Examining the effectiveness of an online EAP course in developing researchers' virtual conference presentation skills

Abstract

Virtual conferences and webinars are increasingly transforming the nature of academic communications. In their transition from conventional to digital academic venues, researchers require guided mentorship, hands-on experience, and consistent feedback. In this study, the aim was to explore the effectiveness of an online EAP course in developing researchers' virtual presentation skills. The participants included the researchers (N = 20) from different departments of sciences in a state university in Iran. Through narrative interviews, the needs analysis phase was completed. The findings demonstrated that the researchers' virtual presentation needs are characterized by academic language competence, pragmatic communication skill, and remote audience engagement. To meet these needs, an online short-term EAP course was designed and held. Through participatory observations and peer feedback, the effectiveness of the course was investigated. The results showed the positive contributions of the course. The participants' attitudes towards their immediate learning experiences were further probed through focus-group interviews. The findings highlighted the researchers' revived self-confidence, live demo experience, digital academic competence, multimedia-enhanced presentation skill-building, collaborative community-based learning, awareness of audiences' affective engagement, and increasing attention to communicative language choices in this course. The findings have potential relevance and application to those involved in the design, delivery, and teaching of online EAP courses – and not only for academics from non-English speaking background, but also English-speaking background.