Article: Teaching academic presentation skills in secondary school

Article

Teaching academic presentation skills

Written by

A.T. Nurlybekova

37 Gymnasium named after Y.Altynsarin

Semey 2021

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 3

PRESENTATION IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

1.1 The concept of academic presentation …………………………………....... 5

1.2 Academic presentation in foreign languages…………………………………..8

1.3 Types of academic presentations …………………………………………...13

2. PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHING ACADEMIC PRESENTATION SKILLS

2.1 The structure of academic presentation ……………………………….........15

2.2 Use of academic presentations on the lessons FL.......................................17

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….22

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….23

INTRODUCTION

A presentation is the process of presenting a topic to an audience. It is typically a demonstration, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, or build good will. The term can also be used for a formal or ritualized introduction or offering, as with the presentation of a debutante.

An effective teacher is an excellent communicator and therefore thinks about improving his or her presentation skills. One of the most important aspects of communicating is shaping both content and style to fit your audience. In the classroom, if you cannot communicate in a way that is both comprehensible and interesting to your students, their learning will be greatly reduced. [1]

Presenting your work to others demonstrates many of the skills needed to complete your degree, such as:

• Good organization

• Answering questions from your tutor and student colleagues verbally

• Gaining confidence in your verbal communication skills

• Using technology to visually display your work

• Developing academic arguments and defending them

• Engaging in debate about other students' work

The topicality of work is in the fact that the concept of academic presentations is a new step in the way of teaching students work with a text editor and correct presentation to the audience.

The aim of the research work is giving general characteristics of academic presentation in teaching foreign languages and defining the types of academic presentation.

To achieve our aim we have to solve the following objectives:

1. Define the functions of teaching academic presentation skills;

2. Analyze the usage of academic presentation;

3. Make the analytical review organizing academic presentation and the types of academic presentations, the new modern style of presentation in teaching foreign languages.

The object of research is teaching academic presentation skills in FL.

The subject of research is the use of academic presentation at foreign language lessons.

The theoretical significance of the work lies in the employment of such trainers as Muromceva A.V., Buzova D.I., Jim Scriviner. Following their works it is noticeable that the academic presentation is very important in teaching process.

The practical significance of the investigation is in the fact that we are considering the use of this material on the elective courses on modern methods of teaching FL.

Methods of investigation: Researching methodical literature, the essential guide, analysis of textbooks and books, educational magazines, and internet.

The structure of the term paper consists of content, introduction, theoretical part, practical part, conclusion, appendix and bibliography

1. Presentation in teaching foreign languages

   1. Academic presentation

A presentation is the process of presenting a topic to an audience. It is typically a demonstration, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, or build good will. The term can also be used for a formal or ritualized introduction or offering, as with the presentation of a debutante.

To date the most comprehensive definition is: the presentation (academic presentation skills) is one of the information technologies that are used to provide information to consumers, addressed to specific people and focused on the challenge of desired behavioral responses. [2,112]

A presentation program, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, OpenOffice.org Impress or Prezi, is often used to generate the presentation content. Modern internet-based presentation software, such as the presentation application in Google Docs, SlideRocket and emaze also allow presentations to be developed collaboratively by geographically disparate collaborators. Presentation viewers can be used to combine content from different presentation programs into one presentation. [3,196]

Presentation software is probably better known by its product names: Powerpoint (Microsoft), Keynote (from Apple), the free Impress (OpenOffice) and a growing range of free or paid online options, including presentations.[6,337]

For many teachers, presentation software has become an important way of organizing, storing and showing learning content. The basic concept is akin to a slide show. Each slide can have pictures, text, audio, video clips in any mixture.

This content can be arranged on the slide in creative ways and can be programmed to appear in a sequence and in animated ways. It is most often used as part of a basic explanation-based input, providing images and text to support what the teacher is saying. A handout could be simply made by printing out reduced images of the actual slides. Learning to use presentation software often looks daunting before you start , but with a 30-minute induction, shouldn’t prove much more challenging than using a word processor.

