Professional communication is a very important aspect of people these days. Within professional communication, there are many different genres of communication. One of them is the Oral genre, which is one of the most important aspects of communication. Oral communication is the main mode of communication between anyone and sometime people tend to neglect its importance. And because of that it might create some problems and may cause misunderstanding. So proficiency in Oral communication is very important as you have to speak loud and clear and teachers should help the students during their school era so that they will be proficient enough when entering the professional world (Ediger, 2011). Just completing a degree and having a certificate is worth nothing in today’s world. You have to be able to communicate with others with ease and you understand the meaning conveyed thoroughly. Richard Emanuel (2011) states that several surveys have been done which prove that speaking skills matter more than technical skills for job success.
The way the world is, there are many engineering students graduating every year. They all have hopes of getting a job in a respected company. But not everyone’s wish comes to be true. These days, companies who would like to recruit engineering graduates not only look at their skills and qualification but also at their oral communication skills. Engineering is a tricky field. It is one of the main aspects of our society and how it all works. So, being an engineer is not an easy job. Since with engineers, most of the time you have to communicate orally, the recruits must be very professional while conveying their ideas. They need to have a clear voice, a complete understanding of grammar, and an idea of what they are trying to convey. So, oral communication plays an important role in engineering graduate recruits. So, modern engineering graduates need to have both technical and non-technical skills like oral communication and presentation skills to be a part of this professional world (Kakepoto, I. A., Boon, Y., Hamdani, M., Habil, H., & Omar, N.,2012). Research done by Darling, A. L., & Dannels, D. P. (2003), showed that practicing engineers tend to talk and interact orally. It also found that professional oral speaking is a must quality if you want to be more than an engineer and move up the ladder in the job.
References:
Ediger, M. (2011). Oral communication across the curriculum. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 38(4), 221. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=f6h&AN=75900597&scope=site
Emanuel, R. (2011). Critical concerns for oral communication education in the United States and the United Kingdom. Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/apps/doc/A317588293/AONE?u=cqu&sid=AONE&xid=ddb9b3ce
Kakepoto, I., Habil, H., A. M. Omar, N., Boon, Y., & Hamdani, M. (2012). Oral communication skills of engineering students of Pakistan in perspective of industrial internships. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 1(2), 170–176. https://doi.org/10.7575/ijalel.v.1n.2p.170
Darling, A. L., & Dannels, D. P. (2003). Practicing engineers talk about the importance of talk: A report on the role of oral communication in the workplace. Communication Education, 52(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520302457