An investigation into the strategies frequently used to introduce presentation topics by english major students at an giang university

AN GIANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VÕ VŨ ANH VI DTA151168 DH16TA UNDERGRADUATE THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRATEGIES FREQUENTLY USED TO INTRODUCE PRESENTATION TOPICS BY ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG, MA AN GIANG, MAY 2019 AN GIANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VÕ VŨ ANH VI DTA151168 DH16TA UNDERGRADUATE THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRATEGIES FREQUENTLY USED TO INTRODUCE PRESENTATION TOPICS BY ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG, MA AN GIANG, MAY 2019 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis titled “An investigation into strategies frequently used to introduce presentation topics by English major students at An Giang University” represents my own work and that it has not been previously submitted to any other university or institute in application for admission to degrees or other qualifications An Giang, May 2019 VÕ VŨ ANH VI i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The study would not have been fulfilled without the generous assistance and contributions of individuals to whom I would love to gratefully give acknowledgement Firstly, I want to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Thị Dung, M.A., who guided me to have more new perspectives and gave me valuable resources to this study Her knowledge, enthusiasm and useful instruction were a great source of supporting during the implementation of this research Without her support and encouragement, this study would not have been completed Secondly, I wish to offer my endless thanks to lecturers and students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages for helping me in collecting the data Finally, I would like to acknowledge my dearest family and friends who are always by my side Their love, sharing, and understanding gave me the strength to accomplish this thesis ii TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES vii ABSTRACT viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTON 1.1 Rationale of the research 1.2 Scope of the research 1.3 Research aims 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance 1.6 Limitations 1.7 Structure of the research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Presentation 2.1.1 What is a presentation? 2.1.2 Presentations in college courses 2.2 Criteria for a good presentation 2.3 The role of the introduction part in a presentation 2.3.1 What is introduction? 2.3.2 Introduction part in a presentation 2.4 Criteria for a good introduction in a presentation 2.5 Strategies for a good introduction in a presentation 2.5.1 Asking questions 10 2.5.2 Using quotations 10 2.5.3 Giving statistics or startling statements 10 2.5.4 Using humour 11 2.5.5 Telling story 11 iii 2.5.6 Other introductory strategies 11 2.6 Related research 12 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Research design 15 3.2 Participants 15 3.3 Data collection instruments 16 3.3.1 Questionnaires 16 3.3.2 Interviews 17 3.3.3 Observations 18 3.4 Data collection procedures 18 3.4.1 Questionnaires 18 3.4.2 Interviews 19 3.4.3 Observations 19 3.5 Data analysis procedures 20 3.5.1 Data analysis of the questionnaires 20 3.5.2 Data analysis of the interviews 20 3.5.3 Data analysis of the observations 21 CHAPTER RESULT 22 4.1 EMSs' opinions on strategies to introduce presentations and their influence 22 4.1.1 The number of presentations for one subject and the preparation time of the EMSs 22 4.1.2 The role of the introduction part of the presentation from the perspective of EMSs 23 4.1.3 The preferred introductory strategies of EMSs 25 4.2 Lecturers' opinions and suggestions on strategies to introduce presentation topics 31 4.2.1 Lecturers’ perceptions about the role of introduction part 31 4.2.2 The preferred introductory strategies of EMSs 31 4.2.3 Lecturers’ assessment of the introduction part in EMSs’ presentations 32 4.2.4 The recommendations of lecturers in building a successful introduction 33 iv 4.3 The introductory strategies used by EMSs and their influence through researchers' observations 34 4.3.1 Strategies to introduce difference presentation topics of EMSs and its influence 35 4.3.2 Various strategies to introduce same presentation topic of EMSs and audience’s reactions 37 CHAPTER DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 39 REFERENCES 47 APPENDIX Questionnaire for students 52 APPENDIX Interview questions for lecturers 59 APPENDIX Observation sheet 60 APPENDIX Interview responses of lecturers 61 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EMS: English Major Student SPSS: Statistic Package for the Social Science (software) TED: Technology, Entertainment, Design (Conferences) vi LIST OF TABLES Table Descriptive features of the students 16 Table Interview question’s purposes 18 Table Reliability Statistics of the pilot 20 Table Reliability Statistics of the official questionnaire 20 Table EMSs’ perceptions of the role of introduction part 23 Table Reasons to prove that the introduction is important 24 Table Reasons to prove that the introduction is unimportant 24 Table Asking questions 26 Table Using quotations 27 Table 10 Using statistics 27 Table 11 Giving a startling statement 28 Table 12 Playing a video clip 28 Table 13 Organizing a game 29 Table 14 Using humour 29 Table 15 Telling a story 30 Table 16 Indicating a historical event 30 Table 17 Introductory strategies of EMSs through researchers' observations 35 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Average number of