University Students’ Communication Skills as a Determinant of Academic Achievement

  • Ashfaque Ahmad Shah Centre for Economics of Education, Department of Education, University of Sargodha, 40100, Sargodha, Pakistan
  • Zunaira Fatima Syeda Centre for Economics of Education, Department of Education, University of Sargodha, 40100, Sargodha, Pakistan
  • Sehrish Naseer Centre for Economics of Education, Department of Education, University of Sargodha, 40100, Sargodha, Pakistan
Keywords: Academic achievement, Communication skills, University, Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigates into the academic achievement of university students as determined by their communication skills. The differences in groups were measured on the basis of gender, locality, semester and program of the study. The researchers developed their research instrument by adapting from the two questionnaires. One was the research instrument used at the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario (n.d.); and the other was the “Questionnaire-Verbal Communication” (Pierrete Desrosiers, n.d.). Taking Sargodha district as the population, conveniently sampled 160 students from the University of Sargodha were surveyed through the questionnaire. The study was quantitative in nature. The findings of the study concluded that students’ communication skills yielded statistically no effect on their academic achievement. Also, the students at all levels (semesters) and in all programs were reported to have comparably equivalent level of communication skills. This is a unique study of insignificant differences at all levels and programmes; and statistically no interpretable effect of the communication skills of the students from University of Sargodha, on their academic achievement. It challenges previous research studies. It is further recommended to study the same phenomena in further detail to make decisive remark in the research literature.

Published
2020-06-25