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http://jurnal.fkip-uwgm.ac.id/index.php/Script
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No.1
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN 2477-1880, E-ISSN 2502-6623
Received: March 2019
Accepted: April 2019
Published: April 2019
Article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24903/sj.v4i1.277
Poster Presentation: Undergraduate EFL Student’s Experience
Ratu Sarah Pujasari
Siliwangi University
ratusarah@unsil.ac.id
Abstract
This article briefly reports student’s experience on the use of Poster Presentation in an
Indonesian EFL classroom. Its focus is to share the activities, to recognize student’s
perspectives framing it and identify the benefit of Poster Presentation. Participants included
a class of thirty-five, 1st-year English Education department in one of universities in
Tasikmalaya, west java Indonesia; 23 females and 12 males. The findings revealed that most
of the students demonstrated positive vibe and were satisfied toward using Poster
Presentation activities; enjoying group poster preparation, stimulating good personal
presentation, fostering student’s activeness and creativity and they reported a desire to
engage in similar practices in the future.
Keywords: Poster Presentation, student’s experience, EFL.
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No. 1
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INTRODUCTION
Teaching English in EFL classroom is fascinating and challenging. Teacher needs
appropriate method or platform and bring those cases into attractive teaching learning
process. In fact, students do not use English in their daily communication but they required
mastering it properly in this millennial era. As a teacher, we should find out the effective
ways how our students can reach the goal in learning English. Many researchers find that feel
of anxiety is the obstacle that faced by the students. This psychological aspect occurs
normally because there are pressure and awkward feeling when they should speak in foreign
language, English.
A classroom activity such as a poster presentation pushes students to use the target
language for real-life situations. It will help students adapt the language easily. “This
communication stresses message conveyance over linguistic accuracy” (Ellis, 2003). People
learn language not by making the language the object of study, but rather, “experiencing it as
a medium of communication” (Long & Robinson, 1998, p. 18) in the context of “real
operating conditions” (Johnson, 1988, p. 94). Furthermore, (Vujakovic, 1995) summaries that
posters allow for independent learning and for students to develop both research and creative
abilities.
The Benefit of Poster Presentation
Posters are technically simple, which eliminates the potential for technical mistake
that can plague some activities of presentations. Lane (2001) notes that presenters find poster
presentations less daunting and formal than conventional speeches, while allowing for a
smoother two-way transfer of information. Compared to prepared speeches, the immediate
focus of attention is on the display rather than the presenter. And also Ford (1999) argues
that learners tend to become “unduly preoccupied with trying to memorize individual
speeches” (p. 41). This is avoided in poster presentations since the poster serves as a speaking
prompt. In a comparative survey done by Lane (2001), teachers and students showed a
preference for poster presentations over standard presentations. Students rated the poster
presentations higher for “communication with audience,” “not reading,” “modifying the
presentation while giving it,” and “general enjoyment.” The widest gap was in “ability to
understand each other’ presentation,” with posters rating 3.91 on a 5-point Likert scale, while
standard presentations rated 3.21 (p. 894), demonstrating that poster presentations were more
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Poster Presentation: Undergraduate EFL Student’s Experience
Ratu Sarah Pujasari
easily understood than standard presentations. From those statements, we can see that poster
presentation has positive impact for students in doing presentation.
This study explores on students’ experience in how poster presentation affect
students’ effectiveness in learning English. This media usually uses as a tool for research
presentation in many conferences. In this case, the teacher uses the media in the classroom to
explore and exposure the student’s confidence and ability in speaking English.
Literature Review
Poster presentation is one of the interesting media which can be used in the teaching
learning activities. It triggers student speaking ability in spontaneous interaction in the
classroom. The milieu of a poster presentation facilitates spontaneous interaction between the
poster presenter and colleagues in a relaxed setting. (Moneyham, L., Ura, D., Ellwood, S., &
Bruno, B. 1996. p.1)
A poster is simply a static, visual medium (usually of the paper and board variety) that
you use to communicate ideas and messages. The difference between poster and oral
presentations is that you should let your poster do most of the “talking”; that is, the material
presented should convey the essence of your message (Tham , 1997).
Swales and Feak (2000) say it can be interesting and challenging hybrid, difficult to
do well. It is expected to stand alone and speak for itself (unlike an oral presentation), but
with severely restricted word counts, bounded by its single page format (unlike a research
article). Yet it is treated as “a poor country cousin” to oral presentations. (p.81)
Some relevance studies reported that Poster Presentation bring positive atmospheres
on learning process to the students. Tanner and Chapman (2012) said “teachers observed a
high level of interest and participation. When one of the presentations continued after class
time was officially over, not one student attempted to leave early. Another benefit was that
the project allowed students to work at their own level, which provided a special challenge to
the most ambitious students, while setting a bar of competency to the less motivated
students.” Other stated that “using poster presentations facilitated learning and teaching since
it gave learners a chance to put theory into practice. Poster presentations helped learners work
collaboratively in groups, overcome anxiety and gain more self-confidence while presenting.
