How to Improve Communication Skills: 9 Expert Tips for Students.
Every person must be able to communicate effectively. College committees and employers evaluate a candidate’s ability to express personal opinion orally and in written forms. Contemporary students have serious communication problems. They got used to abbreviations and emojis when chatting on Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. BTW and IMO have replaced ‘by the way’ and ‘in my opinion’. It is comfy to use one word instead of long complex sentences.
Unfortunately, profitable reputable organizations require individuals who can listen, speak, and be emotionally aware. Today, millions want to become YouTube influencers. They often fail, being unable to impress and understand their followers. Essay writing experts from AdvancedWriters have researched the problem and created a list of tricks to improve indispensable communication skills.
Tip#1. Communication Is not Only Words
Students often think that rich vocabulary is the key to successful communication. Indeed, it consists of three main components:
- listening comprehension
- verbal self-expression
- emotional awareness
First, a person must be ready to HEAR the opponent and grab each his or her word. In other words, when you get the message, your response will hit the target. Second, one needs to speak distinctly, logically, to the point, and be picky in word selection to convey the message properly. Third, empathy makes communication more effective. Participants must be able to read the emotions of each other to catch the tone and sub-context of every lexical unit.
These three components make a conversation meaningful and fruitful.
Tip#2. Make Your Leisure Time Useful
Everyone likes watching movies. By making the right choice, pleasure can turn into research. For example, one can watch “Dead Poets Society” and analyze eye contacts, gestures, questions and responding to them, and, of course, the use of lexical units.
Another variant is to visit a theatre or opera. Live actors interact not only with each other but with the audience as well. A performer must possess excellent communication skills to make the audience laugh, cry, gasp, and freeze from thrilling episodes. A student should become a critic who came to evaluate the personnel’s acting and the play in general. One can take notes to explain the use of concrete gestures to support concrete expressions. Why has an actor raised brows and hands?
Tip#3. Apps and Software are Helpful
Imitation is one of the most effective ways to master languages and proper communication skills. Professionals on AdvancedWriters recommend their customers listen to authentic speeches and imitate speakers to acquire the right intonation, pronunciation, and train ear. It is not a problem to find the best tool on Play Market or App Store. A person installs them and practices daily. For example, Communication Skills Development in 21 days might become a perfect tool for this purpose.
Tip#4. Join a Club
The most effective method to develop communication is to join a club. Students have different interests, so colleges organize various thematic clubs to let them relax and share interests after classes. Besides, it is an excellent way to develop communication skills and guide a person to the desired occupation. Such clubs help students better understand their intentions and express them verbally and emotionally.
If a person wants to get a job that demands direct interaction with customers or public speeches, theatrical clubs will become a perfect choice. Participants improve their memory by learning poems and huge texts and learn how to feel and express feelings using both words and gestures.
Tip#5. Prefer Video Calls to Text Messaging
Students like e-chatting which kills good communication skills. If you have no opportunity to chat alive, speak over the phone, Skype, Zoom, or Facebook video calls. Simple phone talks will also do, but video conversations let a person see the opponents, their emotions, mimics, gestures, and reactions to their questions and answers. No doubt, it is easier to use an emoji instead of searching for a suitable word to convey the feeling. Nevertheless, it negatively affects one’s communication competence.
Tip#6. Work in Pairs and Groups
They say, if you want to do something good, do it yourself. It is a nice saying but it does not contribute to the development of communication. Teamwork demands task distribution, selection of presentation methods, research, etc. Consequently, group mates have to provide ideas and support them with facts and evidence to reassure others that the chosen topic is worth paying attention to. Live conversation is involved and assists in a better understanding of the team’s needs regarding the preferences of every member.
Tip#7. Ask and Answer Open-Ended Questions
You are not the only person who needs to master communication skills. It is a great idea to find a partner or partners and organize a meeting devoted to some urgent problems or things that worry everyone. Members should get ready for the meeting and create a list of open-ended questions that require full answers and critical thinking. Such talks unite and help everyone mirror personal thoughts and get heard. It is even better than visits to psychologists. The main task of professionals is to let you vent. The main goal of such a meeting is to listen, understand, respond, and solve problems if necessary.
Tip#8. Proofread and Paraphrase
This tip might sound boring but its advantage is indisputable. Some students have problems with finding synonyms and providing brief but smart and exact expressions. Their texts are overloaded with heavy long sentences full of repetitions and clichés. Such students have to write down their words and then proofread the text. Hard-to-read extracts are to be paraphrased. Repetitions and primitive expressions are to be improved. In the end, one should read the speech aloud and record it. A student should listen to it to understand whether it sounds influential and convincing or not.
Tip#9. Read Aloud
Reading aloud is a perfect assistant in the development of proper intonation, word stress, and distinct pronunciation. A person speaks and listens to one’s voice. It will be cool to choose a fairy tale and alter voices to sound like a monster, a little girl, an animal, or any other character. One can also try to pronounce the same sentence using different intonations and voice pitches.
It does not matter what method you will choose. The most essential thing is to select an approach that will be the most convenient and effective.
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