Effective Language Learning Skills:
Participating in Seminars
Although the word seminar might take different connotations in EFL teaching settings, in terms of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) it accounts for group discussions and oral presentations. It is needless to mention that these two types of oral activities are carried out by students in their classrooms with the help of their teachers. Both can be great opportunities for both students and teachers. The former can have a great chance to practice his/her oral skills, and the latter can get a great chance to assess his/her students’ progress.
Keeping in mind this idea of seminars, and as part of my EFL language training in the 2011 Bell Teacher Campus at Homerton College in Cambridge, GB, our instructor Ian Chitty, stressed some interesting ideas on how to go about group discussions to fully account for better teacher practices in the language classroom and student performance. Let’s take a look at the discussion skills involved in an oral task like this presented by Prof. Chitty and discussed in class:
Discussion Skills
1. Giving your opinion
2. Agreeing and disagreeing
3. Explaining
4. Making suggestions
5. Interrupting
6. Questioning
7. Reporting
8. Dealing with questions
[Taken from Anderson, Maclean & Lynch, Study Speaking, CUP 2004]
What is listed above is then a group of language skills that students should be able to handle when being part of a panel discussion or discussion group. However, as Professor Chitty stated in class, it is also important to have students take specific roles in the discussion to ensure participation and discussion. This can be achieved by assigning very specific roles to all students involved in this particular task.
The roles of students in a panel discussion
1. Start the discussion by presenting facts, arguments, or opinions about the topic.
2. Introduce ideas from an article you have read which are relevant to the discussion.
3. Admit that you are unsure about something and ask for information.
4. Remind someone of a point they made, and try to take the idea further yourself.
5. Elicit ideas from someone who has not contributed much to the discussion.
6. Reformulate another speaker’s point to check if you understood it.
7. Summarize the discussion and try to take it in a new direction.
8. Take the floor politely so you can make your own point in the discussion.
9. Remind someone of a point they made earlier, and try to get them to take it further.
[Taken from Academic seminar strategies, EAP Essentials, Garnet Publishing Ltd. 2008]
Depending on the amount of students that you have in a group discussion, it is useful to decide which roles are necessary based on your knowledge of the class. Some of them might be unnecessary, but others might need to be added to complete all possible roles of students in a panel discussion.
Now if we turn our review of seminars in the EFL classroom towards the oral presentations, another set of skills are necessary. Students should be able to …
1. Structure a presentation
2. Speak in an appropriate style
3. Deliver the speech using emphasis and phrasing
4. Use visual aids
5. Refer to visual aids
6. Introduce a presentation
7. Conclude a presentation and
8. Make a presentation interesting
[Taken from Anderson, Maclean & Lynch, Study Speaking, CUP 2004]
Although oral presentations can be individual, in pairs, or small groups, it is important that all students have clearly in mind that they must follow a given or specific format for their presentation. Of course this also implies that the instructor must show sample presentations for them to be certain of what is expected from them. Along with the oral presentation preparation, students must learn how to introduce their topic in an academic fashion, not just by saying “I’m going to talk about,” but by being able to gather the audience attention, stating the purpose of the presentation, and quickly reviewing the important points to be covered.
Likewise, students also need to know how to go about concluding their oral presentations in an academic fashion (based on standards previously discussed by the teacher according to his/her pupils’ field of study) and getting ready to answer questions coming from their audience (usually partners and the teacher in class). Furthermore, the making of presentation an interesting speech event is something that combines the elements described above, good pronunciation and enunciation, and a good use of the technological elements available.
In addition, understanding that an oral presentation is a kind of speech event with certain “standards” to meet, a more elaborate language needs to be used away from slang or colloquialisms. This idea of the “standards” is closely linked to the delivery of an oral presentation; that is, how language is used –from a phonological point of view- with emphasis (sentence stress on key words) and phrasing (the use of thought groups).
An oral presentation must also be related to the use of visual aids to enhance the conveying of the message to the audience. With so many technological ways of reproducing visual aids (pictures, videos, and the like), the student must be aware of the best way to use them to create the desired intention on the audience (shock, surprise, attention gatherer, etc.). And s/he must keep in mind that the visual part of the presentation is just an aid, not the presentation itself. Thus, the instructor must train students on how to use or refer to visual aids effectively.
Jonathan Acuña
EFL Instructor / Curricular Development
San José, Costa Rica
Email: jonacuso@gmail.com