scholarly journals Investigating EFL Learners’ Perceptions Towards the Difficulties in Oral Presentation at Kandahar University

Author(s):  
Hashmatullah Tareen ◽  
Farishta Faizi

Abstract This research paper examines the difficulties of oral presentation, strategies coping with difficulties used in oral presentations and the perceived role of lecturer in improving EFL learners’ oral presentation skills. The study used quantitative approach in which a survey questionnaire comprising 34 items based on four likert scales was distributed to EFL learners in a public university. The data was collected from 150 learners from two English Departments through random sampling which 109 were male and 41 were female learners. The data was analyzed and interpreted in terms of mean and standard deviation through SPSS software (22) version. The results of the study revealed that learners had a problem with oral fluency, accuracy and pronunciation during oral presentation, feel frightened when a lot of people are watching them, afraid of being assessed by their classmates in front of the class, having low self-confidence. The results also revealed some strategies coping with difficulties used in oral presentation such as, learners have to prepare themselves properly before an oral presentation, they have to build self-confidence for presentation to present very well and they have to concentrate more on phonetics and phonology of language. Furthermore, considering a crucial role of lecturer in improving oral presentation skills, the following factors such as lecturer has to design a specific course in teaching oral presentation skills for EFL learners, lecturer has to show learners videos of good speakers for enhancing their presentation skill and lecturer has to give learners freedom to choose their own topic that lowers their anxiety were discovered for more consideration.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Seyyed Hassan Mirahmadi ◽  
Sayyed Mohammad Alavi

<p>The present study attempted to investigate the effect of the four scaffolding techniques, namely Hard, Soft (Saye &amp; Brush, 2002), Reciprocal (Holton &amp; Clarke, 2006), and Virtual (Yelland &amp; Masters, 2007), on the speaking ability of the Iranian EFL language learners and their fluency, lexicon, grammar and pronunciation. To this end, the four scaffolding techniques were classified into the two groups of Traditional (Hard, Soft and Reciprocal) and technology-mediated (Virtual). 120 Maritime students at Kharg Azad University (IAU-Kharg) were selected as participants based on convenience sampling. At the onset, an Oxford Placement Test was given to the students to place them in the same proficiency level, Intermediate. 10 students were found as outliers who remained as intact members of the groups throughout the study. Eventually, the 110 homogeneous students were randomly assigned to the four scaffolding groups. A pretest of speaking ability was run to the students prior to the scaffolding treatments lasting for 8 weeks (16 sessions). After the treatments, the students completed a posttest of speaking. Having analyzed the data through SPSS software, it was found that under the influence of the four scaffoldings, not only did the Iranian EFL students outperformed in the posttest of speaking, but they also showed a significant improvement in their fluency, grammar, lexicon, and pronunciation. Thus, the findings of this current study extended earlier understandings of scaffolding in an EFL environment and will contribute to the advancement of future courses in terms of their scaffolding pedagogical aspects.</p>


Author(s):  
Hossein Khodabakhshzadeh ◽  
Zahra Kafi ◽  
Hanieh Garmabi

The present study examined the role of social trust and types of classroom activities as some probable significant predictors of language learning motivation on a sample of 200 Iranian EFL upper-intermediate learners who have been selected randomly. Consequently, the participants completed three questionnaires, Language Learning Motivation Inventory, Classroom and school Community Inventory, and Classroom Activities Inventory, the reliability and validity of each have been checked previously. After running Multiple Regression through SPSS Software, the results revealed that social trust and types of classroom activities accounted for 16.7% of the variance in language learning motivation. Although each of them had a unique impact on language learning motivation, "Deep Language Use" as one of the types of classroom activities had a greater contribution to English as a foreign language learning motivation (002< .05), outweighing social trust as a more important predictor, (.005 < .05). Finally, pedagogical implications along with suggestions for further studies are discussed.Keywords: Types of classroom activities, Social trust, Language learning motivation, EFL learners


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herland Franley Manalu

This study aims at examining students’ perception of peer evaluation in a group oral presentation by English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students at the University of Indonesia. Questionnaires were administered after the peer evaluation process to 65 students studying EAP taught at the University of Indonesia. The peer assessment was incorporated into the course to seek out whether and to what extent their speaking skills may enhance and to investigate students’ attitudes towards this form of evaluation in oral presentations. Data were obtained through a Likert scale questionnaire of peer evaluation. Data were analyzed using SPSS Software. The results specified a statistically significant result of the use of peer evaluation in oral presentation. The findings of the present study suggest that, when assessment criteria are definitely established, peer assessment empowers students to evaluate the performance of their peers in a manner comparable to those of the teachers. The responses from the questionnaires show that the evaluation and comments given by students were considered fair, useful and sufficient. Results also suggest that students strongly agree to the use of this methodology because comments and evaluations given are useful for making improvements. Nevertheless, the students preferred teachers to peers to evaluate their performance in the discussion and they wanted to get more instructive comments from the teachers. As for its limitations, students highlight the responsibility that comes with it and a certain amount of distrust in fellow students’ abilities to peer-assess. The teacher’s possible roles in peer evaluation are presented at the conclusion of this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Al-Saggaf ◽  
Amira Aida Iman binti Azman

