Any individual can communicate in one way or the other. Even animals can communicate in their own way. The communication of animals will have less clarity than the communication of human beings.
Listen, speak, read, and write are the four components of communication. The ability to convince the listener or reader can be considered a communication skill. In contemporary conditions, training in communication skills is the need of the hour for success in personal and professional life.
Teaching and learning literature are a noble thing. Literature can inspire individuals to improve their personality. The literature can guide society. It is s fact that literature can help any individual to sharpen and refine language skills. But it is a time-consuming process. Added to it, the creators of literature follow different styles of writing.
Hence, it would be difficult to standardize the language skills through literature. It should be remembered that today is an era of specialization and super-specialization in many fields, including the teaching and learning of language skills.
In contemporary conditions, it is a race against time for the common man to meet both ends of life. The employment opportunities are limited due to various reasons. The syllabus of learning of any subject varies from the state syllabus to the central syllabus.
Many times, at the level of higher education, it varies from university to university. The flexibility or variation will have certain advantages and certain limitations. In a country with a large population and limited opportunities for earning a livelihood is a challenge to many individuals. Excellent communication skills can increase the opportunities of earning a livelihood either through employment or through entrepreneurship.
Therefore, emphasis in teaching, training, and learning of the language is the need of the hour. The literature can be taught as non- non-detailed study, but training in the communication skills should be emphasized as a detailed study from the school level to the college level.
The specialization of literature or language skills may be optional at post- post-graduation level. There should be equal importance to the theory and practicals for the evaluation of the communication skills of a student.
Language labs need to be established at least at the college level. The corporate sector should give importance in establishing language labs in colleges as a part of their corporate social responsibility. Philanthropists and non-governmental organizations should help in establishing language labs.
The emphasis in the syllabus should be given to visual and vocal forms of non-verbal communication in addition to verbal forms of communication skills. Research works need to be encouraged with reference to teaching, training and learning of different languages in the universities. Different platforms of media can contribute to this noble task.
