Volume 10
Topic: Helping Students Succeed in Oral Presentations
The problem: Your syllabus indicates that students need to work in groups
of 3-4 in order to research and present on an issue. You figure that they
should know how to give an oral presentation by now, so you do not make a lot
of the assignment. After all, you figure the paragraph in the syllabus should be
sufficient. On the first day of speeches, your expectations to hear engaging,
informative presentations are dashed as students stumble along with unclear
points, poor research, and lacklustre delivery. What to do?
Here’s what you might try: Don’t take students’ knowledge for granted.
Rather, from early on, and right up to the day of the presentation, let your
expectations and criteria be known. Here are specific pointers.
1. Warn Students Early: Students should know well in advance (preferably in
the syllabus) that an oral presentation is required.
2. Make it Worth Their While: An oral presentation should weigh at least ten
percent of the overall course grade. Anything less and students will correctly
infer that we do not value it, so they will not value it either.
3. Spell Out Your Expectations: If we do not explain what we mean by “an oral
presentation,” students are uncertain and anxious about how to prepare. Oral
or written descriptions should include expectations about purpose (inform,
persuade, etc.), amount of research required, type of organizational pattern,
length (in minutes), visual aids (required or not) and delivery (i.e. style of
wording and body language).
4. Have High Expectations: Some of us have a hard time giving anything lower
than a “B” on oral presentations for any number of reasons (e.g. we don’t have
clear criteria for marking them, we put concern for the student’s esteem above
performance, we think wrongly that public speaking is easy and to do an
“okay” job deserves a “good” mark).
You might cite the fact that workplace studies in Canada and the U.S. show
employers expecting excellent oral and written communication skills from
university graduates.
5. Be Genuinely Sensitive to Students Who Fear Speaking in Public: Studies
indicate that public speaking is the most feared thing by typical North
Americans--more widely feared than death, heights, and tarantulas. Refer
such students to any basic text on public speaking for ways to lessen their
fear. For the record, however, remind them that preparation and practice are
the best two antidotes against being nervous.
6. Encourage Extemporaneous Delivery, Not Manuscript or Memorized Talks:
“Extemporaneous” means researched, rehearsed and delivered from notes.
Encourage students to practice their speech aloud 3-4 times to check for
timing and to edit unnecessary material.
7. Give Time Guidelines, but be Gracious with Them: Limits such as “5-10
minutes” or “20-30 minutes” help students know your expectations. Let
students know if you will penalize presentations that go long or short.
8. Consider Giving a Lecture about Public Speaking in Your Field or Discipline:
Akin to “writing across the curriculum,” we would do well to help our students
know how to “speak across the curriculum.” Describe how you present papers
at academic conferences, at professional conferences, or for popular audiences.
9. Consider Video-capturing Your Students’ Presentations: Students learn
much from self-analysis, and you can show good presentations to future
students.
10. Give students your marking sheet ahead of time. Page 3 of this newsletter
is a form you might use or adapt for use. The criteria are broad enough for
most speech / oral presentation settings and show value for the process of
speaking as well as what was said. Adjust as necessary.
As with all our Teaching Tips, send your own instructional
ideas to Bill Strom (strom@twu.ca).
Oral Presentation Response Form
Introduction
How well did the speaker adapt the topic to the audience?
1 2 3 4 5
How well did the speaker establish her or his credibility?
1 2 3 4 5
How well did the speaker present the thesis early on?
1 2 3 4 5
Body
To what degree did the speaker present enough
25
30
35
information and/or arguments to genuinely inform
40
45
50
or persuade the audience?
Comments:
Conclusion:
How well did the speaker provide a sense of closure?
Delivery and Style:
Use of gestures
1 2 3 4 5
Use of eye contact
1 2 3 4 5
Use of voice
1 2 3 4 5
Use of diction/wording
1 2 3 4 5
Outline:
1 2 3 4 5
Bibliography:
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5