English Public Speaking Course Research Articles

The predictive roles of enjoyment, anxiety, willingness to communicate on students’ performance in English public speaking classes

Abstract Despite the extensive research on willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and foreign language enjoyment (FLE), few studies have tested the roles of these variables in predicting L2 learning outcomes. This line of inquiry is imperative, especially because the importance of L2 WTC primarily lies in its presumable role in enhancing L2 learning. This study examines how FLA, FLE, and L2 WTC predict English public speaking performance. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire that contained closed-ended and open-ended items to 132 Chinese university students who took an English public speaking course. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that FLE was the single significant predictor of L2 WTC and public speaking performance. Participants’ responses revealed a range of major categories underlying classroom episodes when they felt most enjoyable, most anxious, and most willing to communicate. Implications for future research and pedagogical practice are finally addressed.

The effects of an English public speaking course on critical thinking dispositions of Chinese EFL university students

This study aims to explore the effects of an English public speaking (EPS) course on Chinese EFL university students’ critical thinking dispositions (CTD) according to their proficiency levels. 115 freshmen from a university in China participated in this current study and they were randomly divided into one experimental group (n = 55) and one control group (n = 60). According to the scores of TOEIC listening, the participants were grouped into three proficiency levels - low-level, intermediate-level and high-level. During the sixteen-week treatment, the experimental group was required to take the EPS course while the control group took a traditional English speaking course. To confirm the effects of the EPS course, pre- and post-tests regarding the CTD were conducted. The results of the independent t-tests revealed that the EPS course had positive effects on enhancing the CTD of Chinese EFL students regardless of their English proficiency levels. The results of the one-way ANOVA demonstrated that students with higher proficiency levels improved more significantly regarding all the dimensions of CTD. Based on the results, several pedagogical implications are made.

RETRACTED: Model for evaluating the teaching effect of the college English public speaking course under the flipped classroom hybrid teaching mode with intuitionistic trapezoidal fuzzy numbers

This article has been retracted, and the online PDF has been watermarked “RETRACTION”. The retraction notice is available at http://doi.org/10.3233/KES-210080.

Self-assessment first or peer-assessment first: effects of video-based formative practice on learners’ English public speaking anxiety and performance

Although formative assessment has been recognized as an effective way for improving learning, scant attention has been paid to the specific design on the sequence of applying formative assessment practice in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Even less emphasis has been devoted to the cognitive and affective outcomes of different orders of formative assessment strategies on building students’ public speaking competence. This mixed-method research employed multi-source data to explore and explain the effects of two different ways of sequencing video-based formative assessment on English language learners’ public speaking anxiety and their performance. Two intact classes in a 16-week English public speaking course were randomly assigned to two groups, 25 in the self-assessment-initiated (SAI) group and 26 in the peer-assessment-initiated (PAI) group. Following two different sequences of formative practice, both groups were required to complete three formal English public speeches. Both quantitative and qualitative findings indicated that learners in the SAI group showed significantly lower public speaking anxiety than those in the PAI group, whereas learners in the PAI group showed significantly better public speaking performance. Moreover, the findings showed that SAI formative practice helped the learners to pay more attention to their delivery and anxiety levels in public speaking, while PAI formative practice may have led the learners to improve their proper use of English language. This research indicated that the sequence of implementing different modalities of assessment matters. Supported by video technology and CALL tools, different sequences in obtaining varying sources of feedback can affect students’ public speaking anxiety and competence. This study provides refined understandings about the sequences of using video technology in formative practice for alleviating the learners’ public speaking anxiety and improving their performance. The findings suggest that self-assessment should be arranged first for learners with a higher-level of anxiety while peer-assessment should be conducted first for learners with a lower-level of English language proficiency. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1946562 .

Language and Critical Thinking Integrated Teaching Reform on English Public Speaking Course in the Context of “New Liberal Arts”

In the context of “New Liberal Arts and Macro Foreign Language Education”, the integration of critical thinking skills into English language learning will not only contribute to the discipline development, but also meet the needs of cultivating high-quality foreign language talents in the context of the new era. As individuals’ English speaking abilities are closely related to their thinking skills, teachers should pay attention to improving students’ critical thinking competence while enhancing their English language proficiency and speaking skills. Based on the current teaching situation of English Pubic Speaking course, this article proposes specific strategies such as transforming teachers’ role, setting up language and critical thinking integrated teaching goals, adopting diverse teaching methods, cultivating students’ critical thinking literacy and disposition, as well as upgrading traditional teaching modes, in order to provide some references for subsequent experimental research.

