View of ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION, LANGUAGE AND SOFT SKILLS BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Vol. 07, Special Issue 04, (IC-SSIALPI-2022) August 2022 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL)

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ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION, LANGUAGE

AND SOFT SKILLS BUILDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Dr. Shaikh Yasmeen Mahmood

Assistant Professor, Contractual MANUU-C T E, Aurangabad (MS)

Abstract- Language and Soft Skill are interrelated and leads to Education and Carrier.

Appropriate soft skills play an important role in a successful career as well as during social interactions in the society. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of soft skills in the context of higher education and in the context of the language learning in Educational Institute. It also provides ways of including soft skills instruction in the context of higher education. The article also aims to discuss the need of including soft skills in undergraduate studies curricula and to provide arguments in favour of including soft skills, in higher education. The article will also present the importance and necessity of soft skills for their future careers. The conclusion will offer some practical suggestions regarding soft skill, language and education should provide via Curriculum by Educational Institutions.

In the 21^st century soft skills that are also called “applied” skills or “21st-century skills” are considered an important differentiating factor for achieving job position and success in life.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 21^stcentury Language and Soft Skills are Called „Applied Skills‟ or „21^st Century Skills.‟

After getting Higher Education Language and Soft Skills are considered an important differentiating factor for achieving job position and success in life. Besides the knowledge;

language and skills directly related to the profession, the so-called soft skills are essential for future development. Soft skills involve communication, problem-solving, decision- making, computer, leadership, teamwork, critical and creative thinking, presentation, reflection and other skills, which help people to be employed and develop a successful career. According to Cimatti (2016), are those skills that are not related directly to a specific task fulfilled at work, but are linked with the job in general and concern relationships with people (colleagues and clients). The benefits of soft skills include increased confidence, managing and developing self and tasks, better performance in interviews, better work performance, ability to apply numeracy; increased emotional intelligence, autonomy, and holistic growth (Meeks, 2017; Petiz Pereira and Costa, 2017;

Tsey et al., 2018; Wats and Wats, 2009; Wheeler, 2016) which needed in carrier development. It is necessary to develop both language and soft skills, because they are just as important for the graduates‟ future careers. Teaching Language in the 21^st century is aimed at mastering intra- and interpersonal skills or, in other words, the so-called soft skills that are vital for personal development, social participation, and workplace success.

2 LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION-

Vygotsky (1978) writes that “...children solve practical tasks with the help of their speech, as well as their eyes and hands”( pp 26). In Vygostsky‟s view, speech is an extension of intelligence and thought, a way to interact with one‟s environment beyond physical limitations: the most significant moment in the course when speech and practical activity, two previously completely independent lines of development, converge (pp.24).

This higher level of development enables children to transcend the immediate, to test abstract action before they are employed. This permits them to consider the consequences of action before performing them. But most of all, language serves as a means of social interaction between people, allowing “the basis of a new and superior form of activity in children, distinguishing them from animals” (Vygotsky, 1978, pp28f).

“Language plays a central role in learning. No matter what the subject area, student assimilate new concepts largely through Language, that is when they listen to and talk, read and write about what they are learning and relate this to what they already know.

Thought speaking and writing, language is linked to the thinking process and is a manifestation of the thinking that is taking place. Thus by explaining and expressing personal interpretations of new increase both their knowledge of the concept in those field

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and their understanding of the way in which language is used in each.” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 1984; quoted in Corson 1990, 75).

3 SOFT SKILL

Soft skills that is vital for personal development, social participation, and workplace success. These skills can also influence our ability to navigate through life successfully and effectively. Soft skills can be efficiently taught at universities if integrated into curricula and syllabi.

Basically, soft skills refer to personalities, attributes, qualities and personal behaviour of individuals. Soft skills include certain abilities of communication, problem- solving, self-motivation, decision-making, and time management skills. A study by Hodges and Burchell investigated the perceptions of business employers of the importance of different skills. It was reported that eight out of top ten skills were soft skills which included the ability and willingness to learn, teamwork and cooperation, interpersonal communication, energy and passion, and problem-solving skills.

Soft skills are a cluster of productive personality traits that characterize one's relationships in a social environment. These skills can include social graces, communication abilities, language skills, personal habits, cognitive or emotional empathy, time management, teamwork and leadership traits. A definition based on review literature explains soft skills as an umbrella term for skills under three key functional elements: people skills, social skills, and personal career attributes.

The importance of soft skills lies in the fact that they are not restricted to a specific field. These thinking dispositions consist of a group of abilities that can be used in every aspect of people's lives, without any need to readapt them based on the situation. Their ductility helps “people to adapt and behave positively so that they can deal effectively with the challenges of their professional and everyday life”. Soft skills make people flexible in a world which keeps changing.

4 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE

Educational Institution of higher learning plays a very important role to produce a human capital that is highly knowledgeable and skilful to meet the demand and expectations of many people. The teaching and learning processes in institutions of higher learning should be capable to provide such knowledge and skills to future graduates. A holistic approach should be used to plan and implement the soft skills among students of higher education.

