Seminar on English Language Teaching

ENGLISH USED IN AN ACADEMIC PRESENTATION

By:
Ni Komang Julia Dewi 2012027001
Alih Kredit (6 H)

Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni
Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha
2021
 ENGLISH USED TO DO AN ACADEMIC PRESENTATION

Presentation activities are something that is sure to be done by many professions,

whether you are an employee, investor seeker, student, or student. Even presentations are
also made when you are invited to a special event to talk about things that you are already
an expert in. Presenting an academic research is something that must be done very well.
Choosing the right words or phrase can give an influence on how our material is
presented. Especially when using English, where English is not our native language. Of
course we will feel nervous, the moment if we are not practice and choose the right
language. Both for formal or informal situation according to the context. In English,
there are several choices of phrases that can be used in presenting our academic research.
Selecting some of the phrases below will give you confidence when you move from slide
to slide and topic to topic. They will also enable you to deal with unexpected situations
and with difficult questions that the audience may ask you.Here are some examples of
phrases in presentations at each of stage :

A. INTRODUCTION
This is the first part or stage of a presentation activity. Starting with opening or
creating the atmosphere and introducing yourself, topic, event to the audience. The
English used with appropriate phrase will be able to attract the attention and focus of the
audience. Here are a few examples:
1. Welcoming and greeting the audience
This is one of the important point. Where the audience is the goal of our
presentation. To make what we have discovered is known by the audience. Then by
greeting our audience, we will make them feel as a part of this presentation or having
sense of belonging.
 Good morning everyone and welcome to my presentation. First of all, let me
thank you all for coming here today.
 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honour to have the opportunity to
address such a distinguished audience.
 2. Introduce self/department/ company
Introducing yourself / company makes the audience well known about the presenter
or our self as the researcher. Basically, a brief introduction to a to-do presentation covers
only a few things. First, you have to introduce your name. Usually for employees, you
need to tell the background of the position you hold in the company. Then for investor
seekers, you should briefly introduce the product or business that you are going to create.
For college students or students, you usually need to mention your group and who the
members are (if the presentation is a group assignment). Meanwhile, if you are invited to
an event to make a presentation, you can mention your background which shows that you
are an expert in the topic.
 Let me introduce myself. I’m Julia from Ganesha University in …
 Let me start by saying just a few words about my own background. I’m a PhD
student of English Education Department Undiksha

3. Saying what your topic/title/subject is

After you have given an introduction, you are ready to begin speaking about
your topic. Inform the title or topic that will be presented. In addition, we can also reveal
what background motivated us to make the presentation or research. Before you move on
to your next point, be sure to make it clear to your audience that you’re now starting a
new topic. Let them know exactly what that new topic will be. 
 What I’d like to present to you today is...
 As you can see on the screen, our topic today is...
 The subject/focus/topic/title of my presentation/talk/speech is...
Or we can add to explaining why your topic is relevant for your audience
 Today’s topic is of particular interest to those of you who...
 My talk is particularly relevant to those of you who...
 By the end of this talk you will be familiar with...
 4. Presenting the outline/organization/structure of your presentation
It is important to create an outline before we deliver our material in a
presentation, it will guide us effectively. Many people find that organizing a speech or
presentation in outline form helps them speak more effectively in front of a a lot of people.

 I’ve divided my presentation into three main parts.

 We thought it would be useful to divide our talk into three main sections.
 We can break this area down into the following fields:...
 The subject can be looked at under the following headings:...
 We have organized this talk in the following way:...

- Giving your agenda (traditional)

 I will begin with an introduction to ...
 I will begin by giving you an overview of ...
 Then I will move on to ...
 After that I will deal with ...
 And I will conclude with ...

5. Timing
Inform the audience about how long our presentation will be delivered is
important. If we convey how long the presentation will take, the audience will certainly be
able to focus more while listening to our presentation. Especially if the time we need is not
that long. so that they will not get bored.
 This should only last 20 minutes.
 My presentation will take about 20 minutes
 It will take about 20 minutes to cover these issues.

6. Handouts
In some presentation activities, the presenter usually has provided a handout. The
handout is a summary of the topic and the presenter's explanation. or slides that are
 printed out and distributed to the audience. so that when the audience is having trouble
viewing the slides they can see the handout.
 Does everybody have a handout/brochure/copy of the report? Please take one and pass
them on.
 I’ll be handing out copies of the slides at the end of my talk.
 Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ve put all the important statistics on a handout for
you.
7. Questions
One of the things we can manage at the start is to inform the audience about how
technical the questions are. so that during the presentation activity they will have no difficulty
to ask questions if something is not understood or want to be asked about the topic or result of
the research.
 If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me at any time.
 If you don’t mind, we’ll leave questions till the end.
 There will be time for questions after my presentation.

