RESEARCH PAPER

TITLE : IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFT SKILLS BY DEVELOPING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AT SECONDARY LEVEL
BY : SUNIL P. GAIKWAD
ASST. TEACHER
NEW HIGH SCHOOL, GANGAPUR
DIST.- AURANGABAD

Abstract :
Most of the work in any organization does not depend on a single person, so a
soft skill has the great importance for the capability of team work. Soft skills involve the
sharing of views and ideas with your team members.
Present Curriculum is student centered and activity based. It is expected that
teacher should conduct activities in the class by forming pairs or groups. While working in
pairs or groups, all the students can be active. They can share their ideas and views and help
each other. Thus soft skills can be implemented consciously at secondary level.

Preliminaries :
This paper deals with the soft skills to be implemented in the students at
secondary level. The language activities included in the course book are to be done in pairs
or groups in the class. Students are encouraged to play their role in the group and to respect
opinions and attitudes of others in group. They are also expected to contribute to the group’s
plan and coordinate the efforts of group besides being responsible to the group’s decision.
This skill increases the ability to work cooperatively with other students.

Soft Skills :
Soft skills are identified to be the most critical skills in the current global job
market especially in a fast moved era of technology. It can make or break your career.
. In Wisdom and Experience, the term soft skills refer as,
A group of skills and personal qualities that present day
employers look for and value in their employees. Soft skills
relate to communication skills, both spoken and written
positive personality traits, social skills, personal attitudes,
etc.
[ 2007 : 99 ]
Soft skills is a cluster of personal qualities, habits and attitudes that make
someone good and skilled employee. One of the most important soft skill is communication
or proficiency in the use of language. Soft skills can make people handle several tasks
together at one time and also to coordinate between different people.

Communication Skills at Secondary Level :

Communicative skills are an integral part of education system either in
secondary education or higher secondary level. In many countries, including India,
Secondary level education focuses on reading, writing and speaking skills. Emphasis has
been given to develop the communicative skills of individual so that by the time they leave
school, they are able to participate in public and community activities and decision making.
At present people of the nation is lacking of communication skill.
At secondary level, Communication skill is the section in the text to be taught
with the help of group activities recommended by the State Board. The major thrust of the
curriculum of English is on the development of the basic language skills. These skills are

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 closely interrelated and inter-dependent. Communication skills help students in
consolidating the development of language skills, as these tasks offer further practice in the
use of English. Teachers and students have to adopt the following methods/steps.
To exemplify this, the question of communication skill from the English
Reader, A Course book in English, Standard X th is produced below,
Unit 1 : 4 “This is What Love is all about”
Question of Communication skill : Imagine you are
a doctor, asking your assistant to examine an elderly
person. Make a list of instructions that you have to give
to your assistant. You can use the words/phrases from
the text, wherever necessary.
You may begin with – Here is the elderly person, please
attend to him/her - ………..
You - ………………..
[ 2007 : 34 ]
To practice this, following Methodology is given in the ‘Teacher’s Manual, Std.X
( Third Language )’ ,

Methodology :
 Ask the students to work in pairs.
 Ask them to enact their roles of a doctor or his assistant.
 Ask them to write down the instruction by the doctor.
 Ask the pairs to present the dialogue to the class.
 Ask them to write the best of the expressions.
 Help the students wherever necessary.
[ 2007 : 53 ]

Teachers are expected to follow the methodology for ‘Communication Skills’, a

section in the texts of secondary level This question helps to develop the communication
skills in students. Thus one of the most important soft skill can be implemented at this level.

