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MODULE_5_Lesson_2 2

The document discusses the genre of Academic Oral Presentations (AOP), emphasizing their importance in higher education for disseminating knowledge. It outlines the structure of AOPs, including the main body, signposting techniques, rehearsal strategies, and effective presentation skills. Additionally, it provides guidance on handling question and answer sessions to enhance audience engagement.

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7 views

MODULE_5_Lesson_2 2

The document discusses the genre of Academic Oral Presentations (AOP), emphasizing their importance in higher education for disseminating knowledge. It outlines the structure of AOPs, including the main body, signposting techniques, rehearsal strategies, and effective presentation skills. Additionally, it provides guidance on handling question and answer sessions to enhance audience engagement.

Uploaded by

Rocio Castillo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODULE 5 - LESSON 2

THE GENRE OF ACADEMIC ORAL PRESENTATION

Academic oral presentations (AOP) are one of the


most common assignments in higher education.
Scholars, professionals and educators, even
students in all fields desire to disseminate the new
knowledge they produce, and this is often
accomplished by delivering oral presentations in
class, at conferences, in public lectures, or in
academic meetings. Therefore, learning to deliver effective presentations is a
necessary skill to master both for college and further educational endeavours.

The genre of AOP


Academic oral presentation is an academic discourse which is conducted at university
and training colleges to show undergraduates’ understanding of a subject to the
audience. Within the English language course (EAP, EOP or ESP) and discipline-
based courses offered in those educational settings, the AOP is used as part of the
assessment, to present research projects, and to socialize students into the academic
discourse community.

AOPs have been defined by various scholars. One popular definition of the term refers
to any oral presentation where the undergraduates have to present on a given topic in
their classrooms. Ming (2005) defines oral presentation as a “partly spoken and partly
visual form of communication” (p. 118) which usually has a time limit and happens in
organizational settings. Likewise, Baker (2000) claims oral presentations are like formal
conversations which are structured and have a time frame. Presenters can use visual
aids in their presentations and at the end respond to questions formulated by the
audience. Morita (2000) describes AOPs as routined activities in university and are
established as a formal oral assessment to show the development of certain skills. For
Mandal (2000), oral presentations are “speech in a business, technical, professional or
scientific environment” (p. 8). Hyland (2009) asserts that oral presentations are like
lectures, a monologic discourse that deals with information transfer and have informal
and conversational expressions of seminars. He further adds that such presentations

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are usually very informal, audience friendly and extremely challenging for non-native
English speakers. In brief, an AOP for undergraduates is a classroom genre where
students are expected to display their knowledge of the discipline as expected by the
discourse community.

THE MAIN BODY OF THE PRESENTATION

It is clear that the AOP is a distinct genre with a whole rhetorical structure which
includes the introduction, body, conclusion and question and answer sessions. In
Lesson 1, we focused on the opening and closing moments. In this lesson, we are
going to look into the main body and the importance of planning.

Main body
o Explain your points. Give clear explanations. Provide sufficient evidence to be
convincing.
o Use transitions between points in your main body section. You create clear
signals and signposts that will guide the audience through your presentation.
o Use analogies and references to explain complicated ideas and to build
repetition.
o Use effective visual support.

SIGNPOSTING
Signposts help you structure and shape the main content of your presentation by
creating `verbal paragraphs´ and raise the attention curve at the beginning and end of
each point of your presentation. This strategy allows you to guide the audience through
the structure of your presentation linking one point to the next. This will add clarity to
your talk as it will orient the audience as well as keep their attention up.

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Here are some examples of signposts. Read them and imagine where you would use
them.
a) Moving on now to…
b) I would like to begin by…
c) Let´s now turn to…
d) So, first of all…
e) This leads me to a point…
f) So, we´ve looked at…
g) That completes my overview of….
h) Let´s recap…
i) So that was…
j) And finally…

These signposts work even better when they are varied and accompanied by pauses of
the right duration, that is, not too long and not to short. Other interesting elements are

REHEARSE YOUR PRESENTATION

Practising your presentation is


essential. It is at this stage of the
process that you figure out word
and phrase emphasis and the
timing of your sections and overall
presentation.
o Record your presentation
and review it in order to know how you sound and appear to your audience. You
may notice that you are pausing awkwardly, talking too fast, or using distracting
gestures.
o Consider using different coloured highlighters to remind yourself when to pause,
when to emphasize a particular point, when you have a slide change on your
PowerPoint, etc.
o Practice in front of others and elicit feedback. Ask them to comment on your
delivery and content. What aspects of your delivery work well to convey the
information and argument of the presentation, and what aspects of your delivery

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are not working as well as they could? Also, are there moments in your
presentation in which your presentation becomes confusing or boring? Are
there moments in which you can add a “wow-effect”, that is some ingredient of
positive impact that provokes surprise shock or laughter?
o Remember that the more you practise, the more comfortable you will become
with the material and with your body language. As a result of repeated practice,
you will appear far more polished and professional while delivering your
presentation.

Presenting

As the person in charge of the situation when


presenting, it is your job to make your audience feel comfortable and engaged with
both you and the material of the presentation.
o Maintain eye contact. Only look at notes or slides very briefly. Sweep the room
with your gaze, pausing briefly on various people.
o Be aware of your body posture.
o Be enthusiastic about your topic. Smile.
o Slow down your speech. We naturally talk faster when we are nervous. Include
pauses to allow your listeners to keep up and time for you to think ahead.
o Use gestures to emphasize points and move about the space if possible.
o Calibrate the volume of your voice so that people in the back of the room can
hear you.
o Avoid excessive use of fillers such as “Ah, like, okay, um”.

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Questions and Answers

Do not underestimate the challenge of running


a successful question and answer session. They are unpredictable by nature. In your
planning, try to anticipate possible questions your audience might have. Follow this
four-step process to successfully answer audience questions:
o Acknowledge the question. This polite gesture shows your interest.
o Rephrase the question. This important step allows you to: make sure you
understand the question, ensure all audience members hear the question,
phrase the question into one you want or are willing to answer, and gain time to
think about your answer.
o Answer the question as clearly and concisely as possible.
o Check for comprehension with the questioner and your audience.

Bibliography
Baker, A. (2000). Improve your communication skills. London: Kogan Page.
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse: English in a global context. New York:
Continuum International Publishing Group.
Kaur, K., & Ali, A. M. (2017). Exploring the genre of academic oral presentations: a
critical review. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English
Literature, 7(1), 152-162.
Mandal, S. (2000). Presentation Skills: A Practical Guide to Better Speaking. Third
Edition. California: Crisp Learning.
Ming, X. Z. (2005). Developing oral presentation skills in ELT classroom. CELEA
Journal, 28/2, 1-3.
Morita, N. (2000). Discourse socialization through oral classroom activities in a TESL
Graduate Program. TESOL Quarterly, 34/2, 279-310.

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