Thinking is a natural process, but left to it, it is often biased, distorted, partial,

uninformed be cultivated (Seriven and Paul 2004). While critical thinking is the ability to
analyze and evaluate information. Critical thinkers raise vital questions and problems,
formulate them clearly, gather and asses relevant information, use abstracts ideas, think openmindedly, and communicate effectively with others. Therefore, in order to think critically,
there must be a certain amount of self-awareness and other characteristics present to enable a
person to explain the analysis and interpretation and to evaluate any inferences made. Like
critical thinking, communication skills are also recognizing as a vital tool in all areas of
human life. Have you ever felt the messages you convey are not communicated properly or
have you ever felt guilty of not conveying the message as it wants to be conveyed? If so it is
because of your weakness towards communication skills. Apart from the basic necessities,
you need to be equipped with habits for good communication skills, as this is what will make
you a happy and successful social being. Communication is a pillar which maintains the
structure of peaceful co-existence and mutual understanding. Communication can be
described as the process of transmitting and receiving ideas, information and messages. In
order to develop these habits, you need to first acknowledge the fact that communication
skills need an improvement from time to time. Most people are born with the physical ability
to talk, but not all are good critical thinkers and able to communicate well because critical
thinking is the driver of an effective communication.

Based on the first trigger that we received, the main issue that we have identified from
this problem-based learning is the lack of soft skills in graduates, specifically communication
and critical thinking skills in this case. Together with the second trigger, we understood that
these two soft skills are very important in daily life, for example, these two soft skills are
essential for the health care professionals to interact with their patients. Communication skill
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is defined as the technique in conveying and transferring information by the exchange of

ideas, feelings, intentions, attitudes, expectations, perceptions or commands through speech,
non-verbal gestures, writings, and behavior. The main goal of a communication process is to
achieve understanding between the sender and receiver of the information. There are mainly
four types of communication, which are used in varying ways depending on the medium used
or the way in which information is exchanged. Firstly, verbal communication. This form of
communication is further classified into four types, which are intrapersonal communication,
interpersonal communication, small group communication and public communication.
Secondly, nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication involves the use of physical
ways of communication, such as tone of the voice, touch, expressions, symbols and sign
language. Then, there is the written communication which is the medium through which the
message of the sender is conveyed with the help of written words that can be edited and
rectified before it is communicated to the receiver. Lastly, visual communication. This form
of communication involves the visual display of information. For example, topography,
photography, signs, symbols, maps, colors, posters, banners and designs help the viewer
understand the message visually. Critical thinking skill is defined as the ability to think
clearly and rationally, engage in reflective and independent thinking, apply, conceptualize,
analyze, synthesize and evaluate information from observation, experience or reasoning. A
key type of critical thinking skill involves observation which can be used to gather
information about a process. Analysis is another component of critical thinking which is
another way to evaluate what it is that you observe. Inference is the manner in which people
make informed conclusions based on the information. Another type of critical thinking skill is
called prediction where you apply your inferences to essentially guess what will happen.
Based on the resources we have collected, we have found a lot of evidences which show that
school leavers and graduates are indeed lack of these two types of soft skills. There were a lot

of news articles which stated lacking of the two soft skills particularly and this thought was
shared by the Conference Board, which is a business group, the employers survey team and
even the exam board of Cambridge via research study.

There are several factors that cause the lack in communication skills, which are
minimal exposure on how to communicate well since childhood, low self-esteem, afraid of
the crowd and insufficient practice. As for the lack in critical thinking skills, it is mainly due
to insufficient knowledge and skills to conceptualize information and situations. As a health
care professional, lacking in communication skills may be due to shortage of time to practice,
minimal exposure while studying in universities, and not being aware of the importance of
these skills in daily life and as for the lack of critical thinking skills, that may be due to
minimal experiences and knowledge. Generally, lack in communication skills may lead to
misunderstanding, failure in passing information and disability to express themselves to
others. On the other hand, lack in critical thinking skills may cause the inability of a person to
understand the logical connections between ideas and to solve problems systematically.
Communication skills can be enhanced by using appropriate language, engaging with people
or audience specifically as a speaker and understanding the basis of a good communicator. As
for critical thinking, it can be improvised by always questioning your assumption, adjusting
your perspective being an open-minded person and gain a lot more of knowledge through
learning processes and experiences. A health care professional may enhance communication
skills by engaging with patients daily by using appropriate language and voice and by trying
their best to get involved in community services in order to know the community well. His or
her critical thinking skills can be sharpened by doing a lot of reading and scientific
conversations with senior co-workers. Language barrier is the main obstacle to communicate
with others as people may have different accents or may not understand each others
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language. The obstacles to have good critical thinking skills are fear of criticism, striving for
consistency, frustration due to pass events and lack of direction to think - being confused
what to be focused on. A person with good communication skills can prevent
miscommunication, misunderstanding and conflict. They also can easily build their reputation
and credibility especially as a careered person. Good critical thinkers on the other hand can
handle their problems quickly and able to generate innovative solutions. They also can
evaluate reasonably when they receive any information. A health care professional with good
communication skills can understand his or her patients well while those who are also a great
thinker can think creatively and able to solve problems in an easier way.

