Tìm hiểu cách cải thiện kĩ năng thuyết trình cho sinh viên chuyên Anh năm thứ hai trường Đại học Sư phạm Kĩ thuật Hưng Yên

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN INVESTIGATING HOW TO IMPROVE ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR THE SECOND - YEA

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN

INVESTIGATING HOW TO IMPROVE ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR THE SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

AND EDUCATION (TÌM HIỂU CÁCH CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH CHO SINH VIÊN

CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT

HƯNG YÊN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI – 2009

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN

INVESTIGATING HOW TO IMPROVE ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR THE SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

AND EDUCATION

(TÌM HIỂU CÁCH CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT HƯNG

YÊN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: TRẦN HIỀN LAN, MA

HANOI – 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page Acknowledgements………i

Declaration……….ii

Abstract……….iii

Table of Contents……… iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION………1

1 Rationale:……… 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study: ……… 2

3 Scope of the study:……… …… 2

4 Methods of the study: ……… 3

5.Design of the study: ………3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT……… 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW………5

1.1 Oral Communication……… 5

1.2 Oral Presentation………6

1.2.1 Definitions and Characteristics……… 6

1.2.2 Oral Presentation Organization……….……… 7

1.2.3 Teaching Oral Presentation Skills……….……….8

1.3 Prior Studies Related to Oral Presentations……… 10

CHAPTER II: PRACTICAL RESEARCH……….12

2.1 Background of the study……… 12

2.1.1 Description of the English course and its objectives in the department of foreign languages, HYUTE……… 12

2.1.2 The informants……… 13

2.2 The Study……… 14

2.2.1 The Research Questions………14

2.2.2 Measurement Instruments………14

2.2.3 Data Analysis ……….15

2.3 Presentation of Statistical Results……… 15

2.3.1 Questionnaire for the Students……….15

2.3.1.1 Methodology………15

2.3.1.2 Statistical results ………15

2.3.1.2.1 The students’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills………15

2.3.1.2.2 The second- year students’ difficulties in learning presentation skills…… 17

2.3.1.2.3 Current methods used in teaching oral presentation skills to the second- year English majors……… 21

2.3.1.2.4 The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ current methods………24

2.3.1.2.5 The students’ suggested solutions to improve the situations……… 24

2.3.2 Questionnaire for the teachers……… 28

2.3.2.1 Methodology………28

2.3.2.2 Statistical results ………28

2.3.2.2.1 The teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skill……… 29

2.3.2.2.2 The teachers’ opinion of presentation skills………29

2.3.2.2.3 The teachers’ difficulties in teaching presentation skills………30

2.3.2.2.4 Current teaching methods applied for oral presentation skills……… 32

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION………… 35

2.1 Findings……… 35

2.1.1 The students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills……… 35

2.1.2 What the teachers know about presentation skills……….35

2.1.3 The teachers and the students’ difficulties in their teaching and learning of oral presentations……… 36

2.1.4 The methods the teachers are currently using in teaching presentation skills……… 36

2.1.5 The students’ evaluations of those methods……… 37

2.1.6 What the students think should be done for them to improve their oral presentation skills……… 37

2.2 Suggested techniques for improving oral presentation skills……… 38

2.2.1 Suggestions for the teachers………38

2.2.2 Suggestions for the students……… 42

2.2.3 Suggestions for the department……… 44

PART 3: CONCLUSION……… 45 REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The questionnaire for the students

Appendix 2: The questionnaire for the teachers

Appendix 3: The topics/sub-topics for the fourth term for HYUTE majors of English Appendix 4: Oral presentations- Teacher evaluation sheet

Appendix 5: Oral presentations- Student evaluation sheet

Appendix 6: Model language for oral presentations

Appendix 7: Sample of model presentations

PART1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

English has played an important role in dealing with international relations and in such fields

as science and technology, business, commerce, and diplomacy This is the reason why there has always been a big need for learning English in Vietnam And these learners of English have various purposes of learning: some learn English for their future jobs; some learn it just for entertainment The English major learners also have serious attitudes towards learning English for their communications as well as oral presentations at work In reality, most students leaving college today lack the basic skills necessary for presenting information to a group Additionally, many college classes require presentations, but the students are often told

to do it without being shown how to do it A history professor does not feel it is their job to show their students the basic skills of presenting a subject Furthermore, the students aren‟t given the right feedback to improve As a matter of fact, learning how to make presentations effective becomes one of the key institutional parts

In Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, there are not any separate subjects on which the English majors‟ presenting skills are trained It is the teachers of English who teach them oral presentations skills For the teachers in the foreign language department there are some certain advantages of asking students to give presentations on the subject of their concern Firstly, it gives students a good opportunity to practice their speaking skill It also increases the students‟ confidence in using English Furthermore, it can be a good practice for those students who will actually need the skill in their future professional lives And lastly, it

is an excellent generator of spontaneous discussion Being well aware of these advantages, all the teachers who teach English speaking skills regard presentation skills as their main focus in teaching English However, it cannot be denied that there exist a lot of problems concerning our students‟ presentation skills, the most typical of which is the fact that it is quite difficult to give successful presentations Having been teaching them for nearly four terms, I have recognized the main reasons for such difficulties Firstly, in comparison with other students of the same major, the students here have much lower level of English proficiency especially in

poor pronunciation and poor vocabulary Secondly, due to their inexperience, the teaching staff also sees that they lack the basic techniques for teaching students how to give successful presentations Lastly, the teaching of English as a major has come into use not for long as a focus to supply the students with an appropriate syllabus which includes oral presentation In fact, to the English majors in here in general and the second- year English majors in particular, presentation skills are quite new and difficult This is the reason why I chose to conduct a

research entitled: “Investigating How to Improve Oral Presentation Skills for the Second- Year English Majors of the Foreign Language Department at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” and aimed at clarifying the problems the second- year students

have encountered in the process of preparing and making oral presentations and suggesting some techniques for the teachers to get better improvements in both teaching and learning of presentations

2 Aims and objectives of the study:

The study is aimed at studying oral presentation difficulties encountered by both the second- year major students of English and their teachers in the foreign language Department, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, at finding some possible techniques for teaching oral presentations To help the students overcome such difficulties, the research will try to

- investigate the students‟ as well as teachers‟ perceptions of what a good oral presentation is

- identify students‟ and teachers‟ difficulties in their learning and teaching of oral presentations

- investigate current methods the teachers use to teach presentation skills

- give suggestions for both the teachers and the students on how to deal with their difficulties in their teaching and learning of oral presentations

3 Scope of the study:

Speaking activities are various However, this study only focuses on oral presentation skills for the second- year English majors at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education This study is said to be an overview of current situations of the second- year English majors

when making oral presentations and an identification of the teachers‟ methods currently used for the second- year English majors in the foreign language department, and a suggestion for techniques for both the students and the teachers to improve their learning and teaching of speaking skills in general and presentation skills in particular

4 Methods of the study:

The study will be conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods with questionnaires for informants of 56 second- year majors of English randomly chosen from four classes and 8 teachers at the University of Technology and education in Hung Yen and informal interviews with the informants and their teachers and personal observation will also be employed

5 Design of the study:

The study consists of three parts:

Part 1, introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design

of the study

Part 2, development, consists of 3 chapters

+ Chapter I - Literature Review – deals with the concepts relevant to the study: oral

communication, presentation skills and prior studies related to presentation skills

+ Chapter II - Practical Research – provides an analysis on the current situation of

teaching and learning oral presentation skill and reports the results of the survey research which was carried out at the beginning of the fourth term of the 2008- 2009 academic year

at the foreign language department, UTEHY The report includes the followings:

+ Chapter III – Findings and recommendation – focuses on difficulties students and

teachers faced in learning and teaching speaking skills in general and presentation skills in particular Additionally, it offers pedagogical suggestions for the students, the department and the teachers to improve their learning and teaching of oral presentation skills

Part 3, conclusion, summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of the study and

suggestions for further study

KEY WORDS & ABBREVIATIONS

Pair work; Group work; Preparation, Feedback

The HYUTE: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

In the investigation into ways to develop students‟ speaking ability in general and oral presentation skill in particular, the researcher needs to present the previous and current literature on oral presentations with the characteristics of oral presentation and then define oral communication and some aspects of oral presentations These issues are the focus of the chapter

1.1 Oral Communication

Oral communication is a two- way process between the speaker and the listener( or listeners)

and involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding( or

listening with understanding) ( Byrne, 1986) It is important to remember that “receptive” does not mean “passive” when both listening and reading, language users are actively involved in the process of interpreting and negotiating meanings To clarify what involves in an oral communication, it is necessary to discuss the differences in written and spoken language

According to P Santry (1999), there are important differences between spoken and written language In speech we have a much greater freedom and informality of usage than it is accepted in writing We do not speak in limited grammatical sentence structures or follow formal syntax as the way we do when writing Moreover, in speech the colloquial forms are acceptable while they are not in writing We do not write in the same way we speak because the two channels are not exactly interchangeable Byrne (1986) shares the same opinion by mentioning that “in contrast to the written language where sentences are usually carefully structured and linked together, speech is often characterized by incomplete and sometimes ungrammatical utterances and by frequent false starts and repetitions”

Nunan (1989) provides a list of characteristics of successful oral communication As for him, successful oral communication should involve:

