It is our experience that Japanese students enjoy public speaking classes. Once the initial hurdles of course planning and the students' first presentations are over, the classes can be engaging and entertaining. Students appreciate speech communication for its practical real-world application and the opportunities it provides for expressing personal ideas. Furthermore, because public speaking is a performance, it consolidates the information and skills learned and practiced during the term. Often students complain that conversation classes are boring because the topics covered seem trivial. Through public speaking, students can begin to articulate relevant issues of personal importance, and learn to use formal registers of speech. Pragmatics can be contextualized and discussed with respect to purpose and audience. We will introduce a public speaking course which has been developed and used at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. We will discuss the objectives of the course, including the rationale for having students do peer and self-evaluations, and present course activities.
The course
In this course students begin by learning the basics of academic English organization, language use, and delivery skills. They clarify and deepen their understanding of course objectives by becoming critical evaluators of their peers. Using the cycle of public speaking, peer rating, self rating, reflection, then speaking again, we have found that students gain a deeper understanding of the criteria used for evaluation. Students seem to enjoy experiential learning and being actively involved in the language learning process. They are accountable for more than just oral production; they are also responsible for becoming better listeners and must be receptive to linguistic and nonverbal cues in spoken communication. Students complete at least two cycles of presentations: a newsbrief and an informative speech. By having the students start with a brief news report, the instructor can review paragraph organization and summarizing skills, introduce citation and paraphrasing skills, and discuss the reliability and reputation of various news sources. After gaining public speaking experience with this shorter assignment, the students move onto longer, more formal speech. In short, we use the newsbrief as a stepping stone. Students analyze this first performance in order to determine individual learning goals for the course.
Objectives and Rating Scale
A teacher or group of teachers who are coordinating and teaching public speaking in EFL for the first time must not only decide what to teach, but more importantly how to evaluate student performance. It is necessary to consider EFL students' needs, their past learning experiences, and the learning context before deciding the priority and sequence of elements in a speech making course: voice control, body language, speech content, and effectiveness. EFL students also need to acquire the language functions, skills, and cross-cultural awareness necessary to write and deliver speeches. Figure 1 below is a helpful reference list of the elements of public speaking that are covered in the course.
Figure 1: 14 Points for Public Speaking
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Speaking Area |
Comments |
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Voice Control |
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1 |
Projection | Speaking loud enough (not too loud nor too soft) |
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2 |
Pace | Speakingat a good rate (not too fast nor too slow) |
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3 |
Intonation | Speaking using proper pitch patterns and pauses |
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4 |
Diction | Speaking clearly (no mumbling or interfering accent) |
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Body Language |
. | . |
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5 |
Posture | Standing with back straight and looking relaxed |
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6 |
Eye Contact | Looking each audience member in the eye |
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7 |
Gesture | Using few, well-timed gestures, nothing distracting |
| Content of Oral Presentation | . | . |
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8 |
Introduction | Including attention-getting device, thesis statement |
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9 |
Body | Using academic writing structure and transitions |
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10 |
Conclusion | Including restatement/ summation & closing statement |
| Effectiveness | . | . |
| 11 | Topic | Choice Picking a topic that is interesting to the audience |
| 12 | Language Use | Varying types of clear and correct sentence forms |
| 13 | Vocabulary | Using vocabulary appropriate to the audience |
| 14 | Purpose | Fulfilling the purpose of the speaking task |
Assessment can be highly subjective, and without guidelines or agreement among teachers, inter-rater reliability may be negligible. It is essential that we label and explain each item carefully so that students can better understand each point and how to use the peer rating sheet (see Figure 2). We instruct the students on each item, have them practice each item as a speaker, and then train them to evaluate the items according to the rating scale we have set, using a video of previous speeches or in-class practice of model speeches. It is best to introduce each point one at a time and allow students to practice and master a few points during each class meeting (see Appendix) so that they will not be overwhelmed or confused.
Voice Control
After explaining the importance of voice control in public speaking, it is essential for the students to practice each point and then to follow up with an in-class performance rated by the instructor and peers. A simple activity for teaching projection (Point 1) is to split pairs of students and have them line up across the room to practice a dialogue or a new grammatical structure. Teach students useful classroom expressions, such as "please speak louder," to provide the speaker with constructive feedback. Likewise, students could read aloud original writing or journal entries in small groups to practice pace (Point 2), intonation (Point 3), and diction (Point 4). As before, teach useful classroom expressions, such as "please speak slower," "please speak faster," "please speak more smoothly," or "please speak more clearly." From an educational point of view, this is contextualized language use that serves a real purpose and has real world application beyond the classroom setting.
