119460 - Use language and communication in occupational learning

Welcome to the

Use language and communication in
occupational learning programmes

US 119460

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Objectives of this Module

The purpose of this Module is to facilitate learning and to ensure that learners are able to cope with learning
in the context of learnerships, skills programmes, and other learning programmes. Many adult learners in the
FET band have not been in a learning situation for a long time, and need learning and study strategies and
skills to enable successful progression.

Learners competent at this level will be able to deal with learning materials, to access and use useful
resources, to seek clarification and help when necessary, and apply a range of learning strategies. They do
this with an understanding of the features and processes of the workplace and occupations to which their
learning programme refer.

· Access and use suitable learning resources
· Use learning strategies
· Manage occupational learning programme materials
· Conduct basic research, analyse and present findings
· Function in a team
· Reflect on how characteristics of the workplace and occupational context affect learning

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What will you be assessed on

• You will be assessed during the course of your study. This is called
formative assessment. You will also be assessed on completion of this
unit standard. This is called summative assessment.

• Before your assessment, your assessor will discuss the unit standard
with you. Assessment takes place at different intervals of the learning
process and includes various activities.

• Some activities will be done before the commencement of the
program whilst others will be done during programme delivery and
other after completion of the program. The assessment experience
should be user friendly, transparent and fair.

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Specific Outcome 1

FInd and use available learning resources

Assessment Criterion 1
Relevant learning resources are identified

Assessment Criterion 2
Learning resources are used effectively through appropriate
selection of information and acknowledgement of sources

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Definition of Learning Resources

First, we should understand what we mean by ‘learning’. Learning
happens when we acquire any new knowledge, skill, attitude or value
that changes how we think or do things, or even feel about a subject.
When we have learned something, we have better skills in doing
something, we have more knowledge about it, we have a different
attitude towards it, and perhaps our values have changed in some way.
A learning resource contains information for learning. When we use
any resource to get information, it becomes a learning resource. Now
check that you understand the definition of learning resources by
answering the questions below

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Examples of Learning Resources

• The best place to look for resources is a resource centre. This is usually a library in
which you will find a variety of learning resources, mainly books, but libraries are
increasingly including computer-based or electronic resources

• The Reference section keeps books for readers to use at the library. Many
libraries now have an information technology section, where electronic resources
are available.

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Examples of Learning Resources

• Dictionaries,
• Encyclopaedias and other reference works.

The dictionary is a source of information about words and their meanings.
Dictionaries can also be cross-language (English-Afrikaans or English-IsiXhosa). A
Thesaurus is a dictionary-like reference book that lists words and their
synonyms, and is a useful tool for writing. Encyclopaedias have information
about a large number of topics (listed A-Z). They usually extend over a number
of volumes.
• The Periodicals section stores journals and magazines

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Internet Learning Resources

• What is the internet? It is a network of electronic communication.
• Anyone can have access to it as long as they have a computer (with a modem)

that is linked to a service provider.
• Through this technology, an internet user can get access to countless websites,

with all the information that these websites contain.
• There is more information on the internet than in any other storage system in the

world. For this reason, it is potentially a very important learning resource.

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How Learning Resources are selected and
acknowledged

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Is the resource Reliable?

When you are using learning resources, a key factor is how accurate the
information is. The internet, in particular, can give you a lot of
information but you have to use your judgement as regards the
reliability of that information.
An important factor is to use credible websites i.e. websites that are
recommended, established and reliable.

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Acknowledging Resources

A critical point to bear in mind when doing research is that
whenever you use that information in writing up or presenting
your research you must acknowledge the source of that
information.
This is extremely important for two reasons. One is that whoever
reads your writing may want to follow up on a point, and the
other, more serious reason is that using information without
stating where it came from is seen in the same way as taking
something from another person without their permission.

In the academic world this is termed plagiarism, and it is seen as
theft.

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Information required for Acknowledging the
Resource

• Book Title
• Book Author
• Book Publisher
• Date and Place of Publication
• ISBN Number

Example: Farmer, E: Feeding a Nation, Miller Publications,
London, 2003.

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Information required for Acknowledging the
Resource

• Article or Journal Title
• Name of the Journal
• Year of publication
• Volume Number
• Applicable page numbers

Example: SABIE Report, South African Bee Journal 2003
Volume 75 No. 3, p. 87

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Harvard Referencing System

• For full information on how to correctly reference resources, please
read the following

• http://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing

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Specific Outcome 2

Use learning strategies

Assessment Criterion 1 to 5
Information is summarised and used for learning purposes
Specific techniques are selected and applied appropriately

Relevant questions are asked
Texts are read/viewed for detail, interpreted and analysed for a

given context
Spoken/signed input is listened to, viewed for detail,

interpreted and analysed for a given context
Learning takes place through communicating with others in

groups or as individuals

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Learning Strategies

• We will be looking at how we can use such resources for
learning.

