PART1: INTRODUCTION1. 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

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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.

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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, speaking skills, 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:

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research questions

informants

measurement instruments

data analysis

presentation of statistical results

+ 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

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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 and

explore the nature of speaking, approaches to speaking skill, 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:

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(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. Speaking Skills

1.2.1. Nature of Speaking:

As discussed above speaking (productive skill) and listening (receptive skill) together make an

oral communication. And as for Byrne (1986), in some situations, one person may do all the

speaking, as, for example, in a lecture. Here, typically, the speaker initiates and simply keeps

up the flow of his/her own speech. This also happens when a person is giving instruction or

directions. Normally, however, as in a conversation, although one person initiates, speaker and

listener are constantly changing roles and consequently speaking involves responding to what

has been heard. And this particular kind of interaction (listen- respond- listen etc.) makes it

difficult for the learners to follow.

The nature of speaking has been discussed several times by several scholars. In order to clarify

the functions of speaking, Brown and Yule (1983) discussed the distinction between

transactional function, which is primarily concerned with the transfer of information, and the

interactional function, in which the primary purpose of speech is to maintain social

relationships. In addition, the two scholars said the development of speaking skills could be

recognized through monologues and dialogues. They also stated that the ability to give an

uninterrupted oral presentation (monologue) was different from that of interacting with one or

more native speakers. While all native speakers can use their language interactionally, not all

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native speakers have the ability to present a given topic to a group of listeners. This explains

why presentation skills generally have to be taught and practiced carefully.

Bygate (1987) discussed two important skills: micro- linguistic skills and interaction skills

which was said to help learners not only understand some grammar, vocabulary and the rules

governing how words are put together to form sentences but decide what to say and how to

say.

Another issue concerning the ability to speak is that of fluency and accuracy. “Accuracy is the

extent to which students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target

language. Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently

with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc.” (Nunan, D, 2003:

55). Byrne (1986) stated that the main goal in teaching speaking, a productive skill would be

oral fluency which could be attained by bringing the students from the stage where they are

mainly imitating a model of some kind, or responding to cues, to the point where they can use

the language freely to express their own ideas. Scarcella and Oxford (1992: 156) saw many

educators who believe that in communicative class, “it is not necessary to teach conversational

features or push students to communicate accurately” and that “fluency can be developed by

simply providing students with lots of conversational practice”. However, Byrne (1986)

pointed out that “our task, in trying to meet the needs of learners, particularly in non-

privileged conditions, is to strike a balance between accuracy and fluency so that, in the end,

the learners are able to communicate adequately”. He also added that in practice, getting this

balance is not difficult. Whether to promote fluency or to focus on accuracy respectively

belongs to the practice and production stages of learning, which, from the standpoint of the

learners, provide the necessary “ingredients” for communicative adequacy. He was quite

neutral with the thinking that “What we cannot know is how different learners will respond

individually to these two types of activity and how they will benefit from them. Some, for

example, are likely to need more practice in order to master the language system; others may

‘pick up’ the language system through fluency- type activities. Some, whatever we do, will

turn out to be fluent but inaccurate communicators; others will communicate painstakingly and

accurately but with not much fluency. Such diversity is typical of an average class of students.

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By taking a balanced approach we are at least trying to cater for the widest range of needs and,

within the constraints of the classroom, giving the learners some opportunities to learn in the

way best suited to them” ( Byrne, 1986: 5). Brown (1994: 254) also shares the same idea that

“both fluency and accuracy are important goals to pursue in CL”. While communicative

classes place emphasis on fluency, he suggests that “accuracy is achieved to some extent by

allowing students to focus on the elements of phonology, grammar, and discourse in their

spoken output”. This is a very good point to make. In our own situation, as most of the

second- year majors’ English proficiency is not very good, showing them the importance of

both accuracy and fluency at this stage is the job of every teacher.

1.2.2. Development Approaches to Speaking Skill

Teaching speaking skill or teaching oral English is what Donn Byrne often paid so much

attention to. That is why in many of his books, this issue was always the centre of discussion.

According to him (see Byrne: 1986: 22-31), the following three phases are encouraged to be

used to develop learners’ oral ability:

1.2.2.1. The Presentation Phase

At the presentation stage, the teacher’s main task is to serve as a kind of informant who knows

the language, selects the new material to be learnt (using the textbook normally but

supplementing and modifying it as required), and presents this in such a way that the meaning

of the new language is as clear and memorable as possible. And, according to Byrne (1986:2),

at this point of the lesson, the teacher is considered the centre and spends most of the time

presenting. The author stated that there were different ways to present new material- through

texts, activities or situations in which a text (a dialogue or prose passage) was the main

concern of oral materials. For this reason steps of presenting dialogues and prose passages are

investigated and introduced at this stage.

As for Byrne (1986: 25-28), presenting a dialogue requires 10 different steps which are as

follows:

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1. Establish the setting which means using pictures with available information to explain,

translate, or to check the students’ understandings about the items in the pictures. That

is why mother tongue can be encouraged sometimes.

2. Establish a personal link with the situation. This can be similar to the way teachers

draw out learners’ experiences related to situations.

3. Pre- teach selected items (optional) which is to deal with any difficulties that might

seriously interfere with overall understanding and enjoyment of the dialogue.

4. Set a listening task by asking about key information of the dialogue.

5. Ask the students to listen without looking at the text.

6. Ask the students to read silently as they listen. During this phase, pause after each

section and ask some simple questions to check understanding.

7. Ask the students to listen and repeat

8. Explain any difficulties by reading through the dialogue, drawing attention to any

points (perhaps giving further examples of an item) or by asking the students to tell

you what difficulties they have

9. Ask the students to practice saying the dialogue

10. Get the students to dramatize or improvise the dialogue. One or two groups can be

asked to do this if there is time and if they want to.