As the Doctor of Philosophy, Professor S.S Kunanbayeva in the "Concept foreign language education of the Republic of Kazakhstan ", one of the main areas of teacher training for foreign language is "a mastery of modern methods and technologies, including information and computer, foreign language learning '’[8, 85].

Creating a PowerPoint for an Academic Presentation

“Effective presenters do not just dispense or cover material, but rather induct audiences into ways of understanding content” (Stoner, 2007). PowerPoint is a presentational communication tool that incorporates reading and writing to enhance the presenter’s information and motivation. [4,72] So how does one create an academic PowerPoint presentation that informs and motivates?

Layout

Think of the layout of your PowerPoint as visual rhetoric that takes the main ideas of your speech and codes them into symbolic points. The most effective layout depends on consistency (Stoner, 2007). Be sure that bullet points, length of points, color of points and text, and size of text are consistent. The size of text needs to be at least 32 to be visible on the projector. Selecting a layout from the design tab is the easiest way to maintain consistency, size of font, and color scheme.

Bullet Points

Bullet points should emphasize key ideas, not contain the idea word for word. If the audience must move their eyes more than twice to read the point, there are too many words after the bullet: South Indian Hindus have a variety of spices used in their colorful and tasty foods.

Keep bullets short, to the point, containing only a couple of words: Variety of Indian Spices. Do not exceed more than one sub point because the audience will get lost. The sub point should emphasize a main point, but not be information that should be explained by the speaker.

Animations

To maintain a professional appearance, moderate and subtle animations such as ascend and appear can be used to attract the audience to a point. If animations are too flashy, they begin to distract the audience. The animation is most effective when used consistently. Avoid flashy transitions, such as dissolve, in an academic presentation.

Citations

Citations in a slide show appear credible in APA or MLA format at the bottom of the slide or directly after the information. References at the end of a slide show are not necessary unless specified by the professor. References are, however, required in the speech outline.

Remember: An academic presentation does not use PowerPoint to drive or present the speech word by word. Instead, an academic presentation uses PowerPoint to convey information, help the speaker stay on track, and for interpreting material presented. [4,74]

Presentation Types

Workshops

Workshops consist of a brief presentation followed by interaction with the audience. The purpose of a workshop is to introduce the audience to your subject and involve them in using a skill or technique. (20 minutes to present and 10 minutes to respond to questions)

Posters

Posters present a visual display of student work on poster boards supplied by the College. Presenters should be able to provide a scholarly introduction to their work and be prepared to entertain the viewers’ questions. (students will stand next to their posters for 1 hour to explain their projects to conference participants and address participant questions). Examples of poster presentations include a research study, a creative unit plan, a pictorial display of art work, an essay. Specifics for poster designs are available online.

Oral presentations

Oral presentations involve a presentation of a paper or research project with or without visual aids. (20 minutes to present and 10 minutes to respond to questions)

Panel discussions

Panel discussions involve 3-5 students presenting and discussing their views on a scholarly topic and responding to audience questions. (45 minutes to present and 15 minutes to respond to questions)

Performances

Performances require students to provide an introduction to and perform their scholarly work. Examples of performances include a poetry reading, dramatic reading, dance, and vocal or instrumental piece. Presenters should be able to provide the audience with an intellectual context for the performance and be prepared to entertain questions from the audience. (20 minutes to present or perform and 10 minutes to respond to questions)

Exhibits

Exhibits consist of a visual display of a collection or body of work by one or more students (i.e. paintings, drawings, prints, posters, photography, sculpture, ceramics, video, installation, multi-media). An exhibit should be accompanied by a general statement of purpose and individual artist statements that provide an intellectual context both for the collection as a whole and for its individual pieces. Presenters should be prepared to entertain the viewers’ questions after the exhibition.

2. Academic presentation in foreign languages

New technology provides a wide range of ways for teachers to help learners improve their skills.

The Russian scientists Nisilevich A.B, Strizhova E.V in their work “Information technology and communication Techniques in teaching foreign language” wrote about the importance of using information technologies in teaching foreign languages [12, 247].

