JoLIE 6/2013
IMPROVING BUSINESS STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION SKILLS
Teodora Popescu
University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyse the pedagogical means to teach business students how make better presentations, as well as to identify students’ attitudes to public speaking in general, which might cause their reluctance to develop their skills properly. The importance of public speaking cannot be underlined enough for business professionals, whose success and career path depends largely on their ability to communicate orally with their partners, superiors or underlings. In this experiment, 27 first-year MA students in Business administration for trade, tourism and services were administered initially a questionnaire to identify their attitudes to public speaking, and were tested with respect to their knowledge and, more importantly, skills in making a presentation. Subsequently, during one academic semester they were explicitly taught presentation skills, and extensive practice during class was made, as well as group and individual assignments at home. At the end of the semester they were administered another test in presenting (including actual performance and analysis). The results of the two tests were compared for future changes in teaching methodology.
Key words: Business presentations; Business students; Public speaking; Communication skills in English.
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How to cite this article: Popescu, T. (2013). Improving business students’ presentation skills. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 6, 127–136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2013.6.9
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