See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/338544193

IMPROVING STUDENT ACADEMIC PRESENTATION SKILLS IN ENGLISH

THROUGH CLASSROOM PEER FEEDBACK - CASE STUDY IN THE CONTEXT OF
HIGHER EDUCATION

Article · January 2019

CITATION READS

1 1,164

1 author:

Ivana Micinova
Charles University in Prague
3 PUBLICATIONS   2 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Ivana Micinova on 12 January 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 IMPROVING STUDENT ACADEMIC PRESENTATION
SKILLS IN ENGLISH THROUGH CLASSROOM PEER
FEEDBACK –
CASE STUDY IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Ivana Mičínová

Abstract: This case study explores the impact of formative peer feedback on the development
of academic presentation skills in English among students of the humanities and social
sciences. The aim of the course project was to test an alternative format of academic
presentation, the so-called Three Minute Presentation. It mainly drew attention to traditional
beginner problems such as the lack of clarity and impact, as well as their struggle with anxiety
and controlling their oral production. The project employed elements of autonomous learning
and formative peer feedback in order to increase student engagement and enhance
opportunities for spontaneous speaking. The results indicate that this mixture of pedagogical
arrangements provides multiple ways for students to practice their presentations. Taking part
in its assessment is seen as a precursor for improving their performances, inasmuch as their
previous secondary school experience had not been developed properly enough.

Key words: academic presentation, academic presentation skills, autonomous language

learning, peer feedback, Three Minute Presentations (3MP).

Introduction

Although written academic discourse pedagogy has traditionally drawn most of the attention
of scholars and teachers, the importance of developing speaking skills in academic contexts
and language learning has been somewhat overlooked. Recently, however, the need to
establish strong oral academic communication skills in undergraduates has been
acknowledged as a tool for enhancing their academic achievement.
Therefore, this article will focus on improving student presentation skills in English
language courses. According to Hu and Liu (2018), oral presentations are endowed with a
distinctive educative value since they allow language learning to connect with the content of
undergraduate studies. They can also contribute to the creation of an authentic context in
which speaking skills can be taught, practiced and evaluated.
Designing classes focused on learning presentation skills is not without its problems.
First, a conventional academic presentation requires students to outline and explore the
assigned topic in great depth, which means that students usually spend between 15-20 minutes
speaking. As studied by Nash (2016), students in general (regardless of the language in which
the programme is taught) complain of uncertainties, because they do not know how much
information their talk should include. As a result, they tend to overdo it in the need to sound
“scholarly”.
The second problem is that students often evaluate English courses that include student
presentations as a “waste of time” and “boring” (Muruguaiah, 2016). This lack of popularity
has not only been studied in the technologically advanced environment of a Malaysian
university, but also in a business environment in general, and the term “death by Powerpoint”
(Roberts, 2018) has come into use to denote the failure to employ otherwise visually effective
multimedia learning applications to complement the spoken text.
 The reason behind this lack of popularity is the fact that students spend between 15-20
minutes listening to a discipline-specific account from an inexperienced “academic”, as well
as an inexperienced “teacher” and inexperienced “speaker” (meaning a student in all three
cases). Thus, it is not surprising that students consider this method of learning ineffective.
They rarely understand proper limits on the amount of information due to the unclear layout
and organisation of ideas, unlike the situation where the account is given by an experienced
university lecturer. Then there are, of course, additional problems with the student’s language
itself, the correct use of it, a comprehensible accent and appropriate speed, the signalling of
transitions between logical parts of the presentation, etc.
Tomsett and Shaw (2014) have identified other problems in presentations delivered by
students of international economics programmes taught in English. Their presentations were
supported by Powerpoint, as this has become a new tradition. The results showed that students
tended to “focus on less important information than on critical points, they read from
crammed slides and exceeded the time allocated for presentations”, which indicates generally
poor presentation skills. These findings completely correspond with Eliášová (2012, p. 70-72)
and other authors cited in this article. Many student presentations in ESP courses are too
lengthy and descriptive, they dwell on unimportant details, leave the main ideas for
digressions, and they notoriously repeat known facts. Eliášová mentions many other issues
related to the quality of student presentations such as researching the topic, using relevant
literature and correct referencing, but for our current project involving undergraduates (mostly
in their first year of study) we focused on dealing with the problems of the appropriate
structure of information, clarity, and impact on the public, as well as on language aspects such
as the correct choice of lexis, accuracy, fluency, pronunciation and interaction.
To sum up, extant empirical research (despite being small-scale and localised) has proved
that there are major pedagogical opportunities and problems related to the teaching of
academic presentation skills no matter what language or academic environment they are used
in. Thus, the study reported in this article has addressed the following research questions:
1) How to design a course project on academic presentation skills in English that
enhances authentic and effective learning and avoids “boredom” or “waste of time”?
2) What classroom practices contribute to better learning and allow students to feel
more in control of their learning outcomes?
3) What classroom practices help to increase student engagement?
4) What risks need to be addressed?

