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Conference Presentation Introductions and Openings
Abstract
In this chapter, we will discuss how to give effective openings in a CP. It is in the opening where the speaker can establish rapport with an audience, develop an interpersonal dimension, create a ‘voice’ for him or herself, ground the tenor, and provide the audience with the rhetorical structure of the CP. Therefore, effective openings are essential in determining effective CP performance. But which discursive, rhetorical, and linguistic choices are most frequent? And which would be most effective according to the presentation type and content? The generic, linguistic, and rhetorical features of introductions and opening CP moves might initially seem peripheral when the presenter naturally wishes to focus upon the research content, but the choice of opening gambit must be given thorough consideration by those presuming to teach CP skills to novice researchers and academics, as well as novice researchers who hope to successfully present at international academic conferences, as the explicit use of rhetorical moves and discourse markers in introductory sections will serve to both guide and engage the audience as well as to ‘position’ the speaker. Based on my observations, the most salient opening gambits included: opening directly into the research content, using rhetorical questions, shared research/academic knowledge, providing background information, and avoiding unnecessary self-introduction data, minimizing anecdotes, and limiting personal appeals to the audience. We will also look briefly at body language and posture concerns, followed by a short overview of how openings might best be managed in agnate conference speech events.
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Abstract In many second language (L2) communication classes the majority of the class time is taken up by teacher-fronted, drill-oriented activities. Oral presentations are one example of a learner-centered, communicative activity that can be used to fix this problem. However, if not implemented correctly, the difficulty of the tasks involved in presenting in front of others can take away from the pedagogical benefits of using presentations in the classroom. ...
Conducting Academic Oral Presentation (AOP) is an endeavour for undergraduates although it is a key academic genre for undergraduates. Despite its importance, there remains a paucity of studies on this oral genre in the Malaysian context as shown in the body of the literature. This paper provides a critical review of the literature on AOP and discusses the advantages and limitations of the previous studies to date on this oral genre. The literature shows most studies that adopt the genre analysis approach typically analyse only one section of the oral genre. These studies have not examined the AOP rhetorical structure in totality. Moreover, studies on multimodal analysis of AOP comparing the verbal and non-verbal modes are limited. Only few studies have attempted to examine the juxtaposition of the moves, linguistic elements and the visuals. AOPs are ubiquitous for the students across various courses and disciplines in the university and past studies have also compared the differences between disciplines (Zappa-Hollman, 2007; Morita, 2000).Thus, realizing the importance of AOP, clearly there is a necessity to conduct more research in this area in the local context.
‘Discourse is the way that language – either spoken or written – is used for communicative effect in a real-world situation (Thornbury, 2005, p. 7). Thornbury considers the text as the product and the discourse – as a communicative process that involves ‘language and the record of the language that is used in this discourse, which is ‘text’ (ibid). Although presentations are generally categorized as spoken text types, an academic presentation is a compromise between spoken and written text types: on the one hand, it is given in a classroom as an oral text; on the other hand, it is thoroughly prepared as a home assignment in the form of a written text. This article focuses on the analysis of such linguistic features of students’ presentations as cohesion, coherence, and prosody. For this analysis, data were collected from 60 2nd year students of the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF) presentations on various economic topics which were recorded and examined (the time limit for each of the presentations was 10 minutes); out of 60, 10 presentation texts were selected for auditory analysis, and thematic centers (TCs) were examined using acoustic analysis. Measurements of prosodic parameters such as pitch, intensity, and duration (rate of utterance) were obtained using the computer programs Speech Analyzer 3.0.1 and Pratt (v.4.0.53). The results of these analyses show that students’ presentations are cohesive, coherent and contain TCs, which are characterized by specific prosodic parameters that have a certain effect on the comprehension of these texts, their expressiveness and pragmatic value. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Blended learning is a common learning mode in higher education which combines the use of online and face-to-face classroom learning. The use of blended learning for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) with non-native university students, however, can pose challenges from the methods and materials to the student perceptions. This article describes the blended learning implementation of an EAP course for academic writing and presentation skills and how the students perceived the blended course mode, methods, workload, learning atmosphere and challenges. Results indicate that non-native university students appreciated blended learning for the EAP course and found the flexibility and convenience of blended learning beneficial to their EAP learning. This encourages the further development of blended learning options for EAP writing and presentation skills as students no longer require the extensive classroom teaching context but instead adapt well to self-regulated and reflective learning of EAP.
