Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service English language teachers' views about effective communication skills. In particular, it aims to reveal pre-service teachers' views about issues like effective communication, teacher's characteristics as effective communicators, empathy and non-verbal communication skills. This study was conducted at 32 first year students who had taken course of "Effective Communication" in the department of English Language Teaching in a foundation university in İzmir. After the studies examined in the related literature, the data were collected through a questionnaire including open-ended questions. The data was analyzed through content analysis. After data analysis process, eight themes were emerged; (1) communication (2) effective communication (3) primary communication groups (4) teacher characteristics (5) body language (6) empathy (7) chain of command (8) nonverbal communication skills and the findings were presented through these themes. According to findings of this study, the pre-service teachers defined communication as a vehicle that allowed them to use verbal and non-verbal communication channels. They also claimed that "good listener" was one of the essential parts of effective communication process

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