Spoken English

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication means an exchange of information with one another & this

demands that we listen & speak skillfully with meaning, not mindlessly.
Tips to get you started:-
1. Respond to the facts through your mind, but never react with feelings.
2. Understand what you hear, because listening carefully is the key to
resolving any situation.
3. Remember what you hear, because there may be a difference in your
understanding & what the other person says, so to be sure repeat what
the other person says as a summary.
4. Acknowledge inconvenience or frustration & try to resolve the issue
within a certain time period.
5. It is always better to say I dont know for things we are not sure
about ; either you can consult your senior, or you can offer to help in
resolving the issue together.
6. We should never take anger/reaction personally because its mainly
due to frustration or fear & the persons mood.
7. Instead of looking at the differences look for something in common,
something that helps the other person.
8. Situations/conditions keep on changing, but changing a person can be
very vexing because it causes stress. Here we should try to point out
& highlight the benefits of that condition.
9. We should always work with a positive attitude, never regret
mistakes, learn from them, then only we will be regarded as skillful &
successful . When we are doing something productive we also tend to
forget about stress.

1
Spoken English

10.Everyone in this world , is self centered or even selfish to some

degree, which is not always bad, because this helps us to achieve our
aim & protect ourselves, but to make others comfortable , we should
also discuss whats important to them & share their views, which
helps in building a good conversation.

Language functions like a conduit, transferring thoughts bodily from one

person to another. In writing and speaking, people insert their thoughts or
feelings into words, & these words accomplish the transfer by containing
the thoughts or feelings & conveying them to others.
In listening or reading, people extract the thoughts & feelings once again
from the words.
What we lack in the reading & writing part is the communicative
intention, which can be easily understood by the tone while speaking
e.g. Ill see you outside.
Communication is successful if the hearer receives the speakers
message, so it should have the following properties,
Language should be unambiguous;
Intonation or tone should provide the correct communicative
intension;
The utterance should have correct pronunciation;

2
Spoken English

TIPS FOR MASTERFUL COMMUNICATION

Improvement of listening skills: - with full attention, seeks to get to

the bottom of the real problem.
Watch your language : - i.e., use clear & simple language with
sincere tone to gain understanding & support.
Follow through with the promised actions or services promised & if
you cant then tell the reason.
Dealing with uncertainty, e.g., the bugs or virus of a computer
program which are a sudden & delaying nuance.
Learn to manage conflict & it is done easily one to one, or may be in
small groups.
We should have the correct response to a situation, not a reaction
based on something that happened to us in the past.
Give constructive feedback & also get the same if you want to
improve yourself & your employees.
Invite participation from employees of various departments &
encourage them to participate, then respond accordingly, this is a
very important growth tool.
Our team of workers should be up to date on every aspect of
performance whether good or bad.
Manager should organise interactive sessions with employees to
keep in regular contact.
Communication opens outside doors, & when we lack resource or
ideas we can always take advice.

3
Spoken English

QUESTIONING
Skillful questioning can be one of the most effective communication
tool, because through questioning, we can excavate new
information, learn more about others, build strong relationship, &,
there can be a more meaningful exchange of ideas & information.
Asking questions demonstrate that youre listening, and the level of
interaction increases, so interest increases.( Inter personally)
If we ask self-directed questions, we will come to know ourselves
better, quite reflection yields insightful questions & responses &
helps to sharpen our powers of listening & observation.
When we inquire, we can get rid of our preconceived assumptions
about anything / anybody, because assumptions lead to mistaken
expectations, damaged relationship, stress & miscommunications;
so, we shouldnt assume, but confirm.
By inquiring, we will get the best possible information which will
help in doing the job best.
While inquiring, keep aware of your own intention (dont
interrogate), control your tone of voice, body language & word
choice.
PARADIGM SHIFT COMMUNICATING A CHANGE INITATIVE

Organisations are continually at work, but some processes have to be

changed because they become redundant, or more productive methods have
evolved, then changes are required. But, we have to keep some points in
mind while announcing, communicating and implementing these changes.

4
Spoken English

Theres no, one perfect way of communication, because change is

uncomfortable & not easy to digest. Adaptation should be gradual
not sudden.
When we become managers, we should firstly ask ourselves what
are we changing & for what & why. Would it be useful or not, or
are we just following others?
The results of the proposed change should be evaluated, whether
productive or not.
Many times specialist involved in their tasks use such language,
which cannot be understood by the other workers, so
communication should be clear.
Employees should be always well informed about any changes that
the organization is bringing in, all the investors are well informed &
so should be the employees, it improves productivity & develops
trust.
Information required to bring about the change should be to the
point.
Adaptation to change requires time and gradually brought about
changes are more acceptable than quicker enforced ones.
Communication pathways shouldnt be restricted when bringing
about a change. All possible vehicles of communication should be
utilized, so that everyone is well informed.
The visionary, planning, presenting and changing processes should
not be mistaken for communication.

5
Spoken English

While bringing about changes, we should give people the

opportunity to share ideas, ask questions, allay their fear and
remove objections.( Helps in increasing self-importance).