Design of the course project

With these questions in mind, the course project aimed to test the potential of the fast-track
principle of the Three Minute Presentation (3MP). This format, originally meant for doctoral
students, was started at the University of Queensland in 2008 as a graduate contest. Also
behind the choice of 3MP was the idea that it would allow students to focus on their
disciplines and feel authentic in completing their tasks. The daunting time limit forced them
to elaborate a very clear structure of information in order to be able to pass on the most
relevant information and avoid digressions. The problems with “boredom” and “waste of
time” were thus addressed. Deviating from the specification that disallows the use of
PowerPoint slides, the course project made it possible for students to use a sequence of 5-7
slides. The idea was to make the use of the PowerPoint presentation more effective. This
allowed the students to follow a supporting structure of information and therefore reduce their
tension and anxiety.
 To familiarise students with what it requires to prepare a successful 3MP presentation,
some examples were presented using the 3MP website (https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au/).
Another source of helpful insights into this format was provided by Hu & Liu (2018). They
confirmed the need to focus on other components of a successful presentation in English
courses rather than on the obvious ones that become part of training workshops to help
contestants to prepare for a show and elsewhere in plenty of self-help books. Typical tips for
public speaking generally include advice on how to begin with a joke or story, how to
establish a rapport with the public, how to use visuals, how to control nerves and body
language through rehearsal, and how to use the right linking words. What is missing is the
importance of the chosen topic, structuring the information and grading the ideas to achieve
the desired impact on the listener.
These limitations proved right in the pilot phase of the project. It showed that students
needed to develop more confidence in designing the content of their presentation before they
could focus on improving their communication skills and language performance. Under
pressure, their linguistic competence fell below their normal level and their language appeared
somewhat subdued. Some students ended up frustrated by their failure to naturally articulate
their ideas and this might discourage them from further attempts in the future.
The second question that needed to be addressed was how to ensure that students felt
more empowered in their learning. To solve this issue, the project looked for inspiration in
autonomous language learning (Little et al., 2017). The rational for the course syllabus relied
on increasing student autonomy and affiliation with their fields of study. This ensured
authenticity was added to the learning process. The courses are typically attended by a mix of
students from the humanities and social sciences, which makes it difficult to delve into
particular sciences because the student audience is not specialised. Thus, the course project
assignment asked students to prepare their 3MP presentation on a topic that was discipline-
related and interesting enough to excite curiosity in their peers. To keep their anxiety and
stress to a minimum, the students were told their presentations would serve as a starting point
for further discussion in the classroom, for learning about developments in other sciences to
broaden their horizons. The pedagogical aim was made clear in that the priority was on
practicing presentation skills in academia rather than on checking their progress in English
and any mistakes they might make.
The third question was how to make sure that students become more engaged in the
classroom and not feel bored when watching the “pathetic attempts” of their peers. A possible
solution came from Károly (2015), who explored the experiences and preferences of Finnish
university students by focusing on peer and teacher feedback in order to enhance their
learning through presentations. His results suggest that students have mixed feelings in terms
of peer and teacher feedback, which can be seen as intimidating, frustrating, neutral or
helpful. Thus, it is necessary to foster a atmosphere that promotes giving or receiving
feedback and learning from their mistakes in a safe environment.
Therefore, the question was how to organise the feedback sessions so that they did not
hinder learning. The solution was based on the findings of James (2014), who advocates
creating an atmosphere of a learning culture where giving and receiving feedback is
appreciated and valued for its impact on enhancing learning outcomes.
The project also looked for ways on how to create continuous motivation in students
and took lessons from Sambell et al. (2013) by employing formative assessment procedures
and relying more on the dynamic of peer feedback because it promises to enhance student
engagement. To satisfy the expectations of improving that engagement and the quality of
learning, the project applied the six principles underpinning the holistic model of assessment
designed by Sambell et al. (2013, pp. 6-7) These include:
  Using authentic and complex assessment tasks.
 Relying on both summative and formative assessments.
 Providing opportunities for practice through a wide range of low-stake activities,
which helps to increase students’ competence and build up their confidence before
a high-stakes summative assessment takes place.
 Offering different forms of formal feedback from multiple sources.
 Providing opportunities for diverse forms of informal feedback from various
sources.
 Developing self-control among students, which helps them to become effective
lifelong learners.

