Pecha Kucha: How to Improve Students’ Presentation Skills

Abstract

Giving a presentation can often be one of the more challenging tasks asked of our students and even the most confident of speakers can sometimes give a presentation which lacks clarity and focus. Add to this the additional challenge of presenting in a language other than their mother tongue and some students may well begin to feel overwhelmed. This can lead to a tendency to over prepare, with students adopting a number of strategies such as making detailed notes which can ultimately distract them when they present, learning (parts of) their presentation by heart, and ultimately focusing almost completely on the content of their presentation as they try to include as much information as possible. Presentation delivery often comes as an afterthought with little consideration being given to pace and timing. Recent research has suggested that by using the Pecha Kucha presentation format with students, many of these issues can be addressed. Introducing students to this format on EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses helps to raise their awareness of the importance of timing, delivery and visual aids when giving a presentation. In addition, it can help to build confidence, particularly with non-native speakers of English preparing to present in another language. It would also appear to be a more engaging style of presentation for the audience. This presentation will begin with a Pecha Kucha outlining some of the experiences of both staff and students on pre-sessional EAP courses who have adopted this presentation approach at a UK university.



Author Information
Rachel Robinson, University of Leeds, UK

Paper Information
Conference: ECLL2015
Stream: Innovative language teaching and learning methodologies

This paper is part of the ECLL2015 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon