communication.

Developing communication skills: -

An often-cited study conducted by Robert Half International surveyed

executives at one thousand of the largest Corporations and determined that
interpersonal, written, and oral skills were the most difficult to find in job
applicants. Another survey identified communication skills among the most
important managerial competencies. Although communication skills are critical,
they seem to be lacking in many employees. In general, American corporations are
quite critical of their employees’ lack of communication skills. For example,
although many professionals spend from 21 percent to 40 percent of there time
writing, 34 percent of letters, memos, and reports are poorly written.

The text focuses on those communication skills that executives consider

most critical for business professionals. We based our conclusions on data from
research conducted among business executives. Most respondents report that, like
technical skills (accounting, marketing, MIS, and management), communication
practices are best learned while in college. College training provides you with an
excellent opportunity to use evaluation and feedback to build skills in various
communication situations. If you develop fundamental communication skills early
in your college career, you can apply them later in advanced courses, in
internships, and on the job. Furthermore, the better you r communication skills the
more earning potential you will have in life – up to three times more then those
with poor communication skills.

Why are CEOs, executives, and managers so concerned about

communications skills? What experiences do you have to support these surveys?
Can you identify someone who has succeeded in business largely due to his or her
communication skills? Do you personally know people who give specific reasons
for the importance of communication skills?

Communication skills are critical for successful career: -

As an ambitious person, you want to be as successful as your intelligence,

talents, and college training will allow. Yet your potential for a successful career is
limited if you cannot communicate effectively. Four related consequences of
effective business communication directly affect the success of your career.

Improved self-presentation skills: -

Effective communication skills enhance your ability to make a positive

impression on your superiors and co-workers. You will appear more valuable
when others easily understand your ideas, goals, and plans. For example, Jill
Apodaca considered herself naturally shy and reticent. Jill took several
communication courses in college in which she worked hard to develop her
presentational abilities. After learning basic communication skills and applying
them in her other courses, ill rapidly built the confidence she needed for
approaching the job market. Jill’s first job interview was with regional cotton
wholesaler in the southwest. The interviews were so impressed with Jill’s ability to
express ideas and thoughts that she was hired for the job on the spot.

Opportunities for Promotion: -

The old adage that “you have to demonstrate skills at the next level before
you can advance” might be even more true today, given the high level of
competition for attractive positions. Most supervisor and managerial positions
require organization and leadership’s skills. These skills are demonstrated through
oral, nonverbal, and written communication activities. An oil company executive
makes this case rather dramatically:”

Effective communication will be even more important in the smaller, faster

moving corporations of tomorrow. As communicators, we have a wonderful
opportunity to show our stuff. If not, they will find some one who will.

Responsibilities Required communication skills

Operation planning Writing reports and memos; planning and
conducting meetings; goal setting
Coordinating Planning and conducting meetings; developing
interpersonal relations; writing proposals
Decision making Interpersonal communication; writing memos;
critical thinking
Team building Group communication; listening; interpersonal
skills
Creativity/innovation Critical thinking; goal setting; persuasive
Motivating employees messages
Hiring employees Nonverbal communication; listening;
interpersonal communication; making
presentations
Managing information Interviewing skills; listening; interpersonal
communication
Budgeting Mastering communication technology; reading
skills
Promoting goods and services Conducting research; writing reports; defending
proposals
Persuasive messages; designing
communications/advertising campaigns

If you cannot effectively express yourself through letters, reports, memos,

interviews, business conversations, presentations, and negotiations, you may be
passed over for those better, higher level jobs.

The above-mentioned table illustrates some, of the communication skills

that meet the responsibilities of business professionals. The responsibilities listed
in the table correspond to higher-level skills on the job.

Challenges before communicators: -

Communication skills enliven our personal and professional lives. The

dynamic nature of information, cultural diversity, globalization, technology, and
ethics all require a great focus on communication effectiveness.

Information Management: -
Survival in today’s world requires effective information management. The
explosion of information in the last several years is only a sign of things to come
in our new millennium. William Ruch, a noted author and futurist, apply
demonstrated the impact of information on businesses by comparing the
information age of today with the industrial age recently concluded.

• In the industrial age, human knowledge doubled every ten years; now
knowledge doubles every years.
• In the industrial age, each nation maintained a separate economy; in the
information age, a global economy exists.
• In the industrial age, employees were involved in communication only
when necessary in the information age; employees must constantly
communicate in order to handle the influx of information.
 • The industrial age was successful because workers followed orders;
organizations in the information age can survive only by employing people
who take on responsibility and use all of their skills effectively.