The pilot project sought to incorporate all six principles into classroom practice
and into evaluating their effects on student presentations in terms of their current
competences and skills while paying attention to areas that should be addressed in the future.

Classroom procedures – case study

The course project was carried out during three consecutive semesters in 2017-2018. More
than 120 undergraduates took part by presenting their discipline-related topic ranging from
linguistics to political studies, art history, philosophy, history, psychology, social work and
many others. The students went through a short pre-teaching session on how to choose a
suitable topic, how to arrange the ideas and conclude their speech. They were reminded that
they were going to talk to non-specialists, so they should be careful and not use too many
specialist terms or be too specific, as these points might hinder the understanding of the
audience.
They were also invited to use visuals in the form of a PowerPoint presentation but they
were limited by the time restriction (three minutes only) and the number of slides (maximum
of five slides including the opening and concluding ones). Moreover, they were told to keep
their presentations professional and academic in their personal appearance, demeanour and
adherence to scientific norms such as referencing and the correct use of sources (i.e. avoiding
plagiarism). These requirements were discussed in class by talking about successful and less
successful presentations the students had seen before, and their stronger or weaker features.
The project lasted typically four weeks in each semester with two student
presentations running twice a week, which enabled a continuous build-up of student learning
and graded practice. After each presentation, the students were asked to give their feedback in
small groups and share it with the presenter, who was circulating among the groups to get as
much feedback as possible. They were not given any templates of criteria on what to assess
and how, rather they were invited to create their own checklist of assessment criteria by
reflecting on what they had enjoyed most, why and what they would do differently if they
were the ones giving the presentation.
The teacher’s role was intentionally subdued throughout the sessions, only giving cues
in case the communication faltered. Each session also finished with a reflection period during
which students were asked to summarise what they had learned about their attitudes to
learning (Mičínová, 2019, in print). At the end of each session, they shared their reflections in
the group, asking for agreement, explanation, or augmentation, depending on how confident
they had felt about their findings. This helped them to build a portfolio of important criteria
for preparing and giving a successful presentation in their own disciplines. The most
important features were considered to be:
  how to present a logically well-organised rationale for a scientific problem with a clear
visual layout of the message;
 and how to appreciate pedagogical skills that help to explain sophisticated ideas and
concepts by choosing the effective ordering of information, using contrast and
comparison, or a diagram in addition to other forms of visuals.
According to the students’ assessments, these three areas appeared to have an
overwhelming effect on the perception of their presentations in terms of their success or
failure. And because this understanding emerged very early into the project, it had an
important effect on the content of future sessions.
For example, most students agreed that if the topic was well organised and clear and
not crammed with specialist language or vagueness, then they were ready to overlook
frequent mistakes in English (if they did not hinder understanding), unimpressive ranges
of vocabulary or grammar, and any noticeable anxiety in the delivery. This was somehow
surprising but predictable since their student academic and professional identity became
quite visible and strong during their presentations.

