ssessment criteria for an effective EFL presentation of English majors at Hanam Teachers Training College problems and solutions

Types of oral presentation assessments used to evaluate EFL oral presentations of English majors at HTTC ……… 2.. Criteria used to evaluate EFL oral presentations of English majors at HT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-

PHẠM THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE EFL PRESENTATION OF ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANAM TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ĐÁNH GIÁ CHO BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HIỆU QUẢ CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM

VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Hanoi - 2011

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-

PHẠM THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE EFL PRESENTATION OF ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANAM TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ĐÁNH GIÁ CHO BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HIỆU QUẢ CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM

VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Supervisor: Vũ Mai Trang , M.Ed

Hanoi - 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ………

Acknowledgements ………

Abstract………

Table of contents………

List of abbreviations ………

List of figures and tables

Page i ii iii iv vi vii PART A: INTRODUCTION………

1 Rationale of the study………

2 Purpose of the study………

3 Research questions ………

4 Methodology ……….………

5 Significance of the study ………

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Oral presentation ………

1.1 Definitions of oral presentation………

1.2 Types of oral Presentation ……… ………

1.3 Oral Presentations in classroom settings ………

2 Introduction to needs analysis………

2.1 Definition of needs analysis………

2.2 Types of needs analysis………

3 Assessment ………

3.1 An overview of classroom assessment ………

3.2 Presentation assessment ………

3.3 Washback of classroom assessment on students ………

4 Document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY ………

1 Sampling ………

1.1 Students ………

1.2 Teachers ………

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1.3 Output standards for English language students (teaching and

non-teaching)………

1.4 Applying EFL oral presentations in HTTC context ………

2 Data collection ………………

2.1 Instruments ………

2.2 Procedures ………

2.3 Data analysis ………

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ………

1 Types of oral presentation assessments used to evaluate EFL oral presentations of English majors at HTTC ………

2 Criteria used to evaluate EFL oral presentations of English majors at HTTC ………

3 Current situation of making EFL oral presentation of English Major at HTTC from teachers’ evaluations ………

3.1 The strengths………

3.2 The weaknesses ………

4 A suggested Evaluation Sheet for oral presentation ………

5 Implications and suggestions ………

5.1 For the students ………

5.2 For the teachers………

PART C: CONCLUSION ………

1 Conclusion of the study ……… ………

2 Limitations and Suggestions for future research………

REFERENCES 33 APPENDIX I

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I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language

HTTC: Hanam Teachers Training College

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Page

Figure 1 ……… 9

Figure 2 ……… 12

Table 1 ……… 14

Table 2 ……… 23

Table 3……… 28

PART A INTRODUCTION

This part presents rationale of the study, purpose of the study, research questions, method, and significance of the study

1 Rationale of the study

Presentation activities have recently been cast light on in EFL (English as Foreign Language) classrooms as an innovative means of developing students’ skills in public speaking and hence promoting their motivation in English Presentations are a great way to have students practise all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening) They also build confidence, and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work The students who are good presenters are better communicators, since they are able to structure and express their ideas clearly

However, the assessment of oral presentation is not an easy task for all teachers In fact, assessing oral presentations can present a challenge to teachers Presentation assessment criteria consist of many factors: language, content, delivery, and visual aids, etc It is not easy for teachers to clearly delineate these factors to their learners before undertaking any assessment activities in class In a classroom setting, teachers establish the criteria for assessment themselves They also have the responsibility of judging students’ presentation performances However, according to Otoshi and Heffernan (2008) if only one teacher accesses student’s presentation, it can raise reliability issues As such, there is a good possibility that an instructor’s assessment is not objective or consistent enough to meet the needs of his or her learners Moreover, many researchers agree that if learners are explicitly aware of the criteria used to assess them, they will be better able to apply the method of evaluation to their own learning styles, and thereby to their own benefit as learners Further, students are able to comprehend and critically assess marking criteria that they understand clearly, and have more difficulty comprehending marking criteria that are imposed on them

by teachers The development of the criteria is just as important as the assessment itself Therefore, it is important to publish clear and understandable assessment criteria for presentations to make sure that students are fully aware of them before they make In this way, they know about what they are expected to do, so they can focus better on the skills in a manner that they know is appropriate It is not helpful and sometimes stressful for students if they have to guess the basis for their assessment because they do not know how their teacher

is going to mark them As a result, it is important for EFL teachers to reconsider the purposes

of each oral presentation, the students, and the required learners’ presentation skills to build their own evaluative criteria for oral presentation

