Understanding Student Attitudes toward Delivering English Oral Presentations

Abstract

Delivering English oral presentations is deemed a prevalent activity of language learning in the university setting. Given that students’ attitudes have a substantial impact on the outcomes of language learning through delivering oral presentations, this study examined the attitudes of 153 third- and fourth-year students enrolled in an English major at the Department of Foreign Languages at a university in Southern Vietnam toward delivering presentations in English. The study has also focused on investigating what factors affect their attitudes toward the presentations. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods in gathering and analyzing the data. The findings revealed that most of the students had positive attitudes toward the presentations although they encountered some impediments in the course of the delivery. Student language proficiency, learning styles, and factors related to teachers and audience are the key factors that are instrumental in students’ attitudes toward delivering their oral presentations; familiarity with the topic and public speaking anxiety also affected their presentations. Pedagogical implications were suggested to most benefit students of different proficiency levels and learning styles with regard to English oral presentations.