EXTRAACTIVITYO

ONPRAGMA
ATICCOMP
PETENCE

Pragmaticccompeten ceunderpin
nsourabilitty
touselang
guageapproopriatelyto
ofulfil
particularfunctions,fforexample
e,greeting,
leavetakin
ng,request ing,thankin
ng.Itisalso
relatedtoourabilityttoadaptthelanguage
ntcommuniicativesituaations.Thesse
todifferen
situationsaredeterm
minedbyvarriableslike
therelatio
onshipbetw
weentheintterlocutors
(youdontttalktoacl osefriendiinthesamee
wayyouta
alktoasmaallchildoryyourboss),
thelocatio
on(youdonntusethessame
languageinafootballlstadiumorata
funeral),e
etc.

Youmayh
havesocial, butalsopu
urpose
constraints(youmay havetopersuadeor
influenceyyouraudiennceinaparticular
direction),,timeconsttraints(youmayonly
haveasmallamount oftimetocconveya
message),spaceconsstraints(classifiedads,
forexample,onlylet youuseaspecific
amountoffcharacterss).

Herewearegoingto seethegen
neral
principlesofanefficieentpresenttationusingg
PowerPoint.Letusb uildatypicalscenario
ntationis
wherethepurposeoffthepresen
justtoinfo
ormofaparrticularworrk,plan,
research,iidea,etc.
Twotypesofconstraiintsareexp
pected:timee
(say,twentyminutes tohalfanh
hour)and
space(slid
desmustco ntainthem
maximum
informatio
oninasfew
wwordsasp
possible).


Thisdeterminestheddesignofthestructure
ofyourpre
esentation::

Titlepage,whhereyoumaayinclude
the
enameofthhecompanyand/orthe
nam
meofthes peaker,aco
ontact
add
dress(whicchisboundtobe
ele
ectronictheesedays)andalogo
(vissualimpacttisamust).

Introduction.TTrytoworkkinatop
botttomway.YYouraudien
ncewill
app
preciateattableofcontentsor
sum
mmaryofthhekeypointstofollow
w
you
urpresentaationbetter.Hereyou
sho
ouldmotivaatethetopic(emphasizze
itsimportancee,etc.)andprovideyou
ur
aud
diencewithhalltheneccessary
bacckgroundtoounderstan
ndthe
significanceoffyourforth
hcoming
information.
Corecontent.

Conclusions.

Inthissam
mpletheInt roductioncconsistsof
thefollowingpoints:

Goalofthewoorkwhichisssubjectof
the
epresentatiion.
Contextinwhhichtheworrkhas
evo
olved.


Attheinfo
ormationalllevel,alwayysmovefrom
toptobottomandfroomgeneraltospecific
or
sothatyouraudiencee/readersarenotlosto
confused.Informationnanddatamustflow
smoothlya
andlogicallyy.

Inmanyprresentationnsitmaybeadequatetto
startwithafewkeyw
workingdeffinitionsso
thateveryybodyrefersstothesam
methingsbyy
thesametterms.

Whenpossibleitisalssogoodtoinclude
numericalinformatio nsinceitispowerful,
especiallyifaccompa niedbygraphs,pie
charts,etcc.thatarebbothnumericaland
visual.

Inorderto
obebothinnformativeaandvisual,
thenumbe
erofwords
soneachslideisvery
reducedandthelayooutofthepaaragraphsiss
typicallyve
ertical.Theyyconsistofffew,short
andsimple
esentencessandbulletpointlists.

Becauseoftheneedttoeconomizetime,thee
informatio
onisallperttinentandp
precisely
expressed.

Becauseoftheneedttoeconomizespace
(thesizeoftheslides andthene
eedtoread
themfrom
mquiteadisstance),the
elanguageo
of
presentationsisratheertelegraph
hic.


Themainffeaturesof telegraphicclanguage
arethefolllowing:

Dra
asticreducttionoffunctionwords
(articles,auxil iaries,etc.)andwords
witthlittlemeaaningthatccanbeeasilyy
gue
essedfrom thecontext(likethe
verrbtobe).

Wideuseofsyymbolslike(to
ind
dicatecorreespondence),&(for
and
d),etc.

nd
Wideuseofaccronymsan
abb
breviations,,especiallyforlong
advverbs(esp. forespecially,inc.for
inccluding,vs.fforversus,e
etc.).

Allthisme
eansthatm anysentencesinpoweer
pointpresentationsw
wouldnotbeacceptable
instandardEnglish!

Nowenjoyyreadingthhispowerpo
oint
presentationonprofeessionalSin
nglish(the
Englishvariantspoke ninSingapo
ore).

Ifyouhave
edifficultiessunderstan
nding
something
g,youmayggototheKe
eysforthe
extraactivvityonpraggmaticcomp
petence,
whereyou
ucanfindthhefulltexttthat
correspondstothisp resentation
n.


Nowitisyyourturn.P retendanu
umberofyo
ou
atworkha
avebeenreequestedtoplanatwo
dayvisitto
oMadridoffagroupoff potential
Asianclien
nts.

Youallhavvetoprepa reapowerpoint
presentationforyourrsuperiorsw
withthefulll
schedule:frompickinngthemupfromthe
airporttogivingthem
maliftbacktothe
airport.

Notethatthetelegra phiclanguaageof
schedulescoincidesw
withthetele
egraphic
ofpowerpoointpresenttations.
languageo

Thinkofalllthethingssthatarere
equired:

Givvingthemli ftsfortranssportation
bettweentheirrhotelandyour
wo
orkplace.
Divvidethetim
meoftheirstayin
rea
asonablewoorkingsessiions.

Lea
aveshortpeeriodsoftim
mefreefor
cofffeeandmeealpauses.
Org
ganizesomeeinstitution
nalactivitiees
(forexample, areception
natthe
ChamberofCoommerce)
Org
ganizesomeeleisureacctivities
(sig
ghtseeing,aaminibusto
ourof
Ma
adrid,etc.).

The
eideaisthaat,afteryou
ur
pre
esentationss,yoursupe
eriorswill
selectonlyon etobeimp
plemented!