Abstract
Higher education students are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of being successful in oral academic presentations (OAP) in their academic endeavors. For English as a second language students in English-medium institutions, it also provides them with opportunities for language socialization. However, succeeding in the delivery of an OAP comes with various challenges emerging from linguistic and psychological factors. This small-case study explores OAPs as an oral academic socialization activity by documenting the strategies that 13 international undergraduate students in a large private Philippine university use to cope with the difficulties facing them in preparing and presenting an OAP. Using language socialization as the theoretical framework and semi-structured interviews to gather data, it identifies and explains eight personal strategies (six still employed and two no longer used) and discusses various factors that play a vital role in applying these strategies. The three most commonly used strategies are adopted to ensure a successful and acceptable OAP, typically a graded task. The two least frequently used ones are yet to be employed successfully. In applying these strategies, students not only perform the required academic task but are also engaged in different levels and frequencies of language socialization before and during the delivery of an OAP. Pedagogical implications in the use of OAPs as an academic task for language socialization in higher education are also discussed.
Acknowledgments
This paper is a revised version of an earlier study I co-wrote with the following students at Saint Louis University in Baguio City, Philippines: Vit Han, Aivie M. Dogwe, Rochelle N. Esteban, Jhoanne Celeste S. Macanas, Abbygale R. Magleo, Janela J. Mananes, Yejin Jang, and Moises Daryll F. Gatchallan. The data used in this study were gathered with their assistance. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.
Appendix: Semi-structured interview questions
Initial Interview
How long have you been learning English? Do you have any formal English instruction in your home country?
As the majority of your classmates are Filipinos, do you have any struggles interacting with them? How do you interact with them?
During group discussions or group works, which role do you usually take in a group (presenting, preparing, organizing, etc.)? Why? What do you do in order to be fully engaged in your group discussion?
How do you feel about oral presentations or reporting? Do you have any difficulties doing this? What are these? What do you do to overcome these difficulties?
Second Interview
What do you do when you prepare for a report?
Can you please describe how you present a report in class?
Have there been strategies that did not work for you?
Have you already figured out what strategy works best for you when you present a report? What is this?
Third Interview
Please tell me more/provide examples about this strategy that you mentioned last time.
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