An Integrated Approach to Developing Japanese Students' English Presentation and Discussion Skills

We examined the types of difficulties that Japanese high school students have in English presentation and discussion activities. We conducted factor analysis (principal factor method with promax rotation) on the survey data, which was divided into four stages: (1) the presentation preparation stage; (2) the presentation stage; (3) the listening stage; and (4) the discussion stage. The results showed that students had difficulty with the following skills during each of the four stages: (1) "effective ways of providing information," "revision," and "collaborative work" during the presentation preparation stage; (2) "basic presentation skills," "handling questions," and "audience management" during the presentation stage ; (3) "active interaction" and "active understanding" during the listening stage; and (4) "overcoming communication anxiety," "adaptation to classroom activities," "problem solving approach," and "self-relativization" during the discussion stage

An Integrated Approach to Developing Japanese Students' English Presentation and Discussion Skills

We examined the types of difficulties that Japanese high school students have in English presentation and discussion activities. We conducted factor analysis (principal factor method with promax rotation) on the survey data, which was divided into four stages: (1) the presentation preparation stage; (2) the presentation stage; (3) the listening stage; and (4) the discussion stage. The results showed that students had difficulty with the following skills during each of the four stages: (1) "effective ways of providing information," "revision," and "collaborative work" during the presentation preparation stage; (2) "basic presentation skills," "handling questions," and "audience management" during the presentation stage ; (3) "active interaction" and "active understanding' during the listening stage; and (4) "overcoming communication anxiety," "adaptation to classroom activities," "problem solving approach," and "self-relativization" during the discussion stage

Speaking Practices Designed to Improve Presentation Skills and Their Effect on High School Students’ Oral Performance

この研究は，口頭発表活動に必要な技術を身につける実践を通じて，発話力の伸びを検証することを目的とした実証的研究である。高校１年生の実験クラスを対象に，物語の紹介を目的とする，パターン化された構成で行うプレゼンテーション形式の活動を一定期間行い，ポストテストにおける発話を統制クラスと比較した結果，流暢さの面で向上が見られた。実験クラスの経験した発表活動では，パターン化された情報構造で発話内容を考えるため，活動時の発話過程において，概念化の段階で受ける認知的負荷が軽減され，言語化に向ける認知資源を増やすことができ，流暢さが高まったと考えられる。The present study takes an empirical approach to assessing the effect of speaking practice designed to improve presentation skills. First-year high-school students repeatedly engaged in book-talk activities for a certain period of time. During the activities, they were given a speaking format to facilitate their performance. At the end of the instruction period, students’ speaking fluency was measured, analyzed, and compared with that of a control group. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the students’ fluency improves substantially when they are provided with a speaking format. The result supports the hypothesis that this format helps to lessen the students’ cognitive load at the initial conceptualization stage and instead helps to save cognitive resources for successive stages of speech production, which consequently enhances the students’ speaking performance

Effects of Small-Group Facilitators on Speaking Performance of Junior High School Students

本研究は，中学生のスピーキング活動におけるファシリテーターの働きに注目し，その発話の特徴とそれが学習者の発話にどのように影響するかについて，日本人英語教員，外国人英語話者および学習者がファシリテーター役を担う小集団を設定し，調査結果を量的・質的に分析することにより，今後のスピーキング指導の在り方の方向性を提案することを目的とした。結果として，日本人英語教員，外国人英語話者ともに学習者への発話量の多さはあるものの，ディスカッションで求められる学習者の思考の深まりを促す働きは確認できなかった。しかし，会話分析から，ファシリテーターの発話の量と質のバランスを工夫することにより，学習者から発話を引き出し，思考の深まりを促すきっかけを与えることができる可能性があることは確認できた。今後は，今回の調査において，発話回数が少なかった「学習者に自信を与える発話」や「思考を深める発話」に焦点を当てた調査・分析を課題としたい。The aim of this research is to propose how the instruction on speaking activities can be effective by focusing on the role of a facilitator. In this research, a Japanese teacher, a foreign language speaker and a junior high school student played the role of the facilitator in a group of junior-high students. The facilitators’ utterances produced in the groups were analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative ways. As a result, the majority of the facilitators succeeded in letting the students speak out, but their work wasn’t sufficient enough to deepen the students’ thoughts. However, this research suggests that the facilitators can help students to speak out and deepen their thoughts by using adequate types of facilitation, which encourages the students to speak out and allows them to deepen their thoughts