Factors efecting oral presentation skills ò ffl students at hong duc university

HỒNG ĐỨC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS FACTORS EFFECTING ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS OF FFL STUDENTS AT HONG DUC UNIVERSITY Name: Lê Thị Quỳnh Anh Class: K20A Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thanh Minh Academic year: 2017 - 2021 Thanh Hóa, 2021 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTARCTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Objectives of the study Scope and significance of the study The method of the study Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of terminology 1.1.1 Oral presentation 1.2 Oral presentation as a component of oral communication 1.3 The role of oral presentation skill to senior major students of Foreign Language Department 1.4 The structure of an oral presentation 10 1.5 Factors affecting students’ oral presentation 11 1.5.1 Students’ language proficiency 11 1.5.2 Teachers’ roles 12 1.6 Summary 13 10 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 The setting of the study 14 2.2 The study 15 2.2.1 Research questions 15 2.2.2 Participants 15 iii 2.2.3 The instrument 16 2.3 Summary 17 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 The students’ perceptions of the importance of oral presentation skill and 18 their self - assessment of their presentations 3.1.1 The students’ perceptions of the importance of oral presentation skill 18 3.1.2 The students’ self-assessment of their presentation skill 19 3.2 Students’ difficulties in making oral presentations 19 3.2.1 Students’ difficulties in preparation 19 3.2.2 Students’ difficulties in organization 21 3.2.3 Students’ difficulties in delivery 22 3.2.3.1 Students’ difficulties in attracting and maintaining the attentions of 22 audiences 3.2.3.2 Students’ difficulties concerning body language 25 3.2.3.3 Students’ difficulties concerning language use 26 3.2.3.4 Students’ difficulties in time management 27 3.2.3.5 Students’ difficulties in anxiety management 28 3.2.3.6 Students’ difficulties in handling the audiences’ questions 30 3.2.4 Students’ difficulties in evaluation 31 3.3 Factors affecting the students’ oral presentation skill 32 3.4 Some suggested solutions 35 3.4.1 For students 35 3.4.1.1 Improving their knowledge of English 35 3.4.1.2 Practicing carefully for the presentation 36 3.4.1.3 Practise – them practice again 36 3.4.2 For teachers 36 3.4.2.1 Equipping students with linguistic knowledge 36 3.4.2.2 Creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere 37 iv 3.4.2.3 Provide Rubrics for students 37 3.4.3 For Institutions 38 3.4.3.1 Providing modern technology equipment and a good library 38 PART 3: CONCLUSION Summary of the study 39 Recommendations 40 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 41 REFERENCES APPENDICES Abbreviations HDU: Hong Duc University FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages DECLARATION I, Le Thi Quynh Anh, hereby state that this work is original and completed by myself It has not been submitted for other purposes except for the fulfillment of the requirements of the University for the degree of Master in English Teaching Methodology In terms of these conditions, I agee that the origin of my thesis deposited in the university library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research Signature Thanh Hoa, September 2020 Le Thi Quỳnh Anh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me great assistance in the completion of my research work First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thanh Minh for his precious advice, guidance, criticism and encouragement throughout the research My special thanks go to all my lecturers who have been engaged in teaching K20A course for their precious lectures I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my friends and the senior students of Foreign Language Department at Hong Duc University in contributing to the data collection presented in this study ABSTRACTS The research is concerned with factors affecting students’ oral presentation skills in English at Hong Duc University Specifically, a survey is conducted on 38 senior major students of Faculty of Foreign Languages Main purposes of the research are to find out: (1) the difficulties the students might have when giving and learning oral presentations, (2) factors causing the difficulties and their suggested solutions It is expected that the study will make a contribution to the improvement of the teaching and learning of presentation skills at Hong Duc University The study consists of three parts Part A introduces the information on the background, the rationale, the aims, scope, method and design of the study Part B providing the development includes three chapters Chapter provides the relevant theories related to oral presentation skills and factors may affect the students’ presentation skill Chapter introduces the context of the study and describes the methods employed in the study Chapter presents and discusses the findings that arise from the data collected Part C provides summary of study, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research PART – INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays, English is spoken all over the world It seems to be the main and the official language in many countries In addition to learning and cultivating the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing English fluently, oral presentation skills in English are also one of the important skills for English learners Especially, as an occupational requirement, oral presentation skill is believed to be very