A training program to enhance communication skills of international students

Teaching and learning enhancement is one of the strategic priorities of Swinburne University of Technology. The aim of this research project was to design a customised program that teaches communication skills to TAFE international students. The “Reading Strategies for Better Understanding of E-Texts” training program was unique in its approach to teaching communication skills. This program had a pre- and post-test program design and included eight sessions where students learnt how to apply metacognitive reading strategies to comprehend e-texts effectively as well as to use information from different sources for their writing (summarising, paraphrasing and quoting). The results of this program have shown that metacognitive strategy training enhanced international students’ e-text comprehension performance significantly. The findings of this research have provided an innovative solution to training international students in communication skills. Finally, a methodology of teaching communication skills to international students has been outlined in this paper.