The Conceptualization of Oral Presentations in Higher Education as Multimodal: Why, How and What

Authors

Sze Seau LEE, New Era College, MalaysiaFollow
HAZITA Azman, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan MalaysiaFollow
NOORIZAH Md. Noor, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan MalaysiaFollow

Abstract

Oral presentation skill is a core competency in higher education and employment but tertiary Malaysian students have been reported to struggle with this important communication skill. This practical issue is complicated by the fact that requirements of delivering oral presentations in the 21st century are becoming more and more multimodal. Therefore, playing the dual roles of a researcher and an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher with predominantly Malaysian Chinese students, I aspire to develop a pedagogical initiative that is aimed at enhancing the learning of multimodal oral presentation skills among Malaysian Chinese higher education students in the basic oral presentation skills course. Being part of a larger postgraduate study, this paper discusses an important premise of this pedagogical initiative – that oral presentation skills required at the higher education level should be conceptualized as multimodal. The implications of this conceptualization point to the need to redesign and reimagine the pedagogical method utilized to teach oral presentation skills in the 21st century. With reference to the title of this paper, the conclusion of this paper would revisit the why, how and what of conceptualizing oral presentation skills as multimodal.

Recommended Citation

LEE, Sze Seau; Azman, HAZITA; and Md. Noor, NOORIZAH (2016) "The Conceptualization of Oral Presentations in Higher Education as Multimodal: Why, How and What," Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://mjcs.newera.edu.my/journal/vol5/iss2/2