It is known that this procedure is perfect and logically arranged. However, it is dependent on

the learners’ competence so some steps can be left out. It is quite hard for Vietnamese students

to conduct step 10 because they are generally shy and time is limited.

To present a prose passage, Byrne (1986: 30-31) suggested 9 following steps:

i. Introduce the topic by asking the students to look at the picture and tell you in

English some of the things you know about related things.

ii. Introduce the text by working through the first part of the passage giving some

explanation for some new words and structures.

iii. Provide relevant language practice.

iv. Set a reading task by making questions.

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v. Do silent reading which is to ask the students to read the passage silently and find

the answer to the reading task.

vi. Read the passage aloud and ask for the answer to the reading task at the same time.

vii. Explain any difficulties.

viii. Do silent reading again because the students need to go on with the last step.

ix. Get the class to talk about what they have learnt.

1.2.2.2. The Practice Phase:

Unlike the presentation phase, at the practice phase students have to do most of talking that

their teachers provide. Practice is usually in the forms of activities to improve fluency of

speaking so pair work and group work are highly encouraged. Also at this stage, students can

be asked to follow different stages of practice: the use of drills and the use of texts. The former

can be carried out in techniques like chorus work, reading aloud or mechanical drills. It is

necessary that students need practice, oral practice, guided oral practice, meaningful oral

practice, and extensive oral practice. This stage requires that the students should at all times

understand and pay attention to what they are required to say and their utterances should not

only be correct but appropriate to the situation. The latter, the use of texts, emphasizes the use

of a text as a context for oral work. The advantage, as the author stated, is that those kinds of

exercises: true/ false statements, completion exercises, etc offer a very well-defined context

for practice.

1.2.2.3. The Production Phase:

At this phase learners need chances to speak English freely. A real chance to speak English

takes place when the learner is able to use English naturally for themselves, not for their

teacher. Group work plays an important part in making learners practice speaking here.

1.3. Oral Presentation

1.3.1. Definitions and Characteristics

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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.

1.3.2. 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. Another function of the introduction,

according to her, is to “identify what the presentation is about and how you plan to present the

information”. For example, you may tell the listeners that you are first going to explain a

particular problem, then briefly mention some of its causes, and finally focus on several

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possible solutions. This brief preview of the content and organization of a presentation allows

the listeners to fit the information given to them into a framework and helps them understand

and remember what is presented. The final point she mentions in the introduction is “whether

listeners are free to interrupt with questions or whether they should save their questions for the

end of the presentation”. And that “if there is time at the end for a question and answer

session, listeners should be informed at the beginning of the presentation”. To make sure there

are different introductions of the presentations given at work and those given in class the

author states: “In a classroom situation your listeners do not always have a natural interest in

what is being said to them. Therefore, you may have to work harder to get their attention. You

have to plan a strong introduction in order to make people want to hear the rest of the

presentation”. ( Santry, 1999: 31,32). As for her, the best way to interest listeners is to relate

the topic to their wants and needs. Listeners usually pay close attention to what affects them

directly: their work, their interest, their health, their security, their family, their friends, or their

community. Furthermore, most listeners have a natural curiosity to learn more about the

world. You can try to appeal to this curiosity in the introduction. Certain types of openings are

often effective in gaining an audience’s attention. Some of the following may be used:

A surprising or unusual fact

A personal story

An interesting example

A quotation from an authority or expert

Impressive or significant statistics

Furthermore, an effective introduction to any type of presentation should be brief and to the

point. You want to capture the interest of listeners and then lead them into the content of the

presentation. Never use the introduction to apologize to the audience for anything: for being

nervous, for not being prepared, for not being an expert on the subject. By taking a positive,

confident approach from the beginning the listeners will be eager to hear what is said on the

subject.

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

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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

Additionally, you should not surprise people by suddenly announcing, “That’s all”, or “I guess

I’m finished”. That kind of ending shows that you have not organized your ideas very well.

You should plan a conclusion to prepare the listeners for the end of your presentation. And

lastly, you can end your presentation by asking listeners whether they have any questions. This

allows people to ask for explanations or to get further information on a particular point.

1.3.3. 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 Vo (1994),

Miller (1994), Underhill (1987), and so on.

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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. And

according to the webpage http://www.englishclub.com 2002, “before any mention of a

presentation, teachers should elicit interest from each student. These may be hobbies,

professional activities, past holidays etc. Rarely do teachers find that every student in a group

is a professional sky-diver, brain surgeon or stand-up comedian. Yet, with a little prompting,

teachers will often find that each student has an interest or skill that is particular to her but of

potential interest to others. Having dug a little into each student's mind, teachers can store the

interests for the moment when they start teaching presentations. Even then, they do not

normally need to suggest to each student what he could talk about. Say something like: 'The

subject could be anything, for example, your work, your hobby, a holiday”.

The procedures for oral presentation have also been discussed by VO (1994) and Miller

(1994). VO (1994: 276-277) offers the following procedure for teachers 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.

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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).

Miller (1994: 280-281) shows the procedure for oral presentations carried out as class

activities as follows:

1. At the beginning of the semester, have students organize themselves into small

groups.

2. General topics for discussions is one of three ways:

. Have the students suggest topics.

. Prepare and suggest topics to the class

. Have students (or yourself) research and suggest topics related to their field of

study

3. Make sure each group has a different topic, which can vary depending on the level of

the class and the interests of the students.

4. Discuss strategies for presenting topics in English and encourage group members to

agree or disagree with the ideas of other member during the upcoming discussion. Let

students know that after each group discussion, one member will be chosen to present

the group’s ideas to the class. (It is important not to tell the group in advance who is

going to speak in front of the class so that all students take part in the group

discussion).

5. Have one member of each group present the ideas to the others for a group discussion

lasting about 12- 15 minutes, while you listens and circulate among groups to help

with language problems. (Try to intervene as little as possible so students are

encouraged to speak freely.)

6. Once the time has expired, chose one person from each group to stand up and present

the group’s ideas to the whole class for 2-3 minutes.

