Abstract
An important soft skill that would be advantageous for undergraduate students is the ability to communicate effectively in English in the workplace. The current study is part of a larger study which is being conducted since 2012 in a tertiary level institution in Malaysia. English is taught as a second language in Malaysia. This study looks into the use of two video recordings of two small groups of students who were enrolled for a Business and Professional Communication course. Both groups consisted of five students each. Both groups were assigned the same small group discussion activity. Each group was required to identify the main points in a letter of complaint and respond to these points. The session of 40 minutes was videotaped. Both groups of students were given a period of three days to view or review the video of their respective groups. Individual interviews with the ten students showed that there was more awareness regarding the way they, as well as their friends communicate. The issues mentioned by students included verbal and non-verbal communication. Students also gave reasons as to why they engaged in certain communicative behaviours during the small group discussion session. These included silence, attempts to give alternative views, or to agree with their friends. Finally, these information or feedback from students could be useful for pedagogical purposes to improve students' small group communication skills.
Author Information
Hariharan N Krishnasamy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Paper Information
Conference: ACSET2015
Stream: Education and Technology: Teaching
This paper is part of the ACSET2015 Conference Proceedings (View)
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