Reflection Report: Overcoming Communication Challenges and Skills

This report presents a reflective journal entry detailing a student's experience with communication challenges encountered while studying in Dublin, Ireland, where English is the primary language. The student, whose first language is Arabic, faced difficulties in communicating effectively, leading to feelings of frustration and isolation. The report utilizes David Gibbs' reflective model to analyze the challenges, including descriptions of specific incidents, the emotions experienced, evaluations of the situations, and in-depth analyses of the factors involved. The student identifies weaknesses in communication skills and outlines an action plan to improve them, emphasizing the importance of practicing English, seeking feedback, and integrating language learning into daily life. The conclusion highlights the significance of strong communication skills for personal and professional development and reinforces the value of continuous learning and adaptation in overcoming language barriers.

Running Head: EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS 0
Employability Skills
Employability and Enterprise Skills
(Student Details :)
11/14/2018

Employability Skills 1
Contents
Employability and Enterprise Skills...........................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Reflection...................................................................................................................................2
Description.............................................................................................................................2
Feelings..................................................................................................................................3
Evaluation..............................................................................................................................3
Analysis..................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................4
Action Plan.............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

Employability Skills 2
Employability and Enterprise Skills
Introduction
This paper is containing a reflection journal about communication challenges and incidents,
during my study tenure in Dublin, Ireland where communicating medium is English language
and I am a person having Arabic as my first language. This is the reason that it was very
difficult for me to communicate with the public and I felt offended many times because of my
less effective communication (University of Missouri, 2009). I will draw my reflection
through analysing factors include challenges I have faced, pros of the situation, cons of the
situation and learning from the incidents. By doing self-assessment through self-analysis, I
can abate my weaknesses regarding my communication skills; those have hindered my
personal as well as professional development during my studies abroad in Dublin (Cherry,
2018).
I realised that having effective and strong communication skills is not easy task because
communication is something that is must for all daily life as well as professional life
activities (British International School, 2016). I will use David Gibbs Reflective Model to
reflect my experience of studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland.
Reflection
Using David Gibbs’ reflective model (Gibbs, 1988), I am reflecting my experience in Dublin,
Ireland, because I am a human with versatile personality and active learner attitude. Usually I
do all the things with full enthusiasm except when I am ill. Moreover, I am having flexibility
in my attitude and hence I do adaptively react in the critical situations (Southampton Solent
University , 2012). Here, I am introducing Gibbs Model of reflection for reflecting incidents
as well as my whole experience of adapting English language communication over Arabic
one.
Description
I am reflecting my personal experience (Atkins & Murphy, 1993), as I am a person who
speaks Arabic as a first language and a student who studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland which
is an English speaking nation. I am analysing that how communicating with people was

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difficult for me to and how it made me feel during some incidents (Cherry, 2018). I was very
good at speaking Arabic, like every person is usually good at his or her first language. After
moving in Dublin, Ireland I realised that I am out of my zone and Arabic is not enough to talk
with the other human beings. I felt that I was bound to communicate with the people who
were familiar to Arabic language. Because I was not good at speaking English and I had to
communicate for the each and every activity of daily as well as formal living (Lawrence &
Ashmore, 2014). As we know that our first language is the mother tongue and the language
spoken by our parents at home even prior to a child starts schooling (British International
School, 2016).
Feelings
I realised that for the children who have English as their first language, and brought up in
international customs, it was a nice opportunity to help them developing a second language
easily. In my beginning days in Dublin, I struggled a lot and I had no friends because of my
communication difficulty towards English language (Valenzuela, 2014). I used to sit alone
for hours in my university and when other students used to try interacting with me on any
topic or activity then also it was a failure for me to communicate with them in their first
language (South University, 2013). After my worst days in Dublin, I decided to learn English
as my second language after all I was having my entire curriculum left and I was supposed to
spend a long time in the Ireland. Then I started learning English language with the help of my
teachers, nearby persons, local public, some of my well-wishers and I really felt good.
Evaluation
After evaluating my experience in Ireland, I evaluated that when I tried to speak English, the
language seemed like stuck in my mouth initially, and I could not express myself to the
surrounded people as well as university professors. The reason behind my low pace of
learning English was that i was afraid about insult, because my communicative English level
was not enough to communicate fluently with the other people (Ash, 2015). I also evaluated
that whenever I needed to talk and communicate, then I used to start searching for the words
and hence because of lack of words, I was losing my confidence (McMillan & Weyers,
2013). My communication skills made it difficult for me to interact, gel up and make friends
in Ireland in the beginning days. Afterwards I assessed the weaknesses, barriers and other
factors related to my weak communication skills and I improved myself through adapting to
the situation as well as requirements (Annemarie, 2017).

