ReviewTowards a set of design principles for developing oral presentation competence: A synthesis of research in higher education
Introduction
One of the core competencies for higher educated professionals relates to the ability to present (e.g. Campbell et al, 2001, Hinton, Kramer, 1998, Smith, Sodano, 2011). In this study, professional competence is regarded as an overarching concept of being a competent professional that entails a range of underlying competencies of which giving oral presentations is part of communication competence (Mulder, 2014). In the context of higher education, this competence domain is considered as essential for effective performance of graduates in various working environments (e.g. Dunbar et al, 2006, Fallows, Steven, 2000, Smith, Sodano, 2011), for career success and for effective participation in the democratic society (e.g. Chan, 2011, Hinton, Kramer, 1998). The ability to present is also recognized by policy makers around the world as an important qualification of higher educated graduates. This emphasis is evident in the Dublin Descriptors, in which one of the five higher education qualifications refers to ‘communicating’ (Joint Quality Initiative, 2004). The European policy makers introduced, through the Dublin Descriptors, a framework of qualifications that all higher education institutions are required to adopt. The ‘communication’ component in these descriptors refers to the capacity of students to present information to an audience (Joint Quality Initiative, 2004). In other words, this presentation competence concerns the transmission of a message from the sender to the receiver in a certain context (Haber & Lingard, 2001).
However, professionals from several domains emphasize that graduates often lack the competence to speak in public (Chan, 2011). In addition, public speaking is often described as the most prevalent fear that individuals experience in social situations (Smith & Sodano, 2011). Moreover, besides the essence of communicating in professional life, students regularly underestimate the amount of time professionals spent on meetings and other forms of communication (Morreale, Osborn, & Pearson, 2000). Therefore, specific attention is required as to the design of educational programmes to develop oral presentation performance. Previous research in this field showed a fragmented picture of effective learning environment characteristics that foster oral presentation competence (De Grez, Valcke, & Roozen, 2009b). The goal of this paper is to synthesize these fragmented studies into a set of design principles for higher education that (1) address the instruction, learning and assessment sides of the learning environment (Biggs, 1996); (2) directly relate learning environment characteristics to oral presentation competence or components thereof, and (3) provide conceptual and empirical arguments for effective operationalization of these learning environment characteristics. By adopting a systematic approach, this set of principles offers a comprehensive, but concrete perspective for the design of education courses aiming at oral presentation competence development, as well as for a research agenda in this field.
De Grez (2009, p. 5) defines oral presentation competence as: “the combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to speak in public in order to inform, self-express, to relate and to persuade”, which is consistent with the conceptualization of the construct of oral presentation competence in this study (Mulder, 2014). Thus, an important notion considering the concept of oral presentation competence is the interrelatedness of the cognitive, behavioural and affective domains (Bower, Cavanagh, Moloney, & Dao, 2011). Students' performance can be enhanced or inhibited by any one or all of these components. For example, improving students' knowledge about communication may improve their ability to communicate, which, in turn, may increase their willingness to communicate (Bower et al., 2011, p. 313). In addition, students' anxiety negatively influences their performance (Brown & Morrissey, 2004). However, research indicates that communication anxiety can be reduced through practicing a series of oral presentations (Rubin, Rubin, & Jordan, 1997). Oral presentation courses in higher education should therefore address these various components of oral presentation competence and their interrelatedness.
Being able to present is a complex skill (e.g. Kaye, 1994, Morreale et al, 1993). However, the acquisition of oral presentation competence has become increasingly essential for a wide range of disciplines within the academic field, such as Biology, Business, Communication, Engineering and Health (Dunbar et al., 2006). In a range of higher education curricula, courses are incorporated that centre on oral presentation skills (Cooper, 2005, Morreale et al, 2006). A number of studies have examined the provision of ‘academic skills interventions’ at tertiary level and have demonstrated that learners often lack the competence required for success after their educational programme (e.g. Lea, Street, 1998, Lowe, Cook, 2003, Ozga, Sukhnandan, 1998). Also with respect to oral presentation competence, several studies emphasize that accounting, business, medical and technical professionals have often not reached the required level for practice after the completion of their education (e.g. Brown, Morrissey, 2004, Chan, 2011, Grace, Gilsdorf, 2004, Kerby, Romine, 2009, Pittenger et al, 2004). More attention to educating communication competence in higher education is required (e.g. Alshare, Hindi, 2004, Hay, 1994, Mulder et al, 2010). To develop this competence in higher education, Chan (2011) stressed that students and teachers need to, primarily, understand the importance of the development of presentation competence. In addition, overcoming the lack of willingness and confidence in certain academic fields, as well as finding the time and space in the curriculum to address these areas, may be difficult (Chan, 2011). Developing oral presentation competence is frequently regarded as a time-consuming activity (e.g. Chan, 2011, De Grez et al, 2009a). This consideration does not correspond with the current trend in higher education to reduce in-class instruction time (De Grez, 2009). The latter increases the pressure to optimize the instructional environment and to adopt evidence-based approaches to direct instruction (De Grez et al., 2009a, p. 293). This challenge is further strengthened given the pressure on curricula in higher education to encourage students' performances related to several academic and communication competencies in limited time (e.g. Chan, 2011, Pittenger et al, 2004, Young, Murphy, 2003). In short, the design of oral presentation courses in higher education requires an effective (achievement of educational objectives) and efficient (short period of time and limited budget) approach, perhaps more integrated with ‘real-world’ situations (e.g. Chan, 2011, Pittenger et al, 2004).
