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Comparative Studies on Communication Apprehensions among Regional Medium and English Medium Students in Engineering Colleges - A Case Study W. Grace Shanthi, Prof. Annie Pothan & Prof A Ramakrishna
Introduction
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“The ability to speak effectively is an acquirement rather than a gift” - Williams Jennier Bryan. In the present context of teaching English as a Foreign Language, the success of an Engineering graduate in the on-campus recruitment is based on his communication skills. Students should be given sufficient preparation in the direction of work place communication. Future Engineers are expected to have excellent communicative skills and also soft skills which include team spirit, leadership qualities, positive values etc. Hence, the educational institutions are responsible to assist engineering students in preparing them with these important skills. Graduates in various fields should be competent in communication skills in order to succeed in their workplace tasks effectively (Charles worth, 2008; Crosling and ward, 2002). As far as English proficiency is concerned, most of the college students at the tertiary level are not proficient. Though they have studied English for many years, most of them find it difficult to speak in English. They were neither taught to speak effectively inside the classroom nor did they take any neccessary steps on their own outside the classroom to learn to speak. Students experience apprehension when asked to communicate orally. Certain level of communication apprehension is inevitable although it varies from person to person. "The person with high level of C.A will avoid communication much of the time in order to avoid experiencing the fear or anxiety the person has learned to associate with communication encounters (McCroskey, 1977). Communication Apprehension: It is one of the primary elements found to be associated with poor communication skill development. McCroskey (1982) defined C.A as “an individual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons”. According to Berger and etal., “it is the way a person feels about communication not how they communicate”. The fear or anxiety could be due to lack of proficiency in the target language, lack of practice or insecurity. Even those who have good proficiency in a language can experience Communication Apprehension. Some people may be good at general conversation, but may not feel comfortable making presentation and vice versa. Some may be good at writing but they may have problems speaking in front of an audience. The major problems faced by the engineering students are poor communication skills, fear and anxiety associated with oral communication and an inherited trait. This study is primarily focused on oral communication apprehension. Literature Review and the need for present study Many researchers have been undertaken in the field of Communication apprehension. Researchers investigated how C.A could hamper the development of communication skills. Thaher 2005, Howowitz 2001, Allen and Bourhis 1996 report that students showed a significant level of C.A which negatively affected their language learning outcomes. Radzuan and Kuar (2010) observed a moderate level of C.A in most of the Volume 3 Issue 1
April 2014