1. Introduction

University students interact daily and participate in various activities where they require communication skills. “Effective communication is about more than just exchanging information; it's also about understanding the emotion behind the information” [Rana, 2015]. “Students interact massively every day; they exchange news, thoughts, feelings, information, and points of view. The students’ ability to effectively carry out these operations is called communication skills. Today, this ability seems to be the most critical factor of student life to consider and maintain good relationships with one another” [Sabbah, 2020]. “Effective communication helps people learn easier, strengthens the relationship between the teacher and the learner, and creates a positive atmosphere in the learning environment” [Diloyan, 2017]. Likewise, learners need to possess good communication skills. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the word "communication" means 'the act of imparting, especially news,' or 'the science and practice of transmitting information.' Communication skills can be defined as the transmission of a message that involves shared understanding between the contexts in which the communication takes place. There are different skills related to communication, such as providing and receiving feedback, active listening, and fully comprehending articles. Therefore, communication skills are vital soft skills.

Communication skills are especially important for students in the English department, where various methods are followed. More focus is placed on presentations and group discussions in this department. To perform well in class, students need to have strong communication skills. Furthermore, communication skills are also crucial for securing a job and performing well in it. Interviews are a fundamental part of the job application process, where communication skills are a basic requirement. Additionally, many students studying in the English department will pursue careers in teaching, making effective communication skills essential for successful teaching.

2. Literature Review

“An effective communication strategy is a process through which the organizational works are supported by transmitting information to each other for better outcomes and performance” [5]. To achieve academic and professional excellence, it is mandatory to gain a command of communication skills; without effective communication, it is scarcely hard to witness success stories. In this connection, a substantial amount of research on communication skills has been conducted to investigate the level of communication skills among university students [4]. “Effective Communication is a skill that must be effectively practiced at the workplace for better work output and results. Several studies identify that effective communication is imperative in the workplace for increasing employee productivity and organizational performance. It is a fundamental need to all administrative functions” [6]. In every sort of organization, effective communication is badly needed. Likewise, effective communication enhances organizational relationships and minimizes strikes and lockouts. Organizational purposes and goals are sometimes defeated when communication is not effective. Wastes and costly mistakes have been made due to communication gaps. Lack of effective communication is one of the major reasons that can lead to confusion and poor planning in many organizations [7].

It is evident from these studies that communication is the process through which ideas are transmitted from one person to another or from one group of people to another, either verbally or in writing. “While embracing change, effective communication is instrumental to achieving an effective organizational change. Various research studies have interlinked organizational communication and organizational change together which indicates the growing importance of the role of communication in organizational change and how effective communication has become a potent driver for its successful implementation. The various research studies also highlight that effective communication during organizational change helps in reducing the many barriers of effective change like job insecurity, uncertainty, anxiety, demotivation and low levels of productivity” [8]. The literature reviewed will adequately assist the researchers to further gain an in-depth analysis concerning the phenomenon of exploring communication skills among third year students in the context of Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah.

3. Research Methodology

The present study was based on a survey of the Communication skills of Third Year Students of the English Department using quantitative methods for gathering information. The subject of study was third year English students at Quest Nawabshah. Data were collected online through Google Forms. The population was a total of 34. The questionnaire is divided into four skills reading skill, writing skill, listening skill and speaking skill, each skill contains three questions utilizing a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire.

3.1. Research Site

The target population of the study was third-year English majors at Quaid-e-Awam University Nawabshah.

3.2. Data Collection Method

A 4-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect the data online. The purpose of this questionnaire likely was to learn more about the participants' reading, speaking, listening, and writing communication abilities.

3.3. Data Gathering Procedure

Google Forms were used to collect data online. Participants were likely sent a link to the survey, and they responded online.

3.4. Data analysis

The data were analyzed through SPSS software. The data were examined using descriptive statistics. Using measurements like mean scores, and percentages, and graphical representations like pie charts, descriptive statistics frequently include summarizing and presenting data in a useful way.

4. Findings

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that the respondents were more confident in their listening skills compared to their speaking and writing skills. The mean score for listening skills is 3.1176, which is higher than the mean scores for speaking and writing skills. We analyzed the four communication skills, namely speaking, listening, writing, and reading, among third-year students in the Department of English. The total number of respondents was 34. We employed a four-point Likert scale and administered a questionnaire to the students. The findings indicate that there is awareness among the students regarding the importance of communication skills. They are actively participating in various activities to enhance their communication abilities, with a particular emphasis on improving their listening and speaking skills.

4.1. Speaking Skills

The research was conducted using three questions, in which three aspects were analyzed.

Q1: How confident do the respondents feel in expressing their thoughts in spoken form?

As the questionnaire was quantitative, there were four options:

The first option was "somewhat confident," which had 2 points.

The second option was "quite confident," which had 3 points.

The third option was "very confident," which had 4 points.

After collecting the data, it was concluded that 8 of the respondents were somewhat confident in expressing their thoughts in spoken language, 14 respondents were quite confident in expressing their thoughts, and 12 were very confident. From the above analysis, it is evident that the third-year English department students are quite proficient in speaking skills.

