Using communicative classroom activities to support EFL students’ oral presentation an action research at an thi high school in hung yen province

HOÀNG THỊ VÂN

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Hoàng Thị Vân

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

USING COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
TO SUPPORT EFL STUDENTS’ ORAL PRESENTATION:
AN ACTION RESEARCH AT ANTHI HIGH SCHOOL
IN HUNG YEN PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

COURSE: 2016 – 2018

HANOI, 2018


VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Hoàng Thị Vân

USING COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
TO SUPPORT EFL STUDENTS’ ORAL PRESENTATION:
AN ACTION RESEARCH AT ANTHI HIGH SCHOOL
IN HUNG YEN PROVINCE

Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Phạm Lan Anh, Ph.D.

HANOI, 2018


DECLARATION BY AUTHOR
I, Hoàng Thị Vân, certify that the thesis entitled “Using communicative
classroom activities to support EFL students’ oral presentation: An action
research at An Thi High School in Hung Yen province” is the result of my
research for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language. I confirm that
this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees.
The research reported in this thesis was approved by Graduate
Academy of Social Sciences.
Author’s Signature

Hoàng Thị Vân

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Phạm Lan Anh, Ph.D
Date: …………………………..

i


ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS
Although only one name appears as the author of this work, writing a

thesis is indeed a collaborative effort. I would like to express my sincere
thanks to the many people who made it possible.
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my M.A
thesis’s supervisor, Dr. Phạm Lan Anh for her kind consultation, invaluable
encouragement as well as thorough correction in the process of completion.
Without her helpful guidance, this study would not have been achieved.
Next, I would like to convey my sincere appreciation and thanks to Mr.
Đặng Nguyên Giang and the staff of the Department of Foreign Languages,
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for granting me the honor of writing
this thesis as well as their assistance and most valuable comments.
Specially, millions of my special thanks go to the teachers and students
of An Thi High School who participated in this study for their kind and
patient co-operation and encouragement. They helped provide me with
valuable data for the study so that I could have a better view of activities in
presentation task in English speaking classes at An Thi High School in Hung
Yen province.
Finally, I am deeply indebted to my family for their sympathy and
support during all the time I was studying for M.A degree at Graduate
Academy of Social Sciences. Without their unconditional love and sincere
contribution, I could not have overcome my difficulties and concentrated on
my studies.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION BY AUTHOR ....................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS .............................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES & CHARTS..................................................................... ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................... x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1
1.1. Rationale................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims and Objectives of the Study ........................................................... 2
1.3. Research Questions .................................................................................. 3
1.4. Scope of the Study ................................................................................... 3
1.5. Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 3
1.6. Research Methods .................................................................................... 3
1.7. Structure of the Study............................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 5
2.1. Communicative Competence ................................................................... 5
2.2. Communicative Language Teaching ....................................................... 7
2.3. Communicative Activities........................................................................ 8
2.3.1. Definition of Communicative Activities ................................................................... 8
2.3.2. Characteristics of communicative activities............................................................ 9
2.4. Oral Presentation .................................................................................... 10
2.4.1. General Understanding of Oral Presentation. ..................................................... 10
2.4.2. Skills/ Sub-skills Involved in Oral Presentation.................................................... 12
2.4.3. The Problems Faced by Students When Doing Oral Presentation ................... 14
2.4.4 The Techniques to Overcome such Problems ...................................... 17
2.4.4.1. Setting up the Presentation Class ................................................ 17
iii


2.4.4.2. Organization of the Presentation......................................................................... 18
2.4.4.3. Presentation Skills.................................................................................................. 20
2.4.4.4. Performing Self Reflections .................................................................................. 21
2.4.5. Evaluating and Assessing an Oral Presentation.................................................. 22
2.5. Classroom Communicative Activities to Support Oral Presentation .... 23

