Group: L Th Chin and Nguyn Bo Ngc

Topic: Common errors of the third - year students when presenting in Faculty Of Foreign
Languages-TNU.
INTRODUCTION
! Ra"iona#$
When we hear the sentence presentation sills! there is only one thing which comes to
our mind i.e. a person standing in front of the pro"ector and running through the
#ower#oint slides. $ut! what a%out the presentation sills of a teacher! what a%out the
presentation sills of a chef! what a%out the presentation sills of a dancer& They too!
need proper presentation sills.
#resentation sills are e'tremely essential for you to succeed professionally. (n today)s
%usiness en*ironment! the competition in the worplace is getting more competiti*e. (t is
no longer enough for you to ha*e the necessary capa%ility to do the "o%! you should also
%e a%le to tal well! write well! and present yourself attracti*ely to your superiors. What
%etter way to let other people now what you)re capa%le of than %y presenting a great
idea or a plan during a meeting. +owe*er! you need to ha*e the necessary presentation
sills to succeed in this endea*or. %esides! you need to now what are the common
mistaes when presentation and how to o*ercome them.
Nowadays! students in general! especially third - year students in Faculty Of Foreign
Languages of Thai Nguyen Uni*ersity often ha*e some common errors when presenting
such as pronunciation errors and %ody language.
,uring the presentation! you will not %e a%le to a*oid errors such as: Loss of eye
contact: looing at notes! looing at screen! at the %oard! at the floor! swaying %ac and
forth lie a pendulum! %ac turned to the audience! ner*ous tics! losing the %ody
language such as hands in pocets! stare! or loo %lanly into people-s eyes. (n
presentation! .ietnamese students often ha*e main error which is the missing the final
consonants. /any .ietnamese speaers can spea 0nglish! %ut only a few ha*e good
0nglish pronunciation! especially speaing the ending sound. (t is easy to understand why
1
ending sounds were omitted so fre2uently! %ecause in .ietnamese speaers do not ha*e
to pronounce the ending sounds.
3ll of which %rings me to the importance of presentation. (f you do not in*est in the
theater of presentation! you are asing for trou%le. 4ip presenting and you are dead e*en
if you do not now it yet. #resenting used to %e hard and e'pensi*e. 3 client new that
creating a rendering! organi5ing materials and ideas was difficult. 3lthough you could
put together a #ower#oint! printing in anything. The result is one sample! one room! one
%ig in*estment to gi*e enough of a taste of what was to come to con*ince a client to tae
the leap. 6ou need to ha*e the necessary presentation sills to succeed in this endea*or.
The most important element during a presentation is you. 6ou are the one that the
audience is concentrating on. 6ou con*ey who you are %ased on your %ody language!
your speech! and your pronunciation. 0*ery gesture! mo*ement! or e*en a facial
e'pression you use reflects your personality. 4o it is important for you to now which
gestures or mo*ements you usually do and what should %e a*oided. +owe*er! the most
important thing is for you to feel comforta%le during a presentation %ecause it is then that
you can perform at your %est.
,e*eloping presentation sills and gi*ing an effecti*e presentation is not an easy
matter. (t is said that some people are %orn with presentation sills %ut you should also
remem%er that presentation sills can %e learned. 3nd tae note that presentation sills
can %e de*eloped further when it is %eing practiced regularly so de*elop your
presentation sills and %ecome an e'pert. With the aim of finding some common errors of
student when presenting! understanding the theoretical and actual state of research issues!
%esides offer some solutions to impro*e efficiency in the process of student presentations
in general and the third - year students in Faculty Of Foreign Languages of Thai Nguyen
Uni*ersity in pri*ate.
%! Literature review
%&! L$arning '"y#$'
%&&! D$(ini"ion
7
Learning styles are *arious approaches or ways of learning. They in*ol*e educating
methods! it is a learning method that indi*iduals use to learn %est. 3 student will learn
%est if taught in a method deemed appropriate for the student-s learning style.
%&&%! )r$'$n"a"ion '"y#$
8#resentation9 is one of sills that e*ery students need! especially for those students
whose ma"or su%"ect relates to 0nglish. (n foreign countries! maing a presentation is "ust
a 8piece of cae9 that almost e*ery student can do it well. +owe*er! in .ietnam! it is
contrast. .ietnamese students tend to %e *ery wea at maing a presentation.
:ecogni5ing a%out this pro%lem! presentation! among .ietnamese students! ( will analy5e
and point out the Weaness and /istaes in maing presentation as well as show them
ways to mae it impro*e. /y analysis consists of two parts. The first is pointing out the
Weaness and /istaes! and the second is Ways to (mpro*e.
