their backpacks filled with new crayons and glue sticks.
Morning begins with Mass. The students pray
together, sharing optimism and faith—
until the gunfire starts. Round after round
sprays through a stained-glass window, firing wild.
Two kids are killed, and 18 more are wounded.
Terror, shock, and panic fill the church.
One boy, shielding his friend, shot in the back.
A wounded girl keeps pleading, “Hold my hand.”
There’s no escape. The shooter barred a door
with a 2X4. Brought three guns. Used them all—
a rifle, shotgun, pistol. Perfect tools
for someone standing outside, shooting in.
Just like the shooter’s heroes in the news.
It takes a lot of hate to mow down children—
faces bright with eagerness and promise.
What kind of mind resents their zest and joy?
Seeks only to destroy, destroy, destroy?
And why can some young person filled with rage
buy gun after gun after gun– no questions asked?
This feast of hate was crowned by suicide.
Without guns, toxic hate would not be fatal.
* On August 27, 2025, a sniper shot through a Church window at children attending a Mass that opened the school year for Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Two dead, 18 wounded.
ICE WELCOMES STRANGERS
ICE targets brown—brown eyes, brown hair, brown skin.
Storm troopers drag whole families from rich fields,
leaving crops half-picked. These bounty hunters
seize brown workers from construction sites,
hotel staffs, work crews, courts, meat-packing plants.—
disrupting businesses, creating holes
that can’t be filled. A green card’s not a shield.
“My radiant homeland, Uzbekistan! The land of devotees like Mahmudkhoja Behbudiy, Fitrat and Cho’lpon. My bright land, where faith and Islam are my constant companions, my Uzbekistan. I am proud to be a lover of such a country, and I am also proud that our Hazrat Jadids, who endured all difficulties for the happiness and prosperity of this country and sacrificed their lives to lead the Motherland from darkness to light, are my ancestors!
O’g’iloy Bunyodbekovna Muhammadjonova. Born on September 11, 2010, in Qo’rg’ontepa district, Andijan region, into an intellectual family. Currently a 9th-grade student at School No. 5 (IDUM). Due to her interest in poetry, she regularly writes poems.
Her Achievements:
* President of the Self-Governance Body of School No. 5 (IDUM)
* Host of the school’s radio broadcasts
* Host of the “Yulduzli Tabrik” project
* Holder of over 15 international certificates
* Youth Ambassador of the Wakelet Community in Uzbekistan
* Member of the “Young Reformers” Council
* Qo’rg’ontepa District Volunteer
* Winner of district and regional essay competitions
FACTORS FOR DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
Shahrisabz State Pedagogical Institute
Lecturer: Rayimova Dilfuza Abdinabiyevna
Abstract This article discusses the theoretical foundations of developing students’ communication competence, the importance of mastering their native language and improving the level of speech communication skills, and highlights the system of professionally significant qualities. It also emphasizes the need to focus on methodological support for diagnosing professional mastery.
Keywords language education, ability to communicate, fostering the quality of enjoying communication, cultivating aesthetic education, developing independent thinking. The aim is to enhance student competence through such communication.
Main Part Taking into account that language develops as society progresses, the issue of enriching native language teaching with new developmental methods is becoming increasingly relevant. Students should be taught that learning and teaching the secrets of our native language through interactive and innovative methods, while ensuring deep and nationally rooted understanding, is necessary. In higher educational institutions, it is important to ensure the continuity of teaching the Uzbek language, strengthen students’ orthographic and stylistic literacy, and create mechanisms to raise language skills and communication competence to an advanced level.
The necessity of implementing reforms and modernizing the content of native language (Uzbek) education at all levels of schooling is essential. This enables students of higher education institutions to further develop their abilities of deep thinking, listening, and communicating in their mother tongue, while also applying innovative educational technologies in this process. Uzbek pedagogical scholars have underlined that developing students into well-rounded individuals requires systematic scientific-theoretical approaches.
In Uzbekistan, purposeful and systematic measures are being carried out to improve the content and thematic quality of Uzbek language education as the national and state language.
For example, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor U.I. Inoyatov emphasizes the theoretical and organizational-methodological foundations of monitoring and managing the quality of education, stressing that one of the important factors in professional and human thinking is language and speech competence. Methodologist M. Sobirova’s fundamental research explores theoretical and practical aspects of improving professional specialization. Researcher O.A. Abduquddusov addresses integrative approaches in training young and future specialists, focusing on solutions to the problems of thinking, language, and speech. D. Yuldasheva highlights the problem of preparing specialists with professional mastery and eloquent speech. Scholars such as Ibragimova G., Azimova I., Ziyodullayeva G., and Murodova A. explore issues such as developing interactive creativity, the psycholinguistic basis for improving linguistic skills in native language teaching, the role of rule systems in shaping communicative competence, and the importance of listening and comprehension in native language learning.
Teaching our national language requires clearly explaining and instilling the unique lifestyle, ethnography, and traditions of the Uzbek people that are preserved in the language. For this, it is essential to effectively use comparison, contrast, and generalization methods and technologies in teaching. It is the duty of a native language teacher to ensure that students understand the essence of concepts and terms, which are linguistic units. Therefore, a university teacher must themselves fully master Uzbek language and speech competence.
Based on the theoretical foundations of developing communication skills among university students, it can be said that language and speech etiquette are the essence of Uzbek national life. In any time, place, or society where good behavior and proper speech prevail among members of the community, that society prospers, its living conditions improve, and peace reigns.
