Why we must strive for effective communication, language competence

Communication and language are very vital instruments of interaction. They are essential part of everyday life. The word communication has been derived from the Latin word “communis” which means “to share”. The relationship between communication and the human society is immense. The inability to effectively communicate with others can create a plethora of challenges for anyone, regardless of their life goals or ambitions. Being able to communicate precisely in any language is the most important tool in our engagement cycles. It enables us exchange information between individuals or groups of people. It is the process where we clearly and accurately endeavour to convey our thoughts, intentions and objectives. From the word go, every creature in the world needs to communicate with another creature from its kind. The insects, for example, have antennas to speak or to understand each other. A bear’s brain is said to be a third of the size of ours, yet the part devoted to smell is five times larger. The bear, the shark, the elephant, the kiwi, snakes, name it; have highly developed senses of smell. For human beings, the communication has different meaning. As human beings we created our own languages by using our minds and we have the ability to speak. We use these languages to communicate with each other. With the onslaught of technology, these languages have also improved and now we have lots of communication mediums through which we use languages to pass messages.It is needless to say that competence in oral communication - in speaking and listening - is just but a necessity in today’s changing world. In our schools, communication is a prerequisite for students’ academic, personal, and professional success in life. Indeed, teachers deliver most instruction for classroom procedures orally to students. At a given stage when a foreign language is introduced as a medium of instruction for example English in upper classes, students with little understanding of the language fail to absorb much of the material to which they are exposed. Their problems are intensified when they respond incorrectly or inappropriately because of not getting the question right. Students who cannot clearly articulate what they know may be wrongly judged as not knowing or poorly informed. Such students could also be subjected to stereotypeby others who relatively have better understanding. Of equal concern, students who are unable to effectively ask for help from a teacher will not receive it, and typically these reticent students’ progress would ordinarily be lower than others despite being in the same class. Even when we become working adults, communication competence continues to be essential. Communication is required in most occupations. Employers identify communication as one of the basic competencies every graduate should have, asserting that the ability to communicate is valuable for obtaining employment and maintaining successful job performance. Before securing any job, one would require the ability to assemble a resume and other academic credentials that will reflect how best he communicates his abilities in written form. The communication skills as well are essential in the workplace which also include oral, writing skills and the ability to communicate in work groups and teams with persons of diverse background. However, it is clear that communication can never be effective if one has no conception of the language of interaction. Taking this to a different level where one needs to develop his professional competence especially in today’s era where the world has been termed as a global village or a scenario where one has to be posted outside his home country. Rwanda has adopted English and French as the official languages and Kinyarwanda is the national language. In this process the young generation should not risk having a mastery of half way English and half way French. This could mean our young people caught in this balance would be disadvantaged to compete with others at regional or international level. Communication does help in the transfer of heritage from the old generation to new generations so that it can be preserved for the coming generations. One French-born American literary critic, George Steiner once said “When a language dies, a way of understanding the world dies with it, a way of looking at the world.” Precisely, let us not allow our young generation’s language literacy die. It should be noted that proper understanding or competence in internationally spoken languages would ensure we have people who would stand to debate, share and learn great ideas at global platforms. Apart from our Kinyarwanda language, which we should guide jealously, let us also strive to create an equilibrium of bringing up those who either fully understand French, English or both. This is when we shall have a preserve of a generation that can competently communicate at professional level and interact worldwide in their respective careers. oscar_kim2000@yahoo.co.uk

Opinions

Why we must strive for effective communication, language competence