Transcript Speaking academically

Presenting across the
Curriculum
Hebe Wong
English Language Centre
City University of Hong Kong
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Outline:
• Background
• Case study
• Implications
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I) The Background- the importance
• Students communicate with other students
and teachers in order to explain, report,
discuss, negotiate, argue, and persuade.
• Students give oral reports and presentations,
with the help of spoken delivery techniques
and visual aids, to inform the audience faceto-face of the important information .
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I) Background- the call from
professional communities
A) The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (the HKIE) :
– “[T]he Institution expects the curricula for engineering
degree programmes to have three main emphases,
namely, engineering subjects, mathematics and
complementary support subjects “ (Professional
Accreditation Handbook for Engineering Degrees, p.12).
– “Engineering degree programmes should contain
instruction in both oral and written communication skills
as well as presentation skills.” (Professional Accreditation
Handbook for Engineering Degrees, p.14).
(https://www.hkie.org.hk/docs/accreditation/Accreditatio
n%20Handbook.pdf)
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I) Background- The Relevance of
Communications to Engineers
• “Professional engineers of all kinds typically
spend about 60% of their working time
communicating-both orally and in writing with
people in the workplace”[Ingre, 2008; Tilli &
Trevelyan, 2008)
• Engineers communicate with other engineers,
with professionals in other fields, with clients or
the public.
• Oral communication skills at workplace include
presentation skills, participation in meetings,
conversation, discussion, and negotiation.
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I) Background- The Relevance of Communications to
Engineers
A) Recent Survey- communication skills in the workplace (Arn et al ,
2010)
Oral presentation is a
required skill in the
workplace
Effective
communication skills at
meetings
Agree
(%)
39
Strongly agree 
(%)
39