Results of the case study

Throughout the course and the last project session, qualitative data that mapped the effects of
the course project on improving presentation skills and the ability to give and receive
feedback were gathered in the form of teacher’s notes, remarks and comments during the
feedback sessions of the students and the final overarching focus group. This is the
methodology proposed by Tiberius (2001) or Károly (2015) to study the effects of peer
feedback.
The benefits from the project reported by most students included (at least to some
noticeable and personally relevant extent):
 Overall improvement in presentation skills and control of body language;
 Learning how to organise an academic presentation (into clearly separated sections of
introduction, main body and conclusion);
 Improvement in giving and receiving peer feedback;
 Improvement in the ability to reflect on their learning and to share it with others;
 Increasing their confidence when giving a talk;
 Learning how to speak to non-specialists;
 Learning how to show enthusiasm about one’s topic;
 Understanding that science does not need to be boring and free of emotions;
 Improvement in the ability to create rapport and mutual trust;
 Opportunity to teach others and learn from others.
Among the specific presentation skills that were practiced, the most difficult to achieve
was the ability to narrow down the scope of information. In students’ feedback, it was this
quality that became highly valued as students quickly understood that the key to success was
the right amount of information and that it was clearly structured and presented.
Another issue was establishing the right rapport with the audience. Again, the students
saw this as key to the creation of flow (Csikszentmihalyi et al, 2003) – feeling confident and
enjoying passing on interesting information to their peers. Some of them also stated that
knowing their topic was being well accepted and appreciated helped them to enjoy delivering
their presentation.
Students also discussed some of the popular tips that seek to create a connection between
the presenter and their audience, such as beginning a presentation with a joke. Many said that
this could be embarrassing both for the audience and the presenter if the joke felt out of place.
Furthermore, they expressed worries that until they had established themselves as experts,
joking with a more knowledgeable public could be considered inappropriate unless it was
done in a sophisticated way. These worries were pronounced quite often and led to
experimenting with other opportunities on how to entertain the audience by using images,
treating the topic more lightly than expected and establishing the rapport by posing rhetorical
questions for the audience.
The scope of this teaching material finally proved to be so vast that it would require a
full-fledged course to meet the expectations of students and the requirements of the topic, and
so it has become food for thought in planning future courses.

