Teaching Academic Presentation Skills:

Presenting your Academic Persona

This workshop will be look at three sections of
presenting:
1.0 Content Development
Discuss how presentation content is related
to the EAP concepts of Niche and
Interestingness
2.0 Language Skills
Examine several language-related topics that
arise in the AP classroom and how these can
be addressed by the teacher
3.0 Presentation Skills
Look at some basic presentation skills,
particularly ones that relate to the ESL
academic presenter

1.0 Content Development
For the academic presenter, the content of their
research or written work is usually in a format that is
not conducive to oral presentation. The presenter
must re-examine their content, reassess the relevance
of their information and consider a new audience.
This area of content development involves concepts
such as niche, interestingness, and audience analysis.


1.1 Niche
As a presenter, you need to place your work in some
kind of context by outlining outline for the audience
exactly where you see your work fitting in with your
field of study this is your niche. More specifically,
a niche is what makes your research different or
unique from other researchers.

There are several techniques that we use to identify
our niche.
1. Outline the current field of research and
indicate specifically where your own research
belongs:
Within the field of gender studies Ive been
researching the influence that technology has on
womens rights. More specifically, Ive been looking
into the influence that cloning technology has on
womens rights.

2. State what makes your research different
from others:
While current systems largely use GPS to determine
the physical location of mobile phone users, we have
been investigating WPS (WiFi Positioning Systems)
to do the same thing but at much lower equipment
costs.
The concept of an academic presenter is one that has yet to be clearly defined for many of us; we often recognize a
good presenter but are unsure how to turn ourselves into one. Presenting in a second language, or in any context,
is an experience that few approach with confidence. Often, the lack of presenting skills in general is compounded
by the difficulty of presenting in a second language to group of strangers. To address these difficulties, the concept
of an Academic Persona has been used in Academic Presentations class to help students deal with the pressure of
presenting in a second language. An Academic Persona refers to the image or impression of themselves and their
research that an academic presents to an audience. This involves identifying a Niche (a research area, for instance)
and then occupying this area (introducing specific research). From this starting point, the academic can then pro-
ceed to tell their academic story.
2007 KOTESOL Workshop, April
Sookmyung Womens University

Presenter: Aidan Hammond

Language Education Institute (LEI)
Seoul National University, Korea
aidanjhammond@gmail.com

1.2 Interestingness
Interestingness is the
quality of your work that
makes it appealing to an
audience. We can do this
by sel ect i ng some
vocabulary that would
appeal to the audience or
draw the attention of the
audience to unique and
important aspects of your
presentation.
Compare the two examples below. The second
example has added several phrases (underlined) that
increase the interestingness of the content

Example A:
Content based instruction is a means of developing
linguistic ability. It is related to project work, task
based learning and a holistic approach to language
instruction and is used within the state school
secondary education sector.

Example B:
In recent years content based instruction has
become increasingly popular as a means of
developing linguistic ability. Content Based
Instruction has strong connections to project
work, task based learning and a holistic approach to
language instruction and has become particularly
popular within the state school secondary education
sector.

In order to make your presentation more interesting
you might want to consider what aspects of your
research or experiences might be interesting to the
audience. You could use the questions below to
generate content to add to your presentation. It is
not necessary, however, to answer all these questions,
but referring to them could make your presentation
more interesting and captivating for the audience.

1. How did I become interested in this field of
study?
2. Why might my research be important?
3. How is my research different from other
research in my field of study? Why am I
unique?

2.0 Move away from memorization and towards
familiarization

The thought of speaking in front of an audience
without notes is a frightening one for many. But if
we focus on this strategy of familiarization, we can
accomplish this task in a confident and professional
manner. The basic idea is that the more we practice
this in an extemporaneous manner, the more
familiar the speaker becomes with verbally
discussing the topic, and the easier it is to
confidently present. There are three steps to this
approach:

1. Organization
2. Practicing pieces of the presentation
3. Whole practice

2.1 Organization
This primary step is key. The presenter needs to
have a clear idea of what the goals and purpose of
the presentation are, as well as the essential
components and content that needs to be
communicated. Once this has been clearly delineated
and organized, then the presenter can proceed with
practice.
Using the Presentation Planning sheet is one such
way to help presenters organize their presentation.
The presenter starts in the left column with the basic
structure, and works their way to the right, adding
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Aidan Hammond
Language Education Institute, Seoul National University
Phrases often used to
indicate/create
interestingness

recent development
current
new
increasingly popular
strong connections
particularly useful
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Aidan Hammond
Language Education Institute, Seoul National University
more detail. Finally, the third column contains the
speakers speaking notes. These notes can then be
used to practice from or pasted into the PowerPoint
notes page.

2.2 Practicing in pieces
The idea here is that the presenter focuses their
attention and effort on small chunks of the
presentation: the two minute introduction and
background, for instance. Say this section out loud
several times, each time listening carefully to the
flow and the content. The goal with this exercise
should be conciseness and clarity in the delivery.
Repeat this practice until these goals have been
accomplished, move on to the next section of the
presentation, and repeat.

