Action Research to Improve the Communication Skills of Undergraduate Students

IntroductionEducation is considered to be a passport to build a better future. The expectation to excel in life in any field, be it business, medical, engineering, industry or academics, is to have the ability to sell oneself to make the employer believe that the search for the most efficient employee ends with you. In the world of business too, in order to expand the business, establishment of the link of communication is a must. It is also needed to meet the customer expectations (Brindha, 2017). We cannot expect it to get nurtured all by itself. It demands rigorous practice. The criteria for proving one's ability may have various dimensions. Among them, communication plays a major role. The graduates mostly prefer professional courses such as MBA to be placed in a job. Here they realize where they actually stand and how employable they are. During the admission process, it is observed that the graduates who opt for MBA hardly feel comfortable interacting in English, except for a few who are already in a job or are from English medium background. The research and development committee of Srusti Academy of Management felt the necessity to ponder over the reason behind such degradation of the standard of education and what can be the most convenient solution to this thought-provoking issue. The importance or the necessity of developing English language proficiency in the 21st century does not need to be explained in detail. Gaining knowledge and increasing learning mostly depends upon our understanding. English language cannot be ignored as it is a globally accepted language which demands huge exposure to master the skill of communicating in the above language. This paper makes an attempt to probe deep into the undergraduate curriculum in order to come out with the cause and effect correlation between the enhancements of the student performance with the improvement of the curriculum.Literature ReviewPatil and Riemer (2004) made a significant contribution to the field of engineering education by pointing out the need to change the existing curricula of engineering and degree courses to improve the communication skills of students in Maharashtra.Tewari (2011) focused on the importance of nourishment of Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing (LSRW) skills within the professionals as it is the key to success. She also emphasized on the need to adopt innovative teaching pedagogy to deal with the students of every level and ultimately make them efficient to participate in all the activities associated with communication skills.Haji Iksan et al. (2012) emphasized the importance of communication skills which cannot be ignored in every phase-starting from preschool to higher education. It is essential because it involves the language skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening which are most important to use a language. The success of the students depends upon mastering those language skills which not only give them better career opportunities but also make them socially and culturally better communicators.Vani (2016) mentioned that peer team teaching can serve as a better approach to develop communication skills as it provides a platform to the students to overcome the fear factor and help in developing their confidence levels to face the audience.Murthy et al. (2017) focused on communication skill development as a multidisciplinary approach and raised a question to find the answer to the need of communication training in the field of medical science too. The physician needs to develop a co-relation with the patient to make the process of treatment more reliable and easier. He needs to understand the concern of the patient, give them tactful answer to convince their queries. This helps to develop a mutual understanding. This is not possible without proper communication between the two. The interaction with the patients is must to study the psychology of the patients much better. …