Oral presentation is an effective communicative activity that has widely adopted by EFL teachers at Hanam Teachers Training College (HTTC) to promote oral proficiency of their English majors However, when oral presentations are assigned in class, the teacher will get either complete silence or grumbles from students who find the idea of oral presentations frustrating and intimidating Students are overwhelmed with the research and communication skills that are necessary for a successful presentation Some serious students who invest time and effort into an oral presentation do not always get the intended outcomes Other students try to get through the ideal as quickly as possible, but do not improve their speaking skills under such stressful situations Thus, oral presentations can be a time-consuming project with

no guarantee of a satisfactory performance

Being an English teacher at HTTC for nearly five years, I have also used oral presentation

as a form to promote the speaking ability of my English majors However, I find it not easy to access their performance because, like many other EFL teachers at my college, we often take

a ready-made oral presentation rubric or checklist to mark the presentation Yet using the rating criteria based on native speakers’ standards to measure learners’ oral proficiency was not suitable for the actual use of English in the context where English is taught as a second language Because it would not be appropriate simply to provide a standard list of assessment criteria that would guide the marking of any presentation because what is valued in a presentation might differ

The above-mentioned problems are the researcher’s primary concern and the motivation

for doing the thesis on the topic: “Assessment criteria for an effective EFL presentation of

English majors at Hanam Teachers Training College Problems and solutions.”

2 Purpose of the study

This research is designed with a purpose to build up a set of assessment criteria for teachers to evaluate oral presentations of English majors at HTTC In order to implement such purpose, firstly, the researcher investigated which criteria used by teachers at HTTC in evaluating EFL oral presentations Secondly, she tried to find out the problems and the strengths of English majors at HTTC in making oral presentations Then she studied

documents on different assessment criteria used by experts, educators, researchers, and other teachers to assess presentations Finally, basing on these, the researcher suggested a set of criteria for assessing presentations of HTTC English majors, which are suitable with the needs

of both the teachers and the students of HTTC

5 Significance of the study

Although studies of applying oral presentations in EFL context are numerous in many Western and Asian countries, such studies of criteria in oral presentations in Asia and in Vietnam are still scarce The study is undertaken to find out criteria used by teachers and the current strengths and weaknesses of English majors, as well as the criteria learnt from document study to set up suitable criteria for marking EFL presentations in Vietnamese context, particularly at HTTC Therefore, firstly, this study is practical and useful for both teachers and students at HTTC In addition, it contributes to enrich the research on this area in the context of university English classrooms in our country The findings and implications of this study will be of much help and can be used for reference of researchers, educators, teachers and students

PART B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of three parts: oral presentation, introduction to needs analysis, assessment and document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation

1 Oral presentation

1.1 Definitions of oral presentation

Oral presentation skills are important in nearly every career Scientists and engineers present at conferences, to students, to their peers, etc Administrators and managers may give talks to committees about their work, or to groups of people in training As for students, presentation skills can lead to new opportunities in employment and in education

A presentation is defined in the 7th edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

(2005:1190) as “an act of showing something or of giving something to somebody” or “a

meeting at which something, especially a new product or idea, or piece of work is shown to a group of people”

Presentation means: “ a short talk by one person to a group of people introducing and

describing a particular subject” (Retrieved from

http://www.englishclub.com/tefl-articles/english-speaking-practice-presentations.htm)