Table 1 shows how much the respondents are confident in their speaking skills.

Q2: How often do third-year students engage in activities to improve their speaking skills?

This question also contained four options as follows.

The first option was "not confident at all," with 1 point. The second option was "somewhat confident," with 2 points. The third option was "quite confident," with 3 points. The fourth option was "very confident," with 4 points.

After analyzing the data, it was found that 2 respondents were not confident at all in expressing their thoughts in spoken form, 10 respondents were somewhat confident, 14 respondents were quite confident, and 8 respondents were very confident in their speaking skills.

Q3: Have the third-year students noticed any kind of improvement in their speaking skills from previous times?

This question was also based on four options as follows.

The first one was "slightly," containing 1 point. The second was for those who have not noticed any kind of improvement in their speaking skills. The third one was for those who have observed moderate improvement in their speaking skills. The fourth one was for those who have observed a significant improvement in their speaking skills.

The results showed that 2.9 per cent of third-year students have noticed no improvement in speaking skills, 38.2 per cent of respondents have slightly observed improvement in speaking skills, 35.3 per cent of the students have observed moderate improvement in their speaking skills and 23.5 per cent of students have observed significant improvement in speaking skills.

4.2. Listening Skills

Q1: How actively do third-year university students engage in activities that improve their listening skills?

This question also contained four options as follows.

One was for those who rarely or never engaged in any activities to improve their listening skills. The second option was for those who occasionally engaged in activities that could improve their listening skills. The third one was for those who daily or regularly engaged in activities to improve listening skills. The fourth one was for those who very frequently engaged in activities to improve listening skills.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that 17.6 per cent of the respondents rarely or never engaged in any kind of activities to improve their listening skills, 41.2 per cent occasionally engaged in improving their listening skills, 38.2 per cent performed activities daily to improve their listening skills, and 2.9 per cent very frequently performed activities to improve their listening skills.

Q2 Have the 3rd year students noticed any improvement in their listening skills over time?

This question was also asked from 3rd-year students by using an online questionnaire based on a 4 Likert point scale that contained 4 options. I.e. not at all, slightly, moderately, and significantly After performing data analysis, it was recorded that only 23.5/respondents had observed significant improvement in their listening skills one observed no improvement, and the percentage of the respondents who observed slight improvement in their listening skills were equal to those who had observed moderate improvement in their listening skills.

4.3. Writing skills

Writing skills were also analyzed of 3 Rd year students by taking their responses to 3 questions based on this area of skills

The first question was how confident are the respondents in clearly explaining their thoughts in written form. As the below table shows the response was taken by giving them 4 options i.e. not confident at all, somewhat confident, quite confident, and very confident. So, after analyzing the data we have come to know that one respondent form 34 respondents is not confident at all in his writing skills, 12 respondents are somewhat confident in conveying their message in written form, 13 respondents are quite confident only 8 respondents were very much confident in expressing their thoughts in written form.

Q/2 Have the respondent perform some kind of activities to improve their writing skills

Through this question, we come to know how much 3rd year students are willing to improve their writing skills by engaging in productive activities, and after analyzing their responses the researcher came to know that only 14.7 % of the respondents are frequently engaging in activities to improve their writing skills, 23.5% of the respondents are regularly engaging in the activities to improve their writing skills, 41.6% of the respondents are occasionally engaging in activities to improve their writing skills and 20.6% of the respondents are not interested in improving their writing skills and they rarely or never engage in activities to improve their writing skills.

Q3 Have the respondents noticed any improvement in their writing skills over time?

As the below table shows 5.9% of the respondents have noticed zero improvement in writing skills, 41.2% of the respondents have noticed a slight improvement in their writing skills 32.4% of the respondents have noticed moderate improvement and 20/6%ave noticed a significant improvement in their writing skills.

4.4. Reading skills

Reading skills are also part of communication skills which play a great role in acquiring knowledge about different topics in the world .3 questions were asked from respondents and 2/are explained below.

Q1 How often do respondents engage in reading activities?

This question was a closed-ended question based on 4 options. i.e. rarely or never, occasionally, regularly, and very frequently From the responses of respondents, we come to know that only 4 respondents frequently engage in reading activities, 11 are regularly engaging in activities to improve reading skills and 18 are occasionally involved in reading activities.

Q 2 Have the respondents noticed any improvement in reading skills?

12 respondents were those who have noticed moderate improvement, 21 slight and one noticed no improvement in reading skills.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, this study examined the critical area of communication abilities among third-year Quaid-e-Awam University Nawabshah English major students. In both the academic and professional worlds, communication skills are essential tools that shape how students participate in tasks like presentations, group discussions, and debates. The four main components of communication that we looked into were reading, speaking, listening, and writing skills. A thorough examination using a 4-point Likert scale questionnaire allowed us to gain insightful information about the communication skills of our 34 respondents. The results revealed several insightful results. Notably, compared to their speaking and writing abilities, our respondents showed greater confidence in their listening skills. This increased assurance shows that English department students are prepared to understand the phenomenon of effective communication skills which need to gain command on for their satisfactory learning outcomes and high achievements in the long run.