Importance of Communication Skills in English Speaking: Review of Research

English is the most globally used language and having good command over it is very essential. As we know, all the international affairs and business communications use English as its base language. Nowadays, it is necessary for everybody to have good command over the English language, and this is true specially for professionals who work in the field of information and technology. Engineering students should know the importance of English language as it is the base for their survival in the fast growing industry. There are many incidents in which the Engineering student is technically sound but still faces challenges to survive in this competitive world, due to lack of communication skills. Thus, the main cause of unemployment among the engineers is the lack of good communication skills. As the world has already acknowledged the importance of English, so it is high time that our Engineers should do the same.

The researcher herself, being a science student with an engineering background, is well-versed with the problems faced by fresh engineering graduates. Also, they face many hardships while communicating in situations like facing job interviews or other interviews, group discussion rounds, or even presenting themselves in professional situations. In the words of Clement and Murugavel, “Many engineering graduates in India are found to be unemployable due to their poor communication skills and lack of confidence. There have been a lot of research papers that have recapped the importance of improving engineering graduates’ employability skills; however, the problem of poor communication skills grows unabated in India.”5 (116). Every Engineering course offers the teaching of English language or communication skills in their curricula, even then the problem of lack of communication skills on the part of fresh engineering graduates still exists. This is very shocking as after having studied English till class 12th with further training in Engineering course, still the students are not able to speak English fluently and confidently. So, the teachers must initiate to improve the communication skills of the students by properly evaluating the English pedagogy.

This study focuses on the current education system which undergraduates are going through in the engineering colleges as very little focus is given to communication skills as compared to the technical subject. So, it is a high time that we revise our education system as per the needs of placement companies and other colleges. As marketing and many other fields require good communication skills to impress the consumer so the English language is gaining equal importance as the technical knowledge. Also, the growing foreign investments in our country and the continuous increase in corporate culture is demanding students to have good English speaking and communication skills to get placed in such companies. We also need to improve the spoken English part of the learners as it will help them in their employability and their survival in the long run. It is necessary to maintain international acceptable standard of English language, as English being a foreign language poses a number of challenges to both students and teachers who are obviously the non-native speakers. To discuss in detail, there are some facts that need to be acknowledged like nearly 1.5 million Engineers pass out in India every year but 20 – 33% of Engineers do not get recruited at all. Engineering colleges have almost doubled up in the last decade.