Listening and speaking

Academic Listening Strategies offers additional listening comprehension practice and strategies for understanding lectures for students who are currently enrolled in a college or university. The exercises in this text, together with the lectures and short talks on the accompanying DVDs, will provide students with many opportunities to practice effective listening strategies.

Academic Speaking is designed for students whose English speaking skills need improvement. The objective of the course is to strengthen all aspects of speaking ability, especially in academic contexts. Students receive feedback on assignments in class and in individual meetings with the instructor.

Activities include:

• developing discussion skills

• improving pronunciation

• preparing for conference presentations

• Focus of the course is on:

• increasing intelligibility

• increasing fluency

• increasing accuracy

• improving public-speaking skills

• preparing and using visual aids

• asking and answering questions effectively

Listening and speaking

• Instant language lab. It’s surprisingly easy to make an effective language laboratory. You need computers with some cheap headphones that have an attached microphone. There is some excellent audio recording software available online, some of it inexpensive or free (eg Audacity). You can use this to make recordings for students to listen to (eg stories, dictations). Students can use it to record their own voices (eg endings to your unfinished story, missing words in exercises, repetitions of your pronunciation) and then listen back to their production (and re-record if they want to).

• Podcasts. Get students to download podcasts you recommend. Or record your own short podcasts for students – perhaps summarizing the week’s work, reading dictations, texts or stories aloud or setting new tasks. They can listen to them on the tram home. Even better, get students to make their own podcasts and share them among the class.

• Video conferencing. It’s not very hard to create an online webcam link nowadays. Link up with another school in another country for reports, discussions and shared tasks.

• Integration. Don’t assume that a lesson using computers or the Internet must necessarily use that technology for all the class time. As we become more familiar and more comfortable with our technology tools, we need to start finding ways to elegantly integrate them into our normal teaching. So, for example, students work on a project which, for just a part of the time, requires them to go online o check facts or find pictures, but otherwise is mainly discussion and group planning work using pen and paper in class.[6,340]

Writing

A simple definition of academic writing is hard to come by because it refers to writing done for several reasons. Also, academic writing is used in many different forms. Following are characteristics, explanations, examples, and a list of works where academic writing is used.

A broad definition of academic writing is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university. Academic writing is also used for publications that are read by teacher and researchers or presented at conferences. A very broad definition of academic writing could include any writing assignment given in an academic setting.

Now that you have a definition of academic writing, here are some things to remember about the characteristics of academic writing.

• Planning - There is a certain amount of planning before you start writing the paper; so, it will be analytical and organized.

• Outline - A proper outline is a must for academic writing. An outline will not only help you formulate your thoughts, but will sometimes make you aware of certain relationships between topics. It will help you determine the pertinent information to be included in your paper.

• Tone - A formal tone is used. You do not use slang words, jargon, abbreviations, or many clichés.

• Language - The language in your paper needs to be clear and words need to be chosen for their precision. A thesaurus is a good tool to help you pick just the right words to explain the issues.

• Point-of-view - The point of view in the third person, as the focus of academic writing is to educate on the facts, not support an opinion.

• Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big part of academic writing as your readers have to follow the path that brought you to your conclusion.

Writing

• Emails. A great way to encourage writing (and reading). Get students sending emails to you, to each other, to students from other schools, to organizations (eg requesting information about something of interest to them). Use all the techniques you would normally use to help students write better letters – bur focus on emails – and then really send them.

• Word processors. Students can prepare texts individually, in pairs or groups or collaboratively as a whole class using word processors rather than pen and paper. As appropriate, show them how to use tools such as spell checks and tables. Use the comments facility to allow students to add their thoughts and ideas to someone else’s text. Teach the use of change-tracking to allow different people to work cooperatively on drafts and clearly see what alterations others have made. Prepare stories, articles, class news sheets, answers to exercises, homework drafts, classroom posters and displays. Ask students to design forms for their own questionnaires, quizzes and exercises. Set writing tasks with tight restrictions that will require careful drafting and redrafting. Get students to post their texts and homework on the class website or blog.

