Why are oral communication skills so important?
Oral communication skills are crucial in dealing effectively with others, and this is important in any situation. At University it is important to have good oral communication skills if you are giving presentations, explaining your work to others, when you are taking part in seminars or tutorials and generally in talking to other students and staff. Recruitment procedures for jobs virtually always require you to be interviewed, and most further courses will also want this. Employers look for good oral communication skills in their recruits. You may also find it helpful to look at the ‘Negotiating and Assertiveness’ topic in the ‘Working with Others’ theme (see the menu to the left of the screen). How to use this topic You can either start by: • working through the ‘Skill Check’. This will help you evaluate your skills in this area and will then suggest which topics in the system will most help you • going straight to items in the menu. Note that the Oral Presentations topic only is at
