Effective Communication :: essays research papers

Effective communication is vital in teaching. Fento standards encourage teachers to â€Å"select and organise relevant information clearly and concisely†¦ present information to learners clearly and in an appropriate format†¦Use a range of communication skills and methods appropriate to specific learners and to the subject being studied. (www.fento.org) The necessary information that we as practitioners are trying to impart to our learners needs to be transmitted in such a way as to eliminate as many barriers or elements of interference as possible. However there can be numerous factors which hinder the message that we are trying to convey. This is concisely encapsulated by Petty â€Å"The â€Å"check and correct† phase also provides vital feedback for the teacher. Is learning taking place? Am I teaching too quickly? Are they doing it properly? The importance of this feedback cannot be over-stressed.† (Page 30) Petty here was recognising that a common barrier to learning is that the receiver may interpret the message that we send in their own way, according to their common frames of reference, which may be different from ours as the sender. An easy trap for us as practitioners to fall in is the use of â€Å"jargon†. There may be terms or words that we may use regularly and are comfortable using, however, some of our learners may not have experienced or even understand these terms. To help to minimise this confusion Reece and Walker suggest that â€Å"Non verbal signals – or even verbal signals, from the students should give us valuable feedback on the quality of communications.† (Page 271) Therefore we as practitioners must be vigilant in recognising the subtle or even not so subtle feedback on whether the information that we have imparted to the learners has been received in the context that it was sent. This may even include a question and answer session to determine understanding. The effective design and use of conventional and ICT learning materials. The availability of new types of resources and new types of interaction can satisfy different learning preferences and present alternative ways of accessing the same information. Reece and Walker (page 181) â€Å"A good aid is one which does a particular job to assist in the learning of a particular topic for a particular group of learners. But all learners are different. So, what works for one group does not necessarily work with another.† Therefore, we must continue to evaluate any resources that we may design and create that it is appropriate for the purpose, each student’s learning style, ability and understanding.