INQUEST JOURNAL
https://ojs.wiindonesia.com/index.php/ij
EISSN 2963-2374
Volume 01, Issues 02, April-2023
Section : Research Article
Page : 72-77
Students’ Perspective on Challenges in English Oral