Assessment of Oral Presentation Skills in Teaching English for Specific Purposes

Abstract

Delivering an oral presentation requires mastery of all four language competencies. It also involves a thorough understanding of different linguistic registers and varieties. This involves focusing on non-verbal signs and gestures, with the precise aim of informing or persuading the audience. Therefore, evaluating these complex oral presentation skills can be challenging, especially if clear evaluation criteria are not established and followed through during the entire educational process. Our study aims (1) to identify an extensive educational assessment tool for oral presentation skills, and (2) to test the validity of this tool among our students during formative evaluation sessions. Our study involves two groups of university undergraduate students learning English for Specific Purposes. They are from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, and the Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria. Looking at the assessment intention from a communicative approach, in this research we stress the importance of the congruence between three educational stages – teaching, learning, and evaluation.