Conducting class presentation at the tertiary level is an inherently complex endeavor for ESL learners taking EAP courses. They are confronted with tasks that require them to search for information; select relevant sources; read and write highly conventionalized academic genres; and present findings in an academic presentation. Presenting an essay assignment, for instance, requires learners to exercise a developed level of discourse competence in order to produce a well-organised essay. This study presents a qualitative document analysis of the essay marking schedule, course textbook, and course syllabus of a blended EAP course in Malaysia, in order to uncover the elements of discourse competence knowledge that relate to meeting the requirements of the essay assignment presentation for the course. The study also employs an ethnographic analysis of participant (teachers and students) interviews, pertaining to the process of the essay presentation. In addition to the interviews, the study also utilises class observations as part of the ethnographic analysis. The combination of both textual (document) and ethnographic (interview) methods utilised in this study is termed a textographic approach (see Swales, 1998; Paltridge, 2008). Both document and ethnographic data are analysed using template analysis (see King, 1998; 2004). The findings of the study suggest that there are three types of discourse competence knowledge underpinning the oral presentation of the essay assignment: public speaking, use of oral presentation structure, and linguistic knowledge. The implications of the study are threefold: first, students should develop the ability to exercise discourse competence to enable them to present their essay findings more accurately and appropriately; secondly, teachers should have a sound understanding of the discourse competence knowledge in order to help their students to develop and exercise discourse competence; and lastly, syllabus designers need to have a clear conceptualisation of the types of discourse competence knowledge that need to be integrated within the oral presentation section of a syllabus which takes into account all of the types of knowledge engaged in academic presentation.
The role of scientific conferences and their associated discourse genre, the conference paper, has received little attention in studies of the construction and communication of scientific knowledge. This paper therefore proposes to fit scientific conferences into existing analyses of sociotechnical networks in order to determine their specific contribution to the latter, and to position conference papers in relation to other, more widely-studied genres, in order to bring out their particular role in the construction of scientific facts. We argue that the pivotal position of conference papers, between laboratory activity on one hand and the research article on the other hand, leads to a more balanced perspective on the question of epistemological relativism.
From the perspective of the speakers themselves, this is the first book to explore attitudes towards ELF in general and ELF accents in particular, their effects on ELF speakers' identities, and ways in which the problems can be addressed in teacher education, English language testing, and ELT materials.
This chapter begins by contextualizing the development of World Englishes as a relatively new field of study. First, in showing that there are many Englishes, not just one, the work of Braj Kachru is reviewed and the importance of his contributions are summarized. Next, debates concerning the motivations for language change in New Englishes are reviewed and examples of a few innovative linguistic features in those varieties are provided. Then we consider the developmental stages in the emergence of New Englishes. Finally, we discuss recent developments, including the role of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and the influence of new technology.
"John Swales' textography might also be called 'comparative rhetoric in a small building,' offering proof, once again, that another culture may be only a trip up or down a flight of stairs. . . .such an appealing and original book." ---BAAL News Originally published in 1998, Other Floors, Other Voices uses texts to capture the lives of three communities operating within a single building (the North University Building, or NUBS) on the University of Michigan campus. Swales' thoughtful exploration of the three units-the Computer Resource Site, the University Herbarium (botany), and the English Language Institute-centers around the individuals who work on each floor and the discourse-related activities they engage in. The Twentieth Anniversary Edition of Other Floors, Other Voices includes: a new preface, an introductory essay on the value of rereading this volume many years after original publication, and an epilogue that reflects on and reveals what has happened to the three units in the past 20 years.