Indonesian EFL students' strategies in dealing with speaking anxiety in public speaking course

Public Speaking is one of the courses learned by the students at universities. In this pilot study, the purpose was to investigate the students strategies in coping with anxiety in English Public Speaking course. Participants of the study were two junior students of English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Aceh, Banda Aceh in Aceh Province, Indonesia. The study purposively selected them based on their gender and class engagement in the Public Speaking course in 2019/2020 academic year. The study used the qualitative method, with interview to collect the data. Findings showed that the students applied several strategies to deal with their speech anxiety, including having adequate preparation and practice and using hand and body movements when delivering a speech. This study recommends that teachers promote such strategies to other EFL students so that they can overcome their fear of public speaking.

Self-efficacy and english public speaking performance: A mixed method approach

English public speaking (EPS) is increasingly gaining prominence and popularity around the world, and this is especially true for university students in China. While self-efficacy is typically strongly correlated with language performance in general (Pajares & Graham, 1999), very little is known about self-efficacy and EPS performance specifically. Grounded in self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) and research on English for academic purposes and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) literature, the main purpose of this study is to postulate and test against data a hypothesized model of EPS performance predictors to examine the relationships among student background characteristics, theoretically postulated sources of EPS self-efficacy, and the relationship between EPS self-efficacy and EPS performance. Participants were 82 EFL students enrolled in a university-level EPS course in China. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for data collection and analysis. ANOVA results indicated substantial EPS self-efficacy and speech performance growth throughout the semester. Path analysis results provided evidence regarding hypothesized relationships among variables; qualitative data helped gain more fine-grained understanding of such relationships. These results add knowledge to self-efficacy theory in the EPS domain, provide a foundation for more robust models in other contexts, and affirm the importance of EPS instructional practices.

Model for evaluating the teaching effect of the college English public speaking course under the flipped classroom hybrid teaching mode with intuitionistic trapezoidal fuzzy numbers

Model for evaluating the teaching effect of the college English public speaking course under the flipped classroom hybrid teaching mode with intuitionistic trapezoidal fuzzy numbers

Views of Instructors Towards Students Learning English Public Speaking at a Malaysian University

Public speaking was one of the most feared situations faced by many people, including
 public speaking in the English language. Speaking English in front of the public was
 really a daunting task for many people, including students of universities. This study
 addressed issues related to English public speaking at the university from the views of
 instructors who taught the English public speaking course. Some topics discussed were
 the common weaknesses of university students in delivering English public speaking,
 the causes of the weaknesses and some recommendations for students to improve
 their English public speaking. This was a qualitative research design where eleven
 instructors teaching English public speaking were interviewed and the gathered data
 were analyzed using thematic analysis and presented using Atlas. ti version 7. One of
 the theories employed in the study was the Uncertainty Reduction Theory that made
 their anxiety level increase. The study revealed that some common weaknesses of
 students were lack of confidence, limited vocabulary and grammar. Some contributing
 causes of the weaknesses were lack of reading, lack of ideas, and lack of self-esteem.
 Some recommendations were then forwarded to solve the problems such as giving
 the motivation to the students to speak, read and think in the English language and
 make a lot of practices.

The effect of flipped learning on EFL learners’ public speaking in Taiwan

<p>This study investigates the effectiveness of flipped learning on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ public speaking. An experimental design was implemented throughout the study, for which the researcher used convenience sampling. Seventy-nine sophomore students, from two intact English Public Speaking classes, were divided into a flipped learning group (FLG) and a conventional instruction group (CIG). This happened over a 12-week period where the focus was to investigate how a language learner’s experience of flipped learning or conventional instruction affected their English public speaking. The author used quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data: a pre- and post-in-class speech and a 250-word post-treatment reflective essay. Both an independent and paired t-test were used to analyze the scores of the speeches, whereas coding was used to specify the themes that emerged from the qualitative data. The results revealed that the FLG significantly outperformed the CIG in the areas of body language and paralanguage. In addition, they did better in the areas of content and organization, and developed other skills as will be detailed later. The findings can be an impetus for EFL instructors to adopt flipped learning in an English public speaking course.<strong></strong></p>

Sources of college EFL learners' self-efficacy in the English public speaking domain