(1) Comprehensible pronunciation of the target language

(2) Good use of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns

(3) Fluency

(4) Good transactional and interpersonal skills

(5) Skills in taking short and long speaking in turns

(6) Skills in the management of interactions

(7) Skills in negotiating meaning

(8) Conversational listening skills

(9) Skills in knowing about and negotiating purposes for the conversation

(10) Using appropriate conversational formulae and filters

1.2 Oral Presentation

1.2.1 Definitions and Characteristics

In his article on http://www.englishclub.com 2002, Jane King stated that oral presentation is “a short talk by one person to a group of people introducing and describing a particular subject (for example: a new product, company figures or a proposed advertising campaign)” while

Ohio Wesleyan University, in their “Guidelines for Oral Presentations” defined oral

presentations as “brief discussions of a focused topic delivered to a group of listeners in order

to impart knowledge or to stimulate discussion They are similar to short papers with an introduction, main body and conclusion The ability to give brief presentation is a learned skill and the one that is called on frequently in the workplace”

According to Clark, D (see http://www.nwlink.com/ ~donclark/leader/leadpres.html) a good presentation, firstly, has content, that is it contains information that people need But unlike reports, which are read at the reader‟s own pace, presentations must account for how much information the audience can absorb Secondly, it has structure with a logical beginning, middle, and end It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it While reports have appendices and footnotes to guide the reader, the speaker must be careful not to lose the audience when wandering from the main point of the presentation Thirdly, a presentation is characterized by packaging: It must be well- prepared A report can be reread

and portions skipped over, but with a presentation, the audience has to depend on the presenter Finally, a good presentation has human element in it It will be remembered much more than a good report because it has a person attached to it

1.2.2 Oral Presentation Organization

According to P Santry (1999) and Comfort (1995), an oral presentation consists of three main

parts: the introduction, body and conclusion, in which the introduction aims to “attract the

listeners‟ interest and focus their attention on the topic” When you give a presentation at work, listeners usually have an immediate need for the information presented Therefore, they have a clear reason to pay attention to the presentation

Once you have a clear statement of your central idea, you can start developing the body, or

main section, of your presentation “The body consists of main points that develop your central idea in detail These main points need to be arranged in a way that is clear both to you and to your audience The organization of your presentation should make it easy for the audience to understand and to remember the information you present” (Santry, 1999: 40) Also in the body, it is the presenter‟s duty to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience To succeed in doing this, the presenter has to make the presentation lively and interesting by including information such as personal experience, examples and illustrations, facts, and statistics A relevant personal story or example can make all the differences between a dry presentation and memorable one

After the body comes the conclusion “The conclusion of a presentation is important because

you want to leave a strong impression on your listeners You should be brief and to the point

in concluding your presentation This is definitely not the time to introduce any new points You want to remind listeners of what you have presented” (Santry, 1999: 52) The author also suggested some possible ways to conclude a presentation According to her, you can:

 Summarize or review the main points you have presented

 Remind listeners of the importance of what you have said

 Emphasize your major conclusion

 Recommend further study of the subject

 Ask the listeners to take appropriate action

1.2.3 Teaching Oral Presentation Skills

There has been a number of discussions on why, what, and how to teach oral presentation skills Different scholars, researchers, and educators have contributed so much to the literature

on teaching presenting skills The most highly appreciated authors should be Underhill (1987), Jane King (2002), and so on

Underhill (1987: 47) suggests that in a less formal situation, mini presentations may be routine part of the daily teaching schedule Each day a learner takes turns to make an oral presentation

to the rest of the class He/ she is expected to refer to notes, but reading aloud is strongly discouraged The use of simple aids such as chalk board and chalk, lined paper and pens, pictures or handouts and overhead projectors is encouraged if appropriate At the end of the presentation, he/she is supposed to deal with any questions raised by their friends It is the learners‟ job to conduct the whole activity without the intervention of the teacher The presentation may be taped either for marking or for subsequent classroom analysis He also adds that choosing topics is very important The topics chosen by the learner should be interesting, appropriate to their age and level to arouse learners‟ interests and create an enjoyable classroom atmosphere In fact, topics are not difficult to find The important thing is their appropriateness He suggests that topics should be consulted with the teacher who will help assess the level of the difficulty of the given topics in relation to the learners‟ ability

The procedures for oral presentation have also been discussed by Vo (1994) According to him the following procedure should be taken into considerations when teachers want to assign oral presentation as homework:

1 At the beginning of the term, announce to the students that they all will have

an opportunity to speak in front of the group

2 Put up a large calendar so that students can pick up the date they prefer

3 After the break of every class session, have one student come forward and

speak about the topic he or she chose

4 During the speech, the teacher should sit in the audience

5 Have each student speak for about five minutes

6 Have the other class members hold their questions and comments until the

speaker has finished (The teacher and other students can help the speaker

answer very difficult questions)

7 After each speech, give the speaker(s) some feedback ( Psychologically,

compliments should come before criticism so as to encourage the student)