A much-cited and highly influential text by Alastair Pennycook, one of the world authorities in sociolinguistics, The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language explores the globalization of English by examining its colonial origins, its connections to linguistics and applied linguistics, and its relationships to the global spread of teaching practices. Nine chapters cover a wide range of key topics including: international politics colonial history critical pedagogy postcolonial literature. The book provides a critical understanding of the concept of the ‘worldliness of English’, or the idea that English can never be removed from the social, cultural, economic or political contexts in which it is used. Reissued with a substantial preface, this Routledge Linguistics Classic remains a landmark text, which led a much-needed critical and ideologically-informed investigation into the burgeoning topic of World Englishes. Key reading for all those working in the areas of Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and World Englishes.
EGP (English for General Purposes) teaching approach has stuck in dilemma of high cost low efficiency in mainland china for many years, while ESP (English for Specific Purposes) to be more specific EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teaching approach has been increasingly prominent. Numerous studies have been written on different aspects of EAP, but very little has been written about the EGAP (EGP +Academic skills). This paper comprises the critical review of the available literature, highlighting some of its problems and limitations. Then elaborate the EGAP teaching from the perspective of Legal English Teaching.
Good presentation skills are key to a successful career in academia. This guide provides examples taken from real presentations given both by native and non-native academics covering a wide variety of disciplines.
The easy-to-follow guidelines and tips will teach you how to:
• plan, prepare and practice a well-organized, interesting presentation
• avoid errors in English by using short easy-to-say sentences
• improve your English pronunciation and intonation
• gain confidence, and overcome nerves and embarrassment
• highlight the essential points you want your audience to remember
• attract and retain audience attention
• deal with questions from the audience
This new edition contains several additional features, including stimulating factoids and discussion points both for self-study and in-class use. New chapters also cover:
• interacting successfully with non-native audiences
• posters
EAP teachers will find this book to be a great source of tips for training students, and for preparing both instructive and entertaining lessons.
Other books in the series cover: writing research papers; English grammar, usage, and style; academic correspondence; interacting on campus; plus exercises books and a teacher's guide.
Please visit http://www.springer.com/series/13913 for a full list of titles in the series.
Adrian Wallwork is the author of more than 30 ELT and EAP textbooks. He has trained several thousand PhD students and academics from 35 countries to write research papers, prepare presentations, and communicate with editors, referees and fellow researchers.
How is the task of giving a presentation accomplished? In this insightful book Johanna Rendle-Short unpacks this seemingly simple task to show the complexity that underlies it. Examining the academic presentation as a case in point, she details how seminar presenters interact with the audience and objects around them to produce a coherent whole. Through detailed examination of talk-in-interaction the book throws light on one instance of talk as situated practice, demonstrating both the ordinariness of the academic presentation, and its intricate complexity. While audience members recognize that a seminar is underway, this book shows how this recognition comes about. The Academic Presentation will greatly interest scholars of talk and interaction analysis, situated talk, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis.
This is the first comprehensive account of the Appraisal Framework. The underlying linguistic theory is explained and justified, and the application of this flexible tool, which has been applied to a wide variety of text and discourse analysis issues, is demonstrated throughout by sample text analyses from a range of registers, genres and fields.
Why do poor and minority students under-perform in school? Do computer games help or hinder learning? What can new research in psychology teach our educational policy-makers?
The aim of this paper is to introduce four areas of pedagogical importance for English for Specific Purposes (ESP), particularly in terms of training for oral performances. These are: 1) transitional phrases 2) opening / closing gambits 3) strategic competence in dynamic speech events and 4) academic and formulaic lexical phrases. These four areas were selected after comparing discrete features of both effective and less effective English performances by non-native Englishspeaking medical professionals observed at international medical conferences held in Asia. The results of this field study suggest that specialist terminology is not an area that demands explicit pedagogical addressing and that absolute formal accuracy in English speech is not a decisive factor in performance efficacy for professionals within the Asian region. The resulting suggestions should help ESP teachers prioritize lesson contents to enable learners to deliver more effective oral performances within their respective professional and academic discourse communities.