important for senior FFL students Presentation determines the success of their future job Presentation skills are one of the essential skills to bring success to each person in study, research as well as activities, social communication “Presentation skills attract attention in higher education and business, because it is one of the core competencies of a professional” A work by Lytaeva, MA, and Talalakina, EV has shown that presentation skills require a combination of reading, writing and scientific presentation First, students need to have reading skills such as selecting information and interpreting information explicitly Next, when writing, students have skills in information processing, taking notes, synthesizing and generalizing After mastering the first two stages, students can learn to present the results of their writing orally Presentation skills are a combination of language skills, reasoning skills, and presentation skills Therefore, through training this skill, students will be able to think logically, reason closely, synthesize, generalize problems and be creative Presentation skills help to train students to speak fluently, persuasively and confidently However, the reality of learning and applying oral presentation skills of senior FFL students at HDU still faces many difficulties Despite being an English major, due to the limited English speaking and use environment, the students have not really done well in their oral presentation skills in English This motivates me to explore the factors affecting oral presentation capabilities of the senior student of FFL in Hong Duc University with a view to finding practical solutions to deal with those factors, thereby helping the prospective their job to improve their oral presentation skills Objectives of the study The research aims specifically at exploring the factors affecting oral presentation capabilities of the senior major students of faculty foreign languages at HDU Possible solutions are recommended to help the teachers and students to improve the teaching and learning of oral presentation skills The specific objectives of the study include: ➢ Identifying the students’ perceptions about the importance of oral presentation skills in their future job ➢ Understanding students’ self-assessments of their oral presentation skill ➢ Identifying the difficulties in making oral presentations encountered by the students at HDU when studying the subject “Presentation Skills” ➢ examining the factors affecting their oral presentations at HDU ➢ providing some recommendations on how to improve students’ oral presentation and well in the subject “Presentation Skills” Scope and significance of the study The study focuses on oral presentation skills in English in the classroom context of 38 senior FFL students of K20 at HDU We hope that the findings and recommendations of the study will be of some help for both teachers and students of English in the process of teaching and learning oral presentation skills at HDU so that students will study the subject “Presentation Skills” and have better oral presentation skills for their future job 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION This chapter provides summary of study, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research Summary of the study Oral presentation in a foreign language especially in English is important for students Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to find out the factors perceived by the students that affect their oral presentations The findings of the study are: Firstly, almost all of the students agreed that oral presentation skill was important for their future job Secondly, majority of students revealed that they could not give good presentations Thirdly, students had difficulties in all stages of presentation: preparation, delivery and evaluations Students failed to remember, structure and rehearse their presentations in preparation stage Inadequate preparation especially structuring and rehearsing presentation contributed to the ineffective performance Therefore, they had serious troubles with delivering their presentations Sadly, students hardly learn from their own presentations because they did not know how to evaluate a presentation However, because of having been trained to give oral presentations in Vietnamese, students appeared to have experience in giving oral presentations, to be able to use non-verbal language such as body language, eye contact, hand movements effectively and to easily control their nerves Next, the factors affecting the students’ oral presentation skill were identified to be related to students themselves, teachers and institutions The major factor identified was the students’ low proficiency, which led to the students’ lack of confidence and anxiety when delivering presentations Other important factors were the lack of teachers’ encouragement, feedback, assessment, and teaching equipment 40 The students also suggested some solutions that were helpful to overcome the difficulties in the teaching and learning oral presentation skills Firstly, for teachers: teachers should create a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere, provide students with linguistic knowledge Secondly, for students: students should improve their linguistic knowledge, practice carefully for oral presentations Thirdly, for institution: the college had better provide modern teaching equipment and a good library Recommendations The study has found out the factors affecting the students’ oral presentation skills As revealed from the study the factor that affects most negatively the students’ oral presentation skills