This presentation outlined the importance of oral presentations in an EAP course, with particular focus on moving beyond developing technical presentation skills to tasks which promote academically sound presentations.

1. Substance
Over Style
Meaningful Academic
Oral Presentations
Averil Bolster
Peter Levrai

2. The Place of Presentations
• Identified presentations as a major type of
academic oral discourse (Ferris & Tagg, 1996)
• Widespread part of student experience
(Alexander, Argent and Spencer, 2008)
• Academic presentations are ‘an integral part
of the network of academic genres’ (Zareva,
2009)

3. Building A Better Understanding
Faculty
Interviews
Review
NES
Materials
Review of
NNES
Materials
Levrai and
Bolster (in
press)

4. Features: From Materials
Understanding
the Audience
Dealing with
Nerves
Group
Presentations
Peer
Assessment
Using Your
Voice
Notes &
Visual Aids

5. Features: From Interviews
Research-based
arguments
Verifiable &
Referenced
Synthesised
sources
Time aware
(distilled)
Demonstrates
mastery of
subject
Encourage
further
discussion

6. Multi-purpose Presentations
Academic Skills
Transferable Skills
Presentation Skills

7. Presentation Skills
Oral Fluency
Designing &
using visual
aids
Body
language
Dealing with
questions

8. Transferable Skills
Planning &
organisation
Group work,
collaboration,
cooperation
Time
management
Public
speaking

9. Academic Skills
Answering a
question
Argumentation
Research &
referencing
Genre
awareness
(evaluate, explain,
problem / solution)

10. In the
classroom
General
Principles
Presentation
Skills
Presentation
Tasks

11. General Principles
You are the model,
every lesson
Encourage
students’
presentation voice
Planning might be
quiet but
preparation is
LOUD
Give the presenter
a reason to
present
Give the audience
a reason to listen
Content is
king

12. Presentation Skills: Present to Self
• Present to a mirror
• Ideally, record
themselves present
• Then give themselves
feedback

13. Presentation Skills: The Carousel
• Students choose one
section of their
presentation e.g.
introduction
• Present it to different
people in turn
• Evolves over time

14. Presentation Tasks: Focus
Describe
your
home
town
to potential
tourists
assessing
business
opportunities
evaluating
quality of life

15. Presentation Tasks: Audience
Present
your
favourite
subject

16. Presentation Tasks: Distillation
Students give the same presentation three times.
10 minutes
5 minutes
1 minute
ccc
cc

17. Presentation Tasks: Research-Based

18. Conclusion
It’s not just about
getting students to
talk.
Good presentation
skills alone do not
make a good academic
presentation.
Presentation classes
can develop many
different skills.
Oral presentations
should have the same
academic credibility as
an essay.

19. References
Alexander, O, Argent, S, Spencer, J (2008) EAP Essentials: A
Teacher’s Guide to Principles & Practice. Reading, Garnet
Publishing Ltd.
Ferris, D and Tagg, T (1996) Academic Oral Communication
Needs of EAP Learners: What Subject-Matter Instructors
Actually Require. TESOL Quarterly. Vol 30, pp31-58
Levrai, P and Bolster, A (in press) Developing a Closer
Understanding of Academic Oral Presentations. Folio. Vol 16, 2
Zareva, A (2009) Informational packaging, level of formality ,
and the use of circumstance adverbials in L1 and L2 students
academic presentations. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes. Vol 8, pp.55-68

20. A good presentation …
… generates
questions
plevrai@umac.mo
abolster@umac.mo