Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Enhancing Oral Presentation Skills of ESL Students: The Use of Oral Communication Strategies

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Assessment for Learning Within and Beyond the Classroom

Abstract

Oral presentation skill is an asset for graduates. A graduate with good oral presentation skills has a better chance in career advancement and promotion rather than one who does not. Thus, it is vital for university students to have exposure to oral communication strategies for them to become good presenters. The purpose of this study was to identify the communication strategies used by undergraduate students while delivering oral presentations in an oral communication skills course. The strategies used were mapped against the grades they obtained for the course to gauge the strategies used by students who scored an A (good presenters) versus those who scored a B (average presenters). Presenting to an audience may generate anxiety and concern that the presentation might not be delivered effectively. Good presenters have found ways to overcome or cope with this concern. Thus, the Oral Communication Strategies Inventory (OCSI) developed by Nakatani (Mod Lang J 90:151–168, 2006) was used to access strategies that the students used for coping while delivering their oral presentations. The OCS inventory included eight categories of strategies for coping while speaking and seven categories of strategies for coping while listening. However, for the purpose of this paper, only speaking strategies were analyzed. The respondents were 100 engineering students enrolled in a communication skills course. Results of the data analysis revealed that the good presenters employed more oral communication strategies than the average presenters. The better students had more frequently used social affective, fluency-oriented, and nonverbal strategies for coping with speaking problems. The average students, on the other hand, do utilize social affective and nonverbal strategies but on a much lesser degree. The findings suggest that average presenters should be made aware of the mentioned skills and be accustomed to them in order to enhance their oral presentation skills. As such, introducing the oral communication strategies to the students could help them improve their oral communication delivery.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Canale, M. (1983). Communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In J. C. Rihards & R. Schmidt (Eds.), English for cross-cultural communication. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canale, M., & Swaine, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, H. W. (2009). Oral communication strategies used by English major college students in Taiwan. Unpublished master’s thesis, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan. Retrieved Sept 30, 2014, from http://www1.lib.cyut.edu.tw/eThesys/index.htm

  • Chuanchaisit, S., & Prapphal, K. (2009). A study of english communication strategies of Thai university students. MANUSYA. Journal of Humanities, 17, 100–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corder, S. P. (1983). Strategies of communication. In C. Faerch & G. Kasper (Eds.), Strategies in interlanguage communication. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darling, A. L., & Dannels, D. (January, 2003). Practicing engineers talk abut the importance of talk: A report on the role of oral communication in the workplace. Communication Education, 52(1), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dornyei, Z. (1995). On the teachability of communication strategies. TESOL Quarterly, 29, 55–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dornyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication strategies in second language: Definitions and taxonomies. Language Learning, 47(1), 173–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halizah, O., Mohamad, A. E., & Melor, Md Y. (2012). Learners’ use of communication strategies in an online discussion via facebook. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 64, 535–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lam, W. Y. K. (2010). Implementing communication strategy instruction in the ESL oral classroom: What do low-proficiency learners tell us? TESL Canada Journal, 27(2), 11–30 (Spring).

    Google Scholar 

  • Landell, K. (1997). Management by menu. London: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazaraton, A. (2002). A qualitative approach to the validation of oral language testing. In Studies in language testing 14. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, M. H. (1993). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4, 126–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe, J., & Noom-Ura, S. (2013). Communication strategy use of high and low roficiency learners of English at a Thai university. LEARN Journal: Laguge Education and Acquisition Research Network, 6(1), 68–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirzaei, A., & Heidari, N. (2012). Exploring the use of oral communication strategies by (Non) fluent L2 speakers. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 9(3), 131–156 (Autumn).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakatani, Y. (2006). Developing an oral communication inventory. The Modern Language Journal, 90, 151–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakatani, Y. (2012). Exploring the implementation of the CEFR in Asian contexts: Focus on communication strategies. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 771–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norafini, Z., & Sarjit, K. (2014). Oral English communication difficulties and coping strategies of Diploma of Hotel Management students at UiTM. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 20(3), 93–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, J. E. (2007). Willingness to communicate in the Chinese EFL classroom. A cultural perspective. In J. Liu (Ed.), English language teaching in China: New approaches, perspectives and standards (pp. 250–269). London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raed, L. U., Nur Illianis, A., & Mohamad Jafre, Z. A. (2013). Study of the communication strategies used by Malaysian ESL students at tertiary level. International Journal of English Language Education, 1(1), 35–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riemer, M. J. (2002). English and communication skills for the global engineers. Global Journal of Engineering Education, 6(1), 91–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language, 10(3), 209–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibet, M. P. (2005). Leaping out of the unemployment line. Retrieved on July 23, 2012. http://www.calm.unimas.my/insite6/article_a.html

  • Tan, K. H., Nor Fariza, M. N., & Mohd Nayef, J. (2012). Communication strategies among EFL students—an examination of frequency of use and type of strategies used. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, Special Edition, 12(3), 831–848.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ting, S. H., & Phan, G. Y. (2008). Adjusting communication strategies to language proficiency Australian TESOL Journal, 23(1), 28–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varadi, T. (1983). Strategies of target language learner communication: Message adjustment. IRAL, 18(1), 59–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yule, G., & Tarone, E. (1991). The other side of the page: Integrating the study of communication strategies and negotiated input in SLA. In R. Phillipson, E. Kellerman, L. Selinker, M. Sharwood Smith, & M. Swain (Eds.), Foreign/Second Language Pedagogy Research (pp. 162–171). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

    Hairuzila Idrus

Authors
  1. Hairuzila Idrus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hairuzila Idrus .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Siew Fun Tang

  2. Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Loshinikarasi Logonnathan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this paper

Cite this paper

Idrus, H. (2016). Enhancing Oral Presentation Skills of ESL Students: The Use of Oral Communication Strategies. In: Tang, S., Logonnathan, L. (eds) Assessment for Learning Within and Beyond the Classroom. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0908-2_37

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0908-2_37

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0906-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0908-2

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation