Oral Presentation Delivery Skills between Awareness and Application: The Case of Master II Students at M.M.U.T.O

Abstract

The present study investigates master II students’ of the department of English at M.M.U.T.O awareness and application of the oral presentation delivery skills. It seeks to identify whether master II students are aware of these skills and use them in their presentations. Besides, it categorizes oral presentations as a spoken genre (spoken type of text that has a predetermined structure, language and purpose and performed in a particular context). It relies on Dudley Evans and St John (1998) key features of giving an effective oral presentation as a theoretical framework. To collect data, two (02) research tools are used; an interview protocol and a videotapes’ observation. The first research tool entails seven (07) interviews that are conducted with seven (07) master II students Language and Communication class of the academic year 2013-2014. Seven (07) others are administered to seven (07) teachers from the same setting. The second research tool is an observation of these master II students’ oral presentation. In order to analyze and interpret the collected data, a Mixed Method Research that combines the quantitative and the qualitative methods is used. The findings show that master II students are aware of the oral presentation delivery skills but do not use them appropriately (mainly language, gestures, visuals and facial expressions). As a conclusion to the overall findings, we suggest that oral presentation skills need to be taught as a module so that students will be accustomed to such skills and then, use them properly.