AN INVESTIGATION OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ ORAL

PRESENTATION DELIVERY SKILLS: A CASE STUDY

NUR AFIQAH BINTI AB RAHMAN

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

AN INVESTIGATION OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ ORAL

PRESENTATION DELIVERY SKILLS: A CASE STUDY

NUR AFIQAH BINTI AB RAHMAN

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Science in Education (TESL)

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

2008

iii

Special Dedication

To my beloved Mak and Ayah

To my supporting brothers and sisters

And to cinta

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my PSM supervisor, Dr

Hadina Habil for her guidance.

I am also very thankful to my Academic Advisor, Puan Zanariah Md

Saleh for allowing me to use her students as my respondents.

I would like to express my gratitude to Assoc. Prof Dr Abdul Halim Abd

Raof for guiding me in designing the oral presentation rating scale.

A million thanks to 8 Charmed Ones for their endless support.

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ABSTRACT

In delivering oral presentation, it is important for the presenters to make the

audience listen to them. One way to attract the audience is through oral presentation

delivery skills which include the use of voice, eye contact, gestures, body posture,

body movement and facial expression. However, presenters often neglect delivery

skills and focus more on the content. Thus, this study intends to investigate to what

extent the engineering students know and apply the appropriate oral presentation

delivery skills. The objectives of this study are to find out the engineering students’

awareness of the appropriateness of oral presentation delivery skills and to

investigate the use of appropriate oral presentation delivery skills. The findings of

the research show that the students are aware of the appropriateness of oral

presentation delivery skills. However, it is surprising to know that even though they

have the awareness, they do not apply the skills in their oral presentation.

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ABSTRAK

Dalam membuat pembentangan lisan, adalah penting bagi pembentang untuk

menarik perhatian pendengar supaya mereka memberi perhatian terhadap

pembentangan itu. Salah satu cara untuk menarik perhatian mereka adalah melalui

cara penyampaian iaitu suara, pandangan mata, gerakan tangan, cara berdiri,

pergerakan badan dan juga ekspresi muka. Walaubagaimanapun, kebanyakan

pembentang hanya menumpukan kepada isi kandungan pembentangan sahaja dan

tidak memberi perhatian kepada cara penyampaian. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan

untuk mengkaji tahap pengetahuan dan aplikasi pelajar kejuruteraan dalam

menyampaikan pembentangan. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengetahui tahap

kesedaran pelajar kejuruteraan berkenaan dengan cara pembentangan yang sesuai

dan juga untuk melihat pelajar kejuruteraan mengaplikasi cara penyampaian yang

sesuai dalam pembentangan. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa pelajar-pelajar ini

mengetahui cara penyampaian yang sesuai. Namun begitu, adalah mengejutkan

bahawa walaupun pelajar-pelajar ini tahu cara penyampaian yang sesuai, mereka

sebenarnya tidak menggunakan cara penyampaian yang betul dalam pembentangan.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES xv