2.6. Previous Studies ..................................................................................... 26
2.7. Summary ................................................................................................ 28
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................... 30
3.1. Research Design ..................................................................................... 30
3.1.1. Definitions of Action Research................................................................................ 30
3.3.2. Action Research Procedures ................................................................................... 33
3.2. The Context of the Study ....................................................................... 34
3.3. Participants ............................................................................................. 36
3.3.1. The Researcher- Teacher......................................................................................... 36
3.3.2. The Teachers.............................................................................................................. 36
3.3.3. The Students ............................................................................................................... 37
3.4. Procedures of the Current Study ............................................................ 38
3.4.1. Diagnosing (week 1-2) ............................................................................................. 39
3.4.2. Planning (before the beginning of week 3)............................................................ 39
3.4.3. Acting and Observing (from week 3 to week 16).................................................. 40
3.4.3.1. The Detailed Action Plan...................................................................................... 40
3.4.4. Reflecting (week 17- 18)........................................................................................... 41
3.5. Data Collection Instruments................................................................... 42
3.5.1. Diagnosing ................................................................................................................. 42
3.5.1.1. Survey Questionnaire for Teachers and Students ............................................. 42
3.5.1.2. English Speaking Test ........................................................................................... 44
iv


3.5.2. Acting and Observing ............................................................................................... 45
3.5.2.1. Lesson Plan............................................................................................................. 45
3.5.2.2. Speaking Observation Form. ............................................................................... 47
3.5.2.3. Students’ Opinion Form ....................................................................................... 48
3.6. Data Collection....................................................................................... 48
3.7. Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 48

3.8. Summary ................................................................................................ 49
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ....................................... 50
4.1. Data Collection and Analysis from Survey Questionnaire .................... 50
4.1.1. Survey Questionnaire for Teachers........................................................................ 50
4.1.2. Survey Questionnaire for Students ......................................................................... 55
4.2. The Data from the Speaking Test and English Speaking Observation .. 58
4.3. The Data from the Students’ Opinions through Communicative
Activities ....................................................................................................... 62
4.4. Discussion of the findings ........................................................................................... 64
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 67
5.1. Recapitulation ........................................................................................ 67
5.2. Concluding Remarks .............................................................................. 68
5.3. Implications ............................................................................................ 69
5.3.1. Application of Communicative Activities............................................................... 69
5.3.2. Practical Tips for Teachers ..................................................................................... 70
5.4. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies ................................... 72
5.4.1. Limitations.................................................................................................................. 72
5.4.2. Suggestions for Further Studies .............................................................................. 72
REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 73
APPENDIX 1: Survey Questionnaire for Teachers of English ....................... I
APPENDIX 2: Survey Questionnaire for EFL Students ............................. III
v


APPENDIX 3: English Speaking Test .......................................................... V
APPENDIX 4: Scoring Rubric for Oral Presentations ................................ VI
APPENDIX 6: The three raters’ scores in English Speaking Test ............... IX
APPENDIX 7: Speaking Observation Form................................................. XI
APPENDIX 8: Students’ Opinion Form ..................................................... XII
APPENDIX 9: Lesson Plan ....................................................................... XIV

APPENDIX 10: Unit 3: Music- Lesson: Speaking (English 10 New)..................XVIII

vi


ABSTRACT
This thesis has made attempts to examine: (1) the problems the students
of the 10th grade An Thi High School face in doing their oral English
presentation, (2) some kinds of communicative activities that can support the
students in doing oral presentation tasks. Specially, an action research project
was carried out with the participation of 40 students in Grade 10A1 at An Thi
High School in Hung Yen province. The study lasted 18 weeks and involved
some data instruments namely questionnaire, pre- test, observation, post-test.
The data collected in the initial stage showed that the obstacles of doing oral
presentation tasks mainly came from the teaching methods and the differences
of students’ English abilities, which resulted in differences in their attitude to
speaking lessons. An action plan of applying communicative classroom
activities was implemented. The data collected in the action stage pointed out
that the students’ doing oral presentation was improved and the positive
changes in their attitude toward speaking classes were also witnessed after the
intervention.

vii


LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1: A distinction between non- communicative activities

10

and communicative ones.
Table 2: Assessing Speaking Performance- Level B1 (CEFR)

22

Table 3: Procedures of the study

38

Table 4: Frame of Questionnaire for Teachers

43

Table 5: Frame of Questionnaire for Students

44

Table 6: A comparison of Mean Score on Pre-Test and Post-

59

Test by Three Raters
Table 7: A comparison of the Speaking Observation in Each

60

Lesson Plan
Table 8: The Mean Score of the Students’ Opinions toward
Communicative Activities

viii

63


LIST OF FIGURES & CHARTS
Page
Figure 1: Action Research Cycle

34

Chart 1: Category 1 of the Questionnaire for Teachers

51

Chart 2: Category 2 of the Questionnaire for Teachers

52

Chart 3: Category 3 of the Questionnaire for Teachers

53

Chart 4: Category 4 of the Questionnaire for Teachers

54

Chart 5: Category 1 of the Questionnaire for Students

55

Chart 6: Category 2 of the Questionnaire for Students

56

Chart 7: Category 3 of the Questionnaire for Students

57

Chart 8: Category 4 of the Questionnaire for Students

58

ix


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AR:

Action Research

CEFR:

Common European Framework for Reference

CLT:

Communicative Language Teaching

EFL:

English as Foreign Language

ESL:

English as Second Language

L2:

Second Language

RQ:

Research Question

x


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Rationale
Nowadays, in the era of the globalization and international exchange,

English is one of the most important means of communication and access to
information. In this context, the teaching and learning of English is more and
more necessary. English has become a compulsory subject at high school
throughout the country. Thanks to the innovation of new textbooks,
Vietnamese high schools now have a chance to get better access to

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methods, which bring students
interest in learning English. However, from my own teaching experience, I
find that many high school students do not find speaking practice interesting.
They are not confident enough to converse with English teachers or native
speakers, especially in doing oral presentation.
Furthermore, student oral presentation accounts for a major part of
many lessons at secondary schools as well as in universities because they are
one of the communicative goals. The potential benefits of developing student
oral presentations include greater class interaction and participation, increased
interest in learning, new perspectives, and improvement in communication
and presentation skills. Students can gain knowledge not only from the work
they and other students perform, but also by observing other presenters’
strengths and weaknesses to develop better communication and presentation
skills. Despite the positive aspects of using student presentations in the
classroom, some students may show resistance to do extra work, having fear
in public speaking, or displaying boredom while sitting through others’ oral
presentations. Therefore, such students may have generally negative beliefs
about giving classroom presentations.
As a teacher of English at An Thi High School, a rural upper secondary
1


school, for more than ten years, the researcher feels rather concerned about
her students’ English learning, especially their ability in speaking English and
making oral presentations. Although her students have learnt English since
they were in grade 3, under the new syllabus and new methods based on the
communicative approach, their foreign language knowledge is thought not to
be sufficient to meet the demands of using English as an international
language. Of course, they can hardly use English to communicate and do
presentation tasks. Wondering if applying communicative classroom activities

can help to motivate the students to solve their incompetence as mentioned
above, the researcher has decided to conduct the study on “Using
communicative classroom activities to support EFL students’ oral
presentation: An action research at An Thi High school in Hung Yen
province” to find out the solutions, and, to help improve the teaching and
learning of English at her hometown school.
1.2. Aims and Objectives of the Study
Aim: To find solutions for the problem that students have difficulty in
presenting in English.
Solution: developing communicative activities in the classroom with the
hope that those activities will support students to give out their oral
presentations effectively.
In order to achieve the aim, the objectives are as follows:
First of all, this study is conducted to identify the types of communicative
activities which can facilitate students’ oral presentation.
Secondly,

this

study

will

examine

the

effectiveness

of

such

communicative classroom activities in improving the students’ oral
presentation.
2


1.3.

Research Questions
To achieve the aims which are mentioned above, the following research

questions (RQ) is raised for study:
- RQ 1: What are the problems the students of the 10th grade An Thi High
School face in doing their oral English presentation?
- RQ 2: What kind of communicative activities can support the students’
oral presentation?
- RQ 3: To what extent do the communicative classroom activities support
the students in doing their oral presentation tasks?
1.4.

Scope of the Study
Due to time constraints, the study cannot cover all the techniques to

stimulate students’ speaking ability in a language class. Therefore, it mainly
focuses on some typical communicative classroom activities which may
produce a stimulus for the 10th grade An Thi High school students’ oral
presentation.
1.5.

Significance of the Study
Hopefully, the study will make a small contribution to the application

of communicative language teaching approaches in developing the students’
ability in doing oral presentation task at secondary school level in general and
at An Thi High School in Hung Yen in particular.
1.6.

Research Methods
The study is influenced by qualitative approach with the research

method of Action Research. Comments, remarks, suggestions and conclusions
are based on problem identification, planning, actual research, experience,
and discussions.
The study was firstly conducted in order to identify students’ initial
problems in English presentation tasks. It was also carried out to examine the
3


effectiveness of teachers’ techniques to improve students’ oral presentation.
A post-treatment questionnaire was given to analyze learners’ attitude
towards presentation tasks as well as teachers’ techniques in the EFL
speaking classes.
1.7.