7. Encourage students in the class to ask the presenter/ group questions

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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.

1.4. 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

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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 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.

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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)

18

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. Description of the students of the English course:

The students of the foreign language department at HYUTE are much different from those of

the same mandate at other public universities. The first difference can be seen in their levels of

English: generally various and not very high. Moreover, the department itself is young and the

students’ academic results at the entrance examination are much lower, which results in the

low motivation as well as a lack of confidence in learning. That is, they are not very self-

confident and often display a quite passive attitude to learning. This is shown in the fact that

they do not realize the expectations for their learning behaviors as university students are

different from school pupils’. Therefore, they go on adopting the pupil’s teacher- dependent

learning style. Furthermore, being local university students, almost all of them come from

rural areas without many chances for learning English. For a long time, they only focused on

grammar and vocabulary and they hardly spoke English. As a result, when they entered

university, their learning strategies were not good enough to become successful learners.

2.1.3. Description of the teachers at the department:

One very important factor that makes the learning and teaching of English better is the

teachers themselves. In the department of foreign languages, teachers are divided into two

different groups. The first group is responsible for teaching ESP for non- English majors and

the second one has the responsibility for teaching English majors. Only one of the 8 teachers

19

of the second group is 46 years old, the rest are quite young ranging from 23 to 32. All of them

graduated from the English department of CFL, VNU or Hanoi University. None of them have

got an M.A degree but five of them are doing M.A so they are quite busy teaching and

learning together. In general, the teaching staff is always eager for knowledge, energetic and

willing to apply better teaching methods to upgrade their teaching quality.

2.1.4. Description of the physical setting:

The term” physical setting” refers to the place where the lessons take place, the number of

students in an English class, the equipment and different types of materials available for

teachers and students in teaching and learning English. In the department, the activities of

teaching and learning English are mostly carried out inside the classrooms with not so many

kinds of teaching and learning facilities. Additionally, there is not appropriate size and design

for typical language classrooms: the rooms are too large and all the desks and chairs are too

long to be moveable during group work. Consequently, it can be quite difficult for the teachers

to observe the class during group work, teamwork or to organize some language games for

students.

Concerning the convenience of location, the department is located in Hai Duong city which

provides no favorable conditions for studying English because the students of English majors

here do not have many chances to meet and talk with foreigners and only one small library

with a big lack of reference books creates difficulties for both the teachers and the students in

having enough resources.

In a nutshell, making remarkable progress in teaching and learning English is not easy as it

requires a lot of patience, guidelines and efforts from both HYUTE teachers and students.

2.2. The Study

2.2.1. The Research Questions

20

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. 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 thee countryside (33 students) and from

towns (17 students) while 6 are from big cities like Haiphong, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, or

21

Vinh. Their different places of domicile somehow lead to greatly various experiences in their

language learning.

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.

The learners had been studying three semesters at university. Their average marks in speaking

in the third semester varied from 5 to 9, but just centered on between marks 6 and 7. 6 students

(11%) got mark 5; 19 of them (34%) got mark 6, and 22 students (39%) got mark 7.

Meanwhile 7 students (13%) got mark 8 and only two students (3%) got mark 9.

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.

The notable things about the selected students are, firstly, they are mixed- ability groups of

English learners with different personalities. The majority of the students coming from

northern provinces other than big cities are generally shy, introvert but hard working. The rest

coming from big cities were more outgoing and confident. Secondly, in spite of their low

English proficiency, they show enthusiasm in speaking, especially presenting in English.

However, many students complained to me about their presentations being responded by

yawning from their fellow students. They followed the instructions by their teachers, for

example, they chose interesting topics, but their poor pronunciation, lack of confidence,

monotonous voice, etc. so far failed to help them make a successful oral presentations.

22

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.

2.2.3. 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.

2.2.4. 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

23

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.

Options

QuestionsA B C D

Question 1

How necessary do you think it is to learn

oral presentation skills in your speaking

class?

A. Necessary

B. Rather necessary

C. A little necessary

D. Not necessary at all

85% 13% 7% 0%

What do you think is the reason for that

necessity? (You can tick more than one)

24

Question 2

A. Making oral presentations is one of the

requirements in the university’s syllabus

for speaking

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

25

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

QuestionsA B C D E

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%

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

26

Question 5

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

E. I can never present fluently

Others (Please list other reasons here)

…………………………………

23% 53% 64% 12% 12%

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

C. Topic suitability

D. Timing

E. Ordering the main points

48% 82% 21% 14% 5%

Question 7

What do you think are the causes of such

difficulties? (You can tick more than one)

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

27

After receiving a topic from the teacher, the students should be given time to prepare for their

own presentation. The preparation stage (question 4), therefore, bears some certain jobs

which, firstly is to search for, brainstorm, and select the best ideas to be presented, secondly is

the step of making a detailed outline with satisfactory explanations and examples to support

the main points, thirdly is to rehearse the speech, and lastly is to memorize the speech word

for word. When asked about their difficulties in carrying out these steps, the students showed

their different points of view. There were two items which most of them found 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 agreed with

the fact 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”

28

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

English majors.

Options

QuestionsA B C D E

After giving you topics for presentation, your

teachers often …

A. Helps with the main ideas for the topic

B. Helps you with words or structures related to

29

Question 8 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)

…………………………………………….

18% 11% 9% 62%

Question 9

What does your teacher do to encourage you to

do oral presentations?

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.

E. Does nothing

Others (Please list other actions here)

………………………………………….

21% 0% 11% 14% 54%

Question 10

If you make mistakes while presenting your

topic, your teacher often …

A. gets angry and interrupts you by correcting

them

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

E. Ignores them

Others (Please list other actions here)

……………………………………

3% 48% 36% 11% 2%

Question 11

When you finish your presentation, your

teacher often …

A. Asks for feedback on it from the rest of the

students

B. Gives her/ his own feedback on it

16% 64% 9% 11%

30

C. Does nothing

D. Both A & B

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

English majors.