• We will look in some detail at the strategies that we can
use to help us learn more effectively.

• We will consider the strategies of summarising,
questioning, reading actively, listening actively and
learning by communicating with others.

• We will work in groups and individually, learning to select
and apply a number of techniques.

• Finally we will examine how effectively we are able to
apply these strategies and techniques in practice.

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Summarising information for learning
purposes

Summarising is one of the most important skills that we can use for
learning. It makes us read the text with understanding, and therefore
helps us to learn what we are reading:
• look for main ideas
• identify the key sentence in each paragraph – this should ‘cover’ or

include all other points
• Do not confuse main ideas with examples
• cut out detailed descriptions or extensions.

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Selecting and applying specific techniques

• Brainstorming
• Group analysis
• A Mind-map
• Note-taking
• Memorising by repetition
• Key words
• Underlining
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Peer assistance
• Self-assessment

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Asking relevant questions

• check that we understand something
• clear up anything we do not understand
• get more information
• make sure that we have accurate information

To encourage a healthy learning environment, it is very important to
respect one another’s right to ask questions.

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Reading for detail, interpretation and
analysis for a given context

Reading for learning, however, is different from all of
these because we are then reading in a very directed,
goal-oriented way.
Success in reading to learn depends on using certain
‘attack’ skills when we approach the text.
It is useful to be aware of the strategies we can use to
get information out of the text.

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Reading for Learning

• detail i.e. extract information that is stated directly in the text
• interpretation i.e. extract the meaning where the idea is there but not

stated directly
• analysis i.e. use the content to draw a conclusion or add your own

idea: you have to sort out some information in the text to get an
answer, or assess something in order to give an opinion

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Listening for detail, interpretation and
analysis for a given context

• Detail: where the information is stated directly in the
text

• Interpretation: where the idea is there but not stated
directly

• Analysis: where you add your own idea: you have to
sort out some information in the text to get an answer,
or assess something in order to give an opinion.

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Learning through communicating with
others

• It exposes us to more ideas than our own. We saw the
value of this in brainstorming

• It can assist our creative thinking to have a number of
people sharing their ideas, which we also saw in
brainstorming

• It helps us to organise our own ideas when we speak about
them, and this reinforces our learning

• It gives us a chance to test out our own ideas, when our
peers give us constructive criticism

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Points to remember

• Successful communication needs not only good speaking skills,
but also good listening skills. When we listen to someone
attentively and empathetically, we help that person to express
their ideas more clearly, and we therefore help their learning
process.

• The opposite is worth mentioning: if a listener interrupts
constantly, or has a negative attitude, it can interfere with the
speaker’s thoughts, and therefore block their learning
processes.

• Some people work better on their own. This should be
respected, but we all need group interaction some of the time.

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Specific Outcome 3

Manage occupational learning materials

Assessment Criterion 1 to 3
Occupational learning materials are organised for efficient use
Layout and presentation of learning materials are understood

and used effectively
Technical language/terminology is engaged with and

clarification sought if needed

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Organising occupational learning materials

The focus here is on managing occupational learning materials well
We will look in particular at organising materials and understanding the
ways that these materials are laid out and presented, in order to use
them as effectively as possible to help occupational learning.

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Organising occupational learning materials

We will use textbooks, handouts, charts, maps, plans and diagrams.

To organise these effectively, we need to arrange them in an orderly
way and store them safely.

Loose sheets such as handouts and notes should be dated and put into
a file that has been prepared with sections or dividers that match the
sections of our programme.

Any notes and handouts should be inserted into the relevant section of
the file in the order in which they were received, or in an order that
suits the way they will be used.

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Organising occupational learning materials

When using the internet, we need to manage any material we
download and print out.
We have noted that, for any printout from a website, the address prints
out automatically at the top of the page.
We should then file such printouts in our filing system for future
reference, and to follow up if we want to return to that website at
some future date.

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Understanding and using layout and
presentation of material

• Content page
• Index
• Definitions
• Main Content
• Glossary of terms
• Electronic text
• Bibliography

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Using and clarifying technical language or
terminology

• In any field of study, there is a vocabulary of terminology that is
specific to that field.

• It is important to understand the meaning of these new words
because you are then learning the concepts or ideas that they are
referring to.

• We need to recognise that it is a new word, so if we hear a term being
used, or if we have read a word we do not understand, we need to
make a note of that word.

