Examining the Significance of General Indian English and Soft Skills: An Employability Perspective

Abstract

The Corporate sector has witnessed a drastic change in the last few decades around the world and India is no exception to it. Ever since the proliferation of globalization, inter-state business has grown up like never before. Consequently, multinational companies are gradually taking over the local businesses, which created a paradigm shift in the recruitment processes of companies to meet the demands of the job market. Earlier, people used to get recruited merely on the basis of their job-specific skills called Hard Skills. Today, employers need candidates who can communicate well in English as this language serves as the lingua franca, i.e. a common language of communication among employees of different regional and linguistic backgrounds. Moreover, particular preference is given to the candidates who possess certain necessary skills in addition to hard skills such as communication skill, time management, leadership, adaptability, team work and so on. These skills are known as soft skills. Thus, young job aspirants who can speak fluently and intelligibly in English and possess soft skills get an edge not only during the recruitment process but also during the job. In the above-discussed context, this paper attempts to carry out a critical analysis of teaching General Indian English and soft skills for generating employability among Indian job. To test the same an activity-based study was conducted with a group of 20 undergraduate students which consisted of pre-training and a post-training test. The analysis of the results showed positive changes in students’ attitudes and confidence after they undergo soft skills activities as well as spoken English lessons in General Indian English. Thus, this study suggests the integration of a paper on GIE and soft skills across all disciplines at undergraduate level or a short course on the same.