The difficulties in using body language in making presentations of english major students at faculty of foreign languages in industrial university of ho chi minh city graduation thesis

MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - GRADUATION THESIS THE DIFFICULTIES IN USING BODY LANGUAGE IN MAKING PRESENTATIONS OF ENGLISH - MAJOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY STUDENT’S FULL NAME: Pham Van Sang ID NUMBER : 17011881 CLASS CODE : DHAV13A COHORT : To Nguyen Xuan Yen Pham Thi Kim Yen SUPERVISOR NAME : Ho Thi Hien, M.A HCMC, 06/2021 MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - GRADUATION THESIS THE DIFFICULTIES IN USING BODY LANGUAGE IN MAKING PRESENTATIONS OF ENGLISH - MAJOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY STUDENT’S FULL NAME: Pham Van Sang ID NUMBER : 17011881 CLASS CODE : DHAV13A COHORT : To Nguyen Xuan Yen Pham Thi Kim Yen SUPERVISOR NAME : Ho Thi Hien M.A HCMC, 06/2021 MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - - Student name : Pham Van Sang ID Number : 17011881 Class Code : DHAV13A Cohort : To Nguyen Xuan Yen Pham Thi Kim Yen Supervisor Name: Ho Thi Hien M.A Student’s declaration: I declare that this graduation report is entirely my own work and does not involve in plagiarism or collusion It also has not been accepted as part of a submission to another purpose else where I accept heavy penalty for any cheating or plagiarism Date submitted: 20/6/2021 Signed : Word count: 12690 words ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In difficult circumstances caused by the covid 19 pandemic, this thesis would not be realized without the help of some people By using this page, I would like to expressed my gratitude to everyone who has taught me, inspired me and supported me during the process of conducting this thesis Firstly, I would like to express my grateful to the School Board of Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and all teachers in Faculty of Foreign Languages creating favorable conditions for me to complete this graduation report After that, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Mrs Ho Thi Hien for her profound knowledge and useful advices which are almost importance to the successful of my study Also, I want to take this opportunity to send my thanks to my team, Ms To Nguyen Xuan Yen and Ms Pham Thi Kim Yen In difficult conditions due to the Covid 19 pandemic, they supported me a lot and provided me with useful knowledge that made this research complete I wish to acknowledge my thanks to all students studying at Faculty of Foreign Language in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city for responding positively to the questionnaire in this study From the results I have collected, I have obtained useful data as a basis for my arguments Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude towards to my beloved parents, my friends who always encourage me to overcome difficulties and challenges so that I can complete this research ABSTRACT Presentation skill is very important that significantly affects the effectiveness of using language At the moment, the reality shows that students who have studied English field at Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) in general and students studying in Industrial University in Ho Chi Minh city (IUH) in particular almost have to make a lot of presentations during their study at IUH However, students at FFL in IUH still face many obstacles that prevent them from creating a successful presentation, and one of them is using body language This research focuses on studying the difficulties that students face when using body language in presentations Moreover, from the results obtained, the researcher can suggest some solutions to help students improve the ability to use body language in the presentations Keywords: body language, difficulties, presentation s, students- major LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IUH Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City FFL Faculty of Foreign Language BL Body Language M.A Master of Arts GG Google LIST OF FIGURES AND CHART List of figures Figure 1: Classification of nonverbal communication (Nguyen Quang) 11 List of charts Chart 1: The number of presentations that students have to make 22 Chart 2: frequency of using body language of students at FFL in IUH 23 Chart 3: Problems in giving presentation 24 Chart 4: The ratio of men and women studying at FFL in IUH 26 Chart 5: Student’s agreement with the comments given at the end of presentation 27 Chart 6: Comments that students get from other students and teacher 28 Chart 7: Methods that students in IUH use to improve their presentation skills 29 Chart 8: Right forms of body language 30 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………….… 1.1 RATIONALE…………….……………………………………………………………… 1.2 RESEARCH GOALS ………………………………………………………………….2 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION …………… ……………………………………………… 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY …………………….