This approach is based on the combination of Activities, formal teaching and learning activities (include all curricular and co-curricular elements); support programs (academic and non-academic focused) and the students? Campus environment.

Institution provide avenues and opportunities for developing soft skills with education. Soft skills were usually embedded in different academic courses. With this some credit courses that focused on developing certain soft skills. Like; Business Communication, Strategic Management, Leadership and Team-Building, Management Communication, Effective Communication, Fundamental Communication, Creative Problem-solving, and Strategic Thinking. In addition to integrating soft skills in certain professional courses and specialized soft skills development credit courses, the universities and educational Institute also providing many opportunities to their students to improve soft skills. By incorporate more soft skills development activities into the curriculum with this definitely student‟s move towards productive development. Still Required progress not seen due to obstacle come in the way of Education, language and skill development in frant of Educational Institute.

Olesya Medvedeva (Nov. 2020) mention the obstacle in between developing soft skill in students in higher education in study of Monitoring Of Students' Soft Skills Development Within Foreign Language Learning Using Online Technologies But modern higher education is not ready for developing such soft skills due to several problems occurred: (1) a lack of a unified typology of soft skills; (2) differences in understanding of importance of developing soft skills between students, higher education professionals, and employers; (3) unavailability and the lack of focus of higher education institutions on the development of students' soft skills; (4) the lack of valid methodologies for developing soft skills.

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In the 21st century soft skills that are also called “applied” skills or “21st-century skills” are considered an important differentiating factor for achieving job position and success in life.

5 RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND SOFT SKILL

Soft skills represent a fundamental skill set in the world of education. In recent years, there has been growing attention on the part of educational institutions and universities towards soft skills consider as an asset for students. Language are definitely part of Soft Skills because they form part of the basis of behaviour and personal traits that makes an individual be able to relate with fellows beings. Relationships are forged through communication and for communication to be there sometimes it involves languages in as far as Humans are concerned. Convincing, persuasion, and changing of people's minds involves language. Shaheen Majid Reported in his study Importance of Soft Skills for Education and Career Success, that majority of the students lack adequate communication skills, students participating in this study were asked about the barriers encountered by them in developing and practicing different communication skills. The top four barriers, as identified by the students, were: lack of confidence, nervousness, shyness, and lack of proper training (see Table 9). Although around one-third of the respondents were from overseas, limited English language proficiency and cultural difference did not appear as the major barriers to communication. It appeared that proper training and adequate opportunities to practice are likely to improve communication skills of the students. From this we can get to know that language is means of Education as well as Soft Skill Development. The OECD „'Future of Education and Skills 2030‟' report released in 2019 highlighted the growing importance of soft skills in education due to trends such as globalization and rapid advancements in technology and artificial intelligence, which demand changes of the labor market and the skills future workers require in order to succeed. It says, "to remain competitive, workers will need to acquire new skills continually, which requires flexibility, a positive attitude towards lifelong learning and curiosity".

6 CONCLUSIONS

Language and communication skills were among the most desired soft skills. Thus there is need to create awareness among the students about the importance of communication skills for career advancement and how to develop and practice such skills. The incompetence of the future graduates to master both languages will be a set-back to a lot of potential development and advancement of the country. Thus, this is a good time to reorientate the curriculum of higher institutions to embed communicative skills.

We need to explicitly evaluate communication, not just in English and languages, and again not on a basic level, but explicitly, while also providing actionable feedback to students.

Therefore, the model can be useful for removing or decrease the obstacle in between soft skills and language development in the system of higher education in Educational Institution.

REFERENCES

1. Dr. Priyanka Anjan Rao (2016), Language Across The Curriculum, Approaches, Processes and Skills, Kanishka Publishers, Distributors New Delhi.

2. Dr. Shailja Bhangale and Dr. Sangita Mahajan (Nov. 2015),Language Across The Curriculum(A3), Prashant Publicassion,Jalgao(MS).

3. Shaheen Majid, Zhang Liming, 3.Shen Tong, 4.Siti Raihana(Dec. 2012), Importance of Soft Skills for Education and Career Success,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307710561_Importance_of_Soft_Skills_for_Education_and_Care er_Success

4. Vaishali Jain (Feb. 2009), Importance of Soft Skill Development In Education, http://schoolofeducators.com/2009/02/importance-of-soft-skills-development-in-education/

5. Elena S. T. (Dec. 2015),Integrating soft skills in higher education and the EFL classroom: Knowledge beyond language learning,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299999967_Integrating_soft_skills_in_higher_education_and_th e_EFL_classroom_Knowledge_beyond_language_learning

6. Olesya Medvedeva (Nov. 2020), Monitoring Of Students' Soft Skills Development Within Foreign Language Learning Using Online Technologies, https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3446434.3446551

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_skills.