Evaluation of University Students' Communication Skills

Abstract

People have always been in communication since their existence. Communication is very important in many professions and one of these is librarianship. It is expected that the students of the Information and Records Management (IRM) department, who are preparing for the librarianship profession, will have practical communication skills. These communication skills are critical in helping library users and also completing their work successfully. Because a librarian with effective communication skills plays an active role in meeting the needs of the user. The study's aim is to evaluate the communication skills of university students. In this context, all undergraduate students studying at Atatürk University IRM department were evaluated. A survey method was used to determine the communication skills of university students. The "Communication Skills Scale", consisting of 34 items and 5 sub-dimensions (ego-enhancing language, active listening, self-recognition-self-disclosure, empathy, and using self language) was applied to the students. T-test and ANOVA test were performed in data analysis. To the results, the communication skills of the students were higher in women than in men and no significant difference in the communication skills of the students in terms of age and grade level.