54
30


Conversation
52
29
•
Discussion
50
34
•
Negotiations
51
32
•
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Importance in
Engineers equipped with effective
presentation skills promote business for
organisation
Effective communicative skills can help
dominate meetings
Poor com skills make engineers remain
silent during meetings
Effective conversation can develop better
work relationship among engineers at
workplace.
Workplace discussions promote better
work environment of organizations
Due to poor oral communication skill
engineers usually avoid playing the role
of negotiator at workplace.
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B) Recent Survey- communication skills in the
workplace (Corrello, 2014 )
• A survey of 200 graduates from the University of
Kentucky College of Engineering found that:
– Of the 16 communication skills rated by engineers for
their importance, the top 50% in descending order
were relationship building, listening, motivating,
giving feedback, negotiating, small group leadership,
persuading, and routine information exchange.
– Great discrepancy between importance and selfcompetence scores were found in public speaking,
motivating, negotiating, listening, conflict resolution,
and giving feedback.
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I) Background- The Response from the
academic institutions
• The University of Hong Kong –Centre of Academic Studies:
– “Making a good oral presentation is an art that involves attention to
the needs of your audience, careful planning, and attention to
delivery. ” (http://www4.caes.hku.hk/epc/presentation/)
• Lingnan University-ELSS:
– “An oral presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the
content to an audience or a learner. While in college, and even after,
you will frequently be required to give presentations. ”
(http://webapp.ln.edu.hk/ceal/elss/english-pathways/presentationpathway)
• HKUST: SAC Advice Sheet
– “The best way to improve your speaking skills is, of course, to speak in
English as often as possible… It is very likely that you will be required
to give at least one oral presentation during your time at university or
in the workplace in the future. ”
(http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/advice/english/speaking/S1.htm)
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• Chinese
University
Of HK
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City University of Hong Kong: Self Access
Centre
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I) The Background– the response from
the textbooks
i) Oxford English for Electrical and
Mechanical Engineering (1995)
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ii) Peking University Press- Technical English for
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (2006, 2010)
- Official Provider of Teaching and learning materials for the
National curriculum )
– 27 units: Text / Words and Phrases / Complex Sentence
Analysis
– Presentation
• Communicating the design to others is the final, vital
presentation step in the design process. Basically, there are
only three means of communication. These are the written,
the oral, and the graphical forms. A successful engineer will
be technically competent and versatile in all three forms of
communication. The competent engineer should not be
afraid of the possibility of not succeeding in a presentation.
In fact, the greatest gains are obtained by those willing to
risk defeat. (p.3)
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I) The Background– the gap
• An Internet search --(Source: Hughes,2002,p.26)
• “The role of mode and the status of speech in language
acquisition paradigms have been remarkably undertheorised” (Hughes,2002,p.26).
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I) The Background– the gap
• Communication Across the Curriculum (CXC)
was criticised as “lack of theoretical
sophistication and depth” as “there is nothing
unique or sophisticated about communication
theory”. (Dannels, 2002, p.254)
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II ) Research Questions:
1) How can the need for oral communication
support in the discipline be catered for?
2) To what extent can the oral presentation
workshops help the students to improve on
their presentation performance?
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III) The Case Study: Oral presentation support project
for Senior year EE students
i) Course information
•
•
•
•
•
a mandatory course for senior year students.
3 hours X 13 weeks, 0 credit
Lectures mainly
Semester A: 178 students
Semester B: 122 students
Course aims
Units
The course aims to provide students with
knowledge in the obligations, roles and
professional conduct of an engineer in a
modern society.
-
Occupational safety and health
Professional ethics
Intellectual Properties and Innovation
The World of Engineering
Importance of Communication in
Engineering
- World Factory
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ii) Previously…
Purpose
• [Presentation]
provides closure and
serves as an
important anchor
point for the learning
activity.
• Without it, the entire
activity may be of
little value to the
student.
• It is also a way for the
student to evaluate
the
learning activity and
thus motivate the
students.
Format
Evaluation Criteria
• Introduction
I. Attention-getting
statement - gain the
attention of the audience
by using a quotation, telling
a brief story or humorous
anecdote, asking a
question, etc.
II. Thesis statement - state
the specific purpose of your
presentation here.
III. Preview statement overview of all of your main
points.
• Body
• Conclusion
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• organization of
subject and inclusion
of required elements
• observance of time
limit
• dynamic
presentation
• contact with
audience (e.g. eye
contact,
facial expression,
nonverbal language)
• clarity and quality of
language used
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iii) Workshop information
Weeks
1 to 9
Teaching
activities
Course
introduction
and guest
lectures
6 to 9
10-13
Workshops
Voluntary
workshops
Presentation
Assessment
Workshops
Topics
1
Organisation
2
Pronunciation tips
3
Stress & chunking
4
The use of visual aids
5
The Relationship with
audience
6
Informative talks
7
Problem-solution talks
8
Persuasive talks
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Date
(weeks 6 to 9)
Mon
24/2, 3/3, 10/3, 17/3
Tue
25/2, 4/3, 11/3, 18/3)
Wed
26/2, 5/3, 12/3, 19/3
Thu
27/2, 6/3, 13/3, 20/3
Sat
1/3, 8/3. 15/3 and
22/3.
Venues with Echo 360
AC2-1400
AC2-1400
AC2-1400
AC2-1400
Except 6/3 (in AC24200 )
P4907
6
Workshop 1
Workshop 3
Workshop 5
Workshop 7
Workshop 1
13:00-13:50
14:00-14:50
17:00-17:50
14:00-14:50
14:00-14:50
Workshop 2
Workshop 4
Workshop 6
Workshop 8
Workshop 2
14:00-14:50
15:00-15:50
18:00-18:50
15:00-15:50
15:00-15:50
Workshop 3
Workshop 5
Workshop 7
Workshop 1
Workshop 3
13:00-13:50
14:00-14:50
17:00-17:50
14:00-14:50
14:00-14:50
Workshop 4
Workshop 6
Workshop8
Workshop 2
Workshop 4
14:00-14:50
15:00-15:50
18:00-18:50
15:00-15:50
15:00-15:50
Workshop 5
Workshop 7
Workshop 1
Workshop 3
Workshop 5
13:00-13:50
14:00-14:50
17:00-17:50
14:00-14:50
14:00-14:50
Workshop 6
Workshop 8
Workshop 2
Workshop 4
Workshop 6
14:00-14:50
15:00-15:50
18:00-18:50
15:00-15:50
15:00-15:50
Workshop 7
One-on –one
Feedback sessions (20
min each X 6 sessions)
One-on –one
Feedback sessions (20
min each X 6 sessions)
One-on –one
Feedback sessions (20
min each X 6 sessions)
One-on –one
Feedback sessions (20
min each X 6 sessions)
7
8
9
13:00-13:50
Workshop 8
14:00-14:50
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The 3 discipline-specific workshops
Language use
Famous speaker
Subject content
Link to previous
workshops
Helpfulness /
interest
Informative
Problem-Solution
Persuasive