%&%! )ronuncia"ion )ro*#$+
%&%&! D$(ini"ion&
#ronunciation is the way in which we pronounce a word. (t-s how you say something.
#ronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to mae meaning and the
a%ility to use the correct stress! rhythm and intonation of a word in a spoen language. 3
word can %e spoen in different ways %y *arious indi*iduals or groups! depending on
many factors! such as: The area in which they grew up! the area in which they now li*e! if
they ha*e a speech or *oice disorder! their ethnic group! their social class! or their
education.
%&%&%! )ronuncia"ion )ro*#$+ in pr$'$n"ing&
(n presentation! .ietnamese students often ha*e main error which is the missing the
final consonants. /issing final word not only %elongs to speaers of 3sian origins whose
nati*e languages are mostly mono-sylla%ic! %ut also for other parts of the world! e*en
those who share the same language family with 0nglish! .ietnamese is not an e'ception.
The research %y +a Cam Tam ;7<<=> indicate that when 0nglish is one of the main
su%"ects at school! many schools are teaching 0nglish to their students and 0nglish clu%
can %e found popular in any cities in .ietnam! especially %ig cities. +owe*er! a lot of
foreigners ha*e said that many .ietnamese speaers can spea 0nglish! %ut only a few
ha*e good 0nglish pronunciation so that they can %e understood easily in direct
?
communication with foreigners. Of the four language sills! speaing is always seen as
the most challenging %y .ietnamese students. One reason for this is neglecting
pronunciation at school at all le*els. 3n 04L teacher in 4aigon wrote: 83s you may ha*e
wored out already! the pronunciation of .ietnamese 04L learners is not great. ( am
looing at ways to try and impro*e the pronunciation of the learners at my school.9 We
can %e easy to understand why pronunciation is a one of mistae when .ietnamese
students #resentation. +a Cam Tam also pro*ides that the pronunciation is eep role as
the production and reception of sounds of speech. The sound is important %ecause of its
utility to achie*e meaning in situation of use. 4he thins that there are two main reasons
to mae .ietnamese students are *ery difficult in speaing 0nglish. The first reason is
that the 0nglish sound items ha*e a lot of sounds foreign to .ietnamese learners.
4econdly! (n .ietnamese language the ending sounds are not important %ut they are *ery
necessary and important in 0nglish. (t is *ery difficult for .ietnamese speaers can
pronounce 0nglish ending sounds is completely.
(t is easy to understand why ending sounds were omitted so fre2uently! %ecause in
.ietnamese speaers do not ha*e to pronounce the ending sounds. The writer thins that
we must understand more clearly a%out origin of the pro%lem in order to sol*e these
mistaes in pronunciation of .ietnamese speaer. Tran ;7<<=> stated that 8.ietnamese
phonology seems to %e more complicated than 0nglish! %ut in the long run! this system
%ecomes simpler and more ac2uisiti*e than 0nglish9.
Tran ;7<<=> added that 8 it may tae a non - nati*e speaer of .ietnamese two months
to learn .ietnamese phonology profoundly! and then he can surely %e a%le to pronounce
any .ietnamese word! whilst $ritish or 3merican people during their whole life ha*e to
learn how to pronounce new word with a lot of support from dictionaries9.
(n the research named ,ifficulties for .ietnamese when pronouncing 0nglish final
consonants! Nguyen Thu Thao ;7<<@> also %elie*es that the reason why .ietnamese
learners are missed in ending sounds is the different %etween .ietnamese phonology and
0nglish. 6ule ;7<<A> states 8The %asic structure of the ind of sylla%le found in 3n
0nglish word BCD is shown in the accompanying diagram9:
E
This is really show that sylla%ic structure of 0nglish is ;C> ;C> ;C> . ;C> ;C> ;C> ;C>.
3lmost e*ery 0nglish consonant appears ending word! e'cept for FhF! FwF and F"F. /issing
final word not only %elongs to speaers of 3sian origins whose nati*e languages are
mostly mono-sylla%ic! %ut also for other parts of the world! e*en those who share the
same language family with 0nglish! .ietnamese is not an e'ception.
%&%&,! -o#u"ion
3fter ha*ing conducted research a%out #ronunciation #ro%lems of #:e 4tudents! Laina
+o ;1GG7> concludes that the way helps #:e 4tudents to reduce the #ronunciation
#ro%lems! is %eginning with pronunciation sills. #ronunciation teaching strategies will
change depending on the ind of students we ha*e! %ut teachers indicated that some of
the strategies may %e useful. Teacher should teach placement of tongue! lips! teethCfor
students. #ro*iding self-access to listening tapes! e'ercises in tongue-twisters! articulation
e'ercises using funny poems! children-s rhythms H rhymes are the helpful ways. The
students or learners should listen to the radio! for e'ample! watch Film with 0nglish
su%titles.