Discussion

The presented outcomes indicate that the educative value of this “minimalistic” genre of 3MP
may have an immense effect on learning presentation skills due to its condensed format.
There is very little space for digressions and the time pressure requires that speakers move
swiftly throughout their outline. Moreover, it does not only focus on monologue performance
since the presented topics typically generate interest and questions, thus, it serves as the
starting point for discussions because it provides background information. What also helps to
build deeper engagement is the speaker’s enthusiasm and their choice of topic.
Nevertheless, even this “small” genre needs some rigorous practice if it should meet the
expected criteria. The first students who volunteer in giving their presentations are
unfortunately unwitting “guinea pigs”. With their lack of experience, the results are usually
unimpressive and the audience’s response is lukewarm. To avoid this problem and reduce
disappointment, students need to be reminded that people typically learn from making
mistakes. The class should also be invited to assess the presentations in ways that are more
appreciative than criticising, always seeking something positive to start with, while later on
mentioning things that could be done differently. The students should be instructed to avoid
the words “better” or “worse” and direct statements such as “you didn’t maintain eye contact
with us”. They should be encouraged to look for less straightforward ways such as
“maintaining eye contact would help to see if people followed the ideas and didn’t struggle
with understanding.”
Secondly, it needs to be pointed out that providing constructive feedback is a skill that
requires a lot of practice. The students do not respond well to remarks such as “your
presentation was chaotic”, “I think this topic is outdated”, “I got lost in the middle”, “why
didn’t you check the spelling in your slides”, or “that typo was really funny”. Although the
course teacher had tried to illustrate the power of appreciative suggestions compared with
“honest” ones before the project started, it was necessary to step in when some debates
became overtly heated and change the spin of the problem.
Generally speaking, various kinds of drawbacks in a low-stake situation should be seen
as a means of learning, but this idea can be difficult for some high achieving students to
accept and tolerate in others – mainly those lacking confidence or language proficiency. Some
of them could not resist and used that opportunity to demonstrate their abilities before the
audience. These situations are critical for building mutual trust among the students and their
teacher, and so it is necessary to embrace the firm and explicit position that the project’s aim
is about learning from each other and not about a contest.
Another issue that proved to be difficult is the difference between introverted and
extroverted students and between female students and male students. In the case of introverted
students and some female students, the project gave them space to learn a lot from others
before it was their turn. Equipped with newly acquired strategies, they did well on average.
Nevertheless, when they were working in groups, they were typically outshone by more active
and confident students, even though their ideas might have contributed to the group’s
learning. In every class there are some dominating students (usually male students majoring in
History) and again it is the course teacher’s role to ensure that all students can take part and
find their voice.
The question on how often should the teacher intervene and to what extent has remained
unresolved. Although we assume that each learning situation should be arranged in such a
way that all students can benefit from it, from the most talented ones to the less achievers, the
realities sometimes prove this impossible. Although this project tried to create space for all
students to learn in, namely by making them feel engaged in the fast-moving sequences of
task-based language situations, it failed to eliminate periods when high achievers were
waiting for others to complete their part. Nevertheless, it needs to be noted that less achieving
students are always to some extent limited by their linguistic proficiency, which affects their
learning as well as that of others.
The last issue that needs to be addressed is the continuity of this project. More work is
required on building effective presentation skills and one class assignment cannot cover all
the criteria of a successful academic presentation. It would require a course that focuses more
distinctively on linguistic features and specific genres as suggested, for example, by Hu and
Liu (2018).
Finally, this case is limited by the size of its sample and the learning environment of
the humanities and social sciences. More data would be needed from other areas of higher
education and from student groups that are further along in their studies to attest the efficiency
of peer feedback in improving communication skills. More importantly, students with higher
proficiency (C1 level and higher) would surely welcome greater exposure to a longer format
of presentation with more focus on the individual discipline than the proposed 3MP format.

Conclusion
This case study explored the impact of formative peer feedback on the development of
academic presentation skills in English among Czech students of the humanities and social
sciences when giving a Three Minute Presentation to a class of their peers. The course project
helped to develop an internalised understanding among students of what makes a successful
presentation, by analysing peer presentations and by giving and receiving peer feedback under
the subdued guidance and facilitation of the teacher. The majority of students evaluated this
part of the course as a relevant contribution to improving their academic communication
skills, and changes in their attitudes to giving a talk and to peer feedback have been reported.
Overall, the outcomes provide strong indication that teaching communication skills in
foreign languages in higher education needs to employ engaging and authentic didactical
approaches and effective classroom practices to ensure improvements in both soft skills areas
and language proficiency.

Shrnutí

Výuka akademických prezentačních dovedností v angličtině prostřednictvím

vrstevnické zpětné vazby – případová studie z vysokoškolského prostředí

Tato případová studie se zabývá možnostmi zefektivnění výuky akademických prezentačních