Every time a student sits down to write for us, he has to invent the university for the occasion — invent the university, that is, or a branch of it, like history or anthropology or economics or English. The student has to learn to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our community. Or perhaps I should say the various discourses of our community, since it is in the nature of a liberal arts education that a student, after the first year or two, must learn to try on a variety of voices and interpretive schemes — to write, for example, as a literary critic one day and as an experimental psychologist the next; to work within fields where the rules governing the presentation of examples or the development of an argument are both distinct and, even to a professional mysterious.
This study is based on a corpus of taped recordings of scientific conference proceedings on similar topics held in English in various parts of the world. The purpose of the project was to analyse the linguistic realisations of persuasive rhetoric, solidarity and dispute, especially in the question and answer sessions following the talks. In cases which were not clear to the language specialist, subject specialist informants were consulted to interpret data. The analysis shows how the language of these events, while generally constrained by expected conventions of politeness and a sense of belonging to the same scientific community, can at times degenerate from argumentation to argument, when underlying disputes are brought out into the open. Disputes range from cautious disagreement to outright conflict in a few cases. There are many samples of indirect language and veiled criticism as well as instances of overt controversy.
There have been considerable recent demographic shifts in the use of English worldwide. English is now undoubtedly(and particularly) an international lingua franca, a lingua mundi. The sociolinguistic reality of English language use worldwide, and its implications, continue to be hotly contested. Plenty of research has questioned, for example, the ownership of English, but less attention has been paid to the linguistic consequences of the escalating role English plays. This is one of the first books to provide a detailed and comprehensive account of recent empirical findings in the field of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Dewey and Cogo analyze and interpret their own large corpus of naturally occurring spoken interactions and focus on identifying innovative developments in the pragmatics and lexicogrammar of speakers engaged in ELF talk. Dewey and Cogo's work makes a substantial contribution to the emerging field of empirical ELF studies. As well as this practical focus, this book looks at both pragmatic and lexicogrammatical issues and highlights their interrelationship. In showcasing the underlying processes involved in the emergence of innovative patterns of language use, this book will be of great interest to advanced students and academics working in applied linguistics, ELF, sociolinguistics, and corpus linguistics.
Metadiscourse in the argument presented here is based on a view of communication as social engagement and in academic contexts reveals the ways writers project themselves into their discourse to signal their understandings of their material and their audience. In this paper I explore how advanced second language writers deploy these resources in a corpus of 240 doctoral and masters dissertations totalling four million words. The analysis suggests that writers use language to offer a credible representation of themselves and their work in different fields, and thus how metadiscourse can be seen as a means of uncovering something of the rhetorical and social distinctiveness of disciplinary communities.
The teaching of presentation skills in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) style classes is increasing in Japan since the skills being developed are important in both the educational setting and the professional workplace. This paper describes the development of a presentation course for graduate students from the faculty of Science and Engineering at Saga University. The author suggests that using an Experiential Language Learning approach to develop effective scientific presentations skills in English is a viable method to use, particularly with students who have poor English skills. After first defining ESP, the paper provides a brief description of the students the class was developed for and discusses then the development and justification of the course's goals and learning objectives. The author then explains how the course was designed in a scaffolded manner to become progressively more complex through the utilization of teacher modeling followed by a considerable amount cyclical practice done by the students. The paper will then discuss how the course materials were developed in the form of a class textbook and finally conclude by contending that the course is effective in developing low-level Science and Engineering Gratduate students' English scientific presentation skills and that the course could easily be adapted to meet the needs of students from other faculties as well.