………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW….………………………………………….…… 2.1 DEFINITION AND KEY TERMS………………………………………………………5 2.1.1 Definitions of presentations ……………………………………………………………5 2.1.2 Definition of body language ……………………………………………………………5 2.2 PRESENTATION …………………………………………………………………… 2.2.1 Purpose of presentations …………………………………………………………… 2.2.2 Three messages of a good presentation ……………………………………………… 2.3 BODY LANGUAGE …………………………………………………………………… 2.3.1 The importance of body language in presentations ………………………………… 2.3.2 Types of body language ……………………………………………………………….10 2.4 RESULT OF THE PREVIOUS STUDY.…………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN …………………………………………………… 16 3.1 THE PLACE WHERE RESEARCHER INVESTIGATE ………………………… 17 3.2 PARTICIPANTS … …………….…………………………………………………… 17 3.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH METHODS …………………18 3.3.1 Research methodology ……………………………………………………………… 18 3.3.2 Research methods …………………………………………………………………….19 3.4 PRODURES …………………………………………………………………………….19 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………20 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………………… 21 4.1 FINDINGS………………………………………………………………………………22 4.1.1 Difficulties that the presenters have in using body language to make presentations ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 4.1.2 Solutions proposed by researchers to improve students' ability to use body language in presentations at IUH …………………………………………………………………… 29 4.2 DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………………… 31 4.2.1 Reliability of research result………………………………………………………….31 4.2.2 The discussion among the results of the research and other previous researches 31 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………… 33 5.1 RECAPICULATION ………………………………………………………………… 34 5.2 LIMITATION ………………………………………………………………………… 35 5.3 SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH …………………………………… 36 5.3.1 For students ………………………………………………………………………… 35 5.3.2 For teachers ………………………………………………………………………… 36 REFERRENCES ……………………………………………………………………………37 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………………39 QUESTIONAIRE……………………………………………………………………………39 FORMS SUPERVISOR’S EVALUATION FORM 43 EXAMINER’S EVALUATION FORM 45 PROGRESS FORM 47 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 5.1 RECAPIULATION As a student at IUH, presentation is one the most popular activities in any lesson In researcher’s experience, students in IUH have to many presentations during a semester However, they still have many difficulties in using body language effectively to make the presentation persuasive This research paper was created with the purpose of studying the difficulties that IUH foreign language students face while using body language in their presentations In addition, the researcher also offers some solutions to help students improve the difficulties they are facing In general, from what was found through the questionnaire, the researcher found the findings as follow First of all, students at FFL in IUH still lack confidence while using body language in presentations In other words, they usually feel ashamed and shy when using body language in presentation From the results found, it can be seen that students often have many problems with getting audience’s attention, problems with equipment such as laptop, projector During the presentations, students usually find it difficult to explain to the audience a definition In addition, most of students is female, an objective factor After that presenter feel shy and ashamed because they are afraid of losing their faces when making silly gestures/ they have not been familiar with using body language in their mother tongue All of them can cause uncomfortable feeling for students which can affects the student's performance in the presentation Secondly, students at FFL in IUH have difficulty using body language to interact with the audience They still have many problems in conveying and connecting with the audience The data showed that students often just stand only in one place and not use body language to interact with the audience After that, students usually use only words to explain Through the collected data, students know a lot of skills related to body language, but they have not applied it well in explaining concepts as well as moving and interacting with the audience instead of standing still These problems can make the presentations lack of interaction with audience Lack of interaction with the audience is a serious problem because the audience needs to receive interaction from the presenter in order to receive the information in the best way From the findings found, the researcher also proposed some solutions to improve the presentation problem of students at FFL in IUH Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 34 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 Firstly, students should prepare before each presentation Through the research results, the researcher found that students used a lot of reference materials about body language at home before making