Jane King (2002) focuses much on the teacher‟s role when he/she works with students on oral presentations According to him this “is a challenging job for teachers because it not only involves training in other disciplines such as speech communication and public speaking, but also demands more of teachers in terms of time and effort in lesson planning and teaching strategies” He also adds that “on the student's part, the student-centered activity asks students

to be responsible for their own learning When a teacher moves from the traditional role of teacher as an authoritative expert to the new role of facilitator of learning, students feel a drastic change With such a student-led activity as oral presentation, teachers need to have some psychological preparation for meeting the resistance from students, since some of them are not receptive to project learning and are uncomfortable when given autonomy Furthermore, the importance of creating a supportive learning atmosphere, acquiring interaction skills, incorporating project work, developing cooperative learning skills and applying computer/technology in enhancing teachers' facilitative skills should be emphasized The teacher is the guide, organizer, consultant, resource person, and supporter” Jane King (2002: 407)

To sum up, it cannot be denied that with structured planning and organization, oral presentations can be a beneficial and enjoyable activity with learners Both teachers and students are expecting a break away from textbooks Each week, students come to class with

great anticipation and excitement It is a rewarding experience for low achieving students who had either given up on English or were intimated by past English learning experiences

1.3 Prior Studies Related to Oral Presentations

Any mention to language learners‟ presentation skills will be of no significance without a

substantial contribution of a number of linguists and institutions who have been working very hard for the development of strategies of students‟ oral communication skills and oral competence Some institutions which are worth being mentioned to are Victoria University of Technology, the University of Canberra, and Ball State University Such Titles as “Oral Presentation” by P Santry (1999), “Effective Presentation” by Comfort (1995), “Giving Presentations” by Ellis and O‟ Driscoll (1992), “Giving Academic Presentation” by Susan M Reinhart, etc have so far caught a great attention from a significant number of readers

However, these scholars and institutions in their books and course descriptions, present guidelines to promote learners‟ skills in giving oral presentations both in theory and in practice but those experts just mainly focus on business contexts and other professional situations For example, in the part of rationale and learning outcome, Santry (1999) states: “Professionals in science and engineering are often asked to provide people with information because they have specialized knowledge experience Technical professionals may be called on to give progress reports, explain research, discuss company policies, analyze problems, offer recommendations, or give on- the- job instructions In addition, they may give oral presentations to company more formal written reports such as project proposals, budget proposals, or feasibility studies” Moreover, they do not touch upon the problems that language learners have when giving oral presentations in the classroom setting and the reasons why they experience such problems Also, the solutions/ suggestions given from those books are not drawn from their own research or in other words, they were not research- based They are somehow based on the writers‟ own observations and perceptions so the solutions tend to

be applicable for some subjects

In Vietnam, there have been a lot of studies on oral communication skills and many of them are presented in M.A theses However, oral presentations have not been extensively investigated The M.A thesis “A Study on Oral Presentation Difficulties of Second- Year English Majors of Phuong Dong University in the Speaking Lessons” by Nguyen Thi Van Ha (2007) is known to be the only one ever which mostly focuses on second- year English majors‟ difficulties in giving oral presentations The researcher also gives some suggested solutions to such problems but this is quite general For that reason, I decided to have my own research in which I try to have an investigation of the second- year major students‟ difficulties when giving oral presentations and of the difficulties the teachers of English in the Department

of Foreign Language, HYUTE have been encountering and I would like to give some suggestions as well as solutions helping both the teachers and the students teach and learn oral presentation skills efficiently

CHAPTER II: PRACTICAL RESEARCH

2.1 Background of the study

2.1.1 Description of the English course and its objectives in the department of foreign languages, HYUTE

The very first thing that reminds people of HYUTE is its goal in technology and technology instructions This explains why the foreign language department is not very popular at the university in particular and among other public universities in general Two years ago, there did not exist a department of foreign languages as there was only English: English for communication and English for specific purposes (ESP), which had been teaching for a long time But thanks to the opening of a course for students of English major, the section of English was developed into the department of foreign languages

The English course for those students, therefore, lasts eight terms with different subjects in English Right from the first semester onwards the four English skills are taught as isolated subjects The course books used here are Inside- out series for speaking (Inside- out Pre- intermediate, Inside- out Intermediate, Inside- out advanced), IELTs series for reading, listening and writing The second- year students are required to achieve the intermediate level

in speaking ability, which is the ability to “communicate successfully in many social situations and to express themselves persuasively with a number of strategies appropriate to a range of circumstances and topics” (HYUTE‟ speaking syllabus for 2nd

English majors- 2007) The total time allowed for speaking skills for the fourth term for HYUTE majors is 60 class hours The syllabus is theme- based, as briefed below: (Refer to appendix 3 for the list of topics that

we worked on in the fourth term)