Teachers’ ways of teaching are an important factor helping students make progress in their

studies. As oral presentation skills are still new to all the second- year English majors, a

careful selection of teaching methods should always be the teachers’ greatest concern.

However, the data collected from Table 3 show that the teachers of presentation skills lack

some good methods to motivate the students, to make it easier for them to understand, and to

let them feel relaxed when giving their own presentations. Details about this are as follows:

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

31

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.

Giving feedback on the students’ finishing their presentations is also very important as this is

to make better improvement for other presentations. Therefore, it is the teachers’ duty to find

good ways to make this stage the most relaxing and interesting of all in which encouragement,

suggestion, or correction can all be welcome. 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.

In summary, teachers’ current ways of teaching oral presentations still need changing as

sometimes they had inappropriate ways to motivate the students, they need to be less serious

32

in correcting the students’ mistakes and should do more to help them involved in their

presentations.

2.3.1.2.4. The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ current methods.

Options

QuestionsA B C D

Question 12

What do you think about your teacher’s

teaching strategies of presentation skills?

They are:

A. Very effective

B. Rather effective

C. Little effective

D. Not effective at all

0% 9% 79% 12%

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

QuestionsA B C D

What do you think the teacher should

do to help you to give satisfactory

33

Question 13

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 100% 100% 100%

34

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……………………………..

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’ teaching 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;

35

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

36

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.

Options

Questions

A B C D

Question 1

How necessary do you think it is to introduce oral

presentation skills in the speaking class?

A. Necessary

B. Rather necessary

C. A little necessary

D. Not necessary at all

62% 25% 13% 0%

Question 2

What do you think is the reason for that

necessity?(You can tick more than one)

A. Making oral presentations is one of the

requirements in the university’s syllabus for

speaking

B. Speaking skill is well- practiced through doing

oral presentations

C. It’s a good way to evaluate students’ ability in

speaking

D. It is for the students to prepare for their

professional ways of working in the future.

Others (Please give other reasons of your

own choice here)

25% 100% 25% 100%

37

……………………………

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.

To sum up, to both the teachers and the students in the department of foreign languages, oral

presentation skills were important and necessary to teach and learn. The reasons given may be

of little difference between the teachers and the students but that was not too much. Hopefully,

a detailed syllabus which includes presentation skills and aims of the course will make both

the teachers and the students become highly motivated in their both teaching and learning of

oral presentations.

2.3.2.2.2. The teachers’ opinion of presentation skills.

Options

Questions

A B C D

Have you been trained in presentation skills?

A. Yes, in English teaching- training courses4 2 0 2

38

Question 3B. Yes, in English teaching workshops

C. Others

D. No, I have never been trained in presentation

skills.

50% 25% 0% 25%

Question 4

What do you think about presentation skills?

( Tick all the statements you think are true to

presentation skills)

A. are student- led activities

B. are to practice speaking and listening skills

C. can’t be effectively done without the help

of visual aids like overhead projectors,

blackboard, and illustrations

D. create fears and nervousness to the majority

of students

6

75%

8

100%

4

50%

8

100%

Table 2: The teachers’ opinion of presentation skills.

Figures from Table 2 show the fact that 6 out of the 8 teachers had been trained in presentation

skills in which only 4 of them (50%) had received formal training- in English teaching-

training courses and 2 of them (25%) had not been trained formally- in English teaching

workshops. There were still 2 teachers (25%) who had not been trained in presentation skills

which, in some way, affect the department’s teaching quality. This leads to their different

ideas about presentation skills in Question 4: all of the teachers (100%) thought that

presentation skills were good for practicing speaking and listening skills and that the skills

create fears and nerves to the majority of the students, 6 of them (75%) agreed that

presentation skills are student- led activities, and only half of them kept the thinking that these

skill cannot be effectively done without the help of visual aids like overhead projectors,

blackboard, and illustrations.

2.3.2.2.3. The teachers’ difficulties in teaching presentation skills.

39

Options

QuestionA B C D E

Question 5

How difficult do you find it to introduce presentation skills?A. Very difficult

B. Quite difficult

C. Little difficult

D. Easy

25% 43% 32% 0%

Question 6

What do you think is the reason(s) for that

difficulty? (You can tick more than one)

A. I haven’t been trained in the skills before

B. I lack reference books

C. The students’ proficiency is low

D. There is not appropriate classroom size for

making presentation.

E. The students are not confident enough

Others (Please list other reasons here)

…………………………………

25% 50% 100% 50% 62%

Table 3: The teachers’ difficulties in teaching presentation skills

In response to question 5, all the teachers agreed with the fact that oral presentation skills were

difficult to teach although the levels of difficulty were quite different: 24 teachers (43%)

thought it was quite difficult, 18 of them (32%) thought it was of little difficult, and the rest-

14 teachers (25%) said that the skills were very difficult. It is understandable that no teachers

in the department thought oral presentation skills were easy to teach. The reasons for those

difficulties can be explained in question 6. According to all the teachers (100%), the students’

low proficiency in English was a major factor that prevented them from making the students

understand everything of their teaching and follow all that they asked the students to do in

class and at home as well. Some of the teachers said: “Although I’ve tried my best to teach

them all the necessary steps of giving a presentation and give them chance to do a lot of

40

practice, of course, most of them failed to express in English appropriately with their poor

vocabulary, grammar, and especially pronunciation. Gradually, they lost their confidence in

speaking.” This also explains why more than 62% of them complained that the students’ lack

of confidence when giving pronunciations was one of their big challenges. Half of the teachers

(50%) stated that their difficulties could also be seen in their lack of reference books and

appropriate classroom size being equipped with some technical aids such as projectors,

computers…. Only two teachers (25%) had difficulty just because they have not been trained

in the skills so they could not have good experience teaching successfully.