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Finally, I evaluated some things in general also; our global education system must prepare
students for learning English language as their second language (Conley, 2015). We should
proficient our first language but we should learn languages in partnership through giving
equal weightage to our first language as well as English language because it helps all in
becoming bilingual (Fast Company Magazine, 2018).
Analysis
I analysed that I went to Ireland for studies; hence my effective communication with the
peoples’ of that place was the foremost important for surviving there. I have been studying
there for long years so I was needed to improve the communication skills of mine as much as
possible (Costa & kallick, 2008). Thus my analysis of my experience in Dublin depicted that
i needed more practice to maintain my communication level and also to improve it from an
intermediate level to an advanced level. My analysis states that in order to improve
communication effectively, we can take help from the students who have achieved serious
success in their English (Moon, 2006).
In my opinion, one of the effective ways to improve English fluency is continue practice. One
needs to adopt English as a part of their everyday life. Additionally, practicing regularly is
the most important thing in language learning process, however just for 15 or 20 minutes but
it must be regular every day. Thus, I used to use every free minute of mine for doing
something to improve my English. For example, I used to listen to different English podcasts
daily morning during my walk with my dog. Besides, I used to read newspaper daily in
English language in the Ireland’s Dublin city. Moreover, I had a practice to read some journal
in English right before going to bed. I usually used to listen to some music or news in English
during my evening as well as morning running time on the track (Bolton, 2014).
Conclusion
Therefore, I got a lot of difficulties in my path of strengthening communication skill set, but
at the same time I tried to analyse, evaluate, observe and correct those mistakes, challenges at
my best. Due to my active learner attitude, I learnt English which seemed impossible to me
during my initial days. My whole experience in Ireland was full of challenging incidents
include crossing language barriers, correcting past mistakes and addressing those major
issues wisely. I learnt that when you do not understand anything from the other person’s
language then what should you do, how you can handle that situation well. From the learning
experience at Dublin, today I am capable to communicate with the local public of Ireland

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through same expressions that native speakers use when they do not understand any person’s
language. Moreover, I also learnt the pronunciation tips those are helpful when you need to
know how to pronounce English language popular words more naturally.
Action Plan
As an action plan I will always nourish my second language whenever I will get a chance to
do so, because it is the global language of business. Due to the fact that English is the second
most spoken language worldwide, I will further tell my other family members as well as
friends about my experience and the importance of the English language while you travel
internationally. Besides, I feel that practicing English every day has helped me a lot; hence I
will continue my English practice in future also. I will improve my daily practice by doing it
with some English experts. Moreover, I will suggest that if you do not have a colleague to
practice, and then read out loud to practice any language for the better pronunciation and
communication. I will try to record myself talking in English to check my fluency during
communicating with other persons.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my future action plan will contain activities those challenge my
communication skill set, like I just mentioned above that, recording my own conversation of
talking in English. These kinds of activities will allow me to calculate in which areas such as
grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, I need further improvement. Additionally, I learnt the
importance of first language in our life, being an exclusive way to communicate with the
whole world throughout the whole lifecycle. Moreover, my learning from this experience is
that communication skill set is the most essential step for the successful future and career of a
good student. Because listening, reading, and writing carefully are the part of the trio of key
communication skills for every student. In this way good and strong communication is the
heart of a human growth and development process, hence we should always try to have it
anyway.

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References
Annemarie, 2017. Feeling Stuck in Your English? Here’s Why & How to Fix It. [Online]
Available at: https://www.speakconfidentenglish.com/stuck-in-english/ [Accessed 12
November 2018].
Anon., 2008. In Costa, A.L. & kallick, b. Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16
Essential Characteristics for Success. alexandria: ASCD.
Ash, G., 2015. Top 5 Reasons to Study English as a Second Language. [Online] Available at:
https://www.studyinternational.com/news/top-5-reasons-to-study-english-as-a-second-
language/ [Accessed 12 November 2018].
Atkins, S. & Murphy, K., 1993. Reflection: a review of the literature. Journal of advanced
nursing, 18(8), pp.1188-92.
Bolton, G., 2014. In Reflective practice writing and professional development. london: sage.
British International School, 2016. The Importance of First Language. [Online] Available at:
https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/our-schools/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/bis/article/
2016/9/8/the-importance-of-first-language [Accessed 12 November 2018].
Cherry, , 2018. Cattell's 16 Personality Factors. [Online] Available at:
https://www.verywellmind.com/cattells-16-personality-factors-2795977 [Accessed 14
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https://www.pearsoned.com/student-aspirations-key-to-powerful-learning/ [Accessed 11
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Fast Company Magazine, 2018. Eight career skills you need to be competitive in 2016.
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Oxford Further Education Unit.
Lawrence, L.W. & Ashmore, L., 2014. In The Reflctive Practitioner in Professional
Education. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

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McMillan, K. & Weyers, J., 2013. In How to Imrove your Critical Thinking and Reflective
Skills. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Moon, J.A., 2006. In Learning Journals: a handbook for reflective practice and professional
development. Oxon: Routledge.
South University, 2013. Why Being social is good for you. [Online] Available at:
https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/why-being-social-is-good-for-
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Southampton Solent University , 2012. Reflective thinking and writing. [Online] Available at:
https://learn.solent.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=2732&chapterid=1112 [Accessed 08
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Valenzuela, H., 2014. Preparing English as a second language students for college level math.
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