Investigating how to improve oral presentation skills for the second year english major of the department of foreign language at hung yen university of technology and education

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN INVESTIGATING HOW TO IMPROVE ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR THE SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (TÌM HIỂU CÁCH CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI – 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN INVESTIGATING HOW TO IMPROVE ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR THE SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (TÌM HIỂU CÁCH CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: TRẦN HIỀN LAN, MA HANOI – 2009 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………i Declaration……………………………………………………………………………….ii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………… iv PART 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………1 Rationale: ………………………………………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of the study: ……………………………………………………… Scope of the study:………………………………………………………………… …… Methods of the study: …………………………………………………………………… 5.Design of the study: …………………………………………………………………………3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………… CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………5 1.1 Oral Communication…………………………………………………………………… 1.2 Oral Presentation…………………………………………………………………………6 1.2.1 Definitions and Characteristics……………………………………………………… 1.2.2 Oral Presentation Organization…………………………………………….……… 1.2.3 Teaching Oral Presentation Skills………………………………….………………….8 1.3 Prior Studies Related to Oral Presentations………………………………………… 10 CHAPTER II: PRACTICAL RESEARCH………………………………….12 2.1 Background of the study……………………………………………………………… 12 2.1.1 Description of the English course and its objectives in the department of foreign languages, HYUTE………………………………………………………………………… 12 2.1.2 The informants…………………………… 13 v 2.2 The Study……………………………………………………………………………… 14 2.2.1 The Research Questions………………………………………………………………14 2.2.2 Measurement Instruments……………………………………………………………14 2.2.3 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………….15 2.3 Presentation of Statistical Results……………………………………………… 15 2.3.1 Questionnaire for the Students……………………………………………………….15 2.3.1.1 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………15 2.3.1.2 Statistical results ……………………………………………………………………15 2.3.1.2.1 The students’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills……………15 2.3.1.2.2 The second- year students’ difficulties in learning presentation skills…… 17 2.3.1.2.3 Current methods used in teaching oral presentation skills to the second- year English majors……………………………………………………………………………… 21 2.3.1.2.4 The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ current methods………………………24 2.3.1.2.5 The students’ suggested solutions to improve the situations……………………… 24 2.3.2 Questionnaire for the teachers……………………………………………………… 28 2.3.2.1 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………28 2.3.2.2 Statistical results ……………………………………………………………………28 2.3.2.2.1 The teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skill…………… 29 2.3.2.2.2 The teachers’ opinion of presentation skills………………………………………29 2.3.2.2.3 The teachers’ difficulties in teaching presentation skills…………………………30 2.3.2.2.4 Current teaching methods applied for oral presentation skills…………… 32 CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION………… 35 2.1 Findings………………………………………………………………………………… 35 2.1.1 The students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the necessity of oral presentation skills…………………………………………………………………………………… 35 2.1.2 What the teachers know about presentation skills…………………………………….35 2.1.3 The teachers and the students’ difficulties in their teaching and learning of oral presentations………………………………………………………………………………… 36 vi 2.1.4 The methods the teachers are currently using in teaching presentation skills……… 36 2.1.5 The students’ evaluations of those methods………………………………………… 37 2.1.6 What the students think should be done for them to improve their oral presentation skills………………………………………………………………………………………… 37 2.2 Suggested techniques for improving oral presentation skills………………… 38 2.2.1 Suggestions for the teachers……………………………………………………………………38 2.2.2 Suggestions for the students…………………………………………………………… 42 2.2.3 Suggestions for the department……………………………………………………………… 44 PART 3: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………… 45 REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix 1: The questionnaire for the students Appendix 2: The questionnaire for the teachers Appendix 3: The topics/sub-topics for the fourth term for HYUTE majors of English Appendix 4: Oral presentations- Teacher evaluation sheet Appendix 5: Oral presentations- Student evaluation sheet Appendix 6: Model language for oral presentations Appendix 7: Sample of model presentations PART1: INTRODUCTION 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 it without being shown how to 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 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 SecondYear 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 Aims and objectives of the study: The study is aimed at studying oral presentation difficulties encountered by both the secondyear 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 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 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 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 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 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 chapters + Chapter I - Literature Review – deals with the concepts relevant to the study: oral communication, 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:  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 Question Question Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 APPENDIX THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for our research into “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” Please tick the appropriate box (es) to respond to each statement or question and complete all of them as frankly and as accurately as you can Your answers will be of invaluable help in teaching oral presentations in English at our university Would you kindly return the completed questionnaire to me by 25th May, 2009? Thank you for your cooperation! Personal information  Gender: - Male - Female  Age: …………………………  Have you done an M.A course? And when? ……………………………………………………………………………  How long have you been teaching English? Options A B C D E Questions Question Question Question Question Question Question Question Question 10 Question THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 11 APPENDIX TOPICS/SUBTOPICS FOR THE FOURTH TERM FOR HYUTE MAJORS OF ENGLISH Below is a list of the topics that we worked on in the fourth term for the second- year majors of English Topic 1: Time 1.