2.3.2.2.4. Current teaching methods applied for oral presentation skills

Options

QuestionA B C D

Question 7

After giving your students topics for

presentation, you often …(You can tick

more than one)

A. Help with the main ideas for the topic

B. Help with words or structures related to

the topics

C. Let them discuss the topics in small

groups

D. Do nothing

Others (Please list other activities

here)

……………………………………

……

5

63%

2

25%

7

87%

1

12%

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Question 8

What do you do to encourage your

students to speak?

A. Suggest interesting topics for discussion

B. Gives them a model video presentation.

C. Help them brainstorm main points for an

outline

D. Use group work or pair work.

E. Others (Please list other activities

here)………………………………..

30% 0% 63% 87%

Question 9

If your students make mistakes while

presenting the topic, you often ……..

A. Get angry and interrupt them by

correcting the mistakes

B. Don’t get angry but interrupt them to

correct

C. Wait until they finish their presentations,

point out their mistakes, and then correct

the mistakes for them

D. Wait until they finish their presentations,

point out their mistakes, and then

encourage them to correct the mistakes by

themselves

E. Others (Please list other activities

here)………………………………

0% 25% 50% 12%

Table 4: Current teaching methods applied for oral presentation skills

Honestly speaking, the findings from the first questionnaire show that the second- year

English majors did not give positive comments on their teachers’ ways of teaching. In this

questionnaire, however, comments of that kind can be more subjective as, to some extent, the

teachers have not recognized so easily in what way(s) their teaching methods should be

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changed and how should they be improved. The table above about teachers’ comments on

their own ways of teaching helps to work out the problems. Statistics collected for question 7

proved that most of the teachers (87%) applied the technique of asking the students to discuss

the topic in groups. Besides, there were also a high percentage of teachers (63%) who often

helped their students with the main ideas for the given topic whereas, only 25% of them

sometimes helped the students with words or structures related to the topics and none of them

(0%) agreed that they should not do anything after giving their students topics for presentation

or if she could do something, it should be like what a guide in the class should do: “ What I do

is to go around supporting my students. I do not do A cause I think it narrows my students’

creativeness.”

When asked about what they did to encourage their students to speak, the eight teachers

showed their different points of view. 30% of them often suggested the students interesting

topics for discussion, 63% of them helped to brainstorm main points for an outline, 87%

encouraged the students to make presentation by discussing the main points in pairs or groups

so that the shy students could be more involved in their presentations. Pitifully, none of the

teachers (0%) used the technique of giving the students a model video presentation which,

according to the researcher, is a very effective way to give the students something to learn

from. There was one teacher who said that by raising the awareness of the importance of

presentation skills she could encourage her students to make presentations.

Information from table 4 reveals that there were no teachers (0%) who got angry and interrupt

the students by correcting their mistakes while they were presenting but 2 out of the eight

teachers did not get angry but interrupt the students to correct. Half of the teachers (50%)

chose item C which says that the teachers often wait until the students finish their

presentations, point out their mistakes and correct the mistakes for them. Item D which says

the teachers wait until the students finish their presentations, point out their mistakes, and then

encourage the students to correct the mistakes by themselves was agreed by only one teacher

(12%). One of the teachers who did not choose any of the above items wrote that sometimes

mistakes should be ignored to make the students relaxed. By doing so she believed she could

43

motivate her students so much. “Sometimes I ignored their mistake because I did know that

they themselves realized it and I did not want them to lose their faces.”

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION

2.1. Findings.

The findings from the questionnaires distributed to 56 second- year English majors and 8

teachers at HYUTE are the answers to the six research questions. Follows are the detailed

answers to those questions:

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

Research question 1: What are the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral

presentation skills?

Findings from the two questionnaires indicate that both the students and the teachers agreed

upon the necessity of oral presentation skills. As for them, the application of these skills for

the second- year English majors in their speaking classes in particular and in all other English

classes in general was really advantageous. The very first important reason, as they stated, was

that they could have a quite good preparation for their future ways of working in which they

would often have to give academic presentations on their own fields of business. Furthermore,

to the teachers who teach speaking skill, the skills of giving presentations help their students a

lot in practicing speaking in English through sub- skills like giving opinions, persuading,

arguing, discussing, handling with the audience’s questions, etc.

2.1.2. What the teachers know about presentation skills.

Research question 2: How much do the teachers know about presentation skills?

Generally, the majority of the teachers have attended in training courses on presentation skills

so the researcher was not surprised to recognize that their knowledge of presentation skills is

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quite good. They all know for sure that the skills of presentation are to practice the students’

speaking and listening abilities and that to be successful in giving presentations it is teachers’

job to be aware of all particular characteristics of presentation skills such as learner- dependent

(student- led activities), challenging ( create fears and nervousness to the learners), and

technical (cannot be successful without the help of visual aids like overhead projectors,

computers, blackboards, and illustrations, etc.)

2.1.3. The teachers and the students’ difficulties in their teaching and learning of oral

presentations.

Research question 3: What are the teachers and the students’ difficulties in their teaching and

learning of oral presentations?

In general the students appeared shy and self conscious to speak English and often averted

back to their mother tongue at a point of difficulty rather than perhaps seeking the help of a

peer near them or requesting a brief moment to look up a word. The latter two options would

be more beneficial in terms of grasping a handle on English and learning new words. Findings

from the survey also show that the majority of students boasted a range of English that was

limited only to the common phrases provided to them by their teachers or used in their text

book. The ability to express themselves more articulately was lacking greatly. Students would

often rely upon the over used and cliché statements rather than attempting to describe

themselves using new words.

The teachers shared many of their difficulties in teaching presentation skills and to their own

points of view, the students’ low proficiency of English resulted in their reluctance to practice

presentation skills such as semi- formal group discussion within the classroom, which created

a barrier between receiving the “theory” and application. Moreover, the difficulties were

attributed to a lack of resources like a well- equipped library where reference books,

magazines and newspapers, etc could be available.