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the Study 2

1.2 Statement of Problem 4

1.3 Research Objectives 5

1.4 Research Questions 6

1.5 Scope of the Study 6

1.6 Significance of the Study 6

1.7 Definition of Terms 7

1.7.1 Oral Presentation 8

1.7.2 Delivery Skills 8

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.0 Introduction 9

2.1 Communication 9

2.1.1 Definition of Communication 10

2.1.2 Types of Communication 10

2.1.2.1 Intrapersonal Communication 10

2.1.2.2 Interpersonal Communication 10

2.1.2.3 Small-Group Communication 11

2.1.2.4 Public Communication 11

2.2 Oral Presentation 12

2.2.1 Definition of Oral Presentation 13

2.2.2 Purposes of Oral Presentation 13

2.2.2.1 Informative 13

2.2.2.2 Instructional 13

2.2.2.3 Persuasive 14

2.2.3 Types of Oral Presentation 14

2.2.3.1 Impromptu Speech 14

2.2.3.2 Memorized Speech 14

2.2.3.3 Manuscript Speech 14

2.2.3.4 Extemporaneous Speech 15

2.3 Delivery Skills 15

2.3.1 Definition of Delivery Skills 16

2.3.2 Importance of Delivery Skills 17

2.3.3 Elements of Delivery Skills 18

2.3.3.1 Voice 18

2.3.3.2 Eye Contact 20

2.3.3.3 Gestures 20

2.3.3.4 Body Posture 22

2.3.3.5 Body Movement 22

2.3.3.6 Facial Expression 23

2.4 Research Related To the Study 24

3 METHODOLOGY 26

3.0 Introduction 26

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3.1 Research Design 26

3.2 Respondents 27

3.3 Instruments 28

3.3.1 Questionnaire 28

3.3.2 Observation 30

3.3.3 Video Taping 31

3.4 Research Procedure 32

3.5 Data Analysis 33

3.6 Pilot Study 33

3.7 Findings of the Pilot Study 35

3.7.1 Discussions on the Questionnaire 35

3.7.2 Discussions on the Observation 36

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 38

4.0 Introduction 38

4.1 Findings of the Study 38

4.1.1 Analysis of the Respondents 39

4.2 Analysis of the Questionnaire 41

4.2.1 Voice 41

4.2.2 Eye Contact 43

4.2.3 Gestures 44

4.2.4 Body Posture 46

4.2.5 Body Movement 47

4.2.6 Facial Expression 48

4.3 Overview of the Analysis from the Questionnaire 49

4.4 Analysis of the Observation 50

4.4.1 Analysis of the Presenters 50

4.4.2 Voice 51

4.4.3 Eye Contact 53

4.4.4 Gestures 53

4.4.5 Body Posture 54

4.4.6 Body Movement 55

4.4.7 Facial Expression 56

4.5 Overview of the Findings from the 57

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Observation

4.6 Summary of the Findings 58

5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 59

5.0 Introduction 59

5.1 Overview of the Study 59

5.2 Restatement of the Objectives 60

5.3 Review of the Findings 60

5.4 Limitations 61

5.4.1 The Equipments Used for Video Taping 61

5.4.2 The Respondents 62

5.4.3 Settings of the Research 62

5.5 Recommendations 63

5.5.1 Based on the Findings 63

5.5.2 Future Research 63

5.6 Contribution of the Study 64

REFERENCES 65

Appendices 68 – 85

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

3.1 Distribution of Questions in the Questionnaire 29

3.2 Changes Made to the Questionnaire 36

4.1 English SPM result 39

4.2 MUET result 39

4.3 Frequency of delivering OP 40

4.4 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the

appropriate Voice Projection in OP

41

4.5 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the appropriate

Eye Contact in OP

43

4.6 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the appropriate

Gestures in OP

44

4.7 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the appropriate

Body Posture in OP

46

4.8 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the appropriate

Body Movement in OP

47

4.9 Analysis of respondents’ awareness of the appropriate

Facial Expression in OP

48

4.10 The Average Percentage for All Variables 49

4.11 The Demographic Details 51

4.12 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Voice Projection

in OP

51

4.13 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Eye Contact in OP 53

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TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

4.14 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Gestures in OP 53

4.15 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Posture in OP 54

4.16 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Movement in OP 55

4.17 The Overall Analysis of the Presenters' Facial Expression

in OP

56

4.18 The Average Performance of the Presenters. 57

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Types of Communication 12

3.1 Research Framework 32

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FKSG - The Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering

MUET - Malaysian University English Test

OP - Oral Presentation

PMR - Penilaian Menengah Rendah

RQ1 - Research Question 1

RQ2 - Research Question 2

SPM - Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

UHB 2422 - Advanced English for Academic Purposes

UTM - University Teknologi Malaysia

Q - Question (eg. Q1=Question 1)

xv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Example of Questionnaire 68

B Example of Observation Sheet 71

C Presentation Evaluation Survey 72

(Taken from Hager & Scheiber, 1997)

D Oral Presentation Rating Scale: Delivery 75

E Course Outline for the Subjects Taken By The 76

Respondents of the Study

F Number of FKSG students taking UHB 2422 course 83

G A Copy of the Presenters’ Oral Presentation (DVD) 84

H MUET Rating Scale 85

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

English has become more important in Malaysia as the society has started

realising the importance of the use of English in this information age. The ability to

have a good command in English is vital for Malaysians to keep up with the vast and

rapid change of the world. For that reason, it is crucial for Malaysians to get access

to the first hand knowledge without waiting for the knowledge to be translated into

their first language. After all, for Malaysians to be able to compete at the

international stage, English language is the key to success.