“Time flies never comes back” Explain what the saying may teach people A successful man never wastes his time Topic 2: Journey If you want to run away from a broken heart, traveling isn’t the right solution Can we measure one’s knowledge by counting how many places he’s been to? Topic 3: Basics 1.Changing your routines sometimes can make your life less boring One of the disadvantages of modern life is that people have to suffer from a lot of stress Topic 4: Communication 1.Information available on the internet should be controlled Too many means of information are available today Topic 5: Style 1.Can your clothes tell others what sort of person you are? Fashion is what the young should be seriously aware of if they want to become famous Topic 6: Age There isn’t an age limit for love Age difference is not important to love People of the older generation are narrow-minded 12 APPENDIX STUDENT EVALUATION FORM Speaker: Topic: Assessor: Assess the speaker by awarding marks from (Needs to improve) to (Excellent) for each item in each category You may also add your own comments about any items you like Delivery Voice projection Eye contact Natural feel Clarity of speech Posture Gestures Sub- total: Content Introduction Clarity of idea Time for treatment Topic suitability Conclusion Timing Sub- total: Total: ………… ………… Questions to ask the speaker: Suggestions for the speaker: (P Santry (1999) 13 APPENDIX TEACHER EVALUATION FORM Group Number Date Topic _    Preparation o _came to the class early to set up equipment o _made sure all equipments in working condition o _turned in assignment sheet Organization o _clear introduction o _logical development o _strong conclusion o _typed and clear outline Content o _variety of resources o _amount of research conducted _originality Presentation o _held audiences' attention o _spoke with note cards o _Eye contact o _time control o _volume of voice o _effectiveness of visual aids Oral skills o _adapted the information for the audience (communicative English) o _clarity & fluency o _provided discussion questions or class activities o _involved the audience Overall Group Rating _ Teacher comments o     (P Santry (1999) 14 APPENDIX SUGGESTED MODELS LANGUAGE FOR AN ORAL PRESENTATION Stating the purpose - In my presentation, I’ll be proposing…/In my presentation today I’ll going to…/This morning I’d like to review…/The subject/topic of this presentation is… Outlining the development - I’ll be developing three main points… - First, I’ll give you…Second,…Lastly… - My presentation will be in two main part In the first part I’ll…and then I’ll… Signposting the route - I’ll begin by…/ let’s start with… - My next point is… - Now, turning to… - Now, what about…/ Let me now move on to… Using rhetorical questions - What is the explanation for this? / What can we about this?/ how will this affect us? Building arguments - To show a different argument: however, on the other hand, although, in spite of this - To show a consequence: therefore, so, consequently, because of this, not only… but also… Talking through options + Explaining options: - We have considered/looked at three options - One way to solve this problem is … Another is to… - There are two alternatives - The first option is to…What about the second option? - So, now let’s look at the third option, which is to… 15 + Introducing weaknesses and benefits: - What are the benefits? - There are, however, disadvantages? - No, what about the advantages? But there are some problems too - Now, I’d like to look at the benefits On the other hand… - There are certain advantages for…, however, a major drawback is… Emphasizing and highlighting key points - Clearly, obviously,… - What we are suggesting are … - What they propose is … Summarizing a section - Therefore,…/ That comes to…/ Consequently,…/ Above all,… Focusing the audience’s attention - As you know…/ As I’m sure you are aware … 10 Checking understanding - Is that clear? No? Yes? / Is that okay? - Does this make sense? - You understand?/ You understand that? - Everybody understand? / Does everybody understand? / So did everybody understand that? - You following? / Are you following here? - Are you with me? 11 Referring backwards and forwards - I mentioned earlier … - I’ll say more about this later - We’ll come back to this point later 12 Recommending and calling for action - My suggestion/ our proposal/ the recommendation … is to … - I’d like to suggest/ propose … 16 - So, what I would recommend is that … 13 Summarizing - To sum up/ summarize, …/ In conclusion/ summary, …/ Briefly, … 14 Signaling the end - That brings me to the end of my presentation/ that completes my presentation 15 Closing formalities + Closing: - Thank you for your attention/ Thank you for listening/ Thank you for joining me/ us + Inviting questions: - If there are any questions, I’ll my best to answer them - I would welcome any comment/ suggestions - You can ask questions at any time - Any questions before we move on? - Any questions or comments so far? - Lan, you have a question? Any other question, Mai/ - Any final questions/ + Giving your message more impact + Emphasizing - We strongly recommend … / … is far too dangerous 16 Clarifying questions: - So what you are asking is …, - If understand the question correctly, you would like to know … 17 Handling difficult questions - Could we talk about that later? / Could we talk about that on another occasion? 18 Agreeing to a request Q: - Could we see that slide again? A: - Yes, of course This is the diagram we looked at earlier ... is the reason why I chose to conduct a research entitled: ? ?Investigating How to Improve Oral Presentation Skills for the SecondYear English Majors of the Foreign Language Department at Hung Yen. .. on oral presentation skills for the second- year English majors at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education This study is said to be an overview of current situations of the second- year. .. 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