%&,! Body #anguag$
%&,&! D$(ini"ion o( Body #anguag$
$ody language is a physical a%ility of human non-*er%al communication! which
consists of eye contact! hand gestures and so on.
=
Syllable
On'$"
Rhy+$
Nuc#$u' Coda
Con'onan"
.'/
0o1$#
Con'onan" .')
Iames $org ;7<<J> states that human communication consists of G? percent %ody
language and paralinguistic cues! while only @ percent of communication consists of
words themsel*esK howe*er! 3l%ert /ehra%ian ;7<<G>! the researcher whose 1GA<s wor
is the source of these statistics! has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings
;see /isinterpretation of /ehra%ian-s rule>. Others assert that L:esearch has suggested
that %etween A< and @< percent of all meaning is deri*ed from non*er%al %eha*ior.L
$ody language may pro*ide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For
e'ample! it may indicate aggression! attenti*eness! %oredom! rela'ed state! pleasure!
amusement! and into'ication! among many other cues.
%&,&%! -o+$ co++on $rror' 1h$n pr$'$n"a"ion and 'o#u"ion
$ody language is useful %ecause (t is a natural part of communication: To clarify
meaningK it is *ery *isual! to *ent ner*ousness! to maintain interest! to emphasi5e and
regulate. $ut during the presentation! you will not %e a%le to a*oid errors. The research
%y Chirag Mhewande ;7<<G> indicates that too much eye contact may %e interpreted as
communicating superiority! lac of respect! threat! or a wish to insult. Too little eye
contact may mean not paying attention! %eing impolite! insincere or "ust plain shy.
Withdrawing eye contact could imply su%mission. #eople will communicate with each
other more effecti*ely if their interaction contains the amount of eye contact they %oth
find appropriate for the situation. When it is lacing! communication %ecomes
uncomforta%le and it is easy to get a wrong impression of things. ,uring presentations! if
one loos at the flip chart or screen for too long! rapport with the audience is lost. 0ye
contact is the most effecti*e presentation sill to reduce your ner*ousness.
Communicators who use eye-contact effecti*ely! are seen as persuasi*e! sincere! credi%le!
silled! informed! honest and friendly. +owe*er! one should a*oid more eye contact with
those one lies or loo at those one nows in the audience. (n addition the results from
the research of Chirag Mhewande ;7<<G> indicate that people will communicate with each
other more effecti*ely if their interaction contains the amount of eye contact they %oth
find appropriate for the situation. (n addition to a*oid those eye contact! The research %y
4heri Iea*ons ;7<<G> indicates that the %est way for you to implement eye contact is to
connect with one person for a sustained thought. That would %e from the %eginning of a
A
sentence! until there-s punctuation lie a comma or a period. When finish the sentence!
the presenter will want to mo*e eyes to another person and repeat the process.
+olding eye contact is the %est way to:
1. Mather your thoughts
7. Thin clearly
?. :emem%er what to say
0ye contact is the num%er one effecti*e communication sill. The goal is to connect with
indi*iduals in the room. Whether there are 1< people! 1<< people! or ?<< people! the
presenter ha*e got to ha*e eye%all to eye%all connection with indi*iduals in the room.
/aing eye contact with indi*iduals in the room sol*es a lot of pro%lems. (t-s going to
slow your speaing pace down! reduce non-words! and help you maintain your train of
thought.
Mesture is a hand mo*ement that is as much a part of language as speech. 4peech and
gesture are one system. 4o! when you-re presenting at the front of the room with your
hands resting limp at your sides! you-re diminishing your listeners- a%ility to appreciate
your ideas. 4o how do you gesture& 3nd how do you mae it %oth effecti*e and natural&
Mestures need to arise from the content of tal and fit %oth the circumstance and your
own personal style. +owe*er! they also need to %e effecti*e. There are some core
guidelines to deli*ering effecti*e gestures. What feels natural or comforta%le is not
always what wors. /any people gesture during a group presentation the same way they
do when they-re taling one-on-one. This is their accustomed ha%it so it feels
comforta%le. Try doing what feels LnaturalL and then mae it %igger.
:eferring to hand gestures! Iyotiath"u ;7<<G> indicate that palms slightly up and
outward is seen as open and friendly. #alm down gestures are generally seen as dominant!
emphasi5ing and possi%ly aggressi*e! especially when there is no mo*ement or %ending
%etween the wrist and the forearm. This palm up! palm down is *ery important when it
comes to handshaing and where appropriate we suggest you always offer a handshae
upright and *ertical! which should con*ey e2uality.