Douglas Biber is Regents' Professor of English (Applied Linguistics Program) at Northern Arizona University. His research has focused on register variation, English grammar, and corpus linguistics. His books include Variation Across Speech and Writing (Cambridge University Press, 1988), Dimensions of Register Variation: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison (Cambridge University Press, 1995), and the coauthored or coedited volumes Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use (Cambridge University Press, 1998), The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Longman/Pearson, 1999), and Multi-Dimensional Studies of Register Variation in English (Pearson, 2001).
This article describes the development and evaluation of a new academic word list (Coxhead, 1998), which was compiled from a corpus of 3.5 million running words of written academic text by examining the range and frequency of words outside the first 2,000 most frequently occurring words of English, as described by West (1953). The AWL contains 570 word families that account for approximately 10.0% of the total words (tokens) in academic texts but only 1.4% of the total words in a fiction collection of the same size. This difference in coverage provides evidence that the list contains predominantly academic words. By highlighting the words that university students meet in a wide range of academic texts, the AWL shows learners with academic goals which words are most worth studying. The list also provides a useful basis for further research into the nature of academic vocabulary.
This article serves as the introduction to the special-topic issue of the TESOL Quarterly on Language and Identity. In the first section, I discuss my interest in language and identity, drawing on theorists who have been influential in my work. A short vignette illustrates the significant relationship among identity, language learning, and classroom teaching. In the second section, I examine the five articles in the issue, highlighting notable similarities and differences in conceptions of identity. I note, in particular, the different ways in which the authors frame identity: social identity, sociocultural identity, voice, cultural identity, and ethnic identity. I explore these differences with reference to the particular disciplines and research traditions of the authors and the different emphases of their research projects. In the final section, I draw on the issue as a whole to address a prevalent theme in many of the contributions: the ownership of English internationally. The central question addressed is the extent to which English belongs to White native speakers of standard English or to all the people who speak it, irrespective of linguistic and sociocultural history. I conclude with the hope that the issue will help address the current fragmentation in the literature on the relationship between language and identity and encourage further debate and research on a thought-provoking and important topic.Just as, at the level of relations between groups, a language is worth what those who speak it are worth, so too, at the level of interactions between individuals, speech always owes a major part of its value to the value of the person who utters it. (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 652)
The major role of English in Asia today is as a lingua franca. English is the de facto lingua franca of the grouping of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and with the signing of the ASEAN Charter in February 2009 assumed official status as the sole working language of ASEAN. English is also the working language of the extended grouping known as ASEAN + 3, which includes the ten states of ASEAN plus China, Japan and Korea. To date, however, little research has been done into English as a lingua franca in Asia. In this article I shall describe the Asian Corpus of English (ACE) project in which a number of teams across East and Southeast Asia are collaborating. Our aim is to compile a million-word corpus of naturally occurring, spoken, interactive English being used as a lingua franca in Asia. A team led by Professor Seidlhofer of the University of Vienna has just completed the VOICE corpus, a million-word corpus of European ELF. The Asian ELF team will ensure, as far as possible, that the Asian corpus is comparable with the VOICE corpus, in order to enable researchers to compare the features and use of Asian ELF with those of European ELF.
This article reports on a qualitative multiple case study that explored the academic discourse socialization experiences of L2 learners in a Canadian university. Grounded in the notion of “community of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 89), the study examined how L2 learners negotiated their participation and membership in their new L2 classroom communities, particularly in open-ended class discussions. The participants included 6 female graduate students from Japan and 10 of their course instructors. Student self-reports, interviews, and classroom observations were collected over an entire academic year to provide an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the students' perspectives about their class participation across the curriculum. Three case studies illustrate that students faced a major challenge in negotiating competence, identities, and power relations, which was necessary for them to participate and be recognized as legitimate and competent members of their classroom communities. The students also attempted to shape their own learning and participation by exercising their personal agency and actively negotiating their positionalities, which were locally constructed in a given classroom. Implications for classroom practices and future research are also discussed.