Structure of the Study

The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction: The first chapter gives reasons for choosing

the thesis, scope and aims of the study as well as the research method and the
structure of the study.
Chapter 2 – Literature Review: This chapter focuses on an overview of
Communicative

Competence,

Communicative

Language

Teaching,

Communicative Activities, Oral Presentation as well as previous studies on
improving or developing students’ oral presentation.
Chapter 3 - Methodology: This chapter reports the context settings,
research hypothesis, participants, instruments and the procedure of conducting
Action Research for the study. The detailed results of the surveys and a
critical comprehensive analysis on the data collected are presented.
Chapter 4- Findings and Discussion: This part deals with the data
analysis from the Action Research results to make the foundation for the
activities recommended in Chapter 5.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the study and
suggests some typical activities as well as practical tips for teachers to
stimulate 10th -grade students’ oral presentation in an English speaking lesson.
Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are also included in
this chapter.

4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The study investigates the effectiveness of using communicative
classroom activities to support the An Thi High School students’ oral
presentation. This chapter reviews the theories and literature relevant to the
study area. It is divided into 6 parts, namely:
Communicative Competence,
Communicative Language Teaching,
Communicative activities,
Oral presentation,
Classroom communicative activities to support oral presentation, and
Previous studies.
2.1. Communicative Competence
The term “communicative competence” is comprised of two words, the
combination of which means “competence to communicate”. This simple
lexico- semantic analysis uncovers the fact that the central word in the
syntagm

“communicative

competence”

is

the

word

“competence”.

“Competence” is one of the most controversial terms in the field of general
and applied linguistics. Its introduction to linguistic discourse has been
generally associated with Chomsky who in his very influential book “Aspects
of the Theory of Syntax” drew what has been today viewed as a classic
distinction

between

competence

(the

monolingual

speaker-listener’s

knowledge of language) and performance (the actual use of language in real
situations).
Soon after Chomsky proposed and defined the concepts of competence
and performance, advocates for a communicative view in applied linguistics
(e.g. Savignon, 1972) expressed their strong disapproval at the idea of using
the concept of idealized, purely linguistic competence as a theoretical ground
5


of the methodology for learning, teaching and testing languages. They found
the alternative to Chomsky’s concept of competence in Hymes’s
communicative competence which they believed to be a broader and more
realistic

notion

of

competence.

Namely,

Hymes

(1972)

defined

communicative competence not only as an inherent grammatical competence
but also as the ability to use grammatical competence in a variety of
communicative situations, thus bringing the sociolinguistic perspective into
Chomsky’s linguistic view of competence.
Recent

theoretical

and

empirical

research

on

communicative

competence is largely based on the description of components of
communicative language competence in the Common European Framework
for Reference (CEFR, 2001), the model which is intended for assessment as
well as for learning and teaching of languages. In the CEF, communicative
competence is conceived only in terms of knowledge. It includes three basic
components – language competence, sociolinguistic competence and
pragmatic competence. Thus, strategic competence is not its componential
part. It is interesting, however, that each component of language knowledge is
explicitly defined as knowledge of its contents and ability to apply it. For
instance, language competence or linguistic competence refers to knowledge
of and ability to use language resources to form well structured messages. The
subcomponents of language competence are lexical, grammatical, semantic,
phonological, orthographic and orthopedic competences. Sociolinguistic
competence refers to possession of knowledge and skills for appropriate
language use in a social context. The following aspects of this competence are
highlighted: language elements that mark social relationships, rules of
appropriate behavior, and expressions of peoples’ wisdom, differences in
register and dialects and stress. The last component in this model - pragmatic
6


competence - involves two subcomponents: discourse competence and
functional competence. A part of both of these competences is the so-called
planning competence which refers to sequencing of messages in accordance
with interactional and transactional schemata. Strategic competence is
mentioned in the part the CEFR dedicated to a discussion of communicative
language use. This competence is conceived as strategy use in the broadest
sense. Thus, the stress is put not only on the use of communication strategies

which can help to overcome the lack in a particular area of language
knowledge but on the use of all types of communication strategies. As to the
authors of the CEFR, the use of strategies can be compared with the
application of meta-cognitive principles (planning, achieving, controlling and
correcting) on different forms of language activity: reception, interaction,
production and meditating.
2.2. Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach which
proposes that language learning should be done in a meaningful setting with
authentic language as the input. It is an umbrella term which consists of an
array of methods and techniques (Parrish, 2004). According to Lindsay and
Knight (2006, p.20), this approach is based on the view that language is learnt
in order to communicate effectively “in the world outside the classroom.” It
emphasizes on meaningful use of language for communication, rather than on
the form and structure; hence the term “real-life” communication in the
classroom (Brown, 2000).