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

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Research question 4: What methods are the teachers currently using in teaching presentation

skills?

Both the students’ and the teachers’ responses reflect that improvements in teaching

presentation skills in particular and speaking skills in general should be taken into

considerations by the teachers as their methods remain problematic. First of all, it seems to the

researcher that the teachers participated too much in the presentation doings by helping their

students with the main ideas for the topic, with words or structures related to the topic without

paying much attention to encourage the students’ creativeness by letting them work in their

hown groups for the main ideas or structures. This happened to most of the teachers who, in

giving responses to the questions, explained that if they did not do so their students might

think that they were not supportive and even lazy. Secondly, all of the teachers seemed not to

know one important thing that giving a model video presentation is quite effective because it

creates chances for the students to learn via examples. Instead of that, they sometimes

encouraged their students to speak by helping them brainstorm main points for an outline or

suggesting topics of their preference for discussion. Furthermore, the teachers were too serious

when their students made mistakes. Although they did not get angry, they could not stand

waiting until the students finish their presentations to correct their mistakes so stopped them

while they were presenting to correct. In addition to that, they kept warning the students of

their mistakes by pointing out the mistakes and correcting them in front of the class. The last

stage in their methods was when the students finished their presentations. At this stage, all

what most of the teachers did was giving their own feedback on the students’ presentation

giving.

2.1.5. The students’ evaluations of those methods.

Research question 5: What are the students’ evaluations of those methods?

What the students evaluated on their teachers’ methods was not very positive. Only a few of

them thought those methods were quite effective or little effective; the rest thought they were

not effective at all. This problem seems hard to be solved as most of the teachers kept thinking

46

that it was their students’ poor English proficiency, not the teachers’ fault that made them low-

motivated in the lessons.

2.1.6. What the students think should be done for them to improve their oral presentation

skills.

Research question 6: What do the students think should be done for them to improve their oral

presentation skills?

Students’ expectations are various. To help them improve their oral presentation skills it is

necessary that not only the students themselves, but the teachers and the department of foreign

languages as well, think of how to learn, how to teach, and how to support for the teaching and

learning of English in general and of oral presentation skills in particular. Results from the

survey show that the teachers were expected to, firstly, give their students more text- based

readings so that they can get some background knowledge about the topic they are going to

present and secondly, give them model video presentations to learn from, and thirdly pay more

attention to their pronunciation and fluency in speaking. And they themselves should

recognize how poor their English proficiency is so that they should start thinking of improving

it immediately. Moreover, they all agreed that preparation for presentations is very important

as it helps them be more confident about what have been prepared so being well- prepared is

always what the students should be aware of. About the institution, the students expected that

they could have more chances to take part in English clubs or English Olympic contests, etc to

practice speaking English and to increase their confidence in any kinds of English

performance. Furthermore, they hoped that the department as well as the institution should

invest more in learning facilities or equipping the library with variety kinds of reference

books, or the laboratory with more cassettes, computers, or internet.

2.2. Suggested techniques for improving oral presentation skills.

2.2.1. Suggestions for the teachers.

According to the result of respond questionnaires, it is unedited that the teaching methods of

oral presentation skills in the speaking lessons for the second- year English majors currently

applied at the department of foreign languages are problematic. This completely affects

47

learners’ study. The researcher supposes that it is high time the teachers in the department did

something to improve their teaching methods. Followings are some suggestions for the teacher

activities to the class presentations:

Topic discussion:

Most of the teachers who have trained in presentation skills show that they have good

understanding of it. However, the majority of them have not applied them on their teaching

due to a number of difficulties indentified in the survey result. Therefore, in order to improve

the situation of teaching English speaking in general and presentation skills in particular,

firstly, the teachers ought to be encouraged to give their students a choice of topics for

discussion. Discussion, according to Byrne (1987: 59), is “any exchange of opinions or

ideas”. This means that topic discussion is any exchange of opinions or ideas about some

topic. Following is an example of how the teacher had a discussion with the class about a

topic: whether young people spend too much money on clothes:

T: Well, I sometimes get the impression…I sometimes think…that a lot of people today…

especially young people, I mean…spend too much money on clothes. What do you think?

A: Oh, I don’t think that’s right. May be people buy more clothes, but they are quite

cheap, really

B… and not very good, so…

C: It depends. Anyway, clothes are important!

D: Yes.

E: I don’t agree. Most people buy something because, well, they see it in a shop… or

someone’s wearing it, so they want it too… (etc.)

T: Well, I suppose one good thing is… making clothes provides work for people, doesn’t

it? (etc.)

(Byrne: 1987: 3)

Giving the class a “topic” to talk about, according to Byrne (1987), is the traditional way of

starting a discussion. Usually, we begin to discuss a topic (education, advertising, politics…)

48

in real life because there is something that provokes us. For example, perhaps we have just

seen an advertisement or read an article which annoys us. So in the classroom, too, if we want

the students to talk about a topic, we must find some way of involving them in it. Some

possibilities are:

Questions: For example, you can start by asking your students: “What’s the real

purpose of education? Does everyone need the same education?”

Provocative statements: you can quote an opinion you have heard. For example,

The other day, I heard someone say that for most people education is just a waste of time!

Visual material: This can be in the form of relevant pictorial material (posters,

photographs, advertisements, etc.), which will help bring some aspects of the topic

alive. Or you can use charts and diagrams to focus on some particular aspect of a topic.

For example, you could compare the amount of money spent on education and

defence.

To sum up, it is suggested that the teachers provide topics which are more interesting and

appropriate to age, level and relating to real life to create enjoyable atmosphere that makes

reluctant learners interested in giving presentations. The teachers should also save them the

chance to select topic themselves because topic certainly will be in their list of favorite, and

the more they like it, the more they are interested in discussion and preparation for

presentation giving.

