2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Development of Educational Materials to Improve Presentation Skills of Science and Technology Students
| Project/Area Number |
17520362
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
PUSHPALAL Dinil Tohoku University, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Associate Professor (10361148)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
PAK Keunyoung Miyagi National College of Technology, Department of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor (90435404)
OKAZAKI Kumiko Miyagi National College of Technology, Department of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor (70290690)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | ESP / Science and technology students / English presentation / English textbooks / Materials development / Lexicostatistics / Discourse analysis / Genre analysis |
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| Research Abstract |
This investigation aims at developing educational materials for science and technology students. The targeted skills were presentation skills, which are language skills of written, oral, audiovisual, and graphic modes. Investigators started the project through a four different surveys. Survey on commercially available current textbooks reveals that many homegrown textbooks targeted the reading and translation skills, showing lack of variety. Survey on Indian colleges reveals that objective science experimental work improves language skills of the students, easing the load of language learning. Indian practical handbooks voluntarily offer hints on teaching English for Science and Technology. Investigators have showed that methodologies for developing textbooks. Two of them are conversion of experimental procedure to a pattern practice drill and utilization of lexicostatistics in material development. As a part of discourse analysis, the investigators carried out a survey on presentation styles of both Japanese students and non-Japanese exchange students in Japan, and found that Japanese students especially face difficulties in verbalizing data, hence, they tend to give the presentation as it is in written form. Investigators have collected important discourse markers and pointers from the presentations of non-Japanese exchange students and they have been used to develop slide-verbalizing exercise, in order to teach the presentation techniques. Finally, investigators have proposed a "presentation template," in which students can effectively learn presentation techniques, while reducing the workload of instructors. A textbook "Elements of English for Science and Technology" will be published in due course.
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