Regardless of age, students often experience anxiety in oral presentations. This quantitative study investigates the perceptions of students towards anxiety in oral presentation in a tertiary educational context. It aims to examine students’ perceptions of anxiety in oral presentations and the factors affecting anxiety in oral presentation. A total of three hundred and two students taking Bachelor in Teaching English as a Second Language (BTESL) in Management and Science University, Malaysia participated in this study by answering an adapted questionnaire with two sections: demographic and anxiety in oral presentation. The items under anxiety in oral presentation revealed students’ perceptions towards anxiety in oral presentation and factors affecting anxiety in oral presentation. Collected data were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results showed that the respondents perceived anxiety in oral presentation to be negative. Moreover, there were six factors affecting anxiety in oral presentation which were preparation, number of presentations, teacher’s feedback, audience’s attention, self-confidence and make mistakes. Thus, the results concluded that the students perceived anxiety in oral presentation to be negative and perceived that the major factor affecting their anxiety was preparation.  


Sains Insani ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Ira Meilita Ibrahim ◽  
Taufik A. Latif ◽  
Afi Roshezry Abu Bakar ◽  
Muthualagan Thangavelu

The advancement of European dress to the rest of the world was linked to the definition of civilization as “a stage of social development considered to be more advanced” and “polite and good-mannered”. The widespread of their fashion style in the 19th and 20th centuries influenced the way the rest of the world attire. The fashion trend and dressing style thus change the purpose of dressing through time. The dressing style in campuses especially in private institutions of higher learning is under particular scrutiny, as it is often said to be inappropriate for a learning environment. This study looked at the importance of moral education, and its role in implementing the dress code for students among university students especially between two types of university i.e. public university and private university. It looked on the dressing style of students, both male and female, and the factors that lead to their dressing pattern which is common among students. This study also advocated the students’ understanding of the content of dress codes in their learning institution and the role played by moral education in regard to dress code. The overall study highlighted students’ perception towards the implementation of the dress code and punishment in their learning institution. The methodologies used to carry out this study are questionnaires and interviews. This study will therefore ascertain the important of dress code among students at higher learning institution and the role of moral education in cultivating values in order to dress properly or decently. Key Words: moral education, dress code, higher learning institution, civilization.


Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 145-148
Author(s):  
Sumesh Kumar ◽  
Sarita Bagaria ◽  
Moirangthem Sonia ◽  
Kailash Kumar Khandelwal

Decision of organ donation has enormous potential to save countless lives and health team play a vital role in counselling of patients and their family in decision making regarding organ donation in the ultimate stage of life. For this reason, evaluation of factors which can enhance knowledge and positive attitude towards organ donation has paramount importance. Present study aims to assess the knowledge and attitude of adults regarding organ donation and to find out role of video assisted teaching in behaviour modulation. Data from 80 participants were collected using a structured knowledge questionnaire. Pre-assessment was done before intervention of video-assisted teaching and post-assessment was done following that. Data were analyzed through SPSS software using Spearman’s Rank Co-relation. We found a negative co-relation (rK= -0.1122) between knowledge & attitude of adults regarding organ donation before video-assisted teaching regarding organ donation. A direct and positive co-relation (rK=+0.294) was observed between knowledge and attitude of adults regarding organ donation after video assisted teaching. We found that video assisted counselling provided by the medical team has great potential in promoting actions regarding organ donation. It is recommended that video assisted counselling should be applied to enhance knowledge and attitude regarding organ donation among general population.


Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Paul J. Moore ◽  
Phil Murphy ◽  
Luann Pascucci ◽  
Scott Sustenance

This paper reports on an ongoing study into the affordances of free online machine translation for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary level in Japan. The researchers are currently collecting data from a questionnaire, task performance, and interviews with 10-15 EFL learners in an English Language Institute in a university in Japan. The paper provides some background on the changing role of translation in language learning theory and pedagogy, before focusing literature related to technical developments in machine translation technology, and its application to foreign language learning. An overview of the research methodology is provided, along with some insights into potential findings. Findings will be presented in subsequent publications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
James Carpenter

Oral presentations are common in many English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Because oral presentations entail multiple steps, they are ideal for project-based learning courses. Yet, it can be challenging for students to meaningfully collaborate on oral presentation projects using English. The use of drama in oral presentations allows students to explore more complex topics without being overwhelmed. A short survey of the literature related to oral presentations and project-based learning in EFL is presented in this article. Then, the basic discourse for oral presentations in English is discussed, followed by an expanded discussion about how drama can simplify this discourse for students. Finally, two examples of student presentations are presented.


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