Feedback:

Furthermore, the teachers should change their ways of correcting the students’ mistakes or

giving feedback because their criticism and bad comments on their students’ presentation

doings sometimes create low motivation on the students. So it is suggested that teachers give

students more praise, compliments, encouragements than criticism. The survey shows that

feedback is often given by the teachers (teacher feedback) but peer feedback (given by the

students) is also necessary as it makes the students get involved and become attentive

audience. Follows are some advice for the teachers on how to give teacher feedback and how

to ask the student to give peer feedback:

49

Teacher feedback: When teaching presentations, you will probably want to give

feedback on each presentation. Try using a prepared observation feedback form (see

Appendix 4), divided into sections such as body language, signposting and audience

rapport. After the presentation, you can give your comments verbally and/or in writing.

A feedback form is particularly valuable in giving the presenting student something

tangible to take away, both as a mark of achievement and as a tool for improvement.

Peer feedback: Depending on group, level and culture, you may wish to invite

feedback from other students on the presenting student's performance. You can give

the audience a prepared feedback form (see Appendix 5), listing the points to watch

out for and comment on. The audience should be looking for positive points at least as

much as for negative ones. This can be a useful activity as it sensitizes all students to

the do's and don'ts of presentation giving.

Group work:

What is more? The reality of the students’ doings of presentation is that sometimes the

students find it quite hard work to prepare for a presentation as there is often so much work to

do: searching for the main points; making the outline and rehearsing the speech. If students are

asked to make an individual presentation, such workload cannot be shared and so much stress

will be sure to arise. According to Emden and Becker (2004: 79), “sharing burden is a great

advantage, as long as everyone takes his or her role seriously”. That is why the researcher

suggests that the teachers should assign oral presentation in groups rather than individually.

When organizing the group work for a presentation, it is essential that the teachers consider

the following important point:

Forming a group: According to Emden and Becker (2004), there’s no ideal size to a

presentation group. Two people can work well together and the potential problem of

coordinating the work is minimized. If there are more than four in the group, the

presentation must allow them all to have the experience of speaking, which requires

quite a lot of time. Another point is whether the teachers should form groups of mixed

50

or the same ability. Byrne (1987) explains that mixed ability groups- with fast and

slow students together- are better for fluency work. He adds that students do help one

another because the kind of work they have to do involves co-operation and

collaboration. And teachers only have to listen in to group work to hear students

correcting one another’s mistakes.

Presentation skill teaching:

‘Learning via examples’ is often said to be one of the most positive ways of acquiring new

techniques. Thus materials such as a short film/ footage of both students and professional

presentations in English on ranging topics would be most beneficial for students to take notes

from. Furthermore, presentations as varied as government Project announcements to TV

advertisements presenting new products will help provide students with a deeper

understanding of what the criteria of an engaging and effective presentation is. Therefore, if

only teachers could collect such kinds of materials to the class presentations, students could

have more things to learn from and this will increase their confidence in presentation doings.

In addition to that, it is teachers who know for sure what the students need to be aware of

when preparing for or delivering a presentation. As for Josef Essberger (2003), presentation is

everything and delivery is a vital aspect of all presentations. Thus, working out what need to

be done or paid attention to of the students’ presentation giving is considered the essential job

of all the teachers when teaching the skills. Follows are some of the tips Josef Essberger

(2003) advises teachers to remind their students of:

Preparation:

Making sure students have clear objective in their minds that why they are

making this presentation and whether they need to inform, to persuade, to train, or

to sell. His explanation is that if these are not clear in their mind, they cannot be

possibly clear to their audience.

Making sure the students know when they are making the presentation and how

long it will be.

51

Deciding exactly what the students should say. To do this, firstly students should

brainstorm their ideas by discovering many ideas that they want to include in their

presentation then select only the ones that are relevant to their audience and their

objective.

Making sure to organize the points they wish to make in a logical order, which,

according to literature on presentation organization, consists of three main parts,

followed by questions. Details are as followed:

Beginning Short introduction

welcome your audience introduce your subject explain the structure of

your presentation

explain rules for questions

Middle Body of presentation

present the subject itself

End Short conclusion summarise your presentation

thank your audience

invite questions

Questions and Answers

Josef Essberger (2003: 4)

Presenting like reading a text aloud will make the audience go to sleep. Thus,

preparing a card, an A6 card, for example is perfect for the presenters to write

down the title of each section of their talk, or some key words to remind them.

Rehearsing or practicing the presentation several times to make sure the

presenters become more familiar with what they want to say, identify

weakness in their presentation, be able to practice difficult pronunciations, and

52

be able to check the time that their presentation takes and make any necessary

modifications.

Delivery:

Learning the introduction by heart and trying to speak slowly and calmly to establish a

rapport with the audience and to relax and gain confidence.

Building a warm and friendly relationship with the audience by establishing eye contact

with each member of the audience. There is an advice on the necessity of making eye

contact by Emden & Becker (2004:25) that “However nervous you feel, or reluctant to

meet the eyes of the people in front of you, you absolutely make eye contact”. Eye contact

is the way the presenters allow their eyes to meet those of the audience, just for a brief

instant. The two above authors also add that a terrible distraction of embarrassment of the

laughter between the audience and the presenter in a presentation will be likely to happen

if the presenter holds eye contact for too long. That is eye contact has to be brief.

Making good first impression through body language, some examples of which are the

presenters’ clothes, walk, glasses, haircut, or expression. Therefore, it is advisable that

appearance and the way a presenter moves or stand be aware of before he/she opens

his/her mouth.

Varying their voice to attract the audience’s attention and interest. The students should

also be reminded of varying their voice in at least three ways: speed, intonation, and

volume. The important point is not to speak in the same, flat, monotonous voice

throughout the presentation.

Knowing how to signpost the presentation by telling the audience where they are, what the

structure of the presentation is, or what is coming next. For the model language for

signposting, refer to appendix 6.