In addition to this, poster presentations improved creativity, promoted learner autonomy, and
inspired learners for their future teaching career (Ozturk, 2017).
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No. 1
54
The Activities
Poster presentation done by the students in English Class. There are several activities
done by the students. Brownlie’s (2007) notes there are numerous ’how-to’ guides available
for poster presentations. There are common themes that occur repeatedly, including:
1. Developing a short, large, results-oriented title to convey results and attract attention.
2. Using visual elements to tell your story: photographs, graphs, and drawings.
3. Minimizing text, using just enough to provide context and explain your visual
elements and conclusions.
4. Maintaining a large, easy-to-read font throughout the poster.
5. Using appropriate headings to organize your poster and guide viewers.
6. Keeping your poster bright, colorful, and uncluttered.
7. Being prepared to speak about your poster.
8. Making sure you are with your poster during your assigned time.
9. Preparing a summary handout that people can take with them.
METHODOLOGY
Participants
Participants included a class of thirty-five, 1st year English Education department in
one of universities in Tasikmalaya, west java Indonesia; 23 females and 12 males. Based on
students’ interview, this is first time for them using poster presentation in the classroom.
Procedures
The students conducted the assignment in group of 4 until 5 students. There were 2
roles in the presentation, as the presenter and the visitor. They did several activities and rules
about poster presentation that should be done in the classroom:
Instructions
In this session the teacher asks the students to divide into group of 4 until 5. The
group decides the themes of the topic for their presentation (in this case the topic relate to
Hotel and flight reservations (e.g. reserving, confirming or cancelling). Furthermore, every
group has 20 minutes to present the poster presentation then the group made their poster
outside the classroom (they should prepare it before the class and presentation begin). In
preparing the poster, they are free to create, modify and post picture or any kind of
information which they need for their poster and also the teacher suggests the students to
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Poster Presentation: Undergraduate EFL Student’s Experience
Ratu Sarah Pujasari
follow Brownlie’s (2007) rules about ’how-to’ guides available for poster presentations. Less
sentences more diagrams, picture, clues, idioms etc are also advised by the teacher the last
but not least speak clearly is the part of best performance.
The presenters
The students who have role as presenters should follow this steps, first, each presenter
has 3-5 minutes to present their topic in shift (if the times over they must finish it). Second,
each presenter focus on their part for their presentation. Third, the group should give
conclusion for their presentation before the session end. The last the group only gives 3
questions for all visitors which relate to their topic of the presentation.
The visitors
The students who take part as the visitor listens and writes the information given by
each presenter. After the session, the visitor may ask questions. The visitor only allowed to
ask one question.
Student’s Presentation Using Poster Presentation
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No. 1
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Student’s Perspective Framing Poster Presentation
In doing poster presentation for the first time, students say that this project is very
challenging. They must prepare everything for the first time before they do the presentation.
The project has some benefits but sometimes they find complicated moment when they were
arguing with their friend. Those activities challenged them to create good atmosphere in how
they divided the tasks, arranged, found the stuffs to made various poster related to the theme
and finally they should prepare how to perform they presentation.
The activities offered several tasks in how they learn how to build cooperation and
harmony in doing the project. Good Collaboration and rehearsal before doing the presentation
prepared them to do excellent presentation in the classroom. The groups felt satisfy toward
their presentation. They followed the instructions and they enjoyed the activities and eager to
do same activities in the future.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings
The findings revealed that most of the students demonstrated positive vibe and were
satisfied toward using Poster Presentation activities, here are the list of students’ perception
about their experience in doing the project of Poster Presentation:
Table 1: Data of Students enjoying group poster preparation
R1
“I really excited doing my presentation … it’s challenging but I enjoy it”
R2
‘It’s really great experience, I learned how to speak English better through Poster
Presentation “
R3
“It was joyful to do this poster presentation …. I got new experience”
R4
“I was motivated to do the poster presentation with my group “
R5
“I felt enthusiastic … I did it with my group”
R6
“ … when we did the project, we enjoy the process of making the poster…”
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Poster Presentation: Undergraduate EFL Student’s Experience
Ratu Sarah Pujasari
R7
“ I was not good in speaking English but the poster make me easy to say what I want
to say ehehehhe …… and I like the project”
R8
“I like doing the project …. while making the poster and when we shared the
information“
R9
“ … we had argue for the picture on the poster but finally we made it … and the poster
help me remember the things I must inform to my visitor..”