To succeed in any field, the ability to convey or share that knowledge with

other people is crucial. It was reported that it is vital for graduates to have soft skills

like the ability to socialize, and express themselves to complement their technical

skills. (New Straits Times, July 18, 2007). Even though the article emphasised on

graduates, other people who want to stay longer in the competitive working industry

need to learn and improve their soft skills as well.

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In addition, other people also need to be realistic that being an expert in the

content area is not necessarily sufficient as they need to attend meetings and meet

other people as well. Salbiah Seliman (1996) said that professionals at leadership

level or even at subordinates’ level need to communicate with others. That is why the

industry needs people with good communication skills (The Higher Education

Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamed, New Straits Times, June 24, 2007).

1.1 Background of the Study

People communicate through verbal and nonverbal communication. The

purpose of both verbal and nonverbal communication is for us to give orders, convey

our feelings, clarify thoughts, and offer explanation and so on. In other word, to

communicate is to exchange information with other people.

In sending message verbally or nonverbally, it is essential for us not to be

misinterpreted or misunderstood by others. Even in speaking which is verbal

communication, we need to use something other than the words we use – by our tone

of voice, gestures, or even the way we stand and dressed (Ross, 1986). For example,

we cannot just say we are happy without showing smiling faces. Other than our face,

we need our hands to show for example, how small a mouse is. Facial expression

and hand gestures are examples of nonverbal communication.

In communication, we are actually presenting our ideas, thoughts and

feelings. Presenting ideas can happen based on one-to-one communication or one-

to-many. In one-to-many communication, it is called oral presentation. Even though

oral presentation is essential so that we will be able to present information in a

formal or an informal way, there is not much exposure on oral presentation. In

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Malaysia, this happens both at the primary and secondary level as well as at the

tertiary level.

Shamril Wan (2005) stated that although students are good in other skills

such as writing, having to speak in front of the class especially in a foreign language

like English, is most feared by them. Therefore, once students are asked to do oral

presentation in English, it is not impossible if the situation changes to a complete

silence. Students are afraid and shy to speak before a group of people. One of the

reasons is that there is not enough exposure of doing oral presentation when they are

in school. As a result, students experience a great discomfort when they are required

to do oral presentation especially when they pursue their study to tertiary level.

Another reason why students ignore the oral presentation is that they know in

their exam, they will be tested on the writing and reading skills only. Even though

there is an oral test for Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) and Sijil Pelajaran

Malaysia (SPM), the marks given for the oral test are not counted in the exam itself.

For example, in an SPM exam, if a student gets C for the oral test and gets A for the

written exam, the marks are separated and do not affect each other. It does not

matter what grade the students get for the oral test because what counted is the marks

for the written exam only.

At university level, oral presentation is a must and students have no reason

not to present their work as oral presentation is part of coursework assignment.

Therefore, students are expected to be able to present well. However, not all

presentations are good. This happens even to students from many courses available

in UTM. For instance, it is undeniable that many presenters will look at their notes.

Although there is nothing wrong if the presenters want to have notes, some of them

read from their notes from the beginning until the end of the presentation and it

causes difficulties for the audience to understand their ideas. Worse, the audience

cannot actually see their facial expression as they consistently look down at their

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notes. In addition, we might come across presentations where the presenters put their

hands in their pocket all the time or wrap their hands around their abdomen.

The situation explained above is not expected from any oral presentation

since in oral presentation, it is essential for the presenters to make the audience listen

to their ideas. To do this, the presenters have to know how to give the presentation.

Salbiah Seliman and Dubois (2002: 35) stated that “…how the message is given is

more important than what is given”. How means the way the presenters should

deliver their message which is also known as delivery skills. Oral presentation

delivery skills are important as they determine whether or not the audience will listen

to the presenters.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Students who study in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have to take

English courses as university requirements. One of the requirements of the English

course is that it is compulsory for students to do oral presentation as part of their

coursework. This requirement should be a great help to students as it will give them

exposure and practice on how to deliver message effectively. “However, many

students find this situation stressful as some of them have not even had any chance to

appear in front of an audience during their schooling years”(Shamril Wan, 2005:3).