BREAKING BARRIERS
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much
information too fast.
Message should not be lengthy, disorganized or contain errors,
otherwise, the message may be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Communication barriers can be avoided if we adopt the correct
vehicle of communication.
If there are good relations with each other transmission of
information is better.
The speaker should develop the habit of listening patiently, but
should be quick to evaluate information.
Persuasion should be there in actions not in language.
Avoid usage of such language/words, which have an ambiguous
meaning.
To have productive ideas, there should be a positive environment,
all around us.

WRITING SKILLS
The average sentence length, over the length of a document,
should be ideally between 15-20 words.
Needless repetition should be avoided.

6
Spoken English

A vertical list makes it easier to follow.

If theres no hope of untangling a sentence by any means, we
should discard it & rewrite.
Uses words that readers are likely to understand (KISS)
In writing we should prefer the active voice unless theres a good
reason for using the passive.
Use clear, crisp, lively verbs to express the actions in your
documents.
Put your points positively as often as possible.
Reduce cross-references to a minimum.
We should be accurate in punctuation.
Good writing can come even without using hundreds of
grammatical terms.
Planning should come before writing, followed by editing.
Organise the writing material in a way that helps readers to
grasp the important information early & to navigate through the
document easily.
S = Situation
C = Complication
R = Resolution
A = Analyse More suited to letter writing
P = Politeness

7
Spoken English

S = Situation
O = Objection
A = Appraisal More suited to article/essay
P = Proposal writing

Effective Listening Comprises of: - Concentration, Patience, and

Attentiveness & Never Assuming.

READING SKILLS

SKIMMING: - is reading a text very quickly to get the general

understanding & to activate your schematic knowledge. Glancing is same.
SCANNING: - is reading a text with the specific purpose of extracting
information such as numbers, words, etc.
INTENSIVE READING:- is reading a text in order to understand the
detailed meaning.
INFERRING MEANING:- is reading a text in order to discover the
writers opinions or feelings from the language & the way it has been
expressed or presented.
DEDUCING MEANING:-is reading a text & working out the meaning of
vocabulary from the surrounding context & information given.
PREDICTION:- thinking in detail about what might be included in a text
before you read it, either from the headline, or a picture or a topic which
prompts your ideas & activates your schematic knowledge.

8
Spoken English

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

EMOTIONAL FACTORS
NEED
MOTIVATION OF SELF\
READINESS TO RECEIVE & USE LANGUAGE BY THE
RECEIVER AS IT IS A CYCLICAL PROCESS
SKILLS OF LANGUAGE

SKILLS OF EXPRESSION SKILLS OF COMPREHENSION

SPEAKING WRITING LISTENING READING

PRODUCTIVE OR ACTIVE SKILLS RECEPTIVE OR PASSIVE SKILLS

Language is a skill as it is something we acquire.

It requires lots of exposure & practice.
Practice in listening should proceed & provide matter for practice in
speaking.
Speaking should proceed & provide matter for practice in reading &
writing.

HOW TO LEARN ENGLISH

Speak without fear.
Use all your resources.
Surround yourself with English.

9
Spoken English

Listen to native speakers as much as possible.

Watch good English programs over the television.
Listen to English music.
Do regular homework & test yourself.
Record yourself when you speak.
Have fun & enjoy learning.

SPEAKING SKILLS
Pronunciation of sounds should be distinctive & clear.
Stress & rhythm at the right places to bring about proper intonation.
Use correct form of words.
Words should be put together in a coherent manner.
Use correct vocabulary.
Language should be according to situation.
Main ideas or points of communication should be made to stand
out.
Listen attentively then only the replies or feedback will be
meaningful.
Organize thoughts in a logical sequence.

COMMUNICATION : A HOLISTIC APPROACH

Communication is a key that opens many doors. It is the Mantra for

success in the New Age.

10
Spoken English

Communication problems have deep spiritual roots - deep inside the ego.
All such problems create stress in the environment - emotional, mental &
physical stress, & importantly communication problems drastically slow
down many or all of your intellectual capabilities, such as learning ease &
speed!
For a most efficient & pleasant communication, with all mankind on
earth, we always need to follow these rules: -
Keep a loving attitude towards any person we wish to
communicate.
The intention involved should be for the mutual benefit of all.
There should be full agreement between what we are saying &
doing, i.e.; to be able to publicly discuss, argue, or talk out true
and innermost intentions.
We must learn to always state clearly what we really feel & think.
Maintain a permanent eye-to-eye contact with the person we talk
to or we listen to.
Be open to all constructive, criticism and positive ideas given by all
involved in the communication process.
Be in a comfortable position & free of anytime pressure; be within
reasonable distance 0.7 mts to 1.50 mts.
Avoid distraction like, telephone calls, music, T.V. or radio or
other noise around you.
SPOKEN COMMUNICATION should consist of clarity of
thought, good pronunciation, easy language, and voice modulation
& facial expressions.

11
Spoken English

Communication is such an art, which doesnt come by birth but

can be acquired by regular daily practice. It is very necessary to
understand the need of the receiver before effective
communication can be established. Effective communication may
be easily achieved by mastering language, knowledge of your
subject, ability of handling objections, boldness in voice,
confidence & positive, constructive thoughts.

12