R10
“ I could work together with my friend ,, it was enjoyable “
Table 2: Data stimulating good personal presentation
R1
“ the poster helps me practice the presentation better…”
R2
“the poster helps me when I forget the topic ….”
R3
“… and the poster help me remember the things I must inform to my visitor..”
R4
“ they think I was good on it ahahha…”
R5
“…………I learned how to speak English better through Poster Presentation “
R6
“ some of my friends help me … they corrected me when I said wrong things in
practice session… yeah they said I did it”
R7
“ I was not good in speaking English but the poster make me easy to say what I want
to say…….”
R8
“ I like the way I do my presentation”
R9
“….. my friends said my performance was good “
R10
“ ….. the activities are so fun .. and I confidence to do presentation because we do
practice before present it at the classroom”
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No. 1
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Table 3: Data fostering student’s activeness and creativity
R1
“Doing Poster Presentation with my friends booster our creativity …we did the
activities together…we share everything together…”
R2
“…yeah .. I thought this project make me and my friend close each other’s .. we
become active outside and we confidence in doing presentation…”
R3
“ Poster Presentation make our group become creative and active we found out the
sources together…..we look for the picture and information about our topic from the
media and the internet…”
R4
“… I joined the group and share the job and I like being active when my friends ask
me to do my part…”
R5
“ …this project make me active and confidence in doing presentation”
R6
“…. My group is very creative, we made the poster from many sources internet,
magazine , etc and we arrange it together…”
R7
“Its awesome .. I do it fun with my friend and we are excited doing poster presentation
“
R8
“ I do love to share the information to my visitor .. its cool “
R9
“ we are satisfied with our poster .. I think my group is the best .. my visitor said we
are so creative “
R10
“ Poster presentation made us creative and active inside and outside the
classroom…and I become close with my friends..”
Table 4: Data Students reported a desire to engage in similar practices in the future
R1
“I think this project was significant for me. I hope to do it again.”
R2
“ hopefully we can do this project again in the future ….”
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Poster Presentation: Undergraduate EFL Student’s Experience
Ratu Sarah Pujasari
R3
“…… Poster Presentation helps me to say what I want to say when I see the picture
and the key words .. honestly my English is not good, bu I enjoy the project and I want
to do it again eheheh…”
R4
“uhmmm….. yes I want to do it again,, although sometimes we are arguing about the
topic, but that”s made us close…”
R5
“please …do it again ibuu…”
R6
“..We love the project…I hope we can try this in other subject, it help me remember
what I want to say..but I think the time must be long ahahah…”
R7
“ I love poster presentation … doing project is fun, I want to try this again…”
R8
“ Lets; try it in others topic mom, I like the project..”
R9
“ I love the subject and I love the project poster presentation and I love my friends and
I want to do it again”
R10
“ I felt tired to do this preparation but I and my group were proud because finally we
did it and made the poster and present it front of our friends .. yeah even I felt tired but
I hope we can do it again ehehhe……”
R: Respondent
Discussion
As stated in research result, Poster Presentation offers positive activities and exposes
four themes come up as students’ learning experiences, those are students enjoying group
Poster Presentation, stimulating good personal presentation, fostering students’ creativeness
and creativity and students reported a desire to engage in similar practices in the future. It can
be concluded that poster presentations help students in developing learner autonomy and
providing opportunities to transform their knowledge into practice in collaborative and
creative ways. A few difficulties faced by the students may be occurred in the learning
process, as the teacher observed the activities, the students will find their own solution to
overcome the difficulties in doing the Poster Presentation. Poster presentations also can be
Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching
P-ISSN: 2477-1880; E-ISSN: 2502-6623
April 2019, Vol. 4 No. 1
60
used in reducing performance anxiety. In addition, the performing of poster presentations in
teaching enables teachers to observer students efficiently.
CONCLUSION
Preparing the student’s presentations, student performance and feedback demonstrates
were valuable project. Instructor observed a great level of interest and participation. The
Poster presentations help the students encourage their self-confidence another benefit was
that the project allowed students to work at their own level, which provided a special
challenge to the most ambitious students, while setting a bar of competency to the less
motivated students.
Polling for awards for various “best” categories, such as finest poster, most
enthusiastic delivery, best presentation, most entertaining and others is a nice way to covering
up the project. We would highly recommend that instructors seeking a valuable project
consider poster presentations. As our student put it, “I think this project was significant for
me. I hope to do it again in the future.” Another said “I liked this project. We can train our
presentation abilities.”
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