According to Jing (2009, p.iii), “Oral presentation is an important skill to convey one‟s

ideas in communication.” Kaul (2005, p.41) also asserts, “Presentations are ideas, concepts

or issues that are talked about or shared with a group of people or an audience”

Generally, a presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or information in a clear, structured way Oral presentation is a means to show knowledge, give

a lecture, be tested in a classroom, and build confidence to speak to an audience A

presentation consists of four basic elements: the presenter, the audience, the message and the

tools

1.2 Types of Oral Presentations

There are many ways of classified types of presentation Some people may define them basing on the purposes Some may define them basing on the manners of delivery However, the most common types of presentation given by Whatley (2001) are the followings

Firstly, he mentions informative presentation Informative presentation brings the

audience up to date on projects or events, telling how things are going, or provides information about products and procedures, rules and regulations, and operations, etc

The second type of presentation is instructional The purpose in an instructional

presentation is to give specific directions or orders In an instructional presentation, the listeners should come away with new knowledge or a new skill

Another presentation is arousing The purpose in an arousing presentation is to make

people think about a certain problem or situation This presentation arouses the audience's emotions and intellect so that they will be receptive to presenter’s point of view

Persuasive is the next type of presentation The purpose in a persuasive presentation is to

convince listeners to accept proposal A convincing persuasive presentation offers a solution

to a controversy, dispute, or problem

Finally, it is a decision-making presentation The purpose in a decision-making

presentation is to move audience to take the presenter’s suggested action A decision-making presentation presents ideas, suggestions, and arguments strongly enough to persuade an audience to carry out presenter’s requests A decision-making presentation must tell the audience what to do and how to do it

In short, there are many types of presentation but each type requires a specific organization technique to assure it is understood and remembered by the audience

1.3 Oral Presentations in classroom settings

Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside classroom After completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned It

is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions Presentations can also form a natural part of task-based learning By focusing

on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and extend lesson, pair and group work The audience can also be given a task, for example, a set

of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a way of getting students to listen to each other

The presentation assignment has two major purposes: first, it provides a framework for students to apply the literacy skills they are learning in an environment that encourages interaction with others Second, it provides opportunities for students to create and share their personal interpretations of text with an audience In our classrooms, we refer to the formal sharing of personal interpretations of text as a "presentation."

The followings are some activities for using presentation in classroom setting:

- Students each read a short (half page) essay or passage When everyone has read, each

stands up and gives a mini presentation about what they have read

- Teacher can pre-cut a selection of interesting magazine pictures to suit the age and

ability of the students Students have five minutes to prepare to speak about the pictures This

is followed by a presentation by each student

- For homework, students look up information about a given topic For example, a famous

person, strange animal, man-made wonders of the world In the lesson, each student speaks formally about his or her topic

- As a homework assignment, students have to read a news article either in a newspaper or

on the Internet The assignment is for speakers to tell the class about the news article

- Presentations can also be used as an alternative to test students orally instead of a usual

written formatted test

In the presentation assignments, literacy learning is viewed as more than just reading and writing; it also involves the interactions through which personal interpretations are created and shared Therefore, attention is given to the way classroom activities are organized and sequenced so that there are multiple and diverse opportunities to respond to and talk about text Learning by doing is always considered the best method of teaching and learning

So, when students make presentations they also learn better by coming across and overcoming their difficulties There is an advantage to both the presenter and the listeners In summary, asking students to give presentations has the following advantages Firstly, it gives the presenting student a good opportunity to practice unaided speaking When the presenter prepares to present the topic, he will go through the topic more carefully than what he would have done while listening to the teacher alone Student will have to collect, inquire, organize and construct information As a result, it helps students become active and autonomous learners Secondly, it gives the other students good listening practice In addition, it increases the presenting student's confidence when using English Also, it can be good practice for the real situation for those students who may actually need to give presentations in English in their professional lives Moreover, it is an excellent generator of spontaneous discussion Students feel more at ease and comfortable with their peers than they feel with their teachers