 Time (9 class hours)

 Journey ( 9 class hours)

 Basics ( 9 class hours)

 Communication ( 9 class hours)

 Style ( 9 class hours)

 Age ( 9 class hours)

For that reason the speaking classes often focus on common sub-skills like debating, arguing, discussing, and presenting Right at the beginning of the fourth term, teachers and students are given a list of topics To prepare for the class activities, the students are asked to search for as many relevant reading passages as they could from available sources like the internet, newspapers and magazines More importantly, basing on the materials they have found, the second- year students are asked to review them in the light of the week‟s topic By doing so, students‟ presentation skill is often practiced and is considered the main activity during the speaking classes

2.1.2 The informants

The research was undertaken with the participation of 56 students who were randomly chosen from 115 students of the four classes, in which 52 were female and 4 were male and 8 teachers

in the group of English practical skills

Six of the 8 teachers were doing an M.A course Although their ages were various, most of them were quite young (only one teacher was aged 46) Most of them had experienced teaching English for non- English majors but have had only two- year experience in teaching English to English majors However, the main concern is shown in their professional ways of working, their enthusiasm, and their love for teaching English

Majority of the students were aged twenty (only two students are aged twenty one, two are aged twenty two and one is aged twenty three as they failed in the previous university entrance examinations) Most of the informants come from the countryside (33 students) and from towns (23 students) The number of years they spent on studying English ranges from three to eight years Only 11 students (20%) had been learning English for three years or more, but fewer than 5 years About more than half of them- 37 students (66%) had spent five years or more but fewer than ten years And the rest- 8 students (14%) had experienced ten years or more learning English and none of them had studied English for one year or more , but fewer

than two years In short, their different places of domicile and learning experiences somehow lead to slightly various experiences in their language learning

The second- year students‟ English proficiency is equivalent to the intermediate level They had studied English for at least three years at high schools, where vocabulary and grammatical structures were mainly focused They used Vietnamese, their mother tongue in pair/group work activities Rarely did they have chance to use English as a means of communication, let alone making oral presentations in English

All these facts explicitly indicate the necessity of greater attention to presenting in English, which is a very important skill for our students Giving them the chance to get familiar with effective presentation skills will be a useful and valuable part in the process of teaching and learning

2.2 The Study

2.2.1 The Research Questions

In order to uncover the difficulties of the second- year English majors at HYUTE and to investigate ways to improve their presentation skills, the researcher carries out this research and aim at answering the following questions:

1) What are the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills?

2) How much do the teachers know about presentation skills?

3) What are the teachers and the students’ difficulties in their teaching and learning of oral presentations?

4) What methods are the teachers currently using in teaching presentation skills?

5) What are the students’ evaluations of those methods?

6) What do the students think should be done for them to improve their oral presentation skills?

2.2.2 Measurement Instruments

To have a good understanding of the issues under discussion, it is essential to refer to an important source of data collection associated with the literature review The researcher hopes

to give some suggestions and suggested teaching techniques that can be worked out to improve current presentation skill teaching and learning at HYUTE by means of literature comparison and by cross- checking with the information obtained from the responded questionnaires

2.2.3 Data Analysis

Data analysis is not a single description of the data collected but a process by which the researcher interprets the data The scheme and coding table in this research emerged from an examination of the data rather than being determined beforehand and imposed on the data

2.3 Presentation of Statistical Results

2.3.1 Questionnaire for the Students

2.3.1.1 Methodology

The first questionnaire with 15 questions written in English expected the answers in either English or Vietnamese with the hope to strengthen the reliability and validity of the data collection was designed for the learners to collect information concerning to 5 strategies in the proceeding tables:

Table 1: The students‟ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills

Table 2: The second- year students‟ difficulties in learning presentation skills

Table 3: Current methods used in teaching oral presentation skills to the second- year English

majors

Table 4: The students‟ evaluation of the teachers‟ current methods

Table 5: The students‟ suggested solutions to improve the situations

Each question expects the optional responses (A, B, C, D) at the same time

2.3.1.2 Statistical results

The 56 copies of the first type of questionnaire delivered to the second- year students have been responded The data is analyzed in this part of the study in the below tables which show frequencies of the responses for the questions in the questionnaire

2.3.1.2.1 The students’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills

To all of the second- year English majors, presentation skills are something important and necessary to learn because of the following reasons First, it is a good way to practice speaking skill Second, it helps to evaluate one‟s ability in speaking, and most important of all, it is to prepare for their professional ways of working in the future

