Adeola Abdulateef Elega

2.6 Effective Communication Skills and Second Language 
Acquisition
We human beings share information between ourselves to maintain relationship. The 
processes involved in doing this are what we called communication skills. It is 
therefore imperative to incorporate this into this review because it is worthy of note 
to understand the extent to which basic communication skills in your first language 
helps you in a new environment. Efficiency in reading, writing, listening, hearing 
and speaking is vital in any language. Most importantly, these skills are acquired on 
basis of individuals learning strength and interest. These basic communication skills 
help you to get along with messages sent and how to receive them. At all levels 
effective communication is very important. According to Wertheim (2008), 
“Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success 
whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external 
levels” (Wertheim, 2008 p.1). 
Effective communication skills remain very vital for the interaction factor in our 
lives and we have highlighted the five of them as follows. 
Reading: This is the process of understanding a written message. It is among the 
skills to effectively learn languages. It is also one of the basic activities we engage in 
as human beings. It can be reading a book, an academic article, a prescription on a 
drug pack, a sign post, billboard or even newspaper. It surrounds our everyday life 

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and it almost inevitable to read. The most important of this communication skill is 
that it is very important in the acquisition of knowledge. When you want to have 
information about a course you simply grab your book and read about it. How to 
improve your reading skill is simply by constant reading (Rraku 2013 p.1).