Employers and professional groups rate oral communication skills very high. Graduates who are good communicators have a better chance of getting a job and are more likely to receive recognition and promotion within their profession. Students also need good oral communication skills in order to learn with and from one another, especially in a cooperative learning setting. Nevertheless, many instructors do not support or promote the development of oral communication skills as part of their subject teaching. This paper describes a range of procedures which the instructor can use to promote oral communication skills, including suggestions for setting and assessing oral assignments and helping students to overcome their fear of giving presentations.
Students learn best when they are active.
Talking and listening is an important activity but many classes are dominated by the tutor, and may not promote student learning. This general climate is made worse by being periodically punctuated by required student oral presentations without supporting exposure or training in presentation skills. Many students find this traumatic, and some may even drop out because of their distress. Some of the reasons for students' reticence in class is that they see their novice role as not involving having anything to say. Once again such views may or may not be shared by the instructor.