6.07/ 6.07
6.14/ 6
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6.3/ 6.3
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iv) Getting started
Sources
Collected in
semester
• Lecture visits
B
• Observation in the lectures and presentation assessment
sessions
A&B
• Lecture notes, handouts and ppt slides,
B
• information about the course and student background provided A & B
by two subject teachers
• Observation and Video clips of student presentation
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v) Sources of Data :
Sources
Perspectives
Questionnaire
Needs analysis
-confidence
- perception of importance
Workshop
Needs analysis
- attendance
- feedback on workshops
Presentation scores
Effectiveness of the workshop input
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v) Findings: Needs Analysisa)Students’ perception of the importance of oral
communication
• A 7-point likert questionnaire was administered to a
group of year 3 and 4 Electronic Engineering students
in the first lesson.
Semester
No. of responses
1
139/177 (78.53%)
2
69/122 (56.56%)
• Sample questions:
– Q4) To what extent do you think being able to give
effective oral presentations is important in the workplace?
– Q5) How confident are you now in your ability to give
effective oral presentations?
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v)Findings: Needs Analysis
b) Students’ confidence and perceived importance of
oral communicative skills in the workplace
No. of
responses
Perception of importance of
Oral communication needs
overall
Confidence of performing Oral
tasks overall
Mean
SD
5.45
1.05
208
PTT
Sig (2 -tailed)
.000
4.38
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1.16
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v)Findings: Needs Analysis
c) Differences in students’ confidence and perceived
importance of various oral communication skills
Perspectives
Give effective oral
presentation in the
workplace
Discuss effectively in
meetings in the
workplace
Negotiate effectively
in the workplace
Communicate
effectively in
conversation in the
workplace
Satisfaction in
University support
for oral
communicative
competency
No. of
responses
208
(69.5%)
Perception of
importance
SD
Self confidence
SD
PTT
Sig (2 -tailed)
5.65
1.16
4.33
1.34
.000
5.35
1.34
4.4
1.32
.000
5.28
1.3
4.32
1.28
.000
5.52
1.2
4.46
1.32
.000
4.6
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v) Findings: Needs Analysis
d) Students’ perceived importance of oral
presentation skills for study and in the workplace
• Sample question: Name 3 most important skills in Oral
presentation for study?
Important skills for oral
communication
fluency
stess & intonation
eye contact
pronunciation
listen carefully
organisation
confidence
No. of Ss responded
No. of responses given
Workplace
6
9
8
3
6
2
10
35
96
Study
10
9
9
7
7
6
6
39
110
10
8
6
4
2
workplace
study
0
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v)Findings: Workshop
a) Attendance- Overall
– A total of 8 presentation workshops were
provided in 4 rounds in the middle of Semester B
Workshops
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Organisation
Pronunciation
Stress & Chunking
Visual aids
Relationship with Audience
Informative
Problem-solution
Persuasive
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No. of
attendees
41
28
28
26
20
24
29
13
Total 209
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v)Findings: Workshop
b) Participation rate
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Total no. of workshops provided
Total no. of students
Total no. of attendees
No. of students who have attended at
least 1 workshop
Average No. of attendees per each
workshop
Participation rate
13-14 Sem B
32 (8 workshops X 4 rounds)
122
209
54
209/32= 6.53
54/122= 44.26%
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v)Findings: Workshop Feedback
c) overall