(n short! from the presented results! the future research should %e de*eloped %ases on
this %acground in different settings! with different populations.
,! 2i+' o( "h$ '"udy
@
The aims of this research is to in*estigate how to perform the presentation of students!
specifically! it focuses on:
;1> (n*estigate how to prepare presentations of students.
;7> (n*estigate how students perform their presentations.
;?> (n*estigate the common mistaes of students.
;E> Mi*ing some suggestions for students of 0nglish to perform effecti*ely in
presenting as well as in %usiness in the near future.
3! -cop$ o( "h$ '"udy
#resentation sills is *ery important for students! especially in modern life as well as on
the "o% in the future. (t demonstrates the confidence and nowledge and the creati*ity of
e*ery human %eing. Therefore! the delimitation of this study is a test consists of two
presenters. The ne't delimitation of the study is that the presenting of all pair in an
e'amination room to see what presenting in used! what are losing and what are common
mistaes when they presenting. Finally! offers some solutions to impro*e the le*el of
student presentations.
4! R$'$arch 5u$'"ion'
- Why do the third - year students in Faculty Of Foreign Languages of Thai Nguyen
Uni*ersity often ha*e some common errors when presenting &
- ,o they reali5e their mistae&
- What do they usually do to remedy that weanesses&
- +ow are effecti*eness of the solutions&
6! 7$"hodo#ogy
6&! 2pproach:
To achie*e the aims of this study! descripti*e research is helpful. (t aims to find out
more information a%out a phenomenon N some presentation e'aminations of third year
students to find some common mistae when they present and how to a*oid these
pro%lems. Often the capturing or mae *ideos and description are only true for that
moment in time %ut still help us to understand and now more a%out the phenomenon.
The description must %e repeated se*eral times and then further e'ploratory 2uestions
ased a%out the reason for its change or sta%ility.
6&%! R$'$arch +$"hodo#ogy
J
This study is designed as an action research to in*estigate some presentation sills in
e'amination of third year students in Faculty Of Foreign Languages-TNU.
3ction research is nown %y many other names! including participatory research!
colla%orati*e in2uiry! action learning! %ut all are *ariations on a theme. #ut simply! action
research is 8learning %y doing9 - a group of people identify a pro%lem! do something to
resol*e it! see how successful their efforts were! and if not satisfied! try again.
The action research can answer the 2uestion LWhat are common mistaes&L (n action
research! the aims to contri%ute %oth to the practical concerns of people in an immediate
pro%lematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously and in this
case to find some common errors and the solutions. The ey element in action research is
that mae a list of these common errors in a presentation and study from literatures or
consultant to find the ways to a*oid them.
The action research has a%o*e characteristics so it is the most suita%le research design
for my study.
6&%&! -u*8$c"'
(n order to achie*e the proposed o%"ecti*es! an e'amination room is appro'imately E=
students of third year students in Faculty Of Foreign Languages-TNU will %e selected to
participate in this research. To ensure the o%"ecti*ity of the study! the participants selected
will %e third year 0nglish ma"ors only! the other students who are neither 0nglish ma"ors
nor the ones that ha*e studied this course %efore will not %e included in this pro"ect.
6&%&%! Da"a co##$c"ion and proc$''ing
This study applies to the third year students in Faculty Of Foreign Languages-TNU. To
ensure the o%"ecti*ity of the study! the participants selected will %e third year 0nglish
ma"ors only! the other students who are neither 0nglish ma"ors nor the ones that ha*e
studied this course %efore will not %e included in this pro"ect. To ha*e the %est research
results! we selected a final e'am of 0nglish Oral #resentation. Characteristics of these
su%"ects were two students will choose one from fi*e topic which their teacher gi*en and
presentations a%out that topic. so the tass of researcher are to e'plore fi*e topics and
pro*ide assessment framewor for each topic. (n this study! we did not focus on
e*aluating the content of each presentation! %ut will focus on presentation sills of each
student. The presentation process will %e o%ser*ed and recorded carefully to analyse:
G
Oral #resentation :u%ric
E ? 7 1
NON09RB2L
060 CONT3CT +olds
attention of
entire audience
with the use of
direct eye
contact!
seldom
looing at
notes.
Consistent use
of direct eye
contact with
audience! %ut
still returns to
notes.
,isplayed
minimal eye
contact with
audience!
while reading
mostly from
the notes.
No eye contact
with audience!
as entire report
is read from
notes.
$O,6
L3NMU3M0
/o*ements
seem fluid and
help the
audience
*isuali5e.
