A Sage on a Stage, to Express and Impress: TED Talks for Improving Oral Presentation Skills, Vocabulary Retention and Its Impact on Reducing Speaking Anxiety in ESP Settings

Abstract

This study explores the impact of using TED Talks on improving oral presentation skills of Business English students and vocabulary uptake/retention. It also assesses the impact of improving such hard cognitive skills on increasing Business majors’ speaking anxiety level. Sequential explanatory mixed method was used, which includes both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analyses. Business students’ oral presentation skills were assessed through Oral Presentation Skills Sheet (OPSS), vocabulary retention was assessed through Vocabulary Uptake/Retention Test (VURT), and speaking anxiety level was assessed through Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) (Mörtberg, Jansson-Fröjmark, Pettersson, & Hennlid-Oredsson, 2018). Participants in the study consist 49 students, who were divided into two groups; experimental group consisting of 24 students, and control group that includes 25 Business English majors. Findings of the study revealed that oral presentation skills and vocabulary uptake/retention levels were improved due to the use of TED talks as an ICT tool. Also, it was revealed that Business majors in the experimental group are more enthusiastic, energetic and motivated to give killer presentations as they became more confident and free of anxiety and tension.

TED Talks in EFL Context: An Alternative Way for Teaching and Improving Student’s Speaking Skills

“…Therefore, TED Talks is one of the ICT tools that can be effectively used to promote speaking skills. It represents an effective instructional tool for developing language skills due to its authentic nature (Salem, 2019).…”

Exploring the Potential of TED Talks for Teaching Business English to University Students

“…However, only two studies were found on using TED talks for teaching Business English (Ramejkis, n.d.;Salem, 2019). Both of them explored the impact of using TED Talks on improving oral presentation skills of Business English students.…”

“…Both of them explored the impact of using TED Talks on improving oral presentation skills of Business English students. It was revealed that Business majors in the experimental group are more enthusiastic, energetic and motivated as they became more confident and free of anxiety and tension (Salem, 2019).…”

Presentation skills of business and economics students: Cluster analysis

“…Numerous professions such as Economy and Business, Health, Politics, and Diplomacy recognised the influence of polished presentation skills as a necessity for a successful career (Ciarocco, 2018). They use presentations for business results discussions, developing strategies, pitching ideas, debating about their opinions, but the impact of the presented depends on the speakers' oral presentation skills (Salem, 2019). Academic researchers acknowledge presentation skills as the most important skills for employment, even in comparison to intelligence, moreover, they point out that poor presentation skills could impede the individual's career (Lent, 2018).…”