The English language is playing an ever-increasing role in global cultural, political, and economic domains. This underscores a rapidly growing need for good English public speaking (EPS) skills among college students and a need to better understand instructionally manipulable factors, such as self-efficacy, that may contribute to EPS skills development. Grounded in Bandura's self-efficacy theory, this study investigated the degree to which four sources of self-efficacy— enactive mastery experience (EME), vicarious experience (VE), verbal persuasion (VP), and physiological and affective states (PAS)—predicted EPS self-efficacy among 263 adult Chinese English as a foreign language learners. The overall results in the combined sample largely support Bandura's hypothesized sources of self-efficacy, with EME, VE, and VP—but not PAS—significantly making unique contributions to predicting EPS self-efficacy. The results by subsample highlight prior EPS course experience, gender, and academic major as factors that may impact the existence and the magnitude of the relationship between self-efficacy and its theoretical sources. This is particularly important for educators who wish to foster their students' EPS self-efficacy beliefs as the findings suggest that different groups of students may respond differently to their instructors' efforts. Pedagogical recommendations for EPS self-efficacy building are discussed.

Integrated Teaching Model for Undergraduate English Majors’ English Public Speaking Course in China

Recently more and more universities in China design public speaking course in English for the undergraduate English majors. This course can facilitate the students’ oral presentation skills as well as critical thinking improvement. In practice, the outcome of public speaking course is not satisfactory for most students feel anxious to speak in a foreign language and the traditional teacher centered teaching model is not sufficient for the enhancement of students’ achievement in such oral skill focused course. In this paper, the author investigated a new and creative teaching model to activate students’ motivation and forester their performance in English public speaking course for English majors. This model combines neuro-linguistic programming and cooperative approach to create an integrated model. NLP can help recreate a positive and friendly atmosphere for students’ success in English public speaking course and cooperative approach is the learning model which emphasis that a group of students to learn together to optimize the learning environment and reach the learning goals. The newly designed integrated model can be an effective model for a valuable and productive English public speaking course.

To Speak Like a TED Speaker—A Case Study of TED Motivated English Public Speaking Study in EFL Teaching

<p>This paper intends to investigate the effectiveness of a new course pattern—TED-motivated English Public Speaking Course in EFL teaching in China. This class framework adopts TED videos as the learning materials to stimulate students to be a better speaker. Meanwhile, it aims to examine to what extent the five aspects of language skills are improved. Participants are required to give answers to the questions in the questionnaires. SPSS 15.0 is used to analyze the data. The result shows that students in this course respond very positively to this new pattern and are satisfied with their improvements in language skills; they have shifted their roles from a learner to a creator; their critical listening and thinking abilities are greatly enhanced at the same time.</p>

A Study of the Impacts of Participating in the “CCTV CUP” English Public Speaking Contest on the Contestants

Abstract Up to now there still lacks relevant study on what role participating in English public speaking contests plays in cultivating students’ English public speaking ability and the instruction of this course. The “CCTV CUP” English public speaking contest is one of the most important contests of this field. Despite a few studies on the “CCTV CUP” in the literature, none of them has focused on the contestants’ perspective. This paper first attempts to describe the “CCTV CUP” English public speaking contest from the perspective of sociocultural theory and social realism. Then it takes 7 final contestants’ “reactions to participating in the contest” for analysis, focusing on what impacts participating in this contest brought on them. The results show that participating in the “CCTV CUP” English public speaking contest not only deepened the contestants’ understandings about English public speaking, but brought significant harvests at ability training, and the increase of life experience and wisdom. At last, it gives relevant suggestions on the instruction of English public speaking course.

Localization of the English Public Speaking Course in China’s EFL Curriculum

English Public Speaking has been introduced into China’s tertiary curriculum only very recently. Although similar to its Western counterpart in many ways, a number of crucial elements of this course have yet to be localized. Apart from being a communication course, it is intrinsically an EFL course which builds upon and extends other courses in the EFL curriculum. Accordingly, the teaching objectives and content should be localized and adapted to China’s status quo and students’ need. Then this article moves on suggesting some localized methods to instruct small classes as well as large classes. It suggests that the formative assessment be used to best elicit students’ reflection and progress and that a combined measure of quantitative-and-qualitative assessment, teacher-and-student assessment be used to achieve the best backwash. Last but not least, the article also introduces the potential research areas that can be explored in the years to come.