2.3 Whole Practice
Once each section has been practiced a few times,
move on to practicing the whole presentation. Some
sections will naturally be easier to present than
others focus on the difficult areas and then move
on. Finally, practice in front of a colleague or peer
that can be trusted to give honest advice about the
presentation.

The result of this kind of
practice is that the
presenter will now be
much more familiar with
the structure and flow of
t hei r pr esent at i on.
Combined with a well
d e s i g n e d s l i d e
pr e s e nt a t i on, t he
presenter should be able
to present confidently
and professionally to an
academi c audi ence.
There is some relation between this practice and
theories of cognitive chunking and sight reading. It
is worth reading up on these areas if you are going to
be teaching these skills to a class.

2.4 Chunking exercise
Students write out their introduction. They
should focus on spoken academic English
Have them chunk their introduction
Practice and critique their introduction with
their critiquing group
Questions critics may ask:
Why did you make the choices you did?
Is there enough emphasis on the key words?
Is the structure clear?

2.5 Recognizing the effectiveness of pacing

Using examples, students can become aware of the
subtle, but very effective, skill of pacing to direct
meaning. One such exercise is:
A good example of a presenter who uses pacing very
effectively is Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer.
Many of his keynote speeches are available online,
through YouTube or Apple.com. The unveiling of
the iPod Nano is one particularly good example, and
one that most students will be somewhat familiar
with. Constructing a short exercise where the
students critique his presentation can be useful in
raising their awareness of this effective technique, as
well as recognizing the difference between a
persuasive business presentation and an academic
presentation.

Memorizing
Greater accuracy and flow
Intonation often suffers
Eye-contact and connection with audience is
reduced
More difficult to accommodate errors and
corrections
Focus on reciting the content
Familiarizing
Greater connection with the audience
Improved eye contact
Easier to accommodate errors and corrections
Focus on communication
Requires more practice and preparation
Intonation is usually much more natural
More confident appearance
Using Chunking to
prepare a presentation:

1.O r g a n i z e y o u r
presentation into chunks
2.Practice the chunks
3.Develop slides to support
the chunks
4.Paste the chunks into
your slide notes
5.Practice from your slide
notes
Select the sentence that does not sound right:
1. The person who never made a mistake // never
made anything.
2. The person // who never made a mistake //
never // made // anything.
3. The person who // never made a // mistake//
never // made anything.
An example of a chunked introduction
Cases of ground water contamination // in Korea //
have been increasing // as of late. // While legal
measures exist to prosecute polluters, // evidence to do
so has been lacking. // This // has largely been
due // to a lack of adequate testing measures // and
procedures. // Our laboratory // has been developing
a system // for the remote measuring // and
recording // of groundwater contamination. // We
anticipate // this system // will be able to provide //
one method // to enforce pollution controls // and
protect // our water resources.
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Aidan Hammond
Language Education Institute, Seoul National University
2.6 Strength of Claim and Hedging

Presenters need to modify the strength of their
claims in order to emphasize or put some distance
between themselves and their assertions. This is very
important in data commentary. Most students seem
to be aware of these phrases but rarely put them into
practice in their presentations.

2.7 Peer Critiquing and Critiquing Groups

One technique that has been very valuable in the
classroom is the use of critiquing groups. With a
large number of students, it is difficult to give each
person an adequate amount of time to be critiqued.
Also, most people in a classroom will switch-off
when another is presenting they have no vested
interest in the presentation. To overcome these
problems, critiquing groups can be created. Each
group consists of 3 to 4 people who are responsible
for critiquing every presentation one of their group
members makes. The final 15-20 minutes of class is
given over to the critiquing groups. Students take
turns critiquing each others presentations, providing
feedback and suggestions for improvement.
2.8 Setting up critiquing groups
Outline the importance of critiquing and peer
evaluation
emphasize that the students are the audience
so it is important that the presenter somehow
connects with them
Discuss the criteria for evaluating a particular
presentation
provide students with a list of criteria
the criteria needs to be different for each type
of presentation (introductory speech,
description of an object, problem solution)
Give students time to discuss and critique
appoint a time monitor in each group to
ensure that each person receives an
opportunity to be critiqued.
hold a wrap-up session at the end of class
where common issues or questions can be
discussed.
Modifying the strength of a claim.

Use modal auxiliary
(will/may)
Use phrases to qualify a claim
There is a definite possibility that
Put distance between the speaker and the claim
It has been said that
Indicate a generalization
In most parts of the world
Use/avoid weaker verbs
Indicate vs. Establish
Links to resources and references mentioned in this workshop are available for
download at this website:

www.apresource.wordpress.com (click on the WORKSHOP link)

You will also find links to articles handouts and resources that will be useful for
teachers and students of academic presentations.
Advantages of critiquing groups

Students are very honest with each other
The presenters awareness of how they connected with
the audience is increased
The audience has a task the extends beyond just
listening