VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF BODY LANGUAGE CUES IN PRESENTATIONS BY ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ TRONG THUYẾT TRÌNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF BODY LANGUAGE CUES IN PRESENTATIONS BY ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ TRONG THUYẾT TRÌNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng HANOI, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation into the use of body language cues in presentations by English-majored freshmen at Vietnam University of Commerce” is my own study in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Hanoi, 2014 Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not be realized without the help of some people, and in some ways, I would like to thank everyone who has taught me, inspired me, challenged me, or supported me throughout the process of conducting this thesis. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng for his profound knowledge, his wholehearted guidance, precious advice, insightful comments which are of utmost importance to the achievement of my study. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to send my thanks to all the teachers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures and knowledge.
My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at Vietnam University of Commerce for all their assistance, supports, and encouragement during the time I was completing my study. I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to the freshmen K49N of English Faculty at Vietnam University of Commerce for their willingness to respond conscientiously to the questionnaire. Without their helps, this study would not have been possibly done. Last but not least, no words can adequately express my gratitude towards my beloved parents, my brother, my husband, my son, and my friends who have always inspired and encouraged me to complete this study.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This is a survey study from a cross-cultural pragmatics perspective with the title “the use of body language cues in presentations by English-majored freshmen at Vietnam University of Commerce”. It attempts to discover the current situation as well as the factors leading to their ways of adopting body language cues in presentations. To achieve the desired objectives of the current study, the qualitative method including two instruments namely questionnaire and observation is mainly employed. The informants participating in the survey questionnaire were eighty-five English majored first year students at VUC.
The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to make sure that all the respondents fully understand its content. In terms of observation, ten presentations were randomly chosen for video recording without their acknowledgement to minimize the external factors influencing the validity and reliability of the research. These video clips which last from 3 to 5 minutes can be reviewed in details later. Research results show that English majored freshmen do realize the importance of B.L in developing and completing their presentation skills, however, their actual performances regarding B.L in their speech are not really effective.
They have not initiative to use the appropriate B.L cues for better presentations. In more details, they tend to avoid E.C and do not take the full advantage of smiling in presentations. Besides, the students here may be assumed to have unfavorable postures, which prevent them from getting the audiences’ attention, interest. The main elements leading to that reality are likely to be attributed to students’ tension, inadequate background knowledge of B.L, lack of preparation and culture factor.
Last but not least, suggestions for materials and pedagogical implications will be discussed for practical steps to sharpen the students’ nonverbal communication for effective presentations. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLE. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Structures of the study. 5 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND & LITERATURE REVIEW. Non-verbal communication.
The importance of B.L in oral presentations. Principles of using B. 14 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. The context of the study.
Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures. 18 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data analysis methods.
19 CHAPTER III: THE STUDY. The current situation of the use of B.L cues for presentaions. Overview on the use of B.L cues for presentations. The factors influencing their use of B.
Lack of background knowledge of B. Lack of preparation. Recommendations for further research. III Appendix 2: Class observation.
V v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES List of figures Page Figure 1: Classification of nonverbal communication 7 Figure 2: Three elements of communication 9 Figure 3: Eye contact 10 Figure 4: Frequency of distributing direct E.C with the audience 22 Figure 5: Duration of eye contact to the audience 22 Figure 6: Looking at scripted notes or slides on the screen 24 Figure 7: Looking at windows 24 Figure 8: Frequency of smiling during presentations 25 Figure 9: Smiling when forgetting the content of the talk 27 Figure 10: Slouching and keeping the head down; standing too stiffly 29 Figure 11: Hands cross in front and hands hold notes 30 Figure 12: Attitudes towards the importance of B.L in the success of 31 presentations Figure 13: The level of English majored freshmen’s confidence during 32 presentations Figure 14: The English majored freshmen’s knowledge of B.L in 34 presentations Figure 15: The hometown of English majored freshmen at VUC 37 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com List of tables Page Table 1: Direction of the eyes during presentations 23 Table 2: The moments students are likely to smile during presentations 26 Table 3: The most common posture during presentations 28 Table 4: The ways of using hands to create postures during presentations 29 Table 5: Reasons for no preparation of B.L in presentations 35 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NVC Non-verbal communication B.C Eye contact VUC Vietnam University of Commerce Q Question viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A – INTRODUCTION This initial part states the problem and the rationale of the study together with the aims, the scope, the significance of the study, and the overview of the rest of the paper. Above all, it is in this chapter that the research questions are identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research. Rationale of the study In the present trend of globalization, in addition to mastering a foreign language, namely English, many other soft skills such as communication skills, presentation skills, technology skills are of paramount importance to become international communicators or international officers. Undeniably, oral presentation skill can bring many benefits for people as Emden & Becker (2004:1) asserted that “ability to speak well enough to interest, influence or persuade other people is a major asset for whatever they want to do in the future and it may change them in ways that they did not expect”.
Additionally, in the current tendency of the global education policy in general and Vietnamese one in particular, the transition to a new teaching method which aims to provoke the initiative, the autonomy and the creativity from students might be stimulated. In the context of Vietnam University of Commerce, oral presentation skills seems to be the most important ones to majors of English meeting the new demand of student-centered learning as it assists the students in improving their own academic performance, communicating, exchanging information with their peers and thereby develops personal confidence. As a consequence, the demand of building students’ presentation skills at this university is becoming higher and higher. However, many students at VUC find that oral presentations are one of the most confronting forms of assessment at university.
Ideally, information can be communicated both verbally and non-verbally; thus, being able to speak fluently 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com and appropriately does not guarantee the avoidance of misinterpretation, misunderstanding, miscommunication, misbehavior and boredom in transmitting information. The importance of body language in presentations, of course, cannot be denied. Barbara Chivers and Michael Shoolbred (2007) denoted that nonverbal communication contributing to good communication skills which can rank top important factor for an effective presentation and added that audiences and tutors make initial judgments about presenters on appearance and body language, even before they start listening to what you say (see 1. Actually, besides linguistic competence, language learners are expected to have a good command of body language.
However, from the author’s own experiences in teaching EFL, nonverbal cues are often underestimated or even ignored by her students especially the English-majored freshmen in their oral presentations. Being aware of this fact – the students’ inadequate attention to the latter of the two has led me to the decision of conducting an investigation on “the use of body language cues in presentations by English-majored freshmen at Vietnam University of Commerce”. Aims of the study Based on major findings of previous research relating to non-verbal communication; presentation and the necessities stated above, the author decided to carry out the present study to raise the students’ awareness of how to use nonverbal cues for more powerful presentations. Furthermore, the study is conducted with the hope to improve the students’ B.L in the presentation setting so that they can be more confident, more successful when working in the global business environment after graduating from university.
Research questions To achieve the above aims, the following research questions are addressed: 1. How do English-majored freshmen at VUC use B.L cues for presentations? 2. What are the factors influencing their use of B.L cues in presentations? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study Due to the time constraints, as the title has explicitly indicated, the study was conducted on the population of 85 first-year English majors of the Faculty of English at Vietnam University of Commerce and restricted to the first half of the first semester of 2013-2014.
Nevertheless, non-verbal communication is a large aspect of communication; dealing with all types of body language is too broad for the restricted scope of a M. In this study, attention will be focused on the common inappropriate body language cues in presentations and hereby the elements leading to the reality will be found. In addition, the author collects and analyzes the data only on the three main aspects of this term which are eye contact, smiling and postures in the oral presentation setting only. Significance of the study Theoretically, the study attempts to serve as the reference or guide to students in general and the English major first year students at VUC in sharpening their nonverbal communication for more successful presentation.