AN ACTION RESEARCH DESIGNED STUDY TO IMPROVE THE PRESENTATION SKILLS OF UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

Presentation skills are the most important skills in undergraduate’s life as they need to present on topics, projects and academic ideas in almost every subject but when it comes to communicate in English Language classes, the task becomes even more challenging as students find it difficult to express themselves in English. The current work presents action research which identified problems in learners speaking and devised action plan to implement various strategies grouped in two main sections; a) speaking activities in class b) external examiner to evaluate the final presentations of students. The research attempts to find out that how various speaking activities performed in class room can improve students' presentation skills and in what ways the presence of an external examiner influence the presentations of undergraduates.  The study includes 110 ESL learners at 3rd semester of Undergraduate level. Action research design was implemented on two sections of English Language Classes to improve students' presentations and communication skills. The data was collected through class observations, questionnaire and interviews. Findings indicate that persistent speaking activities and external examiner is a good step and has a positive effect on learners' presentation skills.