dovedností v angličtině u studentů humanitních a sociálních věd bakalářského studia.
Zaměřuje se na procvičování prezentačních dovedností ve formátu tříminutových prezentací
(v originále 3MP, Three Minute Presentations). Tento formát má výrazný edukativní
potenciál, protože odbourává většinu stížností a nedostatků spojených s „klasickými”
studentskými prezentacemi, které jsou příliš dlouhé, nudné a nezajímavé. Zaprvé nutí brát
zřetel na publikum, které není tvořeno oborovými studenty. Zadruhé klade důraz, aby
prezentující výrazněji zvažoval téma, zpracování, strukturu a rozsah svého sdělení. Pro
dosažení vyšší míry zapojení studentů do procesu učení byl využit princip vrstevnické zpětné
vazby. Hodnocení prezentace tedy již nebylo úkolem učitele, ale studentů. Ti v malých
skupinách posuzovali pozitivní rysy dané prezentace a dále zvažovali, co a jak by udělali
jinak. Učiteli zde byla záměrně přidělena role moderátora a facilitátora procesu učení. Cílem
projektu bylo otestovat výuku prezentačních dovedností prostřednictvím minimalistického
formátu 3MP. Výsledky projektu ukazují, že k vytvoření efektivní výuky prezentačních
dovedností lze úspěšně využít princip vrstevnické zpětné vazby, protože zvyšuje míru
zapojení studenta do procesu učení.

Bibliography

CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, Mihaly; SCHNEIDER, Barbara; SHERNOFF, Elisa Steele. Student

engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory.
School Psychology Quarterly, Vol 18(2), 2003, pp. 158-176.
ELIÁŠOVÁ, Viera. Hodnotenie prezentácií študentov na odbornú tému v rámci jazykového
vzdelávacieho a certifikačného jazykového programu Unicert III / In: Výučba cudzích jazykov
na vysokých školách a univerzitách [elektronický zdroj]. - ISBN 978-80-552-0916-6. - Nitra :
Slovenská poľnohospodárska univerzita, 2012. – P. 56-72 [CD-ROM]
HU, Guangwei, & LIU, Yanhua. Three minute thesis presentations as an academic genre: A
cross-disciplinary study of genre moves. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2018
(35), pp. 16-30.
JAMES, D. Investigating the curriculum through assessment practice in higher education: the
value of learning cultures’. Higher Education, 2014, 67 (2), 155 – 169.
KÁROLY, Adrienn. Feedback on individual academic presentations: exploring Finnish
university students’experiences and prefereces. In JALKANEN, J. et al (Eds). Voices of
pedagogical development – Expanding, enhancing and exploring higher education language
learning (pp. 105-130).
LITTLE, David, & DAM, Leni, & LEGENHAUSEN, Lienhard. Language Learner
Autonomy (Theory, Practice and Research). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2017.
MIČÍNOVÁ, Ivana. Supporting Development of Academic and Professional Identity in
Undergraduates Through Learner Autonomy. In SEDLÁČKOVÁ, K. & BILOVÁ, Š. &
CHOVANCOVÁ, B. (Eds.). The teacher’s role in development of learner autonomy (The
Brno Collection). Candlin & Mynard, 2019 (in print).
MURUGAIAH, P. Pecha Kucha Style Powerpoint Presentation: An Innovative Call
Approach to Developing Oral Presentation Skills of Tertiary Students. Teaching English with
Technology, 2016, 6, (1), pp. 88 – 104.
NASH et al. If first-year students are afraid of public speaking assessments
what can teachers do to alleviate such anxiety? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher
Education, 2016, 41 (4), pp.586 – 600.
ROBERTS, David. The engagement agenda, multimedia learning and the
use of images in higher education lecturing: or, how to end death by PowerPoint. Journal of
Further and Higher Education, 2018, 42:7, pp. 969-985,
SAMBELL et al. Assessment for learning in higher education. London : Routledge, 2013.
TIBERIUS, Richard. Making Sense and Making Use of Feedback from Focus Groups. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning. 2001, 87, pp. 63-75
 TOMSETT, P.M., & SHAW, M.R. Creative classroom experience using Pecha Kucha to
encourage ESL us in undergraduate business courses: A pilot study. International
Multilingual Journal of Contemporary Research, 2014, 2(2), pp. 89-108.

Contact
Ivana Mičínová, Mgr.
University College of Business in Prague
Department of Foreign Languages
Spálená 14
Prague 1, 110 00
micinova@vso-praha.eu

View publication stats