presentations such as video clip in YouTube, participate in another presentation, practice with friends or alone with mirror However, the results are still not good, so the researcher believes that those preparations are not enough and students need to prepare better Students think that teacher feedback is very important, so they can look to teachers and ask for their suggestions to improve their use of body language Students should combine watching videos on YouTube with practice with friends or alone This gives them the best preparation for the presentation and makes it easier to improve their use of body language After that, "public speaking" at FFL in IUH needs improvement to meet students' needs Through the results from open question number 12 in the questionnaire, students show that they need to be provided with more knowledge about body language and need more opportunities to practice The subject "public speaking" needs to be improved in the direction of practice rather than theory, providing more knowledge about body language for students Organizing many practice activities, creating conditions for all students to participate 5.2 LIMITATIONS During the research period, the researcher found that his research work still encountered many limitations Firstly, the time period of the research was within the period when the Covid 19 epidemic started to return and severely affected the research work Initially, the author intends to choose a qualitative method combining questionnaires because this is suitable for the research topic However, the Covid 19 epidemic caused students to switch to online learning and this inadvertently made the qualitative method impossible to deploy After that, this research focuses on body language research, ignoring many branches of non-verbal communication Therefore, the scope of the study is still small and needs to be expanded in the future 5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The researcher understands that this study still has many limitations Therefore, the researcher hopes that the topic "body language" and "presentation" will be further explored and studied by other researchers in the future 5.3.1 FOR STUDENTS: Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 35 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 Researchers hope that in the future when Covid-19 is pushed back in Vietnam, other students can combine qualitative and quantitative methods to make research results more objective and convincing The author hopes that future researchers can continue to use GG form as a data collection tool to replace the traditional paper questionnaire Google Forms is a powerful tool that helps students save time and money when creating questionnaires Moreover, with QR codes, it becomes easier to deploy surveys in classrooms 5.3.2 FOR TEACHERS: The researcher hopes that later teachers can expand the research scale, not just stop at body language After that, during the survey, the author found Google Form to be an effective tool to help collect data more effectively In addition, Teachers at IUH can focus on researching and finding solutions to improve the "public speaking" subject to help the subject better meet the needs of students Teachers can also find some solutions to better convey knowledge about body language to students, such as using some apps or programs Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 36 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 REFERENCES Nguyễn Quang (2007) Journal of Science, Vietnam National University – Hanoi Chivers, Barbara & Shoolbred, Michael (2007) A Student’s Guide to Presentations: Making Your Presentation Count Chennai, India: SAGE Publications Alshare, Khaled & Hindi, Nitham M (2004) The Importance of Presentation Skill in the Classroom: Students and Instruction Perspectives The Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Julius Fast (1971) Body Language, Pocket Books, New York Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: https://books.google.com.vn/books?hl=vi&lr=&id=yqx1j8ynGfwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=b ody%20language&ots=UgyVJvZu9l&sig=ikkEFes3a0AagY7L12YO15BP2TE&redir_esc=y &fbclid=IwAR1aws0rP1ea9GFrcUsrdMYc80_8hRh4HgE3PavyC24DR2Kx8g8FCgkw8X8# v=onepage&q&f=false Definition of presentation Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation Definition of body language Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_language Chen, S & Watts, D (1992) Intercultural Communication Washington: Anchor Books Hornby, A S (2006) Oxford Advanced Learner‟s English-Chinese Dictionary Oxford: Oxford University Press Guo Xuehua (1999) My Understanding of Effective English Reading Class Teaching Gian Teachers’ College Journal.4, 56 – 61 10 Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc (2014) An investigation into the use of body language cues in presentations by English – majored freshmen at Vietnam university of commerce, Vietnam national university - Hanoi 11 Definition of gesture Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/vi/dictionary/english/gesture 