Previous studies demonstrate an incomplete and fragmented picture of the relationships between characteristics of the learning environment and students' oral presentation performance (e.g. Campbell et al, 2001, Carlson, Smith-Howell, 1995, De Grez et al, 2009a, Hughes, Large, 1993, Voth, Moore, 1997). Bower et al. (2011) as well as Brown and Morrissey (2004) claim that there is little pedagogical design focused on developing students' communication competence and there is hardly any philosophy underpinning it. Besides central concepts such as behaviour modelling and feedback, additional concepts are needed to describe the impact of didactical interventions. Based on several studies, De Grez et al. (2009a) conclude that a systematic approach and comprehensive perspective are required in further research on learning approaches for oral presentation competence development (De Grez et al., 2009a, p. 302; De Grez et al, 2009b, De Grez et al, 2010a, De Grez et al, 2010b). Instead of examining one or several characteristics of the learning environment as previous studies did, design principles should address the instruction, learning and assessment sides of the learning environment coin (Biggs, 1996). Based on the ideas of constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), Biggs (2003) emphasizes the following key areas of the curriculum and courses that require alignment: 1) the instruction, 2) the learning activities and 3) the assessment strategy. The outcome of research, starting from the perspective of aligning key areas of course design, might help to develop better-suited theoretical frameworks to direct theoretical, empirical and practical intervention studies in the field of oral presentations (De Grez et al., 2009a).
Previous studies examined specific learning environment characteristics for developing oral presentation competence, as objects of study, simultaneously or in isolation. These learning environment characteristics contain the role of videotaped feedback (Bourhis & Allen, 1998), the use of a public speaking portfolio (Jensen & Harris, 1999), the impact of placement, pace and preparation (Bayless, 2004), the role of service-learning (Tucker & McCarthy, 2001) and the optimal number of in-class presentations (Calcich & Weilbaker, 1992). Effect studies on developing oral presentation competence present contradictory results (De Grez, 2009). For example, Bourhis and Allen (1998) summarize findings of the influence of videotaped feedback on students' oral presentation performance and revealed positive effects, whereas Hinton and Kramer (1998) found limited support for this relationship. In addition, several conclusions are based on studies using non-experimental research methods, containing surveys, interviews and observations. In studies by Bayless (2004) as well as Grace and Gilsdorf (2004), for example, changes in oral presentation performance are not supported by experimental study designs. In order to identify and classify key characteristics of effective learning environments for oral presentation competence development into a comprehensive framework, a systematic literature study is needed. Therefore, this review is aimed at synthesizing previous studies into a comprehensive set of well-argued design principles.
Section snippets
Review method
This systematic review focuses on the identification and classification of characteristics of the learning environment, their effects and underlying arguments, for developing oral presentation competence in higher education. In order to synthesize data from previous studies with the aim of formulating a comprehensive set of design principles, consisting of characteristics of the learning environment, effects and arguments (Van den Akker, 1999), a systematic search was adopted. This study
Results
Based on the overall framework in Fig. 1, this section describes the resulting seven educational design principles for promoting oral presentation competence in higher education (see Fig. 2). The sequence of these principles follows the ideas of aligned course design (Biggs, 2003): (1) instruction, (2) learning activities and (3) assessment strategy. Firstly, each design principle is related to the theoretical background mentioned in the selected publications, providing the argumentation for
Concluding remarks
This paper argues that the design of learning environments for developing oral presentation competence requires a systematic approach that takes the instruction, learning and assessment sides of the learning environment coin into account (Biggs, 1996). A systematic literature review was conducted with the aim of synthesizing data from previous studies in this field into a set of design principles with underlying argumentations for developing this competence in higher education. By adopting
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