Effective Communication Skills | Meaning of communication skills | B.Ed. notes

Effective Communication Skills

Every individual needs to be well equipped with the tools to communicate effectively, whether it is on the personal front or at work.

In the communication process we receive or send information using various skills, and effectiveness of the communication process depends on use of appropriate communication skills. Initiation of the communication process does not ensure that the intended receiver has received the message with common mutual understanding of the content as delivered by the sender. This is because distortions might occur at different sequential steps of the communication process. To minimize gaps in communication, one's communication skills need to be sharpened so that the communication process is more effective.

Meaning of communication skills

• Communication skills are the abilities to use language (receptive) and express (expressive) information. Thus, communication skills are the abilities that help us send and receive information effectively. These can be natural or acquired.
• Communication skills refer to the range of behaviors that serve to convey information to another individual. This process require one or more of the skills of thinking, speaking , listening, reading, writing, visualizing and body language. This set of skills enables us to express and receive information under different situations in different ways.
• Psychologically speaking, the set of behaviors that serve to transmit and share common information to create a mutual understanding of the content being shared are termed as communications skills.