B Speaking skill is well- practiced through doing oral presentations

C It‟s a good way to evaluate one‟s ability in speaking

D It is for us to prepare for our professional ways of working in the future

 Others (Please give other reasons

of your own choice here)………

0% 20% 44% 73

%

………

Table 1: The students’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills

It can be calculated from the table 1 that most of the respondents (85%) supposed presentation

skills were necessary for them to learn while 13% of them thought they were rather necessary and the rest (2%) stated that oral presentation skills were of little necessity It is

true that there was no one who thought of the presentation skills as of no necessity at all When asked about the reasons for that necessity, 41 students (73%) said that learning oral presentation helped them prepare well for their professional work in the future, 25 of them (44%) supported for the fact that doing oral presentations was a good way for them to know how good they were at speaking, which means to evaluate their abilities in speaking Only 11 students (20%) kept the thinking that by doing oral presentations, students had chance to practice their speaking skill, and none of them considered making oral presentations as a duty

in the speaking classes However, beside the reasons given to them from the researcher, some

of them stated that making oral presentations more often in classes helped them more

confident, active and flexible in any situations They explained: “I think it is a good skill to

learn because beside the advantage of improving speaking skill, the ability to present well also means having confidence, courage, and good knowledge” or “the very good thing the learning

of oral presentations brings to me is the experience of standing in front of a crowd speaking, proving, explaining, or persuading and that is also what I’ll have to do in my future jobs”

2.3.1.2.2 The second- year students’ difficulties in learning presentation skills

Presentation skills are new among the second- year students in the department of foreign languages so it is not surprised when all the students (100%) choose option A for question 3 which shows the fact that all the students thought presentation skills were difficult but interesting The table below will help to prove this:

Options

Questions

Question 3

How do you find presentation skills?

A Difficult but interesting

B Difficult and boring

C Easy and interesting

D Easy and boring

100% 0% 0% 0%

Question 4

How do you find preparation stage difficult?

A It‟s not easy to search for ideas (Not every given topic is of easy understanding)

B How to make a detailed outline with satisfactory explanation and examples to support the main point is quite difficult

C Rehearsing the speech is sometimes boring

D Memorizing your speech word for word is difficult

18% 32% 16% 34%

Question 5

In what way (s) do you find delivering a presentation difficult? (You can tick more than one)

A I cannot make a good voice variation (with stress and intonation)

B I am quite clumsy in using body language such as eye contact, facial expression, body movements, or hand gestures

C I feel nervous (lack of confidence) in front

of the audience

D I never feel relaxed when handing with the audience‟s questions

23% 53% 64% 12% 12%

E I can never present fluently

 Others (Please list other reasons here)………

Question 6

What aspect(s) do you find difficult for giving

a good content of a presentation? (You can tick more than one)

A Clarity of idea (accuracy)

B How to give supporting ideas for the main points

A Our English proficiency is quite low

B Giving oral presentations is new to us

C We are low- motivated

D It‟s our teacher that fails to teach us what a good oral presentation should be

 Others (Please list other reasons here)………

100% 55% 100% 44%

Table 2: The second- year students’ difficulties in learning presentation skills

When asked about their difficulties in preparation stage, most of them found these two items

difficult: making a detailed outline for the topic (32%) and memorizing the speech word for

word (34%) There were only 10 students (18%) who thought that the step of searching for

ideas for the topic was difficult as not every given topic was of easy understandings; and 9 of

them (16%) thought rehearsing the speech was sometimes boring

Not only does the preparation stage become such hard work for the students, but the stage of

delivering a presentation (question 5) is difficult as well Overall, the majority of them (64%)

considered their lack of confidence in front of the audience a big challenge because, as they explained, their feelings of nervous, uncomfortable, and embarrassed often made them forget nearly all what had been prepared Moreover, there were 29 students (52%) who shared the idea that they were quite clumsy in using body language such as eye contact, facial expression, body movements, or hand gestures Only 13 of them (23%) thought that how to make a good voice variation was difficult It could be good news as only 7 students (12%) find it difficult to handle with the audience‟s questions and so was the job of presenting the speech fluently The reason, as they stated, was that the feelings of self- confident and relaxed were the key factors

to help them overcome all other difficulties which were minor ones only Beside, some of them claimed that their difficulties in delivering a presentation could also be seen in their lack

of vocabulary and incorrect pronunciation “Sometimes my lack of vocabulary put myself in an

embarrassing situation where I could think of no appropriate words or phases to express my points” or “I am sure that my presentation could have gone better if I had not made so much incorrect pronunciation, which made the audience confused sometimes”

Difficulties in giving a good content of a presentation (question 6) were believed to be worth

discussing by the students According to most of them – 46 students (82%), a presentation only has its good content when one knows how to support for the main points, that is, giving supporting ideas for the main points is the most difficult of all Beside, nearly half of them –