presentations for subjects 22 Figure Average time used to prepare presentations 23 Figure The preferred introductory strategies of EMSs 25 vii ABSTRACT Presentations play an important role in academic activities at university Thus, building and preparing a presentation are necessary skills of university students in general and students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages in particular The opening of a presentation is used to introduce the presented topic and is conducted variously to attract the audience Therefore, this study aims to investigate the introductory strategies used by EMSs at An Giang University and their effectiveness on the success of presentations Through three research instruments - questionnaires, interviews, and observations, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed The results of the study not only showed some introductory strategies frequently used by EMSs, but also identified some limitations in using those tactics Besides, lecturers’ and students’ perceptions about the role of the introduction to the presentations’ success were recorded Furthermore, findings of the research pointed out differences in audience’s responses to different introductory strategies as well as presentations Thereby, conclusions about the role of the introductory strategies to the success of the introduction parts and the presentations, as well as factors that speakers should focus on when using different introductory strategies were drawn Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations were given in order to help EMSs improve skills in building not only good introduction parts but also successful presentations viii  The introduction part of the presentation is very time consuming  Other: …………………………………………………………… What are the strategies you frequently used to introduce the presentation topics? Why? (you can choose more than one strategy on the left, then choose the reasons for using that strategy beside For each chosen strategy, you can select more than one reason Skip strategies you not use) Reasons Strategies Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  Asking questions  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  Using quotations  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic 53  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  Using statistics  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ………………………………………………  Giving a startling Because this introductory strategy: 54 statement  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation  Playing a video clip topic  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere 55  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  Organizing a game  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  Using humour  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic 56  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  Using humour  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  Indicating a historical event  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation 57 topic  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… Because this introductory strategy:  creates the interaction with audience  evokes audience’s imagination and curiosity  increases persuasion for the presentation topic  gives audience general knowledge about the presentation topic  Others: ………………………  makes audience realize the importance of the presentation topic  quickly captures audience’s attention  evokes empathy from audience  helps warm up the classroom’s atmosphere  quickly transmits the topic’s message  Others: ……………………………………………… PLEASE THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! 58 APPENDIX Interview questions for lecturers I am Võ Vũ Anh Vi, student from class DH16TA at An Giang University I am carrying out a research study entitled “An investigation into strategies frequently used to introduce the presentation topics by English Major Students at An Giang University” These interview questions are designed to collect the data for this research I really appreciate your kind helps and assure that all your responds will be kept in confidential What you think about the role of the introduction part to the success of a presentation? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… What common strategies English Major Students currently use to introduce their presentations? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… When evaluating student’s presentations, you pay much attention to their introductory strategies? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… What factors you think students need to pay attention to when they want to have an attractive introduction? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Can you suggest to English Major Students some effective introductory strategies appropriate to the actual situation and the abilities of students? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!! 