Focusing on the simplicity and clarity of the language for presentation by using short

words and short sentences, active verbs instead of passive verbs, etc.

Using visual aids like charts, graphs, slides, OHPs, etc as according to Josef Essberger

(2003:9), “80% of what your audience learn during your presentation is learned visually

(what they see) and only 20% is learned aurally (what they hear)”.

53

2.2.2. Suggestions for the students.

With such a low level of English proficiency, the second- year students in the department are,

firstly, suggested to improve their knowledge of English. There are a number of things they

should be aware of: reading more to enrich their vocabulary and structures, practicing doing

grammar exercises on awareness- raising, such as verb forms, word building, error correction,

sentence transformation, translation, etc.

In addition, nervousness is said to be one of the students’ big obstacles while delivering oral

presentations so how to overcome it is worth paying attention to by the students. Basing on the

literature on oral presentations by Dwyer (2000), Reinhart (2002), and Emden & Becker

(2004), to be able to overcome shyness, nervousness as well as to gain confidence, students

have to make sure to:

Be well- prepared: As for the above authors, with good preparation and planning you

will be totally confident and less nervous and your audience will feel your confidence

thus the audience themselves will be confident in you. Thanks to this you will gain

control of your audience and your presentation with which you will be “in charge” and

your audience will listen positively to your message. Dwyer (2000: 200- 204) offers

four steps for an oral presentation preparation. They are: (1) writing the presentation,

(2) rewriting it for the ear, (3) practicing and revising it, and (4) organizing the visual

aids. Once the learner has made an outline of the main points, write the presentation.

The main purpose of creating an outline is to develop a coherent plan of what the

learner wants to talk about. After he/she has written the first draft of the speech,

practice the speech. He/she should record it on a tape- recorder, then replay it and

decide if it needs rewriting for the ear. Writing for the ear prepares the speech as a

spoken rather than a written channel of communication. Thus, the learners should use a

concise, simple structure that is easy to follow, for example, verbs in the active voice,

with simple tenses, words that are easy to hear and understand. Use a set of palm cards

or cue cards with the main points and notes so that he/she will not lose his/ her thread.

His/ her notes should always be written large enough so that he/she can see key words

easier and that will allow the speech to flow more naturally. Practice and revise the

speech by reading it several times to become familiar with the main points. Rewrite

54

anything that sounds awkward. Be willing too answer questions from the audience-

this creates an active exchange between audience and speaker.

Be relaxed: Relaxation can help anxiety. The presenter can choose to take a deep

breathe or smile at the audience and this increases his/her confidence.

Be interactive: Interact with the audience. Ask the audience questions to increase

audience participation. For example, instead of explaining what is healthy food, ask the

audience what kinds of food they think are healthy or unhealthy to people. Interactive

exercises will help to create a positive dialogue with participants where they have

opportunities to share their own knowledge.

Learn how to handle difficult situations: Distractions and difficult questions are one of

the challenging aspects of presenting in English. To deal with distractions, the

presenter needs to:

- Use non- verbal means to get the participant’s attention (like eye contact)

- Privately ask the participant to stop or refrain from talking

- Ask one of them a question

- Ignore if the participant’s behavior is not detracting from the session.

For difficult questions, the presenter should:

- Listen carefully to each question.

- Wait to respond until the presenter is sure that he/she understands what is being asked.

- Repeat questions before responding to audience to ensure that they have heard them.

- Respond to questions politely, briefly, and with good humor.

- Take a quick moment to compose thoughts before responding.

- If the presenter is not able to answer a difficult question from a heckler, it is fine to

say so. Then he/she can ask if anyone else in the class knows the answer. Or he/she can let the

audience know that he/she will get back to them at a later date with the answer and make sure

to get back to them. If anyone digresses, try to remind the audience the goal of the

presentation.

55

2.2.3. Suggestions for the department.

One of the key innovations that need being made by the department of foreign languages is

conducting oral presentation- oriented testing both formally and informally. As for Brown

(1994), “informal testing means assessing learners in the process of forming the competencies

and the skills with the goal of helping them to continue that growth process”. On the other

hand, formal testing occurs at the end of the unit, module, or course attempting to measure or

summarize what a learner has grasped. The argument is that tests can serve positive,

intrinsically motivating aims as they spur learners to master all their abilities for a particular

performance and then provide feedback on their process towards goals. However, teachers

should be aware of the fact that tests are sometimes seen by learners as “dark clouds hanging

over their heads” (Brown, 1994: 373), giving them a lot of anxiety. For the reason, teachers

should create tests with care and effort so that tests should be something like positive

experiences for learners and should relate with high degree to course content and program

objectives. Therefore, choosing the topics for oral presentation- oriented test is extremely

important. According to Underhill (1987: 47), the choice of the topic “should be relevant to

the aims of the program or the needs of the learners and should contain new information or put

over a new point of view”. That is why the testers need to choose topics that the learners

know something about, and the testees, therefore, are going to be able to speak about with

some confidence.

PART 3: CONCLUSION

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The learning and teaching of oral presentation skills have been a challenge for both the

teachers and the students of the foreign language department, HYUTE so far. That is also the

reason why the researcher conducted this thesis with the hope to find out the oral presentation

difficulties perceived by the teachers and the second- year majors. Basing on the findings, the

study has offered some suggestion to help improve the oral presentation skills for the students

and the effective oral presentation teaching methods for the teachers.

To achieve this aim, the researcher employed survey research with the participation of 56

second- year English majors and 8 teachers who have experienced teaching oral presentation

skills at the department of foreign languages, UTEHY. Specifically, she studied the issues: (1)

the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills, (2) how

much the teachers know about the skills, (3) difficulties they encountered, (4) the teaching

methods the teachers used, (5) the students’ evaluations of those methods and (6) what the

students think should be done to improve their oral presentation giving. The major findings of

the study are as follows:

Firstly, the students’ abilities in giving supporting ideas

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