Ethics: -

Surveys of each company as Pitney Bowes and Uniroyal indicated that over
half of their managers feel pressure to compromise their ethical standards in order
to get the job don. Many organizations have made ethics their number one priority.
Would you cheat on a test, buy a term paper, or reuse a report in another class?
College and university surveys show that students deal with these ethical
challenges every day. Even business student report that they expect to be pressured
into using less then ethical practices when they enter the business world. Why do
so many business professionals even consider the use of unethical business
practices? Numerous reasons are cited for unethical communication practices, but
some of the more common ones include the following:

• Pressure to produce results.

• Misunderstanding the difference between ethical and unethical behavior.
• Bending to situations or people pushing unethical acts.
• Observing and imitating poor role models.
• Ignoring ethical behavior in the interest of profits.
• Believing that “everybody does it,” “they’ll never know,” or “this is my
right”;

In spite of the prevalent attitudes condoning unethical communication, we will

demonstrate that ethical communication is not only morally correct, but also
highly profitable. Almost all professionals want to work for and do business
with ethical organizations. Furthermore, ethical behavior does not require
much more effort, and creates more advantages then do unethical practices.

Common communication barriers: -

Organizational communication consultants estimate that 10 percent of

all business failures result from ineffective communication. Each year,
thousands of hours are lost in the workplace because of repeated orders,
misunderstandings, errors, and repetitive tasks. If left to chance, many
messages will fail to do the job intended or, worse, backfire on the senders of
the messages. Finnish business consultant Oslo Wilio shares this pessimistic
outlook for business communication. If any thing go wrong, it will!” consider
Wilio’s approach to communication and think about experiences of your own.
 Many of the barriers that hamper effective communication today are
discussed in the following sections.

Mismanaged information: -
Wilio’s law addresses the issue of information overload, or the problem
of receiving too much information at one time. Poor-quality information also
surfaces due to disorganized, erroneous, or misdirected messages.
Communicators are often unaware that their information is of poor quality.

Inadequate communication skills: -

Poor communication skills result in material that is poorly organized,
overwritten, and full of grammatical, stylistic, and spelling errors. Poor
communication skills affect oral presentations as well. Inarticulate speakers
make mistakes, lose their place, fail to use appropriate gestures, and speak in
monotones. They have trouble putting their ideas into words. Poor listeners act
information incorrectly. Communications with inadequate skills pose many
problems for organizations.

Inadequate Feedback: -
Feedback is the response that a receiver of communication makes to the
sender. Feedback is a critical component of the communication process. Only
through feedback can communicators know that their messages were received
and understood. A lack of feedback can be serious barrier to effective
communication. A lack of feedback can occur for several reasons. Some
communicators feel they do not have enough time to respond. At other times,
feedback is withheld due to friction between the communicators. One person
may fail to respond to a memo in retaliation for misdeed or mistake. A lack of
feedback may cause the sender to communicate still another message, wasting
valuable time.

Communication Anxiety: -
Individuals also experience anxiety and fear when faced with tasks such
as conducting performance appraisal, leading task force groups, reprimanding
employees, delegating tasks to subordinates, and making small talk with
stranger at a business function.
The communication process: -
Communication is usually described as a flow of messages from a
sender to receiver using a channel. Receivers may or may not respond with a
message. At any point in the process, noise-anything that disrupts the process
can occur and limit communication effectiveness.

Analysis: -
Careful analysis is necessary to transform ideas into messages. The time
takes to analyze an opportunity to communicate can vary from fractions a
second to years of deliberation.

Step 1: Information Management: -

Information management is the first step in the analysis stage. This
helps to “get to the heart of the matter” rather quickly. Good communicators
can separate meaningful information from superficial or supportive
information.

Step 2: Critical Thinking: -

After you evaluate your information, you can engage critical thinking
processes. Critical thinking is a process composed of several related
operations. Thinking critically involves a creativity process designed to
promote unique and complex problems and innovative ways of looking at
issues or solving problems.

Critical thinking also includes clarification and interpretation. The

ability to clarify information, ideas, concepts, and issues is important to the
communication process.

Step 3: Goal Setting: -

Goal setting is indispensable to communication. A goal represents what
a communicator is attempting to accomplish. It is best to have specific
objectives in mind when you formulate goals. Goals allow understanding,
monitoring, and gauging the specific requirements of communication.
Developing Message: -
 After your analysis is complete, you are ready to develop your message.
Developing the right messages requires a five-step process: Decision making,
context analysis, message design, media selection, and evaluation. Message
development is the final step before you actually produce and send your
messages to other communicators.

Analysis of message received: -

It involves two interrelated processes: interpretation and evaluation.
When you interpret a message, you take the information that you have decoded
and try to make sense of it. Next, you evaluate the message and place value on
it. How you evaluate a message is determined, to a large extent, by the
particular response that you as receiver will make to that message.