is their English language proficiency Another factor is their attitudes towards the need to sharpen their existing skills While most of them were aware of the importance of oral presentation skills to their future job, they did not seem to invest enough in improving the skills that they had acquired in the course This is indicated in their acknowledgement that they did not prepare adequately for their oral presentation sessions in the classroom The findings imply that efforts should be made to improve the students’ oral proficiency in English and to change their attitudes towards the need to improve their oral presentation skills Gufta (2008;258) shows that “Presentation is a skill which is developed through experience and training” This means that presentation skill needs a lot of practice The more students give presentations, the more they learn from their own presentations to develop their skill It could be a good idea that one individual student at a time is requested to deliver a presentation while others listen in the role of tour clients and to give comments and suggestions for improvement Finally, the students will evaluate their peer’s presentation according to the criteria provided by the teacher This kind of classroom practice will help the students to learn from each other how to improve their skills on the one hand, and 41 change their attitudes toward the need of preparing and planning their presentation carefully, on the other As Gufta (2008;259) points out, if the students are well prepared and know your topic, their “confidence will come automatically” enabling them to “present the right information in the right format in the right amount of time.” It is unquestionable that good preparation and planning bring about success Thus the teacher needs to work with the students to develop the evaluation criteria in the form of a checklist to be used in the classroom (see Appendix B) More importantly, teachers in the department should work together on the corpus of lexical chunks that are commonly used oral presentation for the students to practice using them In addition, the teacher should also give the students more opportunities to practice and improve the students’ pronunciation in context The findings of the study also show that students acknowledged their weaknesses in organizing their presentation coherently and cohesively The teacher should use more exercises on the use of discourse devices or linking words According to Reinhart (2002:3) “[O]rganizational pattern you choose generally lend itself to the use of linking words or signpost Linking words are words that connect information to create a smooth and coherent flow of speech” (see Appendix C) Overall, what has been discussed in this study might be beneficial to both teachers and students in learning and teaching oral presentation skill However, to improve the students’ oral presentations demands the efforts and patience of both teachers and students Limitations of the study and suggestions for further researches The limitations of this study lies in the use of the questionnaire as the only instrument of data collection This instrument can at best capture the surface of the student participants’ perceptions and personal judgments related to aspects of oral presentation skills that are under investigation Another problem with the 42 questionnaire is that respondents may not respond accurately what is in their mind They may answer the questionnaire items the way they think would expect the researcher’s expectations Therefore, in future studies different methods of data collection such as interview and observation should be used 43 REFERENCES Ang, J.G Oral communication, 2009, Katha Publishing Co.INC Brown, J.D (2005) Using surveys in language programs Cambridge University Press Byrne, D (1886) Teaching oral English London: Longman Collins (2003) English Collins dictionary Retrieved September 11, 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com Comfort.J.(1995) Effective presentation Oxford: Oxford University Press Delahunty, G.P & Garvey J.J (1994) Language grammar and communication McGraw-Hill Ellis R (1994) Second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Emdem, J & Becker, L (2004) Presentation skills for students New York: Palgrave Macmillan Gupta, S (2008) Communication skills and functional grammar New Dehli: University Science Press 10 Harmer, J (1999) The Practice of English language teaching Malaysia: Longman 11 Johnson, D.M 1991 Approaches to research in second language learning Longman 12 Mark Powell (2003), Presenting in English Cambridge University Press 13 Susan M.Reinhart (2002) Giving Academic Presentations The university of Michigan Press 14 Johanna Rendle-Short (2004), The academic presentation: situated talk in action Oxford: Oxford University Press 15 Lani Arredondo (2007), Kỹ giao tiếp tối ưu, Nxb Tổng hợp 44 APPENDIX A Câu hỏi khảo sát dành cho sinh viên Bảng câu hỏi nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài nghiên cứu “Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến kỹ thuyết trình sinh viên chuyên ngữ, năm cuối – Khoa Ngoại ngữ, Trường ĐHHĐ Các câu trả lời bạn cung cấp quan trọng cho việc khảo sát Các liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu này, khơng mục đích khác I Nhận thức bạn kỹ thuyết trình tự đánh giá kỹ thuyết trình Theo bạn nghĩ kỹ thuyết trình quan trọng nghề nghiệp tương lai bạn? Rất quan trọng  Không quan trọng lắm  3.Hoàn toàn khơng quan trọng   Mình khơng biết Bạn đánh giá thành công thuyết trình nào? (Đánh giá theo thang điểm từ thấp đến cao) 10 II Những khó khăn kỹ thuyết trình Những khó khăn bạn thường gặp phải