Necessity to Implement of Soft Skills at Secondary Level:

Soft skills include communication skills both written and spoken skills. These
skills are learnt consciously. Proficiency in the use of language makes the ability to read,
write and speak English to make communication among groups of students possible.
Communication helps to develop the competence. It proves fruitful while
working at various stages of professional life. It can make people agree with your
suggestions. It enables one to handle unforeseen situations in life.
No one can deny the importance of soft skills at Secondary Level. One can’t
imagine children going to school without having soft skills,
In the real world ignoring soft skills is the equivalent
of sending kids into the woods without camping gear
or at least with nothing but a sleeping bag. A lack of
soft skills competency is the number one complaint
I hear companies today about the young people they
hire. This same lack is also cited as a major reason for
firing an employee.
[ www.klausact.com/tips_topics_20.html], March 15,2011.
The Network’s additional schools in New York City, Philadelphia and also

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Network affiliated schools in Texas have included soft skills in their curriculum. It has
seven focal points as below:
a. Controlling yourself
b. Getting the job done
c. Communication
d. Handling differences
e. Navigating your Environment
f. Bragging and Branding
g. Becoming A Leader In your Own Life
[ Ibid : 01]
Students should learn to control and should understand their own strength and
weakness. It can develop his/her self confidence. These skills are used to make the students
solve their own problems.
People, who are good in communication, can be successful in their jobs. They
are afraid of facing problems in their professional life and jobs. But Soft Skills can make
them enough brave to face the communication hurdles.
The term Communication skill refers to some good qualities and skills to get a
job. It means academic qualifications or professional qualifications are not enough to get a
good job. Communication skills are useful while interacting with customers or colleagues.
Soft skills are not implemented separately, but it is a part of curriculum. In school
curriculum, Writing skills and Communication skills are included to develop soft skills in
students at early age.
Today everyone understands the significance of leadership. Soft skills involve
the ability to motivate and lead. It also helps to use reason rather than emotion to resolve
conflicts, when things go wrong. It makes one able to handle emergencies and unforeseen
situations and to display good organization skill at work. So one has to see the scope of Soft
skills.
Present curriculum is skill based. With the acquisition of four skills, the
learner is expected to learn to use and apply English. It is also expected that students should
know the basics of soft skills. The learning of English is expected to be useful and relevant
to the present time and context. The present curriculum gives scope for self learning and
also for the overall development of learner’s personality.
Ajit Thete in an article on “Career Mantra”, in ‘Sakal’, writes,
Now-a-days Communication skills, Creativity and
Presentation skills, all known as Soft skills are
demanded in Business, Industries and Individual
jobs. As a worker, businessman or Industrialist,
one plays a role to develop one’s own field. All
these fields become challenging. So Soft Skills
are needed with our personal and professional
skills for our effective role in our field. Soft Skills
which are needed to be successful are called as
Generic skills or Life skills. In India institutes
like Personality Development and Spoken English
are preparing ( developing ) the curricular of
Soft-Skills.
[ March 28,2011]

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 All the skills are interrelated and interdependent, so, one can not master over
these skills till he/she knows the other ones. Actually students don’t need to read or do other
Exercises other than their text books to have listening, reading and speaking skills.

Conclusion :
To live the challenge of globalization, a nation depend on the ability of its
citizen to be highly intellectual and skillful. Without a quality human, a nation will be weak
as there is no human factor that is capable to embark on new initiatives and perspectives. A
quality human comes from a quality education process. The teaching and learning process
in schools should be capable to provide such knowledge and skills to future graduates. If
teachers understand the importance of soft skills and follow the given methodology
recommended by the State Board, Soft Skills can be implemented effectively in students at
secondary level. Thus oral and written communication would help teachers as well students
to meet their emotional, practical and professional needs.

WORK CITED
1) Board of Editors, 2007, Wisdom and Experience, Orientation Longman Private
Limited, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad.
2) Kumbhar Rajaram, Shankar Digdeotulwar, Nandkumar Pimple, Mrs.Varsha Thombre,
( eds.)
Books : a) 2007, English Reader : A Course Book in English, Std. X
( Third Language ) Teacher’s Manual, Maharashtra State
Board of Secondary Education, Pune.
b) 2007, English Reader : A Course Book in English, Std. X
( Third Language ), Text Book, Maharashtra State Board
of Secondary Education, Pune.

ARTICLES
1) Thete Ajit, March ‘Career Mantra’, Aurangabad, Sakal, March 28, 2011.

WEB PAGES
1) www.klausact.com/tips_topics_20.html, accessed on March 15, 2011.