Table Of ContentФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНТСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ
ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ
УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ
ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«ВОРОНЕЖСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
NEW CHALLENGES IN PUBLIC
SPEAKING
Учебно-методическое пособие для вузов
Составители:
Г.А. Павловская,
А.А. Махонина
Издательско-полиграфический центр
Воронежского государственного университета
2008
Утверждено научно-методическим советом факультета РГФ 10 июня 2008 г.,
протокол № 6
Рецензент канд. филол. наук Н.А. Шарова
Учебно-методическое пособие подготовлено на кафедре английского язы-
ка в профессиональной международной деятельности факультета романо-
германской филологии Воронежского государственного университета.
Рекомендуется для студентов 3 курса факультета международных отношений.
Для специальности: 350200 – Международные отношения. Для направле-
ния: 521300 – Регионоведение
Contents
Part I. What Makes a Good Presentation?....................................................4
1.1. What Is a Presentation? ........................................................................................4
1. 2. Presentation Skills...................................................................................7
1. 3. Is Audience Important?......................................................................................11
Socio-cultural Pitfalls: How They See Us: American Listeners about Russian
Presenters........................................................................................................14
Part II. Structuring a Presentation.................................................................17
2.1. A “Classic” Presentation Structure....................................................................17
2.2. Introduction & Outline. Introducing Yourself to an International
Audience........................................................................................................................... 20
2.3. Main Body: Traditional “Middles”....................................................................35
Socio-cultural Pitfalls: Choosing “I” or “We”. Spoken English versus Written
English.............................................................................................................................. 42
2. 4. Finishing Touches: Summary & Conclusion .................................................47
Socio-cultural Pitfalls: Presenters’ “False Friends”...............................................52
2.5. Question and Answer Session. Does Non-verbal Behaviour Matter?.......53
Socio-cultural Pitfalls: Asking “Polite” Questions................................................57
Part III. Creating and Presenting Visual Aids Effectively............................60
3.1. What Is a Visual Aid? Presentation Media......................................................60
3.2. Describing Charts and Graphs.................................................................63
Lead-in............................................................................................................63
Socio-cultural Pitfalls: Avoiding Imperative Constructions................................76
Evaluation List..................................................................................................78
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Part I. What Makes a Good Presentation?
1.1. What Is a Presentation?
Lead-in
One of the questions this unit is devoted to is: what is a presentation?
Have you ever seen or taken part in a presentation? In what way is it dif-
ferent from other forms of communication?
Task 1. Complete the questionnaire: what is a presentation? Please tick
one or more.
QUESTIONNAIRE: WHAT IS A PRESENTATION?
a report
a lecture
a dialogue
a monologue
a performance
a discussion
a public speech
a part of an advertising cam-
paign
a talk to a group of people
a specially organized meeting
a way of professional com-
munication
a form of business interaction
with foreign partners
Other
Task 2. Work in groups of 4 or 5 people. First, find out your group
mates’ ideas about presentations. Then sum up their opinions and say
whether your group mates’ views and experiences similar to those of yours.
Make use of the example that follows.
Example:
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Student A: Kate is inclined to believe that a presentation is a specially or-
ganized meeting which is commonly a part of an advertising campaign. As far as
I know such presentations are made in order to persuade people to buy some-
thing or to invest money.
Student B: Andrew thinks that a public speech and a presentation have a lot in
common, since both of them can be classified as “a talk to a group of people,” and
he claims that the difference between them is that a presentation is typical for busi-
ness interaction. I agree with Andrew up to a point and I also think that…
Task 3. Work in groups.
A. Before you read Text 1 discuss the questions below.
• Can you think of a situation in which you can be asked to present?
Where? Who will be your audience?
B. Read the text and answer the questions.
• Can you imagine yourself giving a presentation in the situations de-
scribed in the text below? If yes, what difficulties do you think you
may face?
• Can you think of any Russian equivalents to the Ameri-
can/European format of a presentation?
Text 1
At college or university
Students are often asked to make a presentation as part of their course work. This
can be to share what they have discovered, perhaps the results of experiments, or what
they found out about a particular author, work, or theory. Students are also asked to do
presentations as an assessed part of their course. This helps to balance the marks, be-
tween those with good writing skills, and those who are stronger on speaking.
At interviews
Organizations are increasingly asking people to do a short presentation as
part of the recruitment process. A presentation will help the organization to see
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the candidate's personality and how well they will get on with clients, custom-
ers, and colleagues. Presentations are also a chance to show how well you cope
under pressure, and how good you are at 'thinking on your feet".
In the workplace
A lot of workplace communication is through presentations. Many of these
will be 'selling' a product or service to a prospective client, or 'selling' an idea to
colleagues or managers.
At meetings
Finally, there are all the meetings that take place. You may need to present
facts or persuade people to a course of action at a parent-teacher association, at
work, at a council meeting, or at a sports-club event. (Billingham J. Giving pres-
entations.- 2003, p. 13)
Task 4. You are going to watch 4 video episodes from the world-
famous films 1) “Dead Poet’s Society”, 2)“What Women Want”, 3)“The
Devil’s Advocate” and 4) a popular English TV program “Delia Smith’s
Summer Collection”. Watch the episodes and fill in the table below. One of
the episodes is not a presentation. Which one? Why?