27 students (48%) thought they have difficulty in presenting with good accuracy of word uses, expressions, and pronunciation, without which they could not be successful in giving the clarity of ideas Other aspects were also difficult, but for them they were not much For example, 12 of them (21%) blamed for the unsuitability of topics, 8 students (14%) thought that if they could have more time, the content they gave could be much better, and for the last factor, just a few of them – 3 students (5%) saw the probability of their affecting the content of

a presentation

Question 7 was made to ask the students about the causes of such difficulties The findings

from the survey show the fact that the students have to try hard so as to be good at English

first, and then to have better attitude towards doing oral presentations in the classes When

looking at individual cases, all of them (100%) admitted that their low English proficiency

was one cause and their low motivation was the other one There were also 31 students who

agreed that as this was a new subject, they could not be successful in presenting, and 25 of

them blamed their teachers for not being successful in teaching them what a good oral

presentation should be And it is the last cause about the staff‟s teaching quality that makes the

researcher worry about and try her best to find out ways to improve the current situations

2.3.1.2.3 Current methods used in teaching oral presentation skills to the second- year

A Helps with the main ideas for the topic

B Helps you with words or structures related to the topics

C Encourages you to discuss the topic in groups

D Asks you to discuss the topic individually

 Others (Please list other activities here)

A Suggests interesting topics for discussion

B Gives you a model video presentation

C Helps to brainstorm main points for an outline

D Uses group work or pair work

21% 0% 11% 14% 54%

B Not angry but interrupt you to correct

C Waits until you finish your presentations, points out your mistakes, then corrects them for you

D Lets you and your classmates correct them

The figures collected from Question 8 points out that most of the students (62%) commented

that their teachers almost did nothing after giving them a topic for presentation, whereas only a

small number of them (9%) stated that their teacher gave them chance to discuss the topic in

groups 10 of them (18%) responded that their teacher helped them discuss the topic by giving

them main ideas for the topic, and only a small number of them- 6 students (11%) answered that their teacher sometimes provided them with some words or structures related to the topic Some students added that sometimes they did nothing but let the students discuss in their own groups at home in order to get ready preparation for the class oral presentation the following

week “It becomes our class’s habit that before finishing a week’s work our teacher gives us a

topic for group discussion at home, and then next week she will call randomly a group to make oral presentation for the topic”

The responses to Question 9 indicate that the majority of teachers- 30 (54%) did nothing to

encourage their students to do presentations Furthermore, when a list of activities to encourage the students was suggested, none of them (0%) answered their teacher used a model video presentation, 12 students (21%) said their teachers sometimes suggested interesting topics for discussion, 8 of them (14%) answered that pair work and group work was also used for topic discussion, and only 6 students (11%) chose C which shows that the teachers helped their students brainstorm the main points for the topic One of them added sometimes her teacher managed to relax the students by avoiding commenting their mistakes, which they

thought was good way to increase their motivation “I like it when my teacher ignored to

correct our mistakes as she thought that if the mistakes we made were not so serious, no correction from her should be needed In this way, I think, she was quite successful in motivating us to give oral presentation”

Question 10 talks about the teachers‟ attitudes towards the students‟ making mistakes and

different answers were collected Firstly, 2 students (3%) responded that their teacher got angry and interrupted them to correct the mistakes whereas 27 of them (48%) said their teacher were not angry but interrupted them to correct The next activity which says teachers waits until the students finish their presentations, points out their mistakes, then corrects the mistakes for them received responses from 20 students (36%), and 6 students said their teacher let them and their classmates correct the mistakes, and lastly, only 1 student (2%) answered

that her/ his teacher ignored the mistakes with the hope to make them feel relaxed and more motivated in their oral presentations

Statistics from Table 3 show that the majority of the teachers- 36 (64%) intended to give their own feedback on the students‟ presentations, whereas only 9 of the students (16%) said that their teachers asked for feedback on it from the rest of the students; 5 of them (9%) said that their teachers did nothing for the correction of the mistakes and 6 students (11%) responded that their teachers sometimes gave their own feedback on the students‟ presentations but sometimes they asked for feedback from the rest of the students

2.3.1.2.4 The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ current methods

Table 4: The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ current methods

An important finding from the above table is that the teachers‟ current methods of oral presentation skills are not appreciated by the majority of the students In fact, 44 students (79%) supposed the methods were of little effectiveness, only five of them (9%) thought the methods were rather effective, none of them (0%) agreed that their teachers‟ methods were very effective, and there were 12 students who kept the idea that the methods their teachers were currently used are not effective at all

2.3.1.2.5 The students’ suggested solutions to improve the situations

Options

Questions

Question 13

What do you think the teacher should

do to help you to give satisfactory presentations? (You can tick more than one)

A Give you more reading texts related to the topics

B Suggest topics of your interests

C Give model language for your oral presentation

D Show you a film or video on a model presentation

 Others (Please list other opinions here)………

100% 86% 100% 100%

Question 14

What do you think you should do to help yourself give effective presentation?