When addressing the issue of improving students’ knowledge of their native language and communication skills, attention should first be directed toward identifying the system of professionally important qualities. This serves as both the basis and the methodological provision for diagnosing the dynamic individuality of a professionally skilled person.
Naturally, communication has several functions. The most frequently used is the conversation between interlocutors, beginning with greetings and extending to the highest levels of communication. National characteristics also dominate communication. Among Uzbeks, from a simple and sincere greeting to parting, such features are clearly visible.
Another important aspect of communication is that it encourages activity. Particularly in the educational process, communication creates activity. To meet the need for communication, a person must master the art of speech and etiquette. Communication is carried out through verbal expression.
In our wise nation, there are many proverbs and teachings about the rules of speaking, caution in the use of language, and the importance of thinking before uttering every word and sentence. One such saying states that a person’s honor and dignity are reflected in their cultured way of speaking. If one does not follow the etiquette of speech, their humanity will not be visible. If speech is expressed appropriately and meaningfully, it is better to listen in silence. Mastery of literary language requires not only spelling but also correct pronunciation, as these are two sides of the same coin. Deviating from literary pronunciation norms is equivalent to semi-literacy in writing.
The structural elements of speech communication include:
a) transmitting communicative information;
b) acting in interactive cooperation;
c) jointly perceiving in a perceptive way.
For example, in the communicative process, when a teacher explains a topic, they first set a communicative goal and then demand interactive actions (cooperation) from students. In practical and seminar classes, as well as lectures, the teacher addresses students with various questions and evaluates them accordingly. Most students show activity in this regard, though some find it very difficult to raise their hands and answer. A student forced to respond may show uncertainty in speech at the very communicative stage. Or, even if both sides act interactively, if they do not perceive the expressed idea together, the perceptive aspect of communication is disrupted, leading to poor comprehension of the lesson. Neglecting these aspects during communication results in misunderstanding.
Therefore, developing students’ speech communication culture should be determined in advance as parameters in the form of knowledge, skills, and abilities aligned with small-scale objectives. For example, the content of dialogue replicas forms separate units. Verbal communication is not limited to questions and answers; it also includes listening to the interlocutor, asking counter-questions, rejecting questions, encouraging action, making proposals, and so on. This requires the use of various lexical and grammatical tools and formulaic sentences. Hence, mastering speech communication (dialogue) requires a broad approach.
Our observations show that most sentences constructed and presented by students have logical connections, but the normative level of words and grammatical forms used to construct syntactic structures does not fully meet the requirements. Cases were observed where auxiliary words, word-forming, form-building, and syntactic relation-forming affixes were not used appropriately. To improve students’ native language knowledge and communication skills, teachers should encourage them to read more literary books, do more writing exercises, and develop the habit of working with dictionaries.
Therefore, developing students’ speech communication culture should be determined in advance as parameters in the form of knowledge, skills, and abilities aligned with small-scale objectives. For example, the content of dialogue replicas forms separate units. Verbal communication is not limited to questions and answers; it also includes listening to the interlocutor, asking counter-questions, rejecting questions, encouraging action, making proposals, and so on. This requires the use of various lexical and grammatical tools and formulaic sentences. Hence, mastering speech communication (dialogue) requires a broad approach.
Our observations show that most sentences constructed and presented by students have logical connections, but the normative level of words and grammatical forms used to construct syntactic structures does not fully meet the requirements. Cases were observed where auxiliary words, word-forming, form-building, and syntactic relation-forming affixes were not used appropriately. To improve students’ native language knowledge and communication skills, teachers should encourage them to read more literary books, do more writing exercises, and develop the habit of working with dictionaries.
In higher education institutions, developing the speech competence of future specialists is crucial for encouraging creativity, carrying out projects, and fostering literary reading and writing practices. Developing students’ communication culture should be set in advance as parameters in the form of knowledge, skills, and abilities aligned with small-scale objectives.
From modern requirements, we can identify the following main ways and requirements for developing language and speech competence of future specialists, based on the content of education:
1. A specialist with sectoral scientific-theoretical training and creativity must possess speech competence.
2. Engaging in scientific-research and experimental activities, they must be able to express the realities of their work in both written and oral forms appropriate to speech styles.
3. When introducing new technologies, they must be able to fully explain and demonstrate their specific features using professional terminology.
4. Through modern electronic media, they must be able to express virtual communication clearly, simply, concisely, and without vagueness, using national and professional styles. They must ensure the clarity and validity of information through the words they use.
Conclusion
The successful resolution of political, economic, and social tasks in society largely depends on how well each member of society knows their native language and can apply it in practice—that is, in speech situations, environments, and among people of different social groups—freely, clearly, simply, and fluently.
Cultivating in students the ability to communicate correctly, fluently, and meaningfully, while at the same time enhancing their aesthetic taste and developing their independent thinking capacity, is one of the key tasks in achieving communicative literacy and developing student competence.
References
1. www.namspi.uzuniversaljurnal.uz INNOVATIONS. Materials of the Republican Scientific-Practical Conference. Namangan, October 10–11, 2024. Presidential Decree No. 5850 on measures to fundamentally enhance the prestige and status of the state language.
2. Inoyatov U.I. Theoretical and Organizational-Methodological Bases of Monitoring the Quality of Education in Professional Colleges. Dissertation. Tashkent, 2003. p. 327.
3. Xalikova Sh. Problems of Improving Education and Science. Qarshi, 2022. pp. 558–560.
4. Sobirova M. Teaching Language Phenomena on the Basis of an Anthropocentric Approach. International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (INT-JECSE), Vol. 14, Issue 07, 2022. DOI: 10.9756/INTJECSE/V14I7.91.
