A Chapter from Academic Oracy : Oral Presentations in English
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Citation | |
| Description | In the academia generally and at institutions such as the host department, oral presentations in English are made on a daily basis, at occasions such as classes, lectures, staff and post-graduate students' sessions, dissertation defences, conferences and guiding foreign visitors around the University/city/campus. The author, over the 28 years of her teaching practice, has witnessed a great increase in the active oral use of English and at the same time, fossilisation of certain die-hard erroneous speech habits. The objective of this paper is to list the most recurrent ones, offer ways of eradicating them and ask the audience to come up with ideas and expertise in this matter. Certainly, the immediate oral utterance is the result of the presenter's overall capacity speaking his/her second (or third, fourth) language, and implications of this research will largely be methodological. The mistakes (or, to be more positive, suggestions for improvement) will fall into the following categories: - The preparation stage (if applicable) - Confidence and rapport to the audience - Amount and dynamics of information - Technicalities - Pronunciation and the use of voice - Grammar - Vocabulary - The biggest mistake of all: losing oneself. |
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