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Specific Outcome 4

Plan and gather relevant information for a given context and purpose

Assessment Criterion 1 to 6
Information gathering steps are planned and sequenced appropriately

Information gathering techniques are applied.
Information is sifted for relevance.

Information is classified, categorized and sorted.
Scope of information gathered is appropriate for given context and purpose.

Conclusions are presented in the appropriate format.

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Basic Team Research Roles – Analysis and
presenting findings

An appropriate topic and scope is identified and
defined:
• Conductor: keeps things running smoothly e.g.

materials, participation
• Chair: co-ordinates the activity
• Scribe: keeps written records
• Reporter: gives feedback when required

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How to get to an accepted Topic

In your group, discuss subjects that you all find interesting.
Use the following as a guide for your discussion:
• You need to have consensus on the choice of topic, as you

will all have to work equally hard at it
• The topic should be one in which you all have an interest
• There should be a common understanding of what the

topic is
• The topic should be one for which you will have access to a

range of suitable resources
• You should all have some basic information on the topic as

a starting point

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Research steps are planned and sequenced

The steps to carrying out good research are:
• Gathering relevant information
• Evaluating the information
• Processing the information – classifying, categorising,

sorting
• Analysing and presenting

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Apply Research Techniques

Gathering information gives the basis for providing an informed,
reliable and valid answer to a given question. This information should
• be from a range of sources
• be relevant to the research issue
• come from reliable sources

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Evaluate Research information for
relevance

Processing the information relies on the techniques we have
developed, in particular, the following skills will be useful:

• key-words are used when classifying material, doing summaries,
and in making presentations

• underlining can be used when using internet printouts

The information gathered and processed by individual members is
now put together and discussed in relation to the research
question. Information should be arranged in groups, e.g. statistics,
diagrams, evidence for one point of view, evidence against that
point of view, unexpected information that was found etc.

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Analyse and present research finding in
appropriate format

• In consultation with your facilitator, the group must
decide on the format for presentation of this finding.

• This may be, for example, a poster, a written
presentation or an oral presentation. Different skills
will be used for this presentation, depending on the
format. For example, if a written or oral presentation is
submitted, summarising the information and findings
will be a key skill.

• If the research is presented as a poster, selection of
key words will be most important.

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Specific Outcome 5

Function in a team

Assessment Criterion 1 to 4
Active participation takes place in group learning situations
Responsibilities in the team are taken up and group work

conventions are applied in learning situations
Negotiating techniques are practised.

Teamwork results in meaningful products or outcomes.

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Functioning in a Team

• The main focus of this section, which concludes our unit on using
language and communication in occupational learning programmes, is
on functioning in a team.

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Taking responsibility in the Team

• Effective group work requires full participation from all members of
the group.

• Not everyone has the same personality, however, and sometimes in a
group of people some are more dominant and others are more
retiring.

• To make sure that everyone does participate, there are conventions
that govern group work.

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Specific Outcome 6

Reflect on how characteristics of the workplace and
occupational context affect learning

Assessment Criterion 1 to 3
Sector and organisation type is identified
Features of the occupational environment are described and

discussed
Ways in which these features affect learning processes and/or

application of learning are described and discussed

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Practicing conflict management and
negotiating techniques

Conflict can take different forms. It can be a minor disagreement over
a minor issue and pass out of the picture.
At the other extreme it can be a long-term, ongoing opposition
between 2 people.
The conflict is not necessarily noisy; it may not be expressed in words
but in hostile deeds.
Sometimes there is a build-up of anger to the point of violence. One
thing that is always there is a fixed attitude; a situation of deadlock.
Conflict management is the skill of shifting such an attitude from a
deadlocked opposition to one where the people in conflict are
dealing with their hostility.

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Practicing conflict management and
negotiating techniques

Anger is usually experienced in a negative light and people nearby
are often keen to stop the conflict by trying to get the participants
to stop being angry. Unfortunately this often makes it worse.
Another way of understanding conflict is to see the anger as the
result of some other feeling, such as fear or frustration, and to
manage the situation so that the person can express the feelings
behind their anger.

If both people can express such feelings, and can hear and
understand the feelings of the other person, the situation will
change.

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Organisation Types 44

• Parastatals
• Heavy Industries
• Medium Industries
• Light Industries
• Large Organisations
• Small Businesses

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Questions & 45
Answers

For further information on this and other
Training Courses offered by GMLS, please
contact us on:-

Website: www.gmls.co.za
Email: info@gmls.co.za
Office Mobile: +27 82 852 3626

Tel: +27 44 020 0103
or +27 10 880 4342

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