Engineering Undergraduates’ Self-Assessment in Delivering Technical Oral Presentations in ESL Context

Abstract

In recent years, alternative assessments have progressively gained attention in L2 speaking. An area which has received significant attention in the ESL literature has been the implementation of self-assessment strategy. The purpose of the present study is to find undergraduates' perceptions pertaining to the use of self-assessment on technical oral presentations. In order to achieve this aim, the study conducted 113 engineering undergraduates from the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Earth Resources to be involved in this research. The study delved into the participants' perceptions on self-assessment in delivering technical oral presentations. A questionnaire which had been adapted from previous studies was found to be reliable and was distributed to the participants. The results of the study revealed that the engineering undergraduates' perceptions on self-assessment were positive. According to the findings of the study, it can be concluded that implementing self-assessment technique among Malaysian undergraduates can be helpful in overcoming some of their oral presentation difficulties. Hence, the results of the study have clear implications on teaching and learning. Educators can implement self-assessment technique as an autonomous learning opportunity to alleviate their students' oral presentation apprehension. The strategy can polish the oral presentation skills of individuals in both academic and professional spheres.

Does the More Social Media Usage Good Academic Grade? Meta-Analysis

“…These conditions can increase students' information and knowledge. In addition, social networks can enable students to discussion effectively to solve their class problems, as an effective tool used for communication about what they learn [29].…”

Classroom Oral Presentation: Students’ Challenges and How They Cope

“…However, it also poses some challenges, whether done individually or collaboratively. One of the most common issues that students face is related to the anxiety or nervousness of performing in front of an audience (see Al-Nouh et al, 2015;Al-Darwish & Taqi, 2015;Benraghda et al, 2018;Chen, 2015;Hasanah et al, 2013;Okada et al, 2017;Tian & Mahmud, 2018). This feeling of nervousness is something that the students might feel the moment they know they would have to perform in front of the public (Al-Darwish & Taqi, 2015) because they believe that doing an oral presentation is difficult (Whai & Mei, 2012) or simply because they are just not confident (Whai & Mei, 2012).…”

“…Thinking that they do not have adequate language mastery is one of the common issues that the students face, which relates closely to their nervous feeling. Mastery can relate to the lack of language proficiency in general (Chen, 2015;Hasanah et al, 2013;Whai & Mei, 2012) or something more specific, such as pronunciation (Chen, 2015;Al-Darwish & Taqi, 2015;Okada et al, 2017) vocabulary (Benraghda et al, 2018), and oral proficiency (Tian & Mahmud, 2018). Szyszka (2011) found a negative correlation between the students' self-perception on their pronunciation and language anxiety.…”

“…Others have focused on how students and teachers assess or view the students' oral presentation performance (Miles, 2009;Salehi & Drayabar, 2015). There were only few that studied students' challenges in English oral presentation (Al-Nouh, Abdul-Kareem, & Taqi, 2015;Benraghda, Radzuan, & Ali, 2018;Whai & Mei, 2015). This is where this study could contribute to fill in the lack.…”

Engineering lecturer’s perceptions of student self-assessment in enhancing technical oral presentation skills

“…SA which is also named as self-rating, self-evaluation or self-appraisal has been frequently used to enhance tertiary studentcentered learning. Many studies concluded that SA strategy was reliable (Benraghda & Radzuan, 2018;Salehi & Daryabar, 2014). In this regard, the reliability of the assessment referred to the consistency and steadiness of the scores produced by a measurement instrument that could be determined in numerous ways.…”