#98, Research Article: ‘Why are English Teachers Married to Soft Skills?’ by Dr Shree Deepa

ELTWeekly Vol. 3 Issue#98 | September 19 | ISSN 0975-3036

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Dr Shree Deepa works with ELTC, University of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (India).

Everyone talks about the importance of ‘soft skills.’ It has become the intellectual property of the English teachers (read experts). Any ‘Soft Skill Trainer’ has to have a masters’ degree in English (read literature, and many corporate sectors do not make a distinction between English Language and English Literature). This study explores the definition and scope of the term ‘Soft Skills’ and traces the association of the English teacher with it.

There is no consensus on a precise definition of ‘soft skills,’ but in general the term is used to describe on-the-job abilities that go beyond an employee’s job description. For example, a computer programmer’s ability to create and read programs would generally be described as a hard skill, whereas his or her ability to work effectively with co-workers, communicate with clients and manage projects would be lumped together under the soft skills banner. The term Soft Skills implies critical thinking, interpersonal communication and innovation. These are treated on par with technical skills and expertise. In fact, success in the workplace stems from having these abilities, regardless of what kind of work a person does.  Soft skills are really the hardest skills to learn and to teach. The magic word communication binds the English teacher to this field of learning. It is a sociological term which refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, and facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job. The study aims at finding out the real meaning of the term and its apparent inseparable nature from the English teachers. The study also looks into the corporate ‘syllabi’ of such training programmes.

“Right Communication is the Key,” ( DC, 22-1-2008) “Soft Skill Courses for students,” (DC, pg 17, 20-01-2008)  “Hone your soft skills to succeed” (DC, pg 22, 20-01-2008) scream the headlines in newspapers. There are special workshops to magically teach these skills that will transform any lay person into a successful employee.

Why Soft Skills?

The buzz words in the job market at every level are ‘Soft Skills’ and a person is sure to succeed in the market if s/he has these skills. In many of the corporate ‘Multi National Companies’ including Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and others the training is a part of initiation into the office. Every new employee placed from campus interviews will have to undergo technical as well as Soft Skills programme. This, they feel will increase the effectiveness of the functioning of the organization. There are other people who train job seekers in this area. But one academic question that plagues the mind of the teachers and researchers alike is that of this sudden awakening to recognize such a need in the job market. The answer lies in the apparent real gap between the needs of the market and the university syllabi; particularly the English language syllabi of various universities.

University class room syllabus versus Job Market Situation

Many state and central universities teach language as a skill and use ‘Language through Literature’ approach. Many samples from great literary writers both from India and otherwise are selected. The selections essentially include prose and poetry. Some grammar items are also taught through text based exercises, usually through lecture methods. For instance in the degree syllabus of Andhra Pradesh we have short stories written by Rabindranath Tagore, R. K. Narayan etc and some poetry selections from Gieve patel, Wordsworth etc. It is not my point to argue against this approach, but to highlight that such an approach is not a suitable one always and for everybody. These texts are far from the real life job market that each student aspires to scale. These syllabi almost totally ignore the spoken language except in general necessitated class room understanding. When these graduates and postgraduates enter the job market, the spoken language reigns supreme and they realize the deficiency leads to the ineffective productivity in the work place.

And someone somewhere has to take the responsibility of filling the gap and building the bridge. The gap is in terms of the spoken language. The sub-skills here include pronunciation (United States of America based Call Centres and BPOs), Group discussions; short turns in speaking (especially IT sectors), participation in meetings minus the sour disagreements, participation in team work etc. Since these areas are predominantly language centred the English teachers are expected to fill in the gaps created by the university syllabi. So they become soft skills trainers.

Aim of Soft Skills Training according to the training leaders:

INC a soft skills training institute aims at developing “. . . independent thinking and helps the students in developing holistic perspectives, strong domain knowledge, contemporary skill-sets and positive attitudes.”

SkillSoft another institute aims at providing “. . . a greater range of learning opportunities than ever before, everything from compliance and basic skills training to just-in-time performance support and unique learning initiatives aligned with specific business goals.”

The Centre for English Language Teaching (CELT) of Osmania University recently conducted workshops on Soft Skills and its aim was to teach the participants communication, language, organizational effectiveness, team work, time management etc.

The Osmania University has included two optional papers titled  “Soft Skills: Personal Effectiveness” and “Professional Skills: Communicating for Success” as part of its distance education Masters of Arts(English) Programme. The first paper aspires to teach “ Self-awareness, Team work, Generating ideas, Managing change, Self-development, Proactive mindset . . .” etc.  The second paper aspires to teach “Reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and listening.”

The Real Aim

The real need of the hour in the job market is to equip the employees and the would be employees in the areas of group discussion (discussion versus argument), use of polite language in a meeting, writing minutes of the meeting, participating in a team, polite assertiveness, acceptable neutral accent, global body language etc.

Methods/ Materials

These ‘skills’ that are taught include things like Communication, Language competence, Organizational effectiveness, Team work, Global culture and Body language.