59 APPENDIX Observation sheet Date: ………………………………………… Time: …………………………………… Name of the Subject: ……………………………………………………………………… Number of periods: ………… Class: ………………………… Group Number of members Name of the topic Introductory strategy Audience’s response Suggestions 60 APPENDIX Interview responses of lecturers QUESTION LECTURERS’ RESPONSES Lecturer 1: First of all, I’m taking about this issue as a listener not a teacher I think that the introduction part is really important because that is the first impression that the presenter provide to the listener and it also a guide so that the listener can have something like the beginning information about presentation so that they can prepare for the upcoming information Lecturer 2: I think the introduction part plays the most important role to the success of a presentation because it is like a hook to get attention of the audiences Without an interesting introduction, it is hard to keep the audiences involved with the rest of a presentation 1.What you think about the role of introduction Lecturer 3: The introduction of a presentation is necessary since it helps listeners know what the presentation will be about It also interests the audience part to the success Lecturer 4: In a presentation the introduction part is very important, of a presentation? because it give a plan to audience to follow your presentation easily, because in the introduction you give a plan what you are going to do, how many parts in the body, and the conclusion, everything is in your introduction of the presentation Lecturer 5: Personally, I think the introduction plays a very important part to the success of any presentation A good introduction will capture the audience’s attention, introduce the topic and purpose, motivate the audience to accept the speaker’s goals and preview the main points 61 Lecturer 1: The EMSs they have quite a variety of ways to introduce their presentation topics Some group they can be very simple like they just say that today they are going to talk about that specific topic, but some group they are more creative, so they would like to make the presentation more interesting for example they can use something kind of like song, the video to show the audience Besides they’re also like give the audience questions so that the audience can answer and then think about the presentation topic or they can also the roll-play I think it is really depending on the language and also the creativity of the student and the topic of the presentation that can design what kind of strategy the student What common strategies can use to introduce their topic Lecturer 2: Most of the time the students start to talk about the English Major topics directly, some give statistic numbers to demonstrate the trend Students currently or the tendency they will talk about, some give examples in story or used to introduce from their own experience or what they heard from the people their presentations? around them Lecturer 3: I’m not sure exactly what strategies EMS use to make their presentation introduction but in my students’ presentations I’ve observed, they just told directly what they were going to mention in their presentation, preceded by introductory methods which I asked them to There might be times when they had no introduction at all Students have also made an outline for what they’re presenting Lecturer 4: Usually they follow guideline they studied from courses, for example: speaking, public speaking, ESP, business English or English for tourism Lecturer 5: There are several effective methods for developing speech introductions Some of the most effective ways that AGU English majors prefer include using quotations, telling personal 62 stories, using imagery, posing questions, expressing interest in the audience, referring to the occasion, and bringing in humour Lecturer 1: Yes I do, because as I mentioned that the first impression so everything that has very good first impression would has some kind of benefits but when I evaluate the presentation as a whole, usually for the introduction I will give them some kind of bonus like that is the additional point that they can get if they have really creative way for introduction I would not make it the major part in the presentation because we all know that the major part of the presentation is the content So, this one can be the good impression and can give them the bonus point For example, if I When give them point for the introduction, but they are very creative I evaluating would think about point so that like something to encourage them student’s Lecturer 2: I pay much attention to my students' introduction presentations, because that helps me to know more about their work and effort you pay much they put in the presentation Using right strategies means they know attention to their a lot of about their audience to attract them with their introduction, introduction they also need to consider many ways before choosing one strategy strategies? Why or or combines the strategies with each other why not? Lecturer 3: It depends, because it just a part of the presentation, so it has equal mark to other part of the presentation, not more, not less If the lesson that day is about the introduction, we will focus much on student Lecturer 4: A part of the score I’ve used to evaluate my students’ presentations has been on the introduction, but not much, only about one- tenth of the total score The most important part of the presentation is its content, not the introduction However, the intro helps listeners understand the content more easily Lecturer 5: In the final exam, each student will have to combine the introduction, the body, and the conclusion into one complete 63 presentation and present that speech within 4-5 minutes in front of the examiners During his/her presentation, the effectiveness of the Physical Message, Visual Message, the Story Message, pronunciation, accuracy and spelling, fluency and timing will be evaluated Lecturer 1: I think the first thing they really need to care about is the content or the information because I don’t care the way they use to introduce the topic but the first criterial that I have is the relevant so that I want the introduction to be really related to the content of information of the presentation and from that content they can have different ways and they have to make sure that they would not go over time because we have limited time for each part of the presentation Besides, they also have to think about the audience, they might create a lot, they might talk a lot, they can create like a What factors roll-play, can give the video, but they have to make sure that the you think students listeners understand what they are doing So, think about the topic, need to pay choose the best way to introduce it and also think about the attention to when audience whether your audience can get that idea or not? they want to have Lecturer 2: The key factor is that they know who their audience is an attractive They need to know who will listen to them, how to make the introduction? listener interested, how to keep them involved in the presentation Lecturer 3: I think they should pay attention to the use of language, choice of words Their gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and attitudes Lecturer 4: I think that main things: the first one is about the voice, it is student should have loud clear voice, and also have the normal speech when they speak, a little bit slow is ok And the second thing is about manner, a student who give presentation should have positive manner, they should be a little bit like, humorous, they give smile often, that mean often smile, and if they 64 can give a joke at the beginning of the presentation introduction is good because it can help relax the atmosphere of the introduction and the presentation And the finally it is the preparation, it means the student should be well prepare before handed, they prepare everything clearly, and they should keep to their plan, it means they follow their plain Lecturer 5: In a five-minute speech, the introduction will probably last no more than a minute To say that the introduction needs to be well planned is an understatement, considering how important and yet how brief this portion of any speech is As a speaker, students need to ensure that their introduction convinces your audience to listen to you Lecturer 1: This depends on the topic, so I would suggest the student that they need to watch or maybe observe more presentations so that they can have a collection of ideas to introduce the topic and then from that collection of ideas they can relate that Can you suggest to English Major Students some effective introduction strategies appropriate to the actual situation and the abilities of students? to their actual presentation For example, if I have to introduce this topic and I have a number of ways to it so which one can I choose? And also, they need to concern about their owns ability For example, their language level, can they make something very complicated? The second one is about the time that they have, so if it is a short presentation, I would not suggest them to a roll-play because we not have time for the content And finally, they also need to think about the audience, so whatever they do, this is a presentation, this is the chance that they share the information with the audience so whatever ways they choose to introduce the topic they have to make sure that that information is understood clearly by the audience From my experience as a lecturer here, I refer something very simple with more interaction For example, I don’t want the student just shows one video and stop there because after watching the video I would say “so what? Why I have to watch 65 the video?” I want them to something that they can interact with the audience so you show one video, ask the audience about the video then relate that to the topic or you can just give them some questions and ask for the information from the audience Lecturer 2: I think the students can try to trigger the curiosity of the audience by posing questions They don't need the answers, what they need is the thinking process of the audience That way can buy them time and let the audience think about the topic in their own way Besides, the students can tell the audience their own story, experience if relevant to the topic People like something a bit personal, a bit of secret Personal story can attract the audience but of course not too long Lecturer 3: I think student have to be taught and seriously learn the modal for presentation first before they give the presentation, they learn about useful language provided to the lessons, and the instructors give them modal, the modal of useful language modal of how to give effective presentation for example: how to make good presentation from the introduction, the body and the conclusion The steps can be: The first one in the introduction they can include their greeting, self-introduction of themselves, then they introduce their topic they will present or they going to present, that like they give background knowledge of the topic they will present and then they give a plan of the talk and invite the questions or they can invite the question during the presentation or leave at the end Lecturer 4: Students should have some interesting interactions with the audience, for example: ask them questions Give the audience reason to be involved in the presentation (why they need to follow the presentation), or make an outline for the presentation Lecturer 5: There are several effective methods for developing speech introductions Not every method is appropriate for every speech, but chances are that you can discover among these 66 alternatives at least one type of introduction to fit the topic and purpose of your speech, whatever they might be We will discuss ten ways of introducing a speech: Illustrations or anecdotes, startling facts or statistics, quotations, humour, questions, references to historical events, references to recent events, personal references, references to the occasion, references to preceding speeches 67