Savignon (2001, p.13) describes CLT as the

“new”, “innovative” way of teaching English as a second or foreign language
as it deals with “the interactive nature of communication.” CLT puts an
importance on fluency and ability to communicate in a variety of settings and
in a variety of ways. Nguyen (2010, p.209) points out that “CLT may
7


currently be considered and accepted as an inclusive approach to language
teaching, which encompasses various approaches and methods, motivations
for learning English, types of teachers and the needs of individual classrooms
and

students

themselves;

it

is

learner-centered

and

emphasizes

communication in real-life situations.” CLT emphasizes on contextualized,
meaning-based instructions and the use of authentic materials, as well as
maximum learner interaction (Parrish, 2004).
According to the principles of the CLT, the learners do not study only
the linguistic structures and the rules of grammar, but it stressed the
importance of using language for communication (Allwright, 1978; Cambell,
1972; Numan, 1991; Richards & Rodgers, 1995; Savignon, 1991). Besides,
Johnson (1981) suggested while studying, students must try to communicate
with their peers and try to make them understand what they have said.
Furthermore, teaching English for communication is to emphasize the
language competence for learners and they must try to communicate in real
situation (Murphy, 1991). As such, it could be included that in order to teach
language for communicative purposes, the teacher must put the emphasis on
the students’ communicative competence to use it in real communications.
2.3. Communicative Activities

2.3.1. Definition of Communicative Activities
According to CEFR (2001, pp. 73-93), communicative activities with
one or more interlocutors are generally undertaken by a language user in
pursuance of his or her needs in a given situation. In the educational domain,
communicative tasks may be helpful to distinguish between the tasks which
learners are required to tackle as language users and those in which they
engage as part of the language learning process itself.
According to Hammer (1991), communicative activities are those that
8


give students the desire to communicate, involving them in a various use of
the language. Such activities are crucially important in a language classroom
since the students can do their best to use the language individually, arriving
at a degree of language autonomy. In other words, communicative activities
are those that can stimulate communicative competence in the learners.
Therefore, it is the teacher’s responsibility to find out appropriate activities to
encourage students to use the language. In order to design these activities
effectively, the teacher needs further understanding of them. Accordingly, the
following section will discuss the characteristics and types of communicative
activities.
2.3.2. Characteristics of Communicative Activities
According to Harmer (1991), Communicative Activities are those that
give students involved desire and a purpose to communicate. Such activities
are very beneficial for students because they can do their best to use the target
language and arrive at the degree of proficiency in the end.
Nolasco & Athur (1993) characterized communicative activities with
some following characteristics. Firstly, they involve using language for a
purpose. Secondly, they create a desire to communicate. This means there
must be some kind of “gap” which may be information, opinion, or reason

that students seek to bridge. Thirdly, they encourage students to be creative
and contribute their ideas. Fourthly, they focus on the message and students
concentrate on “what” they are saying rather than “how” they are saying it.
Fifthly, the students work independently off the teacher. Lastly, the students
determine what they want to write and say. The activity is not designed to
control what the students will.
In other words, communicative activities try to create authentic
communication. This is seen as contrary to monotonous drills which the
9


traditional method heavily relies on and which carry little communicative
functions. Harmer (1991), who holds the same view, makes a distinction
between non-communicative activities and communicative ones in the
following table:
Non-communicative Activities

Communicative Activities
A communicative desire

No communicative desire
No communicative purpose
Form not content
One language item only
Teacher intervention
Materials control

A communicative purpose
Content not form
Variety of language

No teacher intervention
No materials control

(Table 1: A distinction between non-communicative activities and
communicative ones)
Also, he affirms that information gap is essential in any communicative
activities because it provides learners with a purpose and a desire to
communicate. Traditional classroom exchanges in which both the speaker and
listener know the answer are not really communicative.
2.4. Oral Presentation
2.4.1. General Understanding of Oral Presentation.
The communicative approach to English teaching has been very
popular in many EFL college conversation classes. Having students give oral
presentations in front of the class is one of learner-centered activities that
have been widely included in teachers’ lesson plans to improve students’ oral
proficiency.

