Abstract
This piece of Exploratory Practice was based on my initial puzzle of how L2 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students perceived the difficulties involved in assessed academic presentations. The data consists of a transcription of a class discussion of the issue, extracts of which are used to illustrate student attitudes and insights, as well as students’ written comments. Reflection on the data led me to new perspectives. As a language teacher, I had tended to focus on language issues and the structure of presentations; however, rather than language, students highlighted the difficulties caused by presentation stress, and described how this related to factors such as interest in the topic, appropriate body language, and the effort invested in preparation and practice. Students underlined the importance of topic choice as a key area influencing overall motivation, and therefore performance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akyazı, K. (2015). Exploring authenticity in (outside) and EFL classroom using Tedtalks and youtube. In K. Dikilitaş, M. Wyatt, J. Hanks, & D. Bullock (Eds.), Teachers engaging in research (pp. 191–206). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Allwright, D. (2003). Exploratory practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching. Language Teaching Research, 72, 113–141.
Allwright, D. (2015). Putting ‘understanding’ first in practitioner research. In K. Dikilitaş, R. Smith, & W. Trotman (Eds.), Teacher researchers in action (pp. 19–36). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Dar, Y. (2015). Exploratory practice: Investigating my own classroom pedagogy. In D. Bullock & R. Smith (Eds.), Teachers research! (pp. 51–56). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Hanks, J. (2015). Language teachers making sense of exploratory practice. Language Teaching Research, 19(5), 612–633.
Hanks, J. (2016). What might research as practice look like? In K. Dikilitaş, M. Wyatt, J. Hanks, & D. Bullock (Eds.), Teachers engaging in research (pp. 19–30). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Hill, M., & Storey, A. (2003). Speakeasy: Online support for oral presentation skills. English Language Teaching Journal, 57(4), 370–376.
Mason, E., & Nazim, A. (2014). Preparing students for an academic presentation: Maximising class time. In A. Burns (Ed.), Cambridge English Research Notes 56 (pp. 16–21). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Miller, I. K., Cortes, T. C. R., de Oliveira, A. F. A., & Braga, W. (2015). Exploratory practice in initial teacher education: Working collaboratively for understanding. In D. Bullock & R. Smith (Eds.), Teachers research! (pp. 65–72). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Moran, K. (2015). Exploratory/action research to improve oral presentations with French engineering students. In D. Bullock & R. Smith (Eds.), Teachers research! (pp. 57–64). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Nazim, A. (2015). Preparing students for an academic presentation: Maximising class time. In D. Bullock & R. Smith (Eds.), Teachers research! (pp. 45–50). Faversham, UK: IATEFL.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mumford, S. (2018). Understanding the Challenges of Academic Presentations for EAP Students: An Exploratory Practice Approach. In: Dikilitaş, K., Hanks, J. (eds) Developing Language Teachers with Exploratory Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75735-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75735-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75734-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75735-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)