/o*ements
seem fluid and
help the
audience
*isuali5e.
.ery little
mo*ement or
descripti*e
gestures.
No mo*ement
or descripti*e
gestures.
Verbal
Pronunciation /issing final
words: 5! s! t!
*! s!
/issing
medial words:
l! ! r! s! i! ei!

4ound
confusion
4ound
redundancy
%asing on the ta%le to e*aluate the presentation of students:
No. Full name topic NON.0:$3L
4O(LL4 ;%ody
language>
.0:$3L
4O(LL4
;pronunciation>
1
7
?
E
C.
Conclusion:
Then sum all the errors that students suffered during the process of presenting and find
out the most common errors of students. (n this case! the most mistaes are:
- $ody language: Loss of eye contact: looing at notes! looing at screen! at the
%oard! at the floor! swaying %ac and forth lie a pendulum! %ac turned to the
1<
audience! ner*ous tics! losing the %ody language such as hands in pocets! stare! or
loo %lanly into people-s eyes.
- #ronunciation: mispronunciation especial missing final words: 5! s! t! *! s! .
From the mistaes we ga*e for students and teachers a num%er of solutions as follows:
- Teacher should teach placement of tongue! lips! teeth for students.
- 4peaing slowly! speaing out loud! practicing 0nglish with some friends
- #ro*iding self-access to listening tapes! e'ercises in tongue-twisters! articulation
e'ercises using funny poems! children-s rhythms H rhymes are the helpful ways.
- The students or learners should listen to the radio! for e'ample! watch Film with
0nglish su%titles.
- Using eye contact would %e from the %eginning of a sentence! until there-s
punctuation lie a comma or a period. When finish the sentence! the presenter will
want to mo*e eyes to another person and repeat the process.
- 4hould a*oid more eye contact with those one lies or loo at those one nows in
the audience.
- #alms slightly up and outward is seen as open and friendly. #alm down gestures are
generally seen as dominant! emphasi5ing and possi%ly aggressi*e! especially when
there is no mo*ement or %ending %etween the wrist and the forearm.
:! 9;p$c"$d ou"co+$ ! -igni(icanc$ o( "h$ '"udy
This study with the aim of finding common mistaes when presenting to audiences and
to help students o*ercome those pro%lems! especially for third year students of foreign
languages of Thai Nguyen Uni*ersity. (t will %e *ery important documents for them to
impro*e presentation sills not only in uni*ersity %ut also in life as well as wor in the
future! so that this research will %e useful.
<! Li+i"a"ion':
.ietnam students suffer a lot of errors when presenting! %ut we can not study all! so we
offer some %asic errors to help students o*ercome and achie*e greater efficiency in
presentation. On the other hand! reference is limited in this topic. (f so! it is often
unrelia%le document which find out in the internet. (t is the ma"or limitation of this study.
R$($r$nc$:
11
3/0# :esearch Centre. ;7<<7! Octo%er>. Fact sheet - What is pronunciation? :etrie*ed
Octo%er ?<! 7<<1! /arch 1<! 7<17! from
http:FFwww.nceltr.m2.edu.auFpdamep
$org! $. ;7<<J>. Body Language, 18, 1?-1A.
,Png! T.N. ;7<<=>. TQm hiu ng m ting vit, !, =A-A7.
Mhewande! C. ;7<<G>. Body Language" :etrie*ed /arch 7<! 7<17! from
http:FFwww.slideshare.netFchiraghewandeF%ody-language-1A=?=EE
Iyotiath"u! ,.;7<<G>. Body Language - #resentation $ranscript" :etrie*ed 3pril 71!
7<17! from
http:FFwww.slideshare.netF"yotiath"uF%ody-language-1@?G=GA
Laina! +. ;1GG7>. #ronunciation #ro%&ems o' #(e )tudents, *! @=- JA.
/ehra%ian! 3. ;7<<G>. - Body Language, ++, 1A-71.
4heri! I. ;7<<G>. 0ye contact. #u%&ic spea,ing" Retrieved April 21, 2012, from
http:FFspeaingpu%lic.orgFtagFpresentation
Tam! +.C. ;7<<=>. -ommon pronunciation pro%&ems o' .ietnamese &earners o' /ng&ish!
10! 17-?7. RSi hTc 2uUc gia +V NWi.
Thao! N. T. T. ;4pring 7<<@>. 1i''icu&ties 'or .ietnamese 2hen pronouncing /ng&ish 'ina&
2ord, 0! ?- 1?. RSi +Tc +V NWi.
6ule! M. ;7<<A>. $he study o' &anguage, **! =@J-=GJ. Cam%ridge Uni*ersity.
17