An Investigation Into College Students' Oral Presentation In The English Class

With the further development of English teaching reform,“student-oriented” educational philosophy is gradually becoming dominant.An increasing number of English teachers are introducing the oral presentation into the classroom teaching activities,which cause much more extensive attention from researchers.Based on the production-oriented approach(POA)theory,aiming at improving the effect of the oral presentations,this paper investigates the present situation of oral presentations in English teaching from the perspective of college students' perception by using questionnaire,classroom observation and interviews.A total of 307 college students from 42 institutions participate in the online questionnaire,264 of whom responded that they have made oral presentations in English class,120 of whom are English majors and 144 students non-English majors;however,43 respondents say that they have no oral presentation experience in the English class.The questionnaire includes the basic information of the respondents,the frequency of oral presentations,the main form and main contents of presentations,the teachers' assessment and the opinions and suggestions of the respondents on the effectiveness of oral presentation.Based on the results of questionnaire,we conducted a three-week classroom observation(a total of seven classes).The courses cover College English,English literature,Academic English writing and English lexicology,each of which lasts 90 minutes.Besides the questionnaire and classroom observation,a comparative observation was conducted in Class of 2014 of English majors at Hubei University of Technology to observe the scaffolding role of teachers in different stages throughout the whole oral presentation process,and the students' real status in the authentic classroom.After the questionnaire and classroom observation,five students coming from three universities were interviewed to investigate the students' intuitive perceptions to analyse the causes of the problems identified in oral presentations.The research findings show that the oral presentation in English teaching can effectively improve students' overall abilities.Effective preparation can enhance students' reading,generalizing and critical thinking abilities;effective delivering can enhance students' self-confidence and verbal communicative ability.The oral presentation is a good combination of language input and output.However,some interviewees believe that the low frequency,rigid grouping form,the textbook-oriented presentation content,teacher assessment and the teachers' superficial scaffolding role weaken the effectiveness of oral presentations.Thus,some oral presentations do not play an effective role in enhancing students' language skills.Further empirical research need to be conducted on whether the effect of oral presentations in English class is correlated with major,class size,or teachers' guidance.