thực thuyết trình Hãy điền (✓) vào thích hợp: Rất Khó (RK), Khó (K), Dễ (D), Rất Dễ (RD) 45 NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN RK K D RD (1) (2) (3) (4) 4 Giai đoạn chuẩn bị Lựa chọn nội dung thuyết trình Ghi nhớ nội dung thuyết trình Luyện tập thuyết trình Những khó khăn khác (Hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đây) NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN Kết cấu thuyết trình Biết cách thơng báo tiến trình thuyết trình Biết cách dùng cụm từ nối thuyết trình Những khó khăn khác (Hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đây) NHỮNG KHĨ KHĂN Thực thuyết trình * Thu hút trì ý khán giả Vị trí đứng Thực trơi chảy thuyết trình Biết cách bắt đầu thuyết trình(Giới thiệu sơ nét thân, lái xe, thông báo chương trình tham quan, khoảng thời gian thực tham quan ) Biết cách kết thúc thuyết trình (đánh giá khái quát vấn đề giới thiệu chuyến tham quan du lịch, làm 46 rõ lần mục đích chuyến tham quan đạt đến mức nào, so sánh điểm tham quan ) Thực rõ ràng thuyết trình với phát âm chuẩn (về âm, từ, trọng âm câu ngữ điệu) Thực thuyết trình cách tự tin Sử dụng hình ảnh minh họa Hỏi khán giả câu hỏi kéo khán giả tham gia vào thuyết trình Những khó khăn khác (Hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đây) * Ngôn ngữ không lời 4 Giao tiếp mắt với khán giả Giữ vẻ mặt thân thiện Có động tác hợp lý Có cử động tay hợp lý Những khó khăn khác (hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đánh dấu vào thích hợp) * Kỹ sử dụng ngơn ngữ Khơng có lỗi ngữ pháp thuyết trình Sử dụng từ vựng cấu trúc phù hợp Những khó khăn khác (hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đánh dấu vào thích hợp) * Thời gian Kiểm soát thời gian dành cho thuyết trình 47 Những khó khăn khác (hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đánh dấu vào thích hợp) * Kiểm soát hồi hộp 4 Kiểm soát hồi hộp Nhớ nội dung thuyết trình đứng trước đám đơng Những khó khăn khác (hãy điền thêm khó khăn khác đánh dấu vào thích hợp) * Trả lời câu hỏi khán giả Yêu cầu câu hỏi từ khán giả Trả lời câu hỏi khán giả Biết làm rõ câu hỏi khán giả Trả lời câu hỏi khó Những khó khăn khác (hãy cho biết thêm khó khăn khác Đánh giá Nhận biết khán giả có nghe hay khơng Biếtr cách kiểm tra xem khán giả có hiểu hay khơng Tự đánh giá thuyết trình Đánh giá thuyết trình sinh viên khác Rút bài học học từ thuyết trình mình 48 III Dưới danh sách yếu tố gây khó khăn việc thực thuyết trình sinh viên chuyên ngữ khác khác nêu q trình học mơn kỹ thuyết trình Khoa Ngoại ngữ Bạn cho biết, theo kinh nghiệm thân, yếu tố có bạn khơng? Hãy đánh dấu vào thích hợp! Yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến kỹ thuyết trình Đúng Khơng Khơng chắn Trình độ Tiếng Anh khơng cao Không luyện tập đủ cho kỹ thuyết trình Khơng có kinh nghiệm kỹ thuyết trình Thiếu thơng tin, kiến thức cho thuyết trình Khơng tự tin Thiếu hướng dẫn giáo viên Thiếu khuyến khích giáo viên Thiếu nhận xét giáo viên bài thuyết trình Những yếu tố khác (hãy cho biết yếu tố khác ảnh hưởng đến kỹ thuyết trình em) 49 IV Theo bạn, nhà trường ĐHHĐ, Khoa Ngoại ngữ, giảng viên, sinh viên nên làm để bạn khắc phục yếu tố gây ảnh hưởng đến kỹ thuyết trình? Giáo viên: Sinh viên: Khoa & Nhà trường: Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 50 APPENDIX B A SAMPLE FINAL SPEECH EVALUATION FORM Name: …………………………………………………………………… (Make a check in the appropriate column) Good Acceptable Needs Comments improving Topic Interesting process? Appropriate for a general tourist Introduction Adequate? Attention-getting? Organization Clear organization strategy? Used organization indicator statement when appropriate? Linking words (signposts) Smooth, coherent speech flow? Correct use of time expressions and other connectors? Conclusion Adequate? Smooth, not abrupt? Eye contact and facial expressions Focus on the audience Contact with all the members of the audience? Friendly facial expression? Gestures and other body movements? Hands free and expressive? Body posture relaxed rather than stiff? No distracting body movements? Voice Good volume? Confident? 51 Relaxed? Pace Not too fast or too slow? Smooth rather than halting or hesitant? Pronunciation (Specific comments) Other comments? (Reinhart, S.M, 2002, p.18-19) 52 APPENDIX C PRESENTATION SIGNPOST EXPRESSIONS Starting Good morning/ afternoon/evening (everyone, ladies and gentlemen…) I am honored to be My name is… This is our driver His name is … I am happy to have this chance today Introducing topics Today, we are going to visit… I would like to introduce … Explaining structure First, we will visit and then we will move to … First, we will visit Next, we will explore…… Moving from sections to sections So let me start by … explaining …… So, I will start with … Right, so first … Well moving onto Next I will talk about … Right, I’ll introduce … So finally The last site we visit to day is … Showing respect for listener’s knowledge As you may know, As you can see, As you may be aware, Looking at visuals Now let’s look at 53 May I focus your attention on You will notice that Underlining points Please to remember that … It’s important to remember that This is important/ significant that Please notice that … Note this point … Referring backwards and forwards You will remember what I said Just to repeat what I said earlier As I mentioned earlier Do you remember I said ? I’ll talk more about this later More on this later on The details will come later Summarizing Today we have just visited … I hope our visit today is helpful … Thank you very much for your attention Thank you for your listening … Well, that’s all from me today It has been great pleasure to share this with you