B. BODY/ MAIN PART OF THE PRESENTATION

This part is the main stage of the presentation. Where we will inform the result of our
research. We will use some transition when moving from one topic to the next topic. This is
important to make sure that the audience is follow our speech and understand the flow of
the presentation. In the end they will be easier to get the result of the topic presented.
1. Saying what is coming
Using a transition to mention what is the topic will make the audience become ready to
listen the material . then they will more understand and know the flow of the activity.
 In this part of my presentation, I’d like to talk about...
 So, let me first give you a brief overview..
 This leads directly to my next point.
 This brings us to the next question.
 Let’s now move on to/turn to...
 2. Indicating the end of a section
Informing the end of the topic will make the audience aware. they also will ready
to the next topic
 This brings me to the end of my first point.
 That’s all I wanted to say about...

3. Summarizing a point
Summarizing will help the audience remember the point in the topic. It is also
help them more understand in a simple way to remember te result.
 Before I move on, I’d like to recap the main points.
 Let me briefly summarize the main issues.
 I’d like to summarize what I’ve said so far...

4. Going back
Sometimes we connect the topic that we present just now with the previous
explanation, that is why we use this phrase to make us explain a little bit effectively.
 As I said/mentioned earlier, ...
 Let’s go back to what we were discussing earlier.
 As I’ve already explained,...
 As I pointed out in the first section,...

5. Adding ideas / example

During the presentation we can add any ideas or information related that is not mentioned
at the slide and handout by using this phrase.
 In addition to this, I’d like to say that....
 Moreover/Furthermore, there are other interesting facts we should take a look at.
 There are many ways to do this, for example/for instance you can ...
 There are several examples of this, such as ...

6. Explaining terminology
Terminology is the science of terms and their usage. Terms are words and
combinations of words used in a particular context.

 …occupational hazards, in other words dangers which apply to certain jobs.

 What I mean by occupational hazards is dangers which apply to certain jobs
 7. Interacting with the audience
Attract the audience interaction is important to make sure they are still with us or just try
to change the situation and build connection.

 Is everyone still with me?

 Are you all following me so far?

8. Describing Visual
To present our data sometimes we need to use a chart, diagram, graph with all the
shapes (line, arrow , dots etc). then when deliver the result we shout explain with how to
say those shapes with a phrase.

- Introducing a visual
 Let’s now look at the next slide which shows...
 To illustrate this, let’s have a closer look at...
 The chart on the following slide shows...
 The problem is illustrated in the next bar chart...
 As you can see here, ...

- Explaining a visual
 First, let me quickly explain the graph.
 As the graph/table shows/indicates....
 I’d like us to focus our attention on the significance of this figure here.
 From Table 1 we can see/conclude/show/estimate/calculate/infer that...
 The chart compares...
 In this diagram, double circles mean that ... whereas black circles mean ...
 dashed lines mean ... continuous lines mean ...
 Time is represented by a dotted line.
 Dashed lines correspond to ... whereas zig-zag lines mean ...
 The thin dashed gray line indicates that ...
 These dotted curves are supposed to represent ...
 The solid curve is ...
 These horizontal arrows indicate ...
 There is a slight/gradual/sharp decrease in ...

- Highlighting information
 I’d like to stress/highlight/emphasize the following points.
 I’d also like to draw your attention to the upper half of the chart.
 I’d like to focus your attention on the underlying trend here.
C. CONCLUSION
This stage is not the last stage of the presentation. But it is the final stage of the topic where the
researcher inform what we can conlude. Here the researcher sometime inform the significance of
the research to the audience or reader.
1. Indicating the end of your presentation
 Okay, we’re very close to the end now, but there are just a couple of important
things that I still want to tell you.
 I’m now approaching/nearing the end of my presentation.
 Well, this brings me to the end of my presentation/talk.
 That completes my presentation.

2. Summarizing points
 Well that brings me to the end of the presentation. So, just to recap .
 To conclude/In conclusion, I’d like to...
 In short/In a word/In a nutshell/In brief/To sum up/To summarize,..
 Therefore/Thus/On this basis/Given this, it can be concluded/deduced/inferred
that...

3. Making recommendations

 We’d suggest...
 We therefore strongly recommend that...