(Total No. of responses: 209)
No. of
responses
208 (99.5%)
1
209 (100%)
Questions
Responses
1) Is there any useful topic in this
workshops?
Yes
No
2) Is there any unhelpful topic in this
workshops?
No
Questions:
Overall speaking, what do you think about
this workshop?
(7-point likert scale)
Mean
No. of responses
3) Helpfulness
6.24
209 (100%)
4) interesting
6.20
209 (100%)
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v)Findings: Workshop
d) Feedback- usefulness and interest of all workshops
Workshop
1-Organsiation
2-Pronunciation Tips
3- Stress & Chunking
4- Visual aids
5- Relationship with Audience
6- Informative
7-Problem & Solution
8- Persuasive
Helpfulness
6.15
6.59
6.29
6.28
6.14
6.07
6.14
6.3
Interest
6.07
6.62
6.23
6.21
6.19
6.07
6
6.3
6.8
6.6
6.4
Helpfulness
6.2
Interest
6
5.8
5.6
6
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5
7
1
4
3
8
2
Workshops
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v)Findings: Workshop
e) Feedback: Useful Topics
Useful topics
Eye contact & body
language
Problem-Solution
Describing data
Chunking
pronunciation
Organization
Sub-total
No. of responses
11
17
19
26
26
39
Total:
138
209
No. of Responses
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
No. of Responses
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• F) Comparing students’ perceived importance
of important oral presentations kills before
and after the workshops
Before
Important skills for oral
communication
fluency
stess & intonation
eye contact
pronunciation
listen carefully
organisation
confidence
No. of Ss responded
No. of responses given
Workplace
6
9
8(8.3%)
3(3.1%)
6
2(2.1%)
10
35
96
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After
Study
10
9
9 (8.1%)
7(6.4%)
7
6(5.4%)
6
39
110
Useful topics
11(5.3%)
26(12.4%)
39(18.7%)
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v)Findings: Presentation Scores
i) Assessment Task
Assessment tasks &
weighting
Remarks
Sem B
Quizzes- 50%
Presentation:
 Oral presentation- 40%
 Attendance – 10%
To pass the course, students are required to
achieve at least 50% in the quizzes and 50% in
presentation.
50% presentation attendance rate must be
recorded to obtain
the 10% attendance marks
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v)Findings: Presentation Scores
ii) Break down No. of
Workshops
Students
attended
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
No. of
Students
attended
5
1
1
5
26
1
9
6
68
Marking criteria
Content Organisation
Lang Use Delivery
Handling
Questions
Presentation
Overall
Mean
3.8
5
5
3.8
3.85
4
3.89
4.33
3.81
Mean
3.4
4
3
3.5
3.65
4
3.33
3.67
3.59
Mean
3.6
4
4
3.8
3.88
4
3.67
3.67
3.59
Mean
18.4
20
20
19
18.65
19
17.56
18.17
17.6
Mean
3.8
4
5
3.8
3.62
4
3.56
3.33
3.29
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Mean
3.8
3
3
3.8
3.65
3
3.11
3.17
3.32
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IIF)Findings: Presentation Scores
iii)Differences –Independent Samples t-test (N= 122)
No. of workshops attended No . of
students
Presentation score
Means
SD
Sig.
(2-tailed)
0
1 to 2
0
3 to 4
0
5 to 6
0
7 to 8
17.6
17.8
17.6
18.67
17.6
19.17
17.6
18.67
2.54
2.72
2.54
2.15
2.54
1.17
2.54
1.03
0.79 (n.s.)
68
15
68
27
68
6
68
6
0.049
0.021
0.069 (n.s.)
No. of workshops
attended
No . of
students
Overall P score
Means
SD
Sig.
(2-tailed)
0 to 2
4,5, 8
(single cases removed)
83
36
17.63
18.67
2.67
1.92
0.02
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v)Findings: Presentation Scores
v) Differences in categories
Delivery
Organisation
Language Use
Handling
Questions
Content
0 to 2 WS
3.29
3.32
3.57
4,5,8 WS
3.64
3.67
3.64
3.6
3.86
3.83
3.83
4
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.5
0 to 2 WS
3.4
4,5,8 WS
3.3
3.2
3.1
3
Delivery
Organisation Language Use
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Handling
Questions
Content
37
Marks
Poor
1
Content


