Speaking in academic contexts
Introduction
Speaking in academic contexts is becoming increasingly important as teaching
methods change to involve more group work, joint projects and group marks.
Home students see problems if Students in Higher Education are not seen to be
pulling their weight in collaborative work. It is therefore important to try to be
more aware of what is involved in seminar or group activity and to learn some of
the interactional language that is used there. It is important to practise making
presentations, taking part in discussions on academic topics and so on.
You need to learn about:
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The purpose of seminars.
Making a presentation: the structure of presentations making and using
notes to speak from. Introducing the topic giving the information in detail
sequencing, describing similarities and differences comparing and
contrasting illustrating a point - giving examples and referring to research
emphasising a point summarising and concluding.
Controlling the discussion: leading the discussion changing the subject moving on speeding up things coming to a conclusion.
Participating in the discussion: interrupting politely asking questions asking for more information/clarification stating a point of view - supporting
your view agreeing and disagreeing - challenging and commenting making
suggestions checking - making sure that you have understood holding the
floor - preventing interruptions.
Listening and note taking.
Advice
In seminars, the same as with writing, plan your talk. If you are going to get as
many marks for speaking as writing, spend as much time on it as your writing.
Written language is different from spoken language. If you just read out your
essay, no one will understand you.
Presenting a seminar paper
How to present a seminar paper. (Wallace, 1980, pp. 209-210)
It can be very boring to listen to something read aloud. Therefore what you must
do is follow the following points:
1. Decide on a time limit for your talk. Tell your audience what it is. Stick to
your time limit. This is very important.
2. Write out your spoken presentation in the way that you intend to say it.
This means that you must do some of the work of writing the paper
again, in a sense. Written language is different from spoken language
(See Features of academic spoken English). Your seminar presentation
will probably take less time than the written paper it is based on and you
cannot summarise on your feet.
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Concentrate only on the main points. Ignore details. Hammer
home the essence of your argument. If necessary find ways of
making your basic points so that your audience will be clear
about what they are.
Try to make your presentation lively and interesting. This does
not mean telling jokes and anecdotes. But if you can think of
interesting or amusing examples to illustrate your argument, use
them.
Write out everything you have to say, including examples etc.
Rehearse what you are going to say until you are happy with it.
When you know exactly what you are going to say, reduce it to
outline notes . Rehearse your talk again, this time form the
outline notes. Make sure you can find your way easily from the
outline notes to the full notes, in case you forget something.
3. In the seminar, speak from the outline notes. But bring both sets of
notes and your original paper to the meeting.
4. Look at your audience when you are speaking. Use this technique: First
read the appropriate part of your notes silently. Then look up at your
audience and say what you have to say. Never speak while you are still
reading. While you look at your audience, try to judge what they are
thinking. Are they following you? You will never make contact with your
audience if your eyes are fixed on the paper in front of you.
5. Make a strong ending. One way of doing this is to repeat your main
points briefly and invite questions or opinions.
Remember that listening is very different from reading. Something that is going to
be listened to has therefore to be prepared in a very different way from
something that is intended to be read. See:Language.
Features of academic spoken English
Introduction
Academic speaking is similar in many ways to academic writing: it is linear, it is
explicit, it has one central point and it is presented in standard language.
Academic spoken style is also similar in may ways in that it is formal, explicit,
hedged, and responsible. However, it is less complex and objective than written
language.
Formal
In general this means that when you are speaking you should avoid colloquial
words and expressions.
Formality
Explicit
It is the responsibility of the speaker in English to make it clear to the listener how
various parts of the talk are related. These connections can be made explicit by
the use of different signalling words.
Hedged
In any kind of academic speaking you do, it is necessary to make decisions
about your stance on a particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are
making. Different subjects prefer to do this in different ways.
A technique common in certain kinds of speaking is known by linguists as a
‘hedge’.
Responsible
In academic speaking you are responsible for demonstrating an understanding of
the source text. You must be responsible for, and must be able to provide
evidence and justification for, any claims you make.
Complex
Spoken language is less complex than written language. Spoken language has
shorter words, it is lexically less dense and it has a less varied vocabulary. It
uses more verb-based phrases than noun-based phrases. Spoken texts are
longer and the language has less grammatical complexity, including fewer
subordinate clauses and more active verbs.
Complexity
Objective
Spoken language in general has more words that refer to the speaker. This
means that although the main emphasis should be on the information that you
want to give and the arguments you want to make, it is not unusual to refer to
yourself or your audience.
Objectivity
^
"There's a comfortable glow in the shop, and cool, satisfying
smoke is billowing out of the windows."