1. COMMUNICATION &
PRESENTATION SKILLS
ORAL SKILLS & SPOKEN ENGLISH
MILIND MALSHE
Professor
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences
IIT-BOMBAY

2. MAIN POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT
ORAL PRESENTATION
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(i) effective use of visual aids
(ii) adequate eye contact : size of the
audience
(iii) clarity in pronunciation and fluency
(iv) maintaining a proper speed of presentation
(v) posture and body movements suggesting
confidence
(vi) seeking and making proper use of visual
feedback
(vii) noting down important points arising out
of discussion

3. DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS
• 1. Speech & Writing/Printing: a
comparison
• Speech : pitch, volume, tone, speed,
pauses, body movements, facial
expressions
• Writing/Printing: punctuation,
capitalization, spacing, margins, fonts

4. DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS
(continued)
• 2. Pronunciation of Words:
(a) vowel and consonant sounds
• (comparison of sounds with letters a-z);
The letter “a” in :
fat /æ/,
father /a:/,
fate /eɪ /, about /ə/
Or the letters “th” in “thin” /ɵ/ & “then” /ð/.
Also notice
(b) word-stress: ‘language, communi’cation

5. DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS
(continued)
• 3. Use of the phonetic script and the
(Pronouncing) Dictionary: International
Phonetic Alphabet: free downloading is
possible
• Dictionaries on CD : listening to the
pronunciation and it variety (e.g. British
& American) now possible

6. DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS
(continued)
4. Pronunciation of Sentences:
intonation and rhythm
INTONATION: rising / (yes /)
falling (yes )
combination / (yes /)
RHYTHM: de dum de dum
x ’
x ’

7. Vowel sounds of English
• (Pure Vowels/Monophthongs)
initially medially finally
• 1. /i:/
east
sheet
key
• 2. /I/
it
hit
duty
• 3. /e /
end
send
• 4. /æ/
and
sand
• 5. /a:/
art
heart
car
• 6. /ɒ/
ox
fox

8. Vowel sounds of English
(continued)
ooze
medially
ball
put
choose
10./∧/
up
cup
11./з:/
12. /ə/
earn
ago
learn
police
7. /ɔ:/
8. /U/
9. /u:/
initially
all
finally
saw
chew
stir
maker

9. Vowel sounds of English
(continued)
Diphthongs
• 13. /eɪ /
eight
straight
stay
• 14. /əʊ /
• 15. /aɪ /
oak
ice
joke
mice
slow
my
• 16./aʊ /
• 17. /ɔɪ /
out
oil
shout
boil
how
boy
• 18. /ɪ ə/
• 19. /eə/
ears
airs
beard
paired
peer
hare

10. Consonant sounds of English
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1. /p/
2. /b/
3. /t/
4. /d/
5. /k/
6. /g/
initially
pin
bin
tell
day
keep
get
medially
spin
tubs
stick
heads
skill
jugs
finally
keep
club
light
laid
stick
bag

11. Consonant sounds of English
(continued)
•
initially
medially finally
• 7. /ʧ/
chin
reached teach
• 8. / ʤ /
• 9. /m/
joke
hinged
large
met
smoke
team
net
snake
rings
fling
tin
sing
full
• 10. /n/
• 11. /ŋ/
• 12. /l/
lot

12. Consonant sounds of English
(continued)
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• 13 /f/
• 14. /v/
initially
fan
van
medially finally
soft
if
leaves
thief
• 15. /ɵ/
thin
months
bath
• 16./ð/
then
clothes
bathe

13. Consonant sounds of English
(continued)
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17. /s/
18. /z/
19. /ʃ/
20. /ʒ/
initially
sip
zip
ship
measure
medially
list
loser
rushed
rouge
finally
less
buzz
hush

14. Consonant sounds of English
(continued)
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21. /h/
22. /r/
23. /w/
24. /j/
initially
hot
rot
watt
yatch
medially finally
behave
try
sweat
tune

15. Word-stress
• Two-syllable words
• Stress on first
syllable
• ‘bargain
• ‘govern
• ‘secret
• ‘mischief
• ‘message
• ‘cabbage
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‘surface
‘furnace
‘husband
‘butcher
‘proverb
‘thorough
‘oven
‘onion
‘compass

16. Word-stress (continued)
Two-syllable words
• Stress on second
syllable
• ad’mit
• for’bid
• suc’ced
• sup’press
• po’lice
• pay’ee
• dis’miss
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ag’ree
se’lect
re’quest
pre’fer
re’fer
oc’cur
ar’rest
com’mence
per’haps

17. Word-stress (continued)
Three-syllable words
Stress on first syllable
• ’advertise
• ’educate
• ’illustrate
• ’furniture
• ’government
• ’literature
• ’recognize
• ’signature
• ’tentative
Stress on second syllable
• ad’venture
• com’mercial
• de’cision
• ex’ternal
• in’ternal
• per’mission
• re’vision
• spec’tator
• um’brella

18. Word-stress (continued)
Three-syllable words
Primary Stress on
third syllable
• ,addres’see
• ,ciga’rette
• ,coin’cide
• ,devo’tee
• ,engi’neer
• ,guaran’tee
• ,recim’mend

19. Word-stress (continued)
Four-syllable words
Primary Stress on first
syllable
• ’applicable
• ’accurately
• ’comfortable
• ’honourable
Primary Stress on
second syllable
• ad’vertisement
• ap’preciate
• a’rithmetic
• e’xaggerate
• par’ticipate
• pho’tography

20. Word-stress (continued)
Four-syllable words
Primary Stress on
third syllable
• acci’dental
• appli’cation
• exhi’bition
• inde’pendent
• indi’vidual
• Primary Stress on
fourth syllable
• dedica’tee
• exami’nee

21. Word-stress (continued)
words with more than four syllables
Primary Stress on first
syllable
• ‘favouritism
• ‘cannibalism
• ‘secularism
Primary Stress on second
syllable
• ad’venturousness
• en’thusiasm
• con’servatism
Primary Stress on third
syllable
• elec’tricity
• irre’sponsible
• popu’larity
Primary Stress on fourth
syllable
• acade’mician
• civili’zation
• pactici’pation

22. Word-stress (continued):
stress change according to part of speech
• COMPARE:
Noun/Adjective
• ’absent
• ’accent
• ’concert
• ’conflict
• ’export
• ’produce
• ’subject
Verb
ab’sent
ac’cent
con’cert
con’flict
ex’port
pro’duce
sub’ject

23. Attributes of
good oral communication
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1.Sounds and sound combinations
2. Stress
3. Rhythm
4. Intonation
5. Speed: pausing
6. Clarity of articulation
7. Voice modulation: volume & pitch
variation (avoiding “monotonous speech)