So they ask questions freely to their friends, which they would never ask their teacher, either for fear or for reluctance Sometimes they come out with very ingenious and original comments and questions, which are very insightful It also enhances teamwork when they have to work together to make presentation or discussion In addition, with the availability of

new technology both at school and home, students incorporate video cameras, slide projectors, PowerPoint, VCR/DVD and other visual aids into their presentations which make the presentation become more exciting and interesting Therefore, they will know how to use multimedia and apply it well in their learning

Doing presentation not only brings students themselves advantages but it also contributes

a great deal of benefits to teachers First, the teachers will give centre-stage to their students They can stay in the background and watch the show enacted by their students It is very meaningful because it is a learner-center approach They get their students work hard and

according to Pathak (2003, p.136), “The teacher becomes more of a facilitator than a Mr

Know All dictator.” Another benefit for teacher is that presentation reduces the teacher

talking time and increases the student talking time Apart from these, the best advantage to the teacher is that what they want to do and want to happen happen without their doing (and perhaps, more effectively)

However, every coin has two sides Marmienė (2006) outlines some disadvantages of presentations The first difficulty is “the choice of the material” Nowadays, there are many sources where information can be taken However, not all of them are accurate and authentic Therefore, one of the most important skills to develop is that of effective searching Second, students often overuse PowerPoint or visual aids They use too many pictures and illustrations or show too many words on the screen As a result, all they have to do is just to read everything on the screen It makes the audience annoyed and they bored with their presentation In the third place, making presentation is time-consuming both at home and in class Last but far from the least, one disadvantage of applying presentation in classroom is that the effect of it maybe not as expected because the presenter has nothing to say or the audience does not listen to the presenter

All in all, applying oral presentation in EFL context has many advantages as well as disadvantages Since the improvement of oral presentation requires both skills and practice, it

is suggested that both teachers and students should raise the awareness of importance of developing the skill, learn the presentation skills, increase the opportunities for practice, and teachers should implement oral presentation effectively in ESL classrooms

2 Introduction to needs analysis

2.1 Definition of needs analysis

West (1994, p.1) (cited in Cowling, 2007, p.427) suggests that: needs analysis can be

described as identifying „„what learners will be required to do with the foreign language in the

target situation, and how learners might best master the target language during the period of training‟‟

Needs analysis is "concerned with identifying general and specific language needs that

can be addressed in developing goals, objectives and content in a language program"

(Richards & Rodgers 1986, p 156) According to Brown (1995, p 35) (as cited in Kusumoto,

2008, p 3), the outcome of a needs analysis should be a list of goals and objectives for the

parties involved, which should “serve as the basis for developing tests, materials, teaching

activities, and evaluation strategies, as well as for reevaluating the precision accuracy of the original needs assessment”

Richards and Platt (1992, p 242 & 243) (cited in Kandil, 2004, p 1) states that needs

analysis is “the process of determining the needs for which a learner or group of learners

requires a language and arranging the needs according to priorities” In doing this, they

illustrate, needs analysis gather subjective and objective information about the learner in order

to know the objectives for which the language is needed, the situation in which the language will be used, with whom the language will be used, and the level of proficiency required

2.2 Types of needs analysis

Nunan (1988, p.14) (cited in Yoneoka, 1997) states that for a needs analysis, "information

will need to be collected, not only on why learners want to learn the target language, but also about such things as societal expectations and constraints and the resources available for implementing the syllabus." He defines two types of needs analyses: a learner analysis (what

background factors are the learners bringing to the classroom?) and task analysis (for what

purposes is the learner learning the target language?) In addition, a "means analysis", or analysis of learner styles based on subjective inquiry into how students like to learn best can aid in finding out how to approach the material which needs to be learned

Lowe (2009) defines needs analysis into the following categories:

Figure 1

Target Situation Analysis is a study of the situations in which the language is used This

provides a guide as to what language to teach It establishes the learners' language requirements in the occupational or academic situation they are being prepared for On the

other hand, present situation analysis is what the students are like at the beginning of the course What is their learning background? Next, in lacks analysis (or deficiency analysis),

students are evaluated to see what language they lack According to West (1994) (cited in