UTM students who are pursuing engineering courses do not have one

particular subject focusing on oral presentation in their curriculum. Even though

they have English courses as one of the university requirement subjects, none of

these courses teach oral presentation skills explicitly. Only one elective course

which is UHB 3052 Effective Oral Communication Skills focuses on the teaching of

oral presentation skills. However, this subject is an elective as not all students are

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required to register for this particular subject. Generally, other UHB courses

introduce oral presentation as one of the component of the course or embedded in the

course and usually, this component contributes only 10-15% from the overall mark.

From the explanation above, it can be said that UTM students, especially

those who are in non-education field were not taught formally on the presentation

skills. As stated in Salbiah Seliman and Dubois (2002: 37), “…an oral presentation

must be heard…ones who do not have teaching experience, appear not to know that”.

Examples of students who do not have teaching experience are engineering students.

Since engineering students do not have explicit teaching in oral presentation, it is

unknown whether they know the appropriate delivery skills and whether they use the

appropriate delivery skills in their presentation.

In this research, the researcher focuses on second year students from the

Faculty of Geinformation Science and Engineering majoring in Property

Management. The researcher was able to get the syllabus and course outline of the

subjects the respondents were taking (Appendix E). Based on the syllabus, there is

no single subject except UHB 2422 which include oral presentation as its coursework

mark. Based on the course outline found, the researcher was interested to know their

awareness and application of appropriate oral presentation delivery skills.

1.3 Research Objectives

The objectives of the study are:

(1) To find out the engineering students’ awareness of the appropriateness of the

oral presentation delivery skills.

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(2) To investigate the use of appropriate oral presentation delivery skills among

engineering students in oral presentation.

1.4 Research Questions

The focus of the study is oral presentation delivery skills among engineering

students. The study aims to find answers to the questions below.

(1) To what extent are the engineering students aware of the appropriateness of

oral presentation delivery skills ?

(2) How do engineering students use appropriate delivery skills in their oral

presentation?

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study involves second year students who are taking UHB 2422:

Advanced English for Academic Communication course. They are second year

students from the Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering in UTM.

These students are majoring in Property Management.

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1.6 Significance of the Study

This study intends to observe the appropriate delivery skills used by

engineering students in their oral presentation and also to know whether they are

aware of the appropriateness of OP delivery skills. Based on these two objectives,

the findings will benefit two parties which are the students and the lecturers.

Findings from the studies done by Shamril Wan (2005), Abdul Halim (2002)

and Salbiah Seliman (1996) show that delivery skills are important. Thus, with the

findings of this study, the researcher hopes to make the students aware of what is

expected in oral presentation and the appropriateness of delivery skills in oral

presentation. If the students are already aware of the delivery skills, it is important

for them to use the skills in their presentation. If they are not aware, they should be

taught on how crucial getting the audience’s attention is and in making the audience

listens to the presentation.

Other than the students, this study will help the English lecturers in their

teaching. If the result of the study shows that engineering students are not aware of

the importance of delivery skills, the lecturers can spend more time in teaching oral

presentation skills. If the students are already aware, the lecturers can use the time to

polish the students’ skills. In addition, subject lecturers will also benefit from this

study. Since they have more experience in the field, they can expose students to

good and bad presentations and give suggestions to improve the students’

presentation.

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1.7 Definition of Terms

In this research, there are a number of terminologies used. To avoid

confusion, the researcher will give definition of terms based on the context used in

this study. The terms will also be discussed in detail in Chapter 2.

1.7.1 Oral Presentation

According to Salbiah Seliman, (2007) oral presentation is a one-to-many

encounter as in lecture, seminars, or a talk. Some purposes of oral presentation are to

persuade the audience and to present a research report. In this study, the researcher

will observe oral presentation that is made to present a research proposal.

1.7.2 Delivery skills

According to Verderber (1988), delivery is the use of voice and body to

communicate the speech’s message; it is what we see and what we hear. The

elements on delivery skills used in this research are adapted from the checklist used

by Shamril Wan (2002) and Salbiah Seliman (1996) which are gestures, eye contact,

facial expression, body posture, movement and also voice projection. However,

based on the findings of the pilot study, the researcher included another delivery skill

which is body movement. The term delivery skills is used interchangeably with

delivery. Delivery skills and the elements of delivery skills will be discussed in

depth in Chapter 2.