47. A Study on Overcoming Communication Barriers in a College Campus Environment

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is a national institute that sees an influx of students of linguistically diverse backgrounds from all over India and abroad every year. The most commonly spoken languages are Hindi, Bengali and Assamese. For students who do not know these common languages, every activity turns into a hassle in their day-to-day lives owing to the communication barriers. They face trouble in settling down during the initial days and in developing meaningful relationships with their peers in the long run. The study in this paper focuses on the need to facilitate better and more effective communication thereby easing the students’ problems. We conducted a detailed literature review which helped us identify the barriers and enablers of communication. Next, we interviewed campus students who didn’t speak the commonly spoken languages. Our primary research revealed that immersion was crucial to facilitating effective communication and better language learning. Further, we learnt that students were interested in learning the commonly spoken language, but not like a course subject. During our analysis, we observed five stages of new language acquisition: Denial to learn a new language > Non-verbal/gestural communication > Learning numbers via transactions > Picking up phrases > Saturation. Whether by choice or otherwise, learning eventually takes place, as it is a necessity more than anything else. Our final design direction was to gamify the experience so that language acquisition is easy, and there is an element of delight. Our solution is a multiplayer card game that equips students with the basics of a language that in turn helps them go about their daily lives and forge bonds with their peers in the long run.