Moll, 1999), it combines both the target- situation analysis and present situation analysis

Learning needs analysis (strategy analysis): consider what is to be learned and how the

learners prefer to learn it The limitations in the actual teaching context are identified in the

constraints analysis (or means analysis) Pedagogic needs analysis is a term which groups

together i.e Lacks analysis, Learning needs analysis, and Constraints analysis Finally, in

wants analysis (subjective needs analysis): The teacher finds out what the learners think they

want to learn

In short, there maybe different ways of classifying and naming the types of needs analysis There is an awareness of the fact that different types of needs analysis are not exclusive but complementary and that each of them provides a piece to complete the jigsaw of needs analysis, and all of them attempt to meet the needs of the learners in the process of learning a

second language In this study, the researcher applied target situation analysis, present situation analysis and lack analysis In the target situation analysis, the researcher tried to

find out what the learners need to know in oral presentations in order to function effectively in learning and working In the present situation analysis, the researcher investigated the current strengths and weaknesses of her students in making oral presentations In the lack analysis,

Needs Analysis

Target

Situation

Analysis

Present situation analysis

Lacks analysis

analysis)

Learning needs analysis (strategy analysis)

Constraints

analysis (means analysis)

Pedagogic needs analysis

Wants analysis ( subjective needs analysis)

the researcher evaluated what language and skills her students lack then combined them in the suggested criteria for assessing presentation All in all, the three types of needs analysis applied in this study are the basis for building up assessment criteria for EFL oral presentations of English majors at HTTC

3 Assessment

3.1 An overview of classroom assessment

Assessment is the on going process where what is learned and taught in the classroom is tested and recorded over the time

The Council of Ontario Directors of Education (2006, p.5) highlights:

“Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources

(including assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances and tests) that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a course or subject

As part of assessment, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement.”

According to Earl, et all (2006), classroom assessment was considered a mechanism for providing an index of learning, and it followed a predictable pattern: teachers taught, tested the students’ knowledge of the material, made judgments about students’ achievement based

on the testing, and then moved on to the next unit of work However, nowadays, the purposes for classroom assessment have expanded Assessment takes place not only during teaching to make adjustments to the teaching process, but also at the end of a unit or term to convey student progress Therefore, assessment now assesses a wider range of student work, such as practical tasks, coursework, projects, and presentations For the most part, however, assessment was still a matter of making statements about students’ weaknesses and strengths These authors also come to the conclusion that classroom assessment now has three main

purposes: Assessment for learning, Assessment as learning, and Assessment of learning First, assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process It is designed to

make each student’s understanding visible, so that teachers can decide what they can do to

help students progress In assessment for learning, teachers use assessment as “an

investigative tool to find out as much as they can about what their students know and can do, and what confusions, preconceptions, or gaps they might have.”(p.29) Teachers also use

assessment for learning to enhance students’ motivation and commitment to learning They

make visible what students believe to be true, and use that information to help students move forward in manageable, efficient, and respectful ways

Second, assessment as learning focuses on students and emphasizes assessment as a

process of metacognition for students because “learning is not just a matter of transferring

ideas from someone who is knowledgeable to someone who is not, but is an active process of cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals interact with new ideas.” (p.41)

Students are thought to be the critical connectors between assessment and learning

Finally, assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes or the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or placements

To conclude, the assessment in the classroom settings is of high importance It can motivate students to learn better, teachers to teach better, and schools to be more educationally effective

3.2 Presentation assessment

Robert and Kaeli (2002, p.40) states that “performance assessment generally requires test

takers to demonstrate their skills and content knowledge in settings that closely resemble life settings.” Moskal (2003) suggests that performance assessments can take on many

real-different forms, which include written and oral demonstrations and activities that can be

completed by either a group or an individual As such, presentation is one type of presentation

assessment Mertler (2001) suggests the types of performance assessments in the following figure:

Types of scoring instruments for performance assessments

Figure 2

As can be seen, checklist is one mean of performance assessment Generally, checklists contain a list of behaviors or specific steps, which can be marked as Complete/Incomplete, Yes /No, etc In some cases, a teacher will use a checklist to observe the students In other cases, students use checklists to ensure that they have completed all of the steps and considered all of the possibilities Checklists help to provide structure for students and they are great tools to use when the completion of a task is wanted to be noted, but do not need to assign a rating scale On the other hand, a rubric is a means of scoring a performance assessment where multiple criteria are being assessed and quality of performance or product is important There are two main types of rubrics - holistic and analytic A holistic rubric requires the teacher to score the overall process or product as a whole, without judging the component parts separately In contrast, with an analytic rubric, the teacher scores separate, individual parts of the product or performance first, and then sums the individual scores to

obtain a total score

3.3 Washback of classroom assessment on students

Washback together with other similar related items such as backwash, test impact are the different terms that are commonly used in language testing Cheng (2005) highlights that washback is often introduced in language assessment courses for teachers as a powerful

concept that all assessment designers need to strongly consider, and of which most classroom

teachers are too aware It refers to the extent to which “a test influences language teachers

and learners to do things they would not necessarily otherwise do because of the test”(Cheng,

2005, p.25) Biggs (1995) ( as cited in Cheng, 2005) uses the term “backwash” to the fact that testing drives not only the curriculum, but teaching methods and students’ approaches to learning Generally, washback is the effect of assessment on teaching and learning Alderson and Wall (1993) (as cited in Bailey, 1999) pose effect of washback as it will:

- influence teaching

- influence learning

- influence what teachers teach;

- influence how teachers teach;

- influence what learners learn;

- influence how learners learn

- influence attitudes too the content, method, etc of teaching and learning

……

Generally, Cheng (2009) states that washback can be analyzed according to two major types: positive and negative, depending on whether it has a beneficial or harmful

impact on educational practices Positive Washback of language testing includes: (1) Tests

induce teachers to cover their subjects more thoroughly, making them complete their syllabus within the prescribed time limits, (2) Tests motivate students to work harder to have a sense of accomplishment and thus enhance learning, (3) Good tests can be utilized and designed as beneficial teaching-learning activities so as to encourage positive teaching-learning processes On the other hand, negative washback of language testing are: (1) Tests may encourage teachers to narrow the curriculum and lose instructional time, leading to “teaching to the test.”, (2) Tests bring anxiety both to teachers and students and distort their performance, (3) Students may not be able to learn real-life knowledge, but instead learn discrete points of knowledge that are tested, (4) Cramming will lead students to have a negative positive toward tests and accordingly alter their learning motivation

In short, by assessment at the same time, students will be encouraged and motivated to work harder, or on the other hand, teachers will usually teach to the test, and students only learn what the test or the assessment will required When the criteria for presentation are

set by teachers in advanced and given to the students, they are very helpful because looking at the criteria, students will know what and how they are expected to do, what they have done well and what they need to improve The students will know what are their current strengths and weaknesses Therefore, they will know what to pay more attention to and what to practice more in order to improve their current situation and get higher result In another word, given criteria makes the teachers’ expectations visible to their students

4 Document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation

One of the features of an oral presentation is that it does not leave a record Unless the presentation is recorded, there is no chance for discussion of a disputed mark For this reason, the assessment procedure must be simple so that the assessor can use it easily and fairly from the beginning This in turn implies that the assessment should operate on the basis of very few assessment criteria – in effect those that the assessor can hold in mind during the presentation

According to Otoshi and Heffernan (2008, p.68): “Oral presentation assessment criteria

consist of multi-faceted factors: language, content, delivery, and visual aids It is incumbent among teachers to clearly delineate these factors to their learners before undertaking any peer assessment activities in class.”

