QLK520 Communication Skills Reflections

From this Communication Skills course, I learned several techniques that would be useful in my future teaching career. Firstly, the questioning techniques that were taught to us drew my awareness to the various types of questions that one can ask to scaffold the students’ learning more effectively. This has implications on the progress of the lesson. It also serves as a useful reminder that higher order critical thinking questions, or metaprocess and interpretative questions, should be asked in the classroom, to help develop critical awareness in the students. This module on questioning also teaches me to be more conscious of the kinds of questions I ask as a teacher in the classroom, and to consider whether the questions are effective in classroom management or constructive for the students’ understanding. This was learned through the online module, and the learning was enforced through the written test.

The oral presentation was also a useful opportunity for me to analyze my public speaking skills and to identify problems in my speech. For instance, I tend to use fillers in my speech when I get nervous, and that I need to be more confident, such that proper eye contact can be maintained. I also noted other aspects of my speech, such as the need for greater variation in my tone and to slow down my speech so that each syllable can be articulated more clearly.

 The module on vocal health was also interesting and helpful in raising my awareness of the ways in which our voices may be strained or damaged by certain habits while teaching. However, it was a little hard to see how some of the proposed techniques could be applied to my teaching career as they were difficult to master or develop accurately.

 The blended approach is a helpful alternative to F2F teaching, especially in light of the heavy workload and classroom hours we already have. It requires discipline, on my part, to ensure that I browse through each chapter online, watch the videos, and note down useful learning points. This blended approach allows me to experience how extended periods of e-learning may turn out for my students in the future, and the problems that may occur in such situations. While it certainly has advantages, in facilitating learning outside of the classroom and beyond classroom hours, certain skills, especially that of communication and pronunciation, will be more effectively taught and learned in class when the students can practice before their peers and learn F2F from the teacher.