Body Language
It is imperative for students to experiment with body language in order to find a delivery style that is both effective and comfortable. Constructive feedback from the instructor and peers is invaluable to the speaker when practicing. While doing the "across-the room" speaking activity, ask students to become aware of their posture (Point 5). Demonstrate good posture with the feet spread about shoulder width, weight even between the feet, and no swaying or leaning. Ask them how posture affects their impression of other speakers. When teaching students to make eye contact (Point 6), the insructor could ask each student to stand at the front of the class and make eye contact with each person in the class. Another useful technique is the "read-and-look-up activity." In pairs, one student should first read a sentence silently, then look up and make eye contact with his or her partner while saying as much of the sentence as possible. When the students are successful working in pairs, move them into small groups before having them speak in front of the whole class. Playing games like charades, teaching some sign language, or teaching a few simple gestures like indicating one, two, and three using fingers (Point 7) helps students to understand how their hands can enhance communication.
Content of Oral Presentation
Content in public speaking has obvious parallels with academic essay writing; however, the key difference lies in the nature of the task. Because the information is being conveyed orally, it is imperative for students to organize their material very clearly and to use transition words as landmarks for guiding the listener to the main points and supporting statements in their speeches. With practice in academic essay writing, students can learn how to introduce and develop arguments to present information effectively. With practice in reading and listening skills, students can learn to catch the main idea of an essay or speech and to follow the organizational structure by identifying transition words (Points 8-10). The four skills can be integrated as students learn to skim and scan references to find evidence for their arguments, research and write their speeches, use points 1-7 to practice delivery, and employ listening skills to judge their peers' and their own speeches.
Effectiveness
Although higher-proficiency students may have better language skills, all students will be able to evaluate effectiveness. Students must learn to analyze the topics (Point 11) of their peers' oral presentations. Their listening skills should be developed to recognize a variety of structures (Point 12) and to guess the meaning of key vocabulary from context (Point 13). At this stage in their English language education, students will have acquired enough language and critical thinking skills to begin criticizing peer speeches in terms of purpose (Point 14). The most effective method we have found for teaching these points is to ask students to rate not only their peers' oral presentations (see Figure 2), but also their own speeches through the use of video. Students learn to become critical of strengths and weaknesses in speeches they view. They learn from personal experience how the 14 Points affect the overall assessment of a speech, both as a speaker and as an evaluator. Students also realize that they must understand the criteria in order to provide their peers with accurate feedback, and they develop their critical thinking skills.
Figure 2: Rating Sheet
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Rater's Name: __________________ Class: _______ Rater's Student Number: ________ Date: ____/____/____
Speaker's Name: _______________________ Title/Topic of Speech: ____________________________ Use the following five-point scale: 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (okay), 2 (so so), and 1 (needs work).
The following section (Figure 3) is added to the student self-evaluation report so that the speaker can reflect on his/her performance and decide on three areas of self-improvement: Figure 3 The three areas that I plan to work on improving for my next speech are: 1) _____________________________________________ 2) _____________________________________________ 3) _____________________________________________ Conclusion Public speaking may at first seem intimidating to EFL teachers and students. With the proper attitude and training, Japanese students of English can nevertheless become successful public speakers. If speeches are viewed as a form of process speaking, where the goal is to improve and clarify ideas through oral communication, then criticism can be viewed as a positive, constructive contribution to be freely given and readily accepted. Furthermore, public speaking skills are becoming increasingly important for global citizens who must create practical solutions to the world's existing and future problems. Appendix Sample Course Description and Syllabus Developing Public Speaking Skills This course is designed for students with an intermediate level of proficiency (roughly from Step Test 2nd level or TOEFL 450). Students can develop oral presentation skills by completing the practice activities and by making speeches. Students will increase their awareness of the skills necessary for making effective presentations by making two oral presentations and by learning how to rate speeches made by their classmates. Knowledge of public speaking and academic writing is helpful, but no previous experience is necessary for this course. Active participation in class activities, homework and attendance is very important. Evaluation Breakdown
Syllabus for Course
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