How Students can Improve Verbal Communication, Presentation & Essay Writing Skills
Writing an essay for University, attending seminars, doing presentations, are all part of academic studies. Delivering a presentation can cause anxiety but with good preparation students will be able to manage their anxiety. Study Coach is here to support university and college students with their education; help is available to structure and deliver presentations and improve essay and dissertation grades. Study Coach is here to support mature students and to coach students whose first language is not English.
Education Service
Study Coach educational services provides guidance to students on how to interpret assignment criteria; how to do research; how to raise essay and dissertation grades and grow in confidence. The essay and dissertation service will provide students with detailed feedback in regard to evidence based practice, critical analysis, methodology, ethics, theoretical understanding and related assignment requirements.
Study Coach Podcast
Study Coach delivers a podcast, you will find it on Buzzsprout and most podcast platforms including Apple and Spotify and it is presented by Morel. Study Coach podcast brings awareness to interpersonal relationships issues, diversity and inclusion issues in education. The aim is to support students, parents/carers, practitioners in education to challenge discriminatory practices. To provide educational institutions with strategies and improve outcomes for all learners. Here are links to the podcast:
https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1855101.rss
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/study-coach/id1588571376
Social Skills
At Study Coach we pride ourselves on supporting adult learner’s to develop new skills, we are aware that for many people this might be the first time to learn about Interpersonal Skills and the soft skills required for employment. We are here to help empower adult students in their social life and business life.
What is Verbal Communication?
Verbal communication is spoken communication, the words we utter. Where there is a Sender (the person sending the message) and there is the Listener or listeners. It is not good to have multiple senders. Verbal forms of communication would include all those means which have speech and language as their foundations. The skills of verbal communication will consists of different elements, setting aside whether someone is speaking a particular language such as French, German, Russian, Spanish. Language may be formal or informal or colloquial language. In formal settings there is an expectation that we will adopt formal language, failure to adopt formal language could lead to negative consequences. For example, we might not get the job or we might get excluded from certain social circles. Note: that people are unlikely to tell us the real reason why we didn’t get the job or why we were not invited to the dinner, people don’t want to be accused of snobbery.
Content
This refers to the task being undertaken, it is important when thinking about a presentation. Example, the content might be communication skills for presentation/public speaking, conformity, safeguarding, negligence, essay writing and so on
Ownership of Speech
This is also important, messages should focus on the other person compared to focusing messages on self. Therefore focus on ‘you’ messages, as opposed to ‘me, me, me’.
Communication Theorists
Theorists who write about Interpersonal Communication, such as Argyle, Duck, Egan and others, suggest to us that in any verbal communication there is a sender and a receiver or receivers. In simple terms the speaker is the sender and the listener is the receiver. It therefore means that in order for people to have effective communication there cannot be more than one speaker at any one time. Now, I know that this might be difficult, particularly if it is a cultural norm for your friends and family to all talk at the same time. It might be part of the fun of chatting, part of the banter; the problem is that a one way verbal communication will be judged negatively by others. If we are not aware of the measuring yardstick that society uses to judge us, then we are further disadvantaged. As your private tutor and critical friend, Study Coach is here to assess your verbal skills, to help you reflect on your skills and to help you make improvements. Students, please note that if your verbal skills doesn’t mirror you written skills, expect that tutors might question whether you are the writer of your work. Interpersonal Skills learnt via your education journey will be applicable for work, business, and personal relationships.
How to Write a Good Essay or Dissertation
Interpersonal Skills
If you are trying to find employment while you study or attending placement, then you should appreciate the importance of acquiring good Interpersonal Skills (IPS). Broadly speaking IPS is categorised as verbal and non-verbal skills. Non-Verbal is otherwise known as Body Language; having a good awareness of your Body Language can greatly help you to influence people. Study Coach aims to help people to develop key Interpersonal Skills, in order to build confidence for interviews, build stronger relationships with clients/customers and become more socially influential. Good IPS can get you get hired and win more friends.
Negative Messages
Do reflect and correct any negative messages you are unintentionally sending to people, and learn how IPS can also help you to socially attract that special someone.
Consider the following:
- What attitudes am I expressing in my verbal behaviour?
Spoken Words:
- Transmitting information
- Obtaining feedback
Spoken words are one of the most powerful tools we have for transmitting and receiving information, whether we are simply having an informal chat with a friend, or explaining our work experience to an interviewer. Spoken words are therefore of vital importance in our public and private lives, and if we lack confidence as a speaker, the whole experience can leave us feeling extremely stressed. More importantly, if we have difficulties with speaking, we are likely to perform badly at interviews or when doing presentations – having said this – please note that everyone can undertake training to improve speaking skills, it is therefore available to you.
Non-Verbal Communication (Body Language)
NON-VERBAL CUES:
• Shrug of Shoulders
• Half-Smile
• Frown
• Kissing Teeth
We send messages through our non-verbal behaviour, and so it is important to understand the cues that the interviewer or client or potential lover may be sending, and we need to be acutely aware of the messages we are sending them. There are numerous non-verbal cues for discussion. Non-verbal cues assist us when we are speaking, and we sometimes use them to replace speech (for example a shrug of the shoulders). We do however need to know when a shrug of the shoulders will be deemed to be an unacceptable behaviour.
- Raised Eyebrows
• Sitting
• Gestures
As previously stated there are numbers of non-verbal cues, read further and focus on what is applicable to you.
Gestures
Gestures are specific actions, usually made with the hands and arms during communication. They are used to amplify and illustrate speech, and may have precise cultural specific meanings. Particularly from a business point of view we need to be aware that some gestures which are deemed to be acceptable in our culture may cause great offence to someone of a different culture. Furthermore, too many gestures could be interpreted as a sign of a deficit in verbal skills.
Communication and Emotions
Non-verbal behaviours regulate conversations; they communicate emotions, modify verbal messages, and provide important messages about the social relationships between people. Non-verbal communication otherwise referred to as Body Language provide clues that people don’t always verbalise what they are thinking. Our job is to learn that non-verbal behaviours can often mean a number of things, therefore in interpreting unspoken messages we need to look at the human context in which messages take place. We need to understand that should we give an unintentional half-smile or a frown during an interview, our receiver(s) may interpret the behaviour negatively. They might not understand the reason behind the half-smile or frown, and furthermore they might not ask for an explanation. If we are in the practice of kissing teeth – then we need to think again and change our behaviour. We need the job (not them) therefore it is for us to ensure that we understand IPS and that we effectively manage our communication.
Eye Contact:
Some business people may however be highly insecure or due to cultural norms, they avoid eye-contact with people. Eye contact is central to everyday interactions, so if we are doing business but feel uneasy about giving eye contact, we really need to reflect on this. If we are in the habit of looking cool, by wearing sunglasses when interacting with others, perhaps we should reflect on this practice.
People are unlikely to comment if appropriate eye contact is not given; university colleagues might shun you, business partners are also unlikely to make a judgement, they may however choose to limit interactions with your business. In our society we make judgements all the time (rightly or wrongly) and if people do not feel comfortable interacting with us, it is sufficient reason for people to stop interacting with us.
Questions:
• What attitudes am I expressing in my non-verbal behaviour?
• Does my non-verbal behaviour reflect my internal attitudes?
Contact Study Coach:
You can send an email to Study Coach: info@studycoachuk.com
Why not phone Study Coach and have a chat with Morel – Telephone: 07944 849271