12 Sproule, M (1997) Speech making Brown & Benchmark Publishers 13 Shipside, S (2006) Perfect your Presentation Dorling Kindersley Publishing 14 Definition of Touch Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/vi/dictionary/english/touch 15 Yuanyuan Tai (2014) The Application of Body Language in English Teaching Finland: ACADEMY PUBLISHER 16 Tiara & Ranna,A,M (2015) Presentation difficulties experienced by students of English department of Unswagati Unwagati Cirebon: Department of English Education Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 37 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 17 Peoples, Deborah Carter (2001) “Guidelines for Oral Presentations”, Ohio Wesleyan University: Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries Retrieved on May 4, 2021 from: http://go.owu.edu/~dapeople/ggpresnt.html 18 Become a Better Presenter (2016) Retrieved on June from: https://aaron.kr/content/tag/ppt-design/ 19 Cline, F., Johnstone, C., & King, T 2006 Focus Group Reaction to Three Definition of Reading (as Originally Developed in Support NARAP Goal 1) Minneapolis, M.N.: National Accessible Reading Assesment Project Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 38 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 APPENDICES QUESTIONAIRE (BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT) Xin chào bạn khoa ngoại ngữ Chúng nhóm sinh viên năm cuối thực báo cáo tốt nghiệp với chủ đề liên quan đến thuyết trình (presentation) Nhóm gồm ba thành viên bao gồm Phạm Văn Sáng, Phạm Thị Kim Yến Tơ Nguyễn Xn Yến Chúng vơ biết ơn cảm kích bạn thực khảo sát đóng góp ý kiến thơng qua khảo sát Sự đóng góp bạn vơ có giá trị giúp ích nhiều vào q trình hồn thành báo cáo tốt nghiệp Xin chân thành cảm ơn tất bạn đóng góp tham gia giúp đỡ khảo sát Hello Foreign Language Faculty We are a group of seniors working on a graduation report on a topic relating to a presentation Our group consists of three members including Pham Van Sang, Pham Thi Kim Yen and To Nguyen Xuan Yen We appreciate your contribution through this survey Your contribution is extremely valuable and greatly help in our graduation report completion process Sincerely thanks all of you for contributing and joining us in this survey PART 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION (THÔNG TIN CÁ NHÂN): CAN YOU TELL US YOUR GENDER ? (CHOOSE "PREFER NOT TO SAY" IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DISCLOSE) A Male B Female C Prefer not to say YOU ARE AT IUH A Freshmen B Sophomore C Junior D Senior Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 39 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 HAVE YOU EVER MADE ANY PRESENTATIONS IN CLASS? A Yes B No PART 2: QUESTIONS (PHẦN CÂU HỎI) Choose the answer that is TRUE for you Q1 How many times have you ever delivered a presentation in front of your classmate? A More than times B From to times C Less than times D Never Q2 When you watch a presentation that the presenters are using a variety of body language (facial expressions, hand gesture, body movement); How you feel? Very bored => Bored => Neutral => Interested => Very interested Q3 Do you think body language is necessary in public speaking? Extremely unnecessary => Unnecessary => Normal => Necessary => Extremely necessary Q4 How often you use body language in presentation? Never Sometimes Often Usually Always Q5 Here are some of the advantages of using body languages, choose the answer that makes the most sense for you (you can choose more than one answer) More confident Easier persuade Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 40 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 More exciting Connect with audiences Open up your life Build your presence Attract attention Others: ………………………………………………………………………………… Q6 Choose the right forms of body language when presenting Standing up straight Gesturing with your hands open and your palms up Good eyes contact Smile Clearly and decisively voice Focus on listeners Movement around the space Others: …………………………………………………………………………………… Q7 How good are you at using Body language in presenting in public? Extremely bad => Bad => Normal => Good => Extremely good Q8 What methods have you used to improve your presentation skills? (Can choose more than one answer) a Watching some presentation’s clips in YouTube b Attending other presentations c Practicing with your friends d Practicing alone in front of the mirror e Seeking some advice from a teacher f Taking a number of presentation-related courses Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 41 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 Others: …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… Q9 What problems you often have when giving your presentation? (You can choose more than one answer) a feeling ashamed and shy b find it difficult to explain to the audience a definition or part of a presentation c problems with equipment such as laptops, projectors d find it difficult to get the audience's attention