• Wikis. A wiki is a co-created dictionary or encyclopedia, built up from the writing of a number of people. Try creating a wiki on language areas being studied in the course, eg our typical mistakes, hints for passing the exam or useful words. Many sites offer free wikis - but they are frequently used as part of a wider website or Virtual Learning Environment.

• Blogs. A blog is a diary kept online. There are many services that allow blogs to be setup and maintained free. You can encourage students to keep an individual blog or share a whole-class one. The focus can be kept strictly on work-related issues - or you can invite comments and thoughts on anything (so long as it is in English).

• Social networks. Sites such as Facebook let you create groups of people who can easily keep in touch with each other or share documents and pictures.

• Websites. To set up a website used to require a skilful programmer who had knowledge of HTML or access to expensive design software. Nowadays, it is astonishingly easy to create a personalized website using free services on the Internet. Obviously it will take more time to make your site look really good and to maintain the contents. One advantage of a website over a blog is that you can have more freedom in arranging content onto different pages and using a variety of page designs. A website can contain a class blog as one of its features.

• Forums. Many popular websites (eg pop fan sites, film sites, news sites) allow readers to add their own comments and questions. Help students to read sites they like, choose what they want to post or reply to and word their contribution.

• Online notice boards and walls. A wall is the online equivalent of a notice board in class. It is typically a website with a single page that anyone can add a message to. It's like sticking a post-it note or scrap of paper on a board. Popular uses include collecting birthday greetings for a friend, brainstorming ideas or collecting feedback comments on a suggestion. Very easy to set up and to use. A great collaborative tool.

• Text and voice messaging. It's easy for people to get in touch over the Internet with messaging services (eg Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype). With text messages you can get your students to participate in spontaneous fluent conversations. Pair up people in different parts of the classroom and get them to discuss a topic, solve a problem or role play two specific characters interacting. Use voice calls whenever you need phone practice. [6,341]

Reading

Academic reading is very different to everyday reading. Whilst studying at University you will have a higher quantity of reading and you will need to be able to grasp the main ideas, theories, key themes and arguments. Academic reading introduces you to new ideas and enables you to think in a different way.

To help you to focus and make your reading more active, identify what you want to find out from your reading before you start. Depending at what stage you are at, you may be reading to find out:

• Wide background information or context

• Previous or most recent research on a defined area

• Theories or methods to underpin your work

• Evidence to support your ideas

Academic reading is all about being selective, you are not expected to read every book on your reading list – but choose the texts you do read carefully.

An excellent interactive online tutorial, Reading skills has been developed by Leeds University and takes around 60 minutes to work through. It covers topics such as interpreting your essay title, choosing what to read and reading with understanding.

3. Types of presentations

• With the script. Is the ultimate tool for providing information for the classroom. The material in this presentation is usually well organized, you can rehearse in advance to ensure a flawless presentation.

• Interactive. In such presentations we realize the opportunity to choose as a way of studying the educational material and the level of detail of presentation allow you to adapt the information and provide individual attention to each student.

• Self-running. Complete information products. You can address a self-presentation of the audience, if you put it on a website, floppy disk, CD - or a video cassette and used for self-study at school during the lesson or at home.

• Educational presentations are designed to help teachers and students and allow convenient and visualize the material. The use of even the most simple graphical tools is extremely effective.

Interactive presentation of a dialogue between the computer and the person in which the person is given the opportunity to seek and find information for themselves on their own, as required.

The user controls the interactive presentation, making a decision about what kind of material is important for him, and carrying on a computer screen choice, ie pointing the cursor to the desired object and performing a mouse click or by pressing a key on the keyboard. The computer responds to the user issuing the requested information.

All interactive programs have in common: they are driven by events This means that when there is an event: keypress, positioning the cursor on the display object, the program performs the appropriate response in the event action.

For the user, interactive presentation realized in a convenient and entertaining way possible to search for the right information, venturing into it as much as was provided for the presentation of the creato