4. Telling the audience where they can find further information

 I am afraid that I don’t have time to go into this in any further detail. But
you can find more information about it on this website (which is on the
back page of your handout).
 If you would like more information on this, then please feel free to email me.My
address is on the back page of the handout./My address is in the
congress notes.
D. QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
This activity is a discussion session, where the audience is freely to ask question
and opinion or share experience related with the topic that is presented. During this
activities sometime there are some part that the speaker couldnot answer, or difficult to
understand the question asked.
1. Inviting questions
This part is to attract the interaction with the audience.
 Are there any questions?
 If you have any questions, I’d be pleased to answer them.
 We just have time for a few questions.
 And now I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 Does anyone have any questions on this?
 I’d be really interested in hearing your questions on this.
[If no one asks as a question] One question I am often asked is ...

2. Handling the session

Choosing the question from crowd is sometimes difficult. Here we need to
put a quick shoot with our eyes to capture who is the first raised a hand or
mention name for asking question
 Okay, could we start with the question from the gentleman/lady at the
back. Yes, you.
 [Interrupting someone] Sorry, first could we just hear from this
woman/man at the front.

3. Clarifying questions
This use to avoid misunderstanding. We need no clarify the question
before answer it.
 I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch that.
 I’m sorry; could you repeat your question, please?
 So, if I understood you correctly, you would like to know whether...
 If I could just rephrase your question. You’d like to know...
 Let me just check that I have understood your question. You’re asking...

4. Checking whether the questioner is satisfied

After answer the question, make sure that we ask wether the audience is
agree or clear with the answer that we give.
 Does that answer your question?
 Is that clear/OK/clearer now?
 Can we go on?
 Is that the kind of information you were looking for?

5. Responses to good questions

This is a kind of feedback or visual reinforcement to the audience
 Good point.
 I’m glad you asked that/brought that up.
 That’s a very good question.
 That’s actually a question I frequently get asked.
 That’s interesting.

6. Negative responses to questions

This is a kind of feedback or visual reinforcement to the audience
 Not quite.
 Not necessarily.
 Not as a rule.
 Hopefully not.
 I don’t think/believe so.

7. Admitting you don’t know

If there is a question that is difficult to answer, or not in our major/ focus.
It is important to inform the audience.
 I’m afraid I’m not in a position to answer that question at the moment.
 I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to your question, but I’ll try to find out
for you.
 At the moment I don’t have all the facts I need to answer that question, but
if you email me I can get back to you.
 Well, I think that goes beyond the scope of my expertise/presentation.
 To be honest, I think that raises a different issue.
 I am not sure there really is a right or wrong answer to that. What I
personally believe is ...

8. Postponing questions
 If you don’t mind, I’ll deal with/come back to this point later in my
presentation.
 Can we get back to this point a bit later?
 Would you mind waiting until the question and answer session at the end?
 Perhaps we could go over this after the presentation.
 I’d prefer to answer your question in the course of my presentation.

9. Closing discussion time

Make sure there is no question anymore by asking this phrases to the
audience before end the session
 I think we have time for one more question...
 If there are no other questions, I’ll finish there. Thank you very much.
 So if there are no further questions, I guess...

10. Saying goodbye

Closing the activity is the end of the presentation, thanking the audience is
a must.
 Thank you for your attention.
 Before I stop/finish, let me just say...
 Thank you for listening.
 I hope you will have gained an insight into...
  Unless anyone has anything else to add, I think that’s it. Thanks for
coming.

E. THINGS CAN GO WRONG

In this world we only can plan something. But sometimes anything can happen out of our
control during our presentation. And this thing can distract our focus , flow of the presentation,
time etc.

1. Equipment doesn’t work

 I think the bulb must have gone on the projector. Could someone please bring
me a replacement? In the meantime let me write on the whiteboard
 The microphone/mike doesn’t seem to be working. Can everyone hear me at
the back?
 I don’t know what has happened to my laptop but the program seems to have
crashed. Please bear with me while I reboot.
 Okay, it looks as if I will have to continue my presentation without the slides.

2. You realize that a slide contains a mistake

 You know what, there’s a mistake here, it should be ...
 Sorry this figure should be 100 not 1,000.

3. Your mobile phone rings and you have to turn it off

 I’m really sorry about that. I thought I had switched it off.

4. You forget where you are in the presentation

 Where were we up to? Can anyone remind me?
 Sorry I’ve lost track of what I was saying.
 Sorry, I seem to have forgotten what I was saying.

5. If you are about to go over your allocated time

 It looks as if we are running out of time. Would it be okay if I continued for
another 10 minutes?
 I am really sorry about this. But in any case, you can find the conclusions inthe
handout.
 I will put a copy of the presentation on our website.
REFERENCES