Classroom Instruction: Students are usually given full-time classroom instruction, which will help them to learn and consolidate their understanding of the newly learnt skills.

Courseware: Usually they provide ‘quality’ courseware comprising textbooks, workbooks, study guides, model question papers, etc., designed for independent study.

The Problem with materials

The materials prepared by English teachers are from the same old general topics, for example the Osmania University Course titled “Professional Skills: Communicating for Success” has a task (Appendix Pg 26) that is heavily drawn from English Literature. Now this is of no use to the employee in his/her office and in no way helps perfect or address the real situation at the office. In other words these tasks are straight from the college text books but given a new title. They are in no way simulated environments of situations at the work place.  In the same course book grammatical labels are introduced to the students. The writers have failed to ascertain or understand the real need of the students. Clear communication needs no grammar labels, just common sense and some exposure to the language.

The second course titled “Soft Skills: Personal Effectiveness” also draws heavily from the field of Management, it has different management strategies and group dynamics. It also draws from the field of psychology, and elaborates the learning processes and the functioning of the brain in general. These are also alien to the real consumers as it is just a theoretical discussion of academic interest and very far away from the real need.

Ideal Materials: The materials ideally should include case studies and simulated environments of situations at the work place. Producers of this kind can be found in the in-house training programmes such as the ones conducted by Infosys, wherein a needs analyses is the foundation on which the training is based. Similar effective programmes are organized by many institutes, such as CELT one day workshops.

Ideally speaking real problematic situations at the work place in the form of case study and case problems should form the text of the materials instead of literary texts. Independent Study: All students are provided with the comprehensive study package consisting of quality courseware. This helps students to achieve a prescribed level of knowledge through self study.

Assignments: The study package also includes self evaluation assignments that help students to evaluate their own academic progress.

Case-based Learning: INC extensively uses case study method as a very important teaching and evaluation tool. The students are tested for case studies in each subject. This reinforces their understanding of the concepts and their ability to apply the same in real-life situations.

IT Lab: Assignments related to computers will require the students to spend significant time in the lab. All the students will have access to well-equipped computer lab, for their practical work in IT courses.

The LEAD Program : INC has designed an innovative program titled “Learn, Earn and Develop (LEAD)” Program for the benefit of the students, allowing them to obtain practical work exposure while studying at INC and also earn performance based incentives.

Summer Internships: The summer internships enables the students to experience the rigor of business environment and combine the concepts learnt in classroom with the real-life situations in organizations.

Live Projects: Students are encouraged to pursue live projects in each of the courses to enhance their learning by applying theoretical concepts to industry situations. This is done under the guidance of experienced faculty to ensure proper focus and implementation.

Evaluation: Student performance in each course will be assessed by means of continuous evaluation. Students will be evaluated on the basis of assignments, seminars, projects and tests.

They have evolved a comprehensive student-centric learning approach consisting of several stages, designed to add significant value to the learners’ understanding in an integrated manner.

Soft Skills Lab: The Soft Skills Lab excels in imparting soft skills which form the vital component of the corporate needs. The exclusive design and the right mix of teaching and training processes of Soft Skills Lab help the students add a new dimension to their personality. The innovative methodology to impart soft skills is the propelling force and the Soft Skills lab thrives on it. The novel approach of the training is a cut above the rest. An activity based learner centered curriculum ensures that the student is well rounded to understand the subtleties of the corporate world. The core elements of the methodology like pair work, group work, stimulating group discussions, mock interviews, skits, role plays, etc. instill confidence in the students to meet the challenges of corporate work culture. They specialize in imparting soft skills which form the vital component of the corporate needs. The exclusive design and the right mix of teaching and training processes of Soft Skills Lab help the students add a new dimension to their personality. The innovative methodology to impart soft skills is the propelling force and the Soft Skills lab thrives on it. The novel approach of the training is a cut above the rest. An activity based learner centered curriculum ensures that the student is well rounded to understand the subtleties of the corporate world. The core elements of the methodology like pair work, group work, stimulating group discussions, mock interviews, skits, role plays, etc. instill confidence in the students to meet the challenges of corporate work culture.

The ‘Soft Skills Trainers’ must essentially have a ‘good command of English’ and ‘a Masters degree in English’ (read English Literature) scream the appointments column. But the hard fact is that the English teachers come from the same universities they teach.

Sources consulted:

1. “Hone your soft skills to succeed.”  Deccan Chronicle, Hyderbad Sunday, 20-01-2008, pp 20.
2. Professional Skills:  Communicating for success, PGRR Centre for Distance Education, Osmania University, Hyderabad [Certificate in Professional Skills]
3. “Right Communication is the Key”, Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, Tuesday, 22-01-2008, pp 24.
4. “Soft Skills courses for students” Deccan chronicle, Hyderabad, Sunday, 20-01-2008, pp 20.
5. Soft skills:  Personal Effectiveness, PGRR Centre for Distance Education, Osmania University, Hyderabad, [Certificate in Soft skills]
6. Workshop material of “Workshop on Soft-skills”, CELT, Osmania Univeristy, Hyderabad.