The Role of Social Skills and Personal Attributes in Academic Success - Coursework Example

First year university students often claim that good academic skills will lead them to academic success. However, research suggests that social skills and personal attributes have a significant influence on how well students cope with the challenges of transition to university. Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction Transitioning to university education is usually complex and difficult for different student’s population. To attain academic success, students need diverse skills that promote their academic performance. Scores of first year university students do not know what to expect in university education. Their expectations sometimes can be impractical and this instigates intricacies in adjusting to the environment of the university. Students are most at danger in their first year with respect to academic and social failure. Although good academic skills promotes academic excellence for university students, personal attributes and social skills hold a crucial influence on how well students address challenges to transition to university, hence academic excellence. Social skills entail skills that people use to interact and communicate with one another, both non-verbally and verbally. According to Dowd and Tierney (2005), social skills are socially adequate learned behaviours that allow a person to interact effectively with others and escape or prevent socially unacceptable conduct displayed by others. Apparently, humans are social beings and they have to establish diverse ways of relaying their thoughts, feelings and messages to others. Indentifying well with people promotes more relationships and friendship that in turn promote a good learning environment. Personal attributes, on the other hand, are traits that comprises of ones personality. Personality encompasses what an individual is, what he does and what he has. Personal attributes entail psychological disparities amid people, disparities entailing thoughts, motivation, emotion and behaviour (Woolfolk and Margetts, 2012). Personal attributes are necessary for academic excellence. Both social skills and personal attributes enhance the effectiveness of orientation program in adjusting students to the university atmosphere socially and academically. According to Ancar (2008), personal attributes of students and their social skills play a crucial role in integrating students into the higher learning system. Student involvement in learning is a central concern in higher education. Students’ involvement promotes the quality of learning. Students must be involved in their learning environment for them to succeed in their education. According to Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench (2012), the first year of university learning is considered one of the supreme transition periods in learners’ lives. The first year students’ transition entails a period where students have to understand novel academic skills, independent living skills as well as novel social skills. Students encounter challenges when trying to balance the competing needs of their studies, personal commitments and work (Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench, 2012). During the transitioning period, students encounter well-being and health challenges. However, students who form close social links with others, have excellent organisational and time management skills besides productive coping strategies encounter less challenges in their transitioning hence, academic excellence. Social skills and personal attributes are essential for smooth transitioning to university learning. Transitions are crucial given that they demonstrate crucial changes in the every day milieu in which students interact with each other (Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench, 2012). Students with good social skills and personal attributes experience peaceful and smooth transition. Such students experience personal development and growth. These students learn to become independent quickly and they encounter novel prospects for attaining academic excellence. As a result, it is essential for all first year students to extend social circles and network with other students who share akin interests and passions. Good transitioning to university education promotes academic success. According to Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench (2012), adapting to university life promotes personal learning and growth. However, this stage is eclipsed with negative health upshots and poor health behaviours that hold negative impacts on student’s academic attainment. Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench (2012) confirm that university learners report low physical health, rise in recreational drug usage, poor diet and great levels of psychological suffering. The first year of university life is coupled with calls to leave or continue with university education. Decisions to leave university takes place during the first year because students lack good social skills and personal attributes to promote their stay in school as well as their learning. As a result, social skills and personal attributes helps in retaining students in their schools, hence academic achievement. Students’ academic excellence is achievable when they feel personally important. Students feel personally important when they communicate and interact with others. According to Richardson, King, Garrett and Wrench (2012), new friendships in university helps students in coping with the stress linked to first year university transitioning. Friendships and socialisation promotes personal growth and development. Interactions with teachers and other staff members promote good student-teacher relationships that in-turn ensures academic growth and success. Interactions