What is the aim
Who is the Who is the audi-
of his/her
Video episode
speaker? ence?
speech?
1) “Dead Poet’s
Society”
2)“What Women
Want”
3)“The Devil’s
Advocate”
4) “Delia Smith’s
Summer Collec-
tion”
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Task 5. Here are a number of quotations devoted to presenting. Read,
examine them and try to work out your own definition of a presentation.
1. A presentation is a talk, usu. to a group of people in which information
is given: The sales director will give a short presentation on the new
sales campaign.( Longman Dictionary of English Language and Cul-
ture.- Longman, p. 1038)
2. Presentations are considered an essential component of communication
skills in business English (BE) courses. (Master P. Responses to ESP.-
San Jose (USA: San Jose Sate University.- 1998, p.161))
3. A presentation is two-way communication (Billingham J. Giving Pres-
entations.- 2003, p. 10)
4. A presentation is a form of needs analysis used to discover what lan-
guage skills students already have and what they still need to acquire.
(Master P. Responses to ESP.- San Jose (USA: San Jose Sate Univer-
sity.- 1998, p.161))
1. 2. Presentation Skills
Lead-in
Would you like to be able to prepare and deliver successful presenta-
tions? What skills do you think you might need?
Task 1. Complete the test on presentation skills below choosing a, b or
c to learn how confident you are in public speaking. (Afterwards your
teacher will provide you with the key to the test).
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Test 1
Presentation Skills
I. Preparing relevant presentation context
a. It doesn’t matter whether the listeners can make any practical use of my
presentation unless they find it interesting and entertaining.
b. I always try to attract the listeners’ attention saying why I think my
presentation would be of particular interest for all of them.
c. Preparing a presentation I always consider a) what my listeners already
know about the subject of my speech, b) what else I can tell them, c)
where and how they can apply their new knowledge.
II. Creating a logical presentation structure
a. I structure my speech so that it is easy for the listeners to understand and
memorize new information.
b. If you have something important and interesting to say it doesn’t matter
how to structure your speech.
c. I use linking words and phrases to make my presentation sound logical.
III. Demonstrating language accuracy
a. My level of English is high enough not to care about language mistakes.
b. I always write a script of my presentation to check language mistakes
and I try to have my speech being typed so that I can analyze it after-
wards.
c. I write a script of my presentation which helps me to check any lan-
guage mistakes.
IV. Performing good choice and effective use of visual aids
a. The PowerPoint slides should be colorful and numerous, besides you
can always read from the slides.
b. I like using different colorful images because they help the audience to
memorize ideas.
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c. I use various visual aids to support and emphasize my message and to
help my audience remember it.
V. Demonstrating cultural awareness.
a. I always treat my audience as equals, no matter who they are.
b. Even if any misunderstanding occurs due to some cultural differences, I
will be able to put my ideas forward.
c. It’s always necessary to find out about the audience’s cultural back-
ground before delivering a presentation.
VI. Establishing rapport with the audience
a. I look enthusiastic, friendly and open to the audience; I use appropriate
jokes, personal stories, etc. to attract the listeners’ attention.
b. I find it difficult to keep eye contact with the audience; it’s not easy for
me to smile while delivering a presentation. I don’t use any jokes, per-
sonal stories, rhetorical questions, etc.
c. I try to be friendly and positive; I use some introductory remarks like
“It’s a pleasure for me to see you all here today”.
VII. Varying intonation and voice pitch
a. I find it difficult to vary the intonation and control my voice pitch be-
cause I usually feel nervous presenting to a (large) group of people.
b. I write a script of my speech and mark the words that should be stressed
and the pauses that should be made.
c. I can easily vary the intonation and the voice pitch in order to attract the
listener’s attention and to emphasize my ideas.
VIII. Showing appropriate body language
a. It’s not easy for me to control my body language because I feel ex-
tremely nervous.
b. I make eye contact and use pointing gestures in order to attract attention
and to emphasize important information.
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c. I try to move less during my presentations so as not to distract the listen-
ers and to show that I feel nervous.
IX. Efficiently handling the questions
a. I simply say “I don’t know” if I have no answer to a question.
b. I don’t like being asked questions but I try to stay friendly and not to
show irritation even if the question seems foolish or offensive.
c. I appreciate questions from my audience since it can help a presenter to
see a) the level of the listeners’ understanding of the topic, b) their inter-
est in the subject matter.
Task 2. Turn back to the test once again and point out the skills that
you think are important while presenting in English. Discuss this with your
partner.
Task 3. Write down a list of presentation skills you think you already
have and the skills you still need to acquire. Keep the list for you to check
the results later on.
My Can - Do List
I Can Do I Partially Can I Can’t Do
e.g. choose relevant (in- e.g. create a logical e.g. give (have never tried
teresting and important) structure of my giving) a presentation for
information for my lis- presentation an international audience
teners
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