Developing Listening and Oral Expression Skills: Pillars of Influential Oral Communication

Abstract

Influence is a critical competency for success in the workplace. Past research has shown that two oral communication skills (listening and oral expression) are associated with interpersonal influence. This exploratory study examines the effectiveness of two pedagogies (leaderless group discussion [LGD] and oral presentation with a question and answer time [P+Q&A]) in developing these oral communication skills. MBA students enrolled in online courses participated in this pedagogical research. The results of paired-sample t test procedures and correlation analyses of self- and peer ratings suggest that LGD and P+Q&A are effective in developing listening and oral expression skills, which, in turn, are related to interpersonal influence. Other key findings indicate that the reactions of the MBA students to LGD and P+Q&A are favorable, and the intentions of MBA students to transfer these communication skills back to their jobs are strong. We discuss the two pedagogies from the perspectives of relevance, improvisation, inductive/deductive discourse, and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. We end with a discussion of the implications of these findings for business education priorities and business instructors.

Improving Student Presentation Skills Using Asynchronous Video-Based Projects

“…Oral communication defined as “linguistic communication that exchanges information vocally and aurally” (Brink & Costigan, 2015, p. 206) involves three different skills: listening, presenting, and conversing (Costigan & Brink, 2020). Listening represents an act of receiving a message aurally; it involves inquiry and questioning.…”

“…Organizations that invest in developing employees’ presentation skills can achieve positive benefits in the areas of improved motivation, confidence, and professional growth of their personnel, enhanced corporate reputation, and strengthened trust in corporate leadership and corporate-change processes (Baccarani & Bonfanti, 2015). Oral communication skills are essential in the exertion of hierarchical and lateral influence, and thus facilitate managers’ and teams’ performance within organizations (Costigan & Brink, 2020). Because of these benefits, oral communication skills are a common learning goal identified by business schools, with oral presentations being a popular focus of learning assessment efforts (Moskal et al, 2008).…”

Identifying difficulties in teaching foreign language speaking in the online environment

“…Taking into account the increasing role of verbal professional communication of engineering specialists when performing work online, the development of such competence is of fundamental importance. This new reality feature is indicated by many researchers [16]. In the scientific community, issues of identity/differences in the organization of the distance learning process and the corresponding interaction patterns in the classroom are being actively discussed [12].…”

“…In the scientific community, issues of identity/differences in the organization of the distance learning process and the corresponding interaction patterns in the classroom are being actively discussed [12]. It has been argued that oral communication skills (listening and speaking) in online learning are formed with the help of active interpersonal influence similar to traditional offline learning [16]. Also, it is argued to be possible to master certain oral speaking skills, i.e.…”

Profile: Interpersonal Communication Skills for Future Coaches

“…The spoken language is more widely used than the written language in life [33], so listening or the ability to understand spoken language is also the most frequently used. A critical opportunity for success shows that two communication skills (listening and speaking) greatly influence interpersonal influence [34]. Approximately three-quarters of the working day is spent conducting a form of communication [35].…”