(You can take more than one)

A Improve our own knowledge of English, for example vocabulary, structures, grammar, and

pronunciation

B Be well- prepared for our oral presentations

C Be more self- confident

 Others (Please list other opinions

here)………

100% 100% 100%

Question 15

What do you think the department of foreign languages should do to help you improve your presentation skill? (You

can tick more than one)

A Invest in well- equipped learning and teaching facilities, for example

specialized lecture rooms being equipped with overhead projector, language labs, etc

B Organize English speaking clubs and contests more often

C Pay for training courses on presentation skills

 Others (Please list other opinions here………

100% 100% 100%

Table 5: The students’ suggested solutions to improve the situations

Question 13: There were a number of ideas and suggestions the students wanted to share with

their teachers‟ methods of presentation skills so as to help themselves improve the current situations The data collected from Table 5 indicates that all of the students (100%) supposed their teachers should give them more reading texts related to the topics, model languages for their presentations, or show them a video or a film on model presentation There were 48 out

of the 56 students (86%) stated that their teachers should think of the topics which were more suitable with the students‟ interests so that they can become more motivated in their doings of oral presentations Additionally, the students thought their teachers should help them improve their pronunciation which they considered one of the important factors making their presentation effective Some of them suggested that before they started their presentations, the teachers should draw their attention to their pronunciation, for example, emphasizing the key words, using appropriate intonation patterns What is more? They thought the teacher(s)

should train them to speak the language with reasonable fluency They all believed that their teachers‟ focus on frequent exposure to authentic recorded materials might improve their oral fluency as well as accuracy And lastly, most of them expressed their expectation of being given more chances to practice as they believed “Practice makes perfect”

An interesting finding from the table was that all the students (100%) totally agreed with the three suggested items in Question 14 which said they needed to , firstly, improve their own knowledge of English, for example vocabulary, structures, grammar, and pronunciation; secondly, be well- prepared for their oral presentations, and lastly be more self- confident Besides, many extra ideas were given proving the fact that the students themselves knew how poor their presentations were and how hard they had to try to get improvement In giving responses to other of their opinions to the question, the students shared that they needed to learn from their presentations And the reasons, as they believed, were that they might have more experience, they would not make the same mistakes again and they would be able to make better presentations next time Below are what they wrote:

- In my opinion, we must draw experience from our last presentations

so that we can make better presentations next time

- I think we should learn from our previous presentations, for example,

grammar mistakes, pronunciation mistakes so that we won’t make the same mistakes

Question 15: As can be seen from the table above, all the students in the Department of

foreign languages (100%) agreed with the three suggested items According to them, in general, the teaching and learning facilities here were not well- equipped because apart from the availability of radios, there is no language lab, and only one building of lecture room is equipped with one overhead projector Also, they agreed that the department should organize English speaking clubs, oratory contests, workshops or seminars in English more widely and regularly so that the students could take an opportunity to attend, to work in groups, to give their opinions, and to talk about their ideas on a single topic

2.3.2 Questionnaire for the teachers

2.3.2.1 Methodology

The second questionnaire designed for the teachers consists of 9 questions to collect

information concerning to 4 strategies in the proceeding tables:

Table 1: The teachers‟ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skill

Table 2: The teachers‟ opinion of presentation skills

Table 3: The teachers‟ difficulties in teaching presentation skills

Table 4: Current teaching methods applied for oral presentation skills

Each question expects the optional responses (A, B, C, D) at the same time

2.3.2.2 Statistical results

The 8 copies of the second type of questionnaire delivered to the teaching staff have been

responded The data is analyzed in this part of the study in the below tables which show

frequencies of the responses for the questions in the questionnaire

2.3.2.2.1 The teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skill

B Speaking skill is well- practiced through doing

25% 100% 25% 100%

Table 1: The teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills

Statistics from Table 1 factually show that no teachers at the department of foreign languages-

HYUTE (0%) considered oral presentation skills a necessary subject to be taught ( not necessary at all) whereas more than half of them (62%) agreed that these skills were worth being taught (necessary) Two of the eight teachers (25%) thought of it as a subject of not too much necessity (rather necessary), and only one of them (13%) believed that the job of introducing oral presentation skills in speaking classes was only of a little necessity And

according to all of them (100%), the reasons for that necessity were, firstly, letting the students practise oral presentation skills also means giving them chance to practice their speaking skills

in a very effective way Secondly, learning how to give a good presentation could help to prepare for the students‟ professional way of working in the future Only 25% of them agreed with the reason that making oral presentation was one of the requirements in the university‟s syllabus for speaking and that it was a good way to evaluate the students‟ ability in speaking

2.3.2.2.2 The teachers’ opinion of presentation skills

Options

Questions

Question 3

Have you been trained in presentation skills?

A Yes, in English teaching- training courses

B Yes, in English teaching workshops