Communication and critical thinking are connected in many important ways. On a

basic level, the ability to think critically, reason through a problem, and develop a persuasive
argument or explanation is important for all types of daily communication. People with the
capability to think about an issue and see it from a different angle will then most likely be
better communicators, and less likely to react with anger. On a different level, critical
thinkers often study the way other people are thinking and making their arguments before
they choose to respond themselves. This type of analysis is another important aspect of the
connection of communication to critical thinking. In many cases, problems with
communication are based on an inability to think critically about a situation, and see it from
different perspectives. Communication and critical thinking are linked in this way because
people who do possess the ability to problem-solve and consider other perspectives tend to be
better communicators than those who do not. Another important link between communication
and critical thinking is the ability to learn how to follow another person's thought process and
reasoning. An individual who is able to think critically about how another person is making
an argument will be able to produce a more effective response, more quickly, than someone
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who is not. Fortunately, it is something that can be learned and practiced, and is certainly a
skill that can be improved over time and must be developed with practice and experience.
First criteria of a good communicator is active listening. A big part of communication has to
do with how good of a listener you are. Being an effective communicator involves being an
active listener. An active listener participates in conversation by asking questions,
summarizing the speaker's thoughts and adding his or her opinions. Active listening is
effective because it shows the speaker that you are involved in what he is saying and lets him
know that what he says is important. Second is being clear and direct. The way we speak can
determine whether or not we are effectively communicating what is on our mind. The clearer
and more directly you speak; the easier listeners can understand you. Third is the body
language. People communicate more or less through body language as they do with words.
Body language includes the way we stand, our facial expressions and how we hold our arms.
Examples of effective body language for good communication are open stances, remaining
still, keeping your facial expressions neutral and making eye contact.

Critical thinking is the systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs, or statements,

by rational standards. It is systematic because it involves distinct procedures and methods. It
entails evaluation and formulation because it is used to both assess existing beliefs and devise
new ones. It operates according to reasonable standards in that beliefs are judged according to
the reasons and reasoning that support them. Critical thinking matters because our lives are
defined by our actions and choices, and our actions and choices are guided by our thinking. It
helps to guide us toward beliefs that are worthy of acceptance, that can help us be successful
in life, however we define success. Critical thinking empowers learning and exploring;
defense against error, manipulation, and prejudice and self-discovery. A consequence of not

thinking critically is a loss of personal freedom. If you passively accept beliefs that have been
handed to you by your family and your culture, then those beliefs are not really yours. If they
are not really yours and you let them guide your choices and actions, then theynot you
are in charge of your life. On the other hand, developing good communication skills is one of
the most essential competencies needed in life, and the reasons are numerous. People are
different and interpret things differently. Every human being is unique and has different
thoughts and feelings about the world and everything in it. Even when speaking the same
language, two people may have conflicting interpretations of the same word or idea. Thus it
is important to develop good communication skills so as to bridge the gap of dissimilarity and
ensure that not only do you correctly convey your own messages, but that you also develop
superior listening skills to understand your neighbour. Communication skills are fundamental
to success. If you cannot communicate effectively, you will not be able to successfully
convey the message that you are competent enough to advance, and thus you will remain at
the same level until you develop the proficiency to do so. Good communication skills are
necessary for lasting relationships. People build good relationships by communicating with
each other. Communication tells your fellow individual of what kind of a person you are; so
the better your ability to successfully communicate, the better your relationships will be.
Though these are the primary reasons for building strong communication skills, the true
extent is unending and should not be disregarded. Hence, it is an obvious and proven
statement that the soft skills communication skills and critical thinking skills are very
important to those who are involved in serving the community such as the health care
professionals. A careered person should always update themselves on these two essential
skills in order to be successful and also give satisfaction to those they serve for.