According to CEFR (2001, pp. 58- 65), oral production is one

of the productive activities in which the language user produces an oral text
received by an audience of one or more listeners. Spoken production is a
‘long turn,’ which may involve a short description or anecdote, or may imply
a longer, more formal presentation. Productive spoken activities have an
important function in many academic and professional fields (oral
10


presentations and reports) and particular social value is attached to them.
Judgments are made of what has been submitted in the fluency and
articulateness in speaking, especially when addressing an audience. Ability in

this more formal production is not acquired naturally; it is a product of
literacy learnt through education and experience. It involves learning the
expectations and conventions of the genre concerned. Production strategies
are employed to improve the quality of both informal and formal production.
Planning is obviously more associated with formal genres, but Monitoring
and Compensating for gaps in vocabulary or terminology are also a quasiautomated process in natural speech.
The categories for spoken production are organized in terms of three
macro-functions (interpersonal, transactional, evaluative), with two more
specialized genres, namely: addressing audiences and public announcements
under the term sustained monologue created by transferring certain
descriptors from the scale for information exchange that implied monologue
rather than dialogue.
In any ESL classroom, especially speaking lesson, learners should
prepare and give oral presentation lasting for 5-10 minutes. The learners can
have notes with them. They can use simple visual aids such as an overhead
projector, blackboard, charts or diagrams if necessary. At the end of the
presentation, the speaker will have to deal with any questions from the
listeners. Making an oral presentation is an authentic purpose and
communicative activity both for academic and professional purpose. The
learners can make the presentations directly to the interviewer for a formal
test procedure. They can do a whole activity for a final summery without a
teacher or assessor. The learner, in consultation with his teacher, chooses the
appropriate topics.
11


Advantages of oral presentations are: bridging the gap between
language study and language use; using the four language skills in a naturally
integrated way; helping students to collect, inquire, organize and construct
information; enhancing team work and helping students become active and

autonomous learners.
The communicative approach to English teaching has been very
popular in many EFL conversation classes. Having students give oral
presentations in front of the class is one of learner-centered activities that
have been widely included in teachers’ lesson plans to improve students’ oral
proficiency.
2.4.2. Skills/ Sub-skills Involved in Oral Presentation
From what mentioned above, oral presentation, the kind of sustained
monologue is one of the illustrative scales provided in the oral production
activities.
Describing experience concerns narration and description. It has a
relatively direct link between communicative functions and the language used
to express them.
Giving information is a new scale concerned with explaining
information to a recipient in a long turn. Although the recipient may well
interrupt to ask for repetition and clarification, the information is clearly
unidirectional; it is not an exchange.
Putting a case (e.g. in debate) describes the ability to sustain an
argument.
Public announcements are a very specialized way of passing important
information to a group of people, perhaps in a private capacity (e.g. at a
wedding), perhaps whilst organizing an event or outing or in the manner of air
cabin staff.
12


Addressing audiences involves giving a presentation or making a
speech at a public event, in a meeting, seminar or class. Whilst the talk is
clearly prepared it is not usually read word for word. After a presentation, it is
customary to take questions spontaneously, answering in a short monologue.

Besides, most authors (e.g. Rungapadiachy, 1999; Hargie and Dickson,
2004; Hargie, 1997; Hayes, 2002) tend to agree on a number of core areas in
which competency is essential for effective oral production. These include the
following:
Self-awareness: Self-awareness is considered to be a pre-requisite for
the type of “other-awareness” or empathy assumed to underlie effective
communication (Hayes, 2002).
Oral communication: Some of the processes involved in effective oral
presentations. The topic of oral communication is addressed in greater depth
by the corresponding learning area.
Reflecting: Another skill that is closely related to the psychological
sciences or counseling more specifically is the ability to reflect or present
reflections. Hargie and Dickson (2004, p.148) define reflections as
“statements in the interviewer’s own words that encapsulate and re-present
the essence of the interviewee’s own words”. Presenting reflections during
interactions can serve a similar information gathering function to that seen in
questioning.
Non-verbal communications: A number of communicative activities
also involve non-verbal behavior and an ability to detect and portray
messages through this medium is also seen as a central interpersonal skill
(Harrigan, Rosenthal and Scherer, 2005). Messages can be communicated
through the following non-verbal channels.
Facial expressions: Elman’s work in the area of facial expressions
13