Others: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Q10 After finishing presentations, what are the comments that you often get suggestions from other students and teachers? (You can choose more than one) a You need to speak more fluently b You need to speak louder and clearer c you need to interact with your audience more d The slide show should be clearer and cleaner e you shouldn't just stand still f You should not use only words Others: …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Q11 Are comments from teachers and other students important to you after the presentation? Strongly unnecessary => Unnecessary => Normal => Necessary => Strongly necessary Q12 In your opinion, how you feel about “presentation skills” subject? (Did these two subjects help you improve your presentation skills? Did the activities in those two subjects be interesting to you?) ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 42 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES SUPERVISOR’S EVALUATION FORM Student’s name: …………………………………… Student Code: ……………………… Supervisor’s name: ……………………………………………………………………… CRITERIA SCORE Format (3) Format And Coherence and Organization (4) Language Use Grammar mistakes (3) Introduction Research topic and objectives of research (5) Research questions (5) Written Literature Theoretical framework (5) Graduation Review Review of previous studies (5) Referencing (5) Thesis (70) Methodology Research methodology (10) Research Collecting and analyzing data (5) Findings Relevance between research findings and objectives (5) Evaluating and discussing the findings (5) Conclusions Oral Content (3) Presentation Performance (3) (10) Conclusions & recommendation (10) Time management (10 minutes) (2) Question response (2) Communication skill (2) Punctuality (2) Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 43 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang Supervisor’s ID Number: 17011881 Continuous improvement (6) Appraisal (10) Supervisor’s Appraisal on Group Decision &Planning Roles & Distribution teamwork (05) Establish Goals Meeting Minutes Peer Contribution to the team project evaluation Taking responsibility on teamwork (05) Working with others Other comments TOTAL SCORES ………./100 Date: …………………………… Signature ……………………………… Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 44 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES EXAMINER’S EVALUATION FORM Student’s name: …………………………………… Student Code: ……………………… Examiner’s name: …………………………………………………………………………… CRITERIA Format And Format (3) Language Use Coherence and Organization (4) SCORE Grammar mistakes (3) Introduction Research topic and objectives of research (5) Written Graduation Thesis Research questions (5) Literature Theoretical framework (5) Review Review of previous studies (10) (80) Referencing (5) Methodology Research Methodology (10) Research Collecting and analyzing data (5) Findings Relevance between research findings and objectives (5) Evaluating and discussing the findings (10) Conclusions Conclusions & recommendation (10) Oral Content (6) Presentation Performance (6) (20) Time management (10 minutes) (4) Question responses (4) Other comments Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 45 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang TOTAL SCORES ID Number: 17011881 ……… /100 Date: ………………………… Signature ……………………………… Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 46 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang ID Number: 17011881 INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PROGRESS FORM GRADUATION THESIS Research title: The difficulties in using body language in making presentations of English- major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City Student’s full name : TÔ NGUYỄN XUÂN YẾN ID No.: 17031661 Supervisor’s name : HỒ THỊ HIỀN, M.A Week Date Contents Supervisor’s comments & Signature (18/11/2020- + Finding the research fields and research 29/11/2020) title + Submitting the topic chosen by students + Searching Google Scholar, finding and reading studies related to the topic in order to refer to outline and research questions + Finding the research questions (16/12/2020- + Forming the outline for the research 27/12/2020) + Forming the research questions + Writing Chapter of the research (19/03/2021- + Editing the outline and the research 26/03/2021) questions + Editing the rationale of Chapter + Forming Questionnaires on paper + Writing Chapter and Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 47 Submitted by: Pham Van Sang (12/04/2021- ID Number: 17011881 + Editing and completing Questionnaires 25/04/2021) on paper + Forming Questionnaires on Google form + Post Google form on Social Network + Writing Chapter (30/05/2021- + Editing Chapter 1, 2, and 06/06/2021) + Writing Chapter (07/06/2021- + Editing Chapter 13/07/2021) + Editing the format of research + Completing the research The supervisor’s approval of the students’ submission (Yes/ No): Date: Supervisor (Signature & Full name) ………………………… Supervisor: Ho Thi Hien M.A 48