Report writiing oral communication skills

IMPORTANCE OF
ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

For
NUS Career Centre
Report by: A0119072L
Date: 7th October 2013

Content Page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………………………………….2
1.0 INTRODUCTION ...…………………………………………………………………..…3
1.1 Background…..…………………………...………………………………………3
1.2 Problem, Purpose and Questions ……………..………………………………….3
1.3 Scope …………………...……………….………………………………………..4
1.4 Limitations ………………………………..……………………………………...4
1.5 Sources and Methods.……………………….……………………………………4
1.6 Report Organisation ……………………………….……………………………..4

2.0 FINDINGS ...……………………………………………………………………………..5
2.1 Barriers to effective communication ………………………….……….……..…..5
2.2 Important oral communication skills in the workplace ………...…...……………6
2.3 Performance measures for effective oral communication ….…………………….7
2.4 Oral communication skills valued in export industry .............…………..………..8
2.5 Application of oral communication skills in export industry …….……………....9

3.0 CONCLUSIONS ………..……………………………………………………………….10
3.1 Importance of oral communication in the export industry ………………………10
3.2 Main types and aspects of oral communication skills ……………………...……10
3.3 Performance indicators to rank effective oral communication …………………..11

4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS ………………………………….…………………………….11
4.1 Enhancing current curriculum ...…………………………………………………11
4.2 Promote greater understanding of industry’s communication practices .………..12
4.3 Leveraging on bilingualism ……………………………………………………...12

5.0 OVERALL CONCLUSION……………………..………………………………………14

6.0 REFERENCES ………………………………….……………………………………....15

7.0 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………...17

1|P ag e

Executive Summary
Oral communication skills are among the intangible skill sets most valued by employers, especially those in the export industry. However, graduates from National University of Singapore (NUS) have been noted to lack these essential soft skills which undermines their employability for the export industry. The NUS

References: Tan, E. C. (2011, December 11). Career Workshops for NUS Students. Retrieved from http://blog.nus.edu.sg/provost/2011/12/11/career-workshops-for-nus-students/ Myles. (2009). Oral competency of ESL technical students in workplace internships. TESL-EJ The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks. (2006). Essential Skill of Oral Communication. Zaccheus, Melody. (2013, January 31). Employers looking more at graduates’ soft skills. The Straits Times newspaper MIX: Asia’s Creative Meetings Magazine. (April/May, 2009). Future Watch: Focus on meeting’s value Chia, Ashley. (2012, October 8). A test for better communication. TODAY newspaper. Based on a report by Hilton on business communications (April, 2009). See Prophisee. Hilton Report: Business Communication Habib, I. B. (2011, October 17). Multilingual skills provide export benefits and better access to new emerging markets Dixon, L. Q. (2005). Bilingual education policy in Singapore: An analysis of its sociohistorical roots and current academic outcomes, 8(1), 25-44 70% of surveyed employers felt NUS graduates lack jobs-seeking skills. (2011, December 16).