with teachers and other staff members also establishes supportive learning environment that goes beyond the classroom and offers a sense of belonging and support needed for academic excellence. Coping with the stress and health effects linked to first year transitioning to university educations calls for effective interaction and communication with staff members and peers. Students encounter mental health challenges during their first year in universities. These challenges hinder their academic performance and negatively affect them socially (Richardson, King, Garrett & Wrench, 2012). However, capacity to cope with stress is key to academic excellence. Students who establish links with other peers and their teachers finds easier ways to cope with stress. Social relationships help students to link with other people and voice out their concerns. In addition, personal attributes such as self-efficacy, self-perception of competence, attitudes towards learning, and optimism are closely linked to better academic performance. Personal attributes and social skills help student to comprehend and acclimatize to their learning environment. These skills allow students to create and uphold positive social links essential for school adjustments. Successful learning necessitates students to communicate and interact closely with peers and teachers. Personal attributes and social skills allow students to interact efficiently with others and establish supportive links that hold significant impact on their academic performance. Woolfolk and Margetts (2012) asserts that the powerful links amid students emotional and social competence, their health, wellbeing, behaviour and academic achievement necessitate establishment of emotional and social learning as a major element of the curriculum. This is because personal attributes and social skills hold a great effect on a student’s capacity to succeed in a learning setting. Students who feel disconnected experience low levels of academic success compared to students who feel connected. Students who feel disconnected from others are at increased danger of experiencing school-linked intricacies such as upholding attention on school tasks compared to students who uphold dependable staff and peer support (Richardson, King, Garrett & Wrench, 2012). Positive links with peers and staff at university level promotes behavioural and emotional regulation which is a crucial aspect in academic success. Disconnected students display externalising conducts such as temper tantrums and experience intricacies. However, students who feel connected with the staff members and peers are able to cope effectively with stress and difficulties linked to first year university transitioning. People skills are essential for academic success. People skills are the basis of academic and professional success. They promote effective communication, respectful interaction, positive attitude and capacity to remain intact in intricate situations. People skills are an integration of interpersonal or social skills and personal attributes. According to Robles (2012), people skills are core element of soft skills and soft skills entails interpersonal qualities and personal attributes that an individual holds. Robles (2012) define soft skills as enviable characteristics for given forms of employments that do not rely on acquired knowledge. Soft skills include capacity to cope with people, common sense and an optimistic flexible mindset. They entail behaviours, attitudes and character traits as opposed to technical knowledge or aptitude. Soft skills promote a students interactions and academic performance. They promote social interactions among peers. They also help students in finding friends with akin academic interests besides helping them cope with negative mental health challenges in their transitioning to university education. Conclusion Soft skills which include social skills and personal attributes are essential for academic success as they promote good transitioning to university learning environment for first year students. Students who feel connected to their peers and teachers perform academically well. Such students are able to cope productively with physical and emotional challenges in their learning environment. These students encounter less social-emotional intricacies that may hamper their studies. Given the significance of students’ sense of engagement on their school performance and motivation, and that behavioural and emotional deregulation experienced by first year students disrupts their learning, students disconnections instigates school adjustment intricacies which impede learning, hence poor academic performance. As a result, while academic skills promote academic success, personal attributes and social skills are essential for pro-social and personal development of students that promote academic achievement and success. Student-teacher links impacts directly on engagement and motivation in learning of students which impacts their pro-social and personal growth and academic outcomes. References Ancar, L.N.(2008). Social and academic factors of success and retention for students of colour at a predominantly white institution in agricultural and engineering based disciplines. UK: ProQuest. Dowd, T., & Tierney, J.(2005). Teaching social skills to youth: A step-by-step guide to 182 basic to complex skills plus helpful teaching techniques. USA: Boys Town Press. Richardson, A., King, S., Garrett, R., & Wrench, A. (2012). Thriving or just surviving? Exploring student strategies for a smoother transition to university. A practice report. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 3(2), 87-93 Robles, M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75 (4), 453-465. Woolfolk, A., & Margetts, K.(2009). Educational psychology. India: Pearson Higher Education AU. Read More