Organisation 


Language use 


Delivery



Handling
questions
Irrelevant and unrelated
inadequate


Outstanding
5
Adequate & relevant
Some evidence of research


Original and well researched
Makes an intellectual impression
Introduction fails to help audience to predict 
the upcoming content
Conclusion fails to summarise the talk

Lack of signposting devices between different
ideas
introduction and conclusion are 
quite strong

signposting devices between
different ideas are quite clear
Powerful introduction and conclusion
Effective signposting devices between different
ideas
Vocabulary use: Extensive uses of informal

vocabulary or pet phrases “you know”, “like”,
a limited range of vocab
Some correct uses of academic 
words

A wide range of vocab;
Academic words are used effectively and
appropriately
Sentence complexity:

o
Dominant uses of simple sentences

o
Ungrammatical sentence structure has
caused strain on listeners
o
Choppy and fragmented
Clarity: incomprehensible


Fluency: Many incorrect pauses and incorrect 
uses of stress and chunking

Relationship with audience : Little eye-contact, 
Commands little attention and Inappropriate
manner
Quite Grammatical

some uses of appropriate

(complex ) sentence structure
grammatical in general
good use of appropriate sentence structure

Uses of visual aids; Unhelpful or Incorrect

does not understand the questions and are
unable to answer them
get angry or defensive while answering
questions

Fair
3




Pronunciation is clear
Comprehensible in general
Some uses of stress and
chunking
Some appropriate pauses
Some attempts to
communicate with the
audience with inclusive eye
contact
Appropriate manner
helpful
clear
able to respond to the Q and
the answer is acceptable
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
pronunciation is notably good


Good use of stress and chunking
Appropriate pauses



Develops a rapport
Keeps audience engaged
Good or even impeccable manner

effective or even striking

The response is impressive (useful information
or references are provided)
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v)Findings: Presentation Scores
iv) Break down of differences
The group of students who
The group of students who
have attended  2 workshops have attended 4, 5 or 8
workshops
No.
Mean
SD
Organisation
3.32
Delivery
Handling
questions
No.
Sig. (2tailed)
Mean
SD
.79
3.67
.76
0.029
3.29
.88
3.64
.67
0.07
3.6
.79
3.83
.59
0.08
83
36
Content
3.86
.76
3.83
.56
.86 (n.s.)
Language
Use
3.57
.71
3.64
.49
.52 (n.s.)
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III) Implications:
RQ1) How can the need for oral communication
support in the discipline be catered for?
i) Students could see the importance of oral communication
but do not feel confident in performing the Oral
communication tasks in general
Students are moderately satisfied with the sufficiency of
language support provided by the university for their oral
communication competency.
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III) Implications:
RQ1) How can the need for oral communication
support in the discipline be catered for?
• ii) Oral presentation ranks the highest in the perceived
importance but almost lowest in the self-competence.
Perspectives
Perception of
importance
SD
Confidence
SD
Give effective oral
presentation in the workplace
5.65
1.16
4.33
1.34
PTT
Sig
(2 -tailed)
.000
Discuss effectively in meetings
in the workplace
5.35
1.34
4.4
1.32
.000
5.28
1.3
4.32
1.28
.000
5.52
1.2
4.46
1.32
.000
Negotiate effectively in the
workplace
Communicate effectively in
conversation in the workplace
No. of
responses
208
(69.5%)
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RQ1) How can the need for oral communication
support in the discipline be catered for?
iii) The important skills identified by students were included. Students are in
general highly satisfied with the workshops provided
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III) Implications:
RQ2) To what extent can the oral presentation
workshops help the students to improve on their
presentation performance?
• Students who have attended 4 workshops or above
performed significantly better than those who attended 2
workshops or less in Organisation and Delivery of
presentation.
• The highly attended workshops covered the Organsiation and
Delivery skills that students have most improved.
• The number of workshops attended has no significant impact
on students’ use of language and the content of their
presentation.
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Q&A
• My questions to you:
1.
2.
3.
What is the oral genre for specific disciplines, such as Engineering?
Simplicity, persuasiveness, results-oriented, numerically-rich,
visually sophisticated (Dannels, 2002, p.256)
Students seem to prefer presentation skill workshops to disciplinespecific ones.
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Q&A
• 2) What are the elements that students
reckon as most helpful?
Language use
Informative
Problem-Solution
Persuasive




Famous speaker
Subject content


Link to previous
workshops
Helpfulness /
interest

6.07/ 6.07
6.14/ 6
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6.3/ 6.3
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References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Arn, J., Kordsmeier, B., & Gatlin-Watts, R. (2010). A survey of workforce
communication skills. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and
Conflict, 6(1-2), 1.
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