Practice and Perception of Oral Presentation: A Study on ESL engineering Students in Odisha

Abstract

This exploratory study seeks to uncover the disparity in practice and perception of oral presentation competence in English among engineering students from an institute in Odisha. The practice of oral presentations was examined from the video recordings of students' presentations. The perception of oral performance competence was assessed on the basis of responses of participants given in the questionnaire, the participants' evaluation of their own performance and views of participants shared during the semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that some participants could not put into practice their knowledge of what makes a good oral presentation. A few participants had knowledge about the competencies involved in oral presentation and could practise them bu failed to evaluate themselves while viewing their recorded presentations. The study has implications for the teaching of oral presentation skills to ESL engineering students. Knowledge about the competencies involved in oral presentation, opportunities to practise them, followed by provision for self-evaluation of recorded presentations could help in bridging the gap between practice and perception.