| Body | by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Presentational speaking is a key skill for learners wishing to use language in professional contexts. It can be a challenge to address in language classrooms with large numbers of students. Below we present ten guiding principles for facilitating the development of presentational speaking skills in your classroom.
- Scaffold presentational content and delivery through pre-speaking activities, presentation development, and follow-up. This includes setting learners up for the presentational speaking task much like learners are set-up to write academic prose.
- Encourage the use of visuals, but not at the expense of presentational skills. One way to diminish the reliance on written text that is read, is to allow a maximum of three words on each slide a learner might use to present.
- Create an authentic audience by inviting guests to the presentations. Guest can be class visitors, online viewers, parents, other teachers, or anyone else interested in the topic. Even if they do not speak the target language, authentic listeners heighten the reason a learner is presenting.
- Encourage active listening though short presentations and interactive responses by the audience. This can include graded notes, follow-up questions, and audience rating and participation.
- Allow a repeat performance to encourage the application of feedback to the presentation. Much like a second draft of the paper, a revised presentation allows for the incorporation of feedback.
- Utilize online resources as models and opportunities to disseminate presentations. Online resources expand the repertoire of presentation types and offer an extended range of genres of presentational speaking.
- Allow learners to choose their topic, format, and/or audience. Learner agency can help build consequence, trust, and desire to complete the assigned task.
- Include multiple opportunities for presentational speaking throughout the course instead of only once or twice in a high stakes setting. In this way, learners are given the opportunity to build presentational speaking skills throughout the course.
- Reference the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements as part of the learning outcomes, instructional resources, and assessment practices. The statements can be found at http://www.actfl.org/global_statements.
10. Have fun! While the format is more academic than other tasks, learners and instructors can enjoy the development of presentational speaking skills throughout the course!
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