Improving Performance in Spoken Language

In our previous Spoken Language blog, we looked at the importance of task setting and how small tweaks can really help pupils fulfil their potential. This time the Principal Moderator, Lesley Hancock, looks at some ideas for helping pupils to improve their presentation skills and engage the audience.

Strategies for engaging the audience

The Spoken Language presentation does not have to be a slick, fully polished performance and candidates are allowed to consult notes if helpful or use fillers when taking time to think and can even be prompted by the teacher when necessary. We understand that they are not professional politicians using autocue machines at party conferences or actors delivering carefully rehearsed lines. However, those aiming at the higher grades, and Distinction in particular, are expected to present their material and to use a ‘range of strategies to engage’ their audience.

Teachers could draw candidates’ attention to some communication skills or strategies which they could adopt to improve the presentation of their ideas such as:

• Standing up to deliver their presentations. This can help candidates appear confident and boost feelings of confidence, even if they don't necessarily feel it. Standing up can also create a more appropriate sense of occasion and formality which can lift some performances. Of course, there is no requirement to stand up and candidates can speak engagingly while sitting. However, for some candidates this may be a good strategy to adopt.

• Making eye contact, facing the audience and using some inflection or intonation are important skills. Some candidates write persuasive speeches with lots of rhetorical flourishes and varied vocabulary, but reading them, head lowered in a monotone from a piece of paper or a phone screen makes it very difficult to engage the audience. Turning to the side or even right around to read from a PowerPoint screen is also problematic. It is important to think about tone, pace and even volume when making key points.

Candidates are allowed to use notes and even to read from them if helpful. However, simply reading downloaded information or even a well-crafted speech does not help candidates to meet the needs of the audience or demonstrate command of a range of strategies to engage. Writing a speech can, of course, be a good way to reinforce skills needed for Component 2 Writing and a useful starting point for the presentation. This is a Spoken Language task, however, not a writing one and candidates need to practise their delivery if they are to meet Distinction criteria.

Organising material effectively to meet the audience needs

Another criterion which candidates aiming at higher grades need to think about is effective organisation of their material in order to avoid a straightforward, descriptive approach.

They could consider:

• The best order for their ideas – what to start with to grab the audience’s interest and 'hook' the listener, an anecdote perhaps, or an unusual fact
• Which rhetorical devices are appropriate and relevant and when best to use them: questions; lists; emotive language; facts and statistics; quoted views; reference to authority figures; exclamatory style, etc…
• How visual images or other props might enhance their presentations.
• The best use of PowerPoint. Less is definitely more. Look at how professional speakers use PPT to accentuate their points rather than be the point in its entirety.
• How humour could be used (if appropriate)
• How long the presentations should be. It is difficult to demonstrate a range of strategies if the presentation is very short, less than two minutes, for instance. However, very long talks stretching beyond the ten minutes advised as a maximum for the whole exercise, including response to feedback, rarely goes hand-in-hand with effective organisation to meet the audience needs or a really engaging presentation. Thoughtful editing is a sophisticated strategy and, of course, a useful transferrable skill
• How best to finish the presentation rather than simply saying, ‘That’s it’ or ‘Yeah, so…’ A more effective conclusion could simply involve summing up the main arguments, posing a thoughtful question, confidently asserting ‘I’m sure you agree with me after hearing my presentation that…’ or warmly inviting some questions
• How to invite and respond to questions. This should be done in a positive and thoughtful way, taking opportunities to develop ideas covered in the main presentation. For instance, candidates could consider the difference between responding to a tricky question with ‘I don’t know’ and ‘That’s a very interesting question and I’m not sure I can give a black and white answer but I do think…’

‘All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finally, a very useful strategy is to appear enthusiastic about the topic. It’s very difficult to engage an audience if the speaker is not interested in the subject he or she is talking about. A smile, confident body language and some real passion can be very helpful strategies here! Make your audience want to listen to what you have to say.

Obviously, not all candidates will be confident enough, or sufficiently motivated, to develop all of these skills; they need only make a basic attempt to consider their audience for a Pass grade. Even for a Distinction, it is not expected that candidates will have all these strategies under their belts but they should at least demonstrate a range of skills and give some clear thought as to how to engage their audience. Encourage pupils to practise these skills, enjoy the art of talking and feel confident in their final presentations.  You never know what budding politicians, actors or TED talkers might be waiting to blossom in front of your eyes!