Moon (2005) believes that assessment criteria are the details of performance on the basis

of which a presentation is given a mark, or on which feedback is given

Brown (2005) (cited from Ha, 2007) suggests a checklist for evaluating an oral presentation as follow:

contact and facial expressions, Gesture and other body movements, Voice, Pace, and Pronunciation

According to Kaur (2005), the followings are some useful aspects/components of speech delivery that can be assessed in a speech evaluation sheet:

 Introduction: How effective is the introduction? Does it grab attention?

 Content: Is the content well organized? Are the ideas generated suitable to the purpose

of the speech? (e.g expository, narrative, persuasive etc.) Has sufficient library research been carried out?

 Voice Quality: Is the voice loud and clear? Are aspects of speech delivery well

executed? (aspects such as pitch, rate, pace and pronunciation)

 Non-verbal Communication: Are gestures used suitable? Does body language of

speaker help/hinder speech delivery?

 Eye Contact: Does speaker look at audience when speaking?

 Visual Aids: What types of visual aids are used? Are visual aids well prepared and are

criteria to be marked for oral presentation They are: Organization and Content, Presence, Delivery and Grammar

Hovane (2010) has used presentation evaluation form included the following categories:

Voice, Eye contact, Gestures, Smooth delivery, Easy to understand, Interesting content, Well designed posters, Good questions, Friendly attitude and Timing

In short, criteria typically focus on both the content of the presentation and the delivery

broken down into categories such as Use of language, Knowledge of subject material, Ability

to answer/respond to questions, Structure of presentation, Use of audio/visual material, Pace and timing, Delivery style

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY

This chapter recites the methodology conducted in the study, including sampling and data collection

Most of the informants came from countryside and towns In addition, the numbers of years they spent on studying English ranged from seven to ten years In term of the language proficiency of the informants, they are supposed to be at intermediate level However, their proficiency is not as high as those from universities are because their academic results at the entrance examinations are much lower, and their learning style is quite passive They also lack the equipment and good condition to support their English learning By the time they have entered college, informants have already had at least seven years' experience of studying English However, they have been studying hard preparing for university entrance exams So most of them, being accustomed to memorizing new words and expressions and paying attention to grammar points and language structures, find it hard to express themselves in oral English, especially oral presentation

1.2 Teachers

The six English teachers in the staff also participate in the interview and the observation Two of them are 13 years experience; three other teachers have been teaching English for over four years and are now studying MA degree; the last one has taught English for nearly two years

1.3 Output standards for English language students (teaching and non-teaching)

According to the output standards for English language students (teaching and teaching) of HTTC published on www.cdhanam.edu.vn, the most important functions for English majors in their future occupation and they need achieve are to be expressing their opinion, reading texts on the Internet, conversing with native speakers, writing e-mail messages, giving explanations and instructions, and translating oral and written English in a variety of occupations, teaching English for students in primary and secondary schools, English language centers, using English to work in offices, tourism or work as interpreters or translators from intermediate to advanced level Therefore, in term of oral communication, by the end of the first scholastic year, students are expected to be able to carry on daily conversations in simple English, to ask and answer questions based on some reading or listening material, and to discuss about simple and common issues By the end of the second year, students are expected to be able to carry on conversations with native English speakers not only about daily life but also about social issues Given some reading or listening material, they should be able to retell the content and discuss the topic for three to four minutes with one or two minutes' preparation beforehand By the end of the third year, the students are expected to communicate fluently with foreigner in English

non-1.4 Applying EFL oral presentations in HTTC context

Every English major student was assigned topics to present on The topics were varied They could do the topics individually or in groups The topics might be chosen by students themselves or assigned by teachers In some subjects, students did not have time to prepare in advanced at home, but teachers gave them the topics in class They prepared immediately (sometimes they could discuss with friends, sometimes not) Then, each student (or group) had to speak for five minutes In other cases, students chose their own topics (or teachers assigned), then they prepared at home and then presented in class Time allowance was often from ten to twenty minutes Whatever the cases, the class would listen to the presentation and was allowed to ask questions freely on the topic presented Both the presenter and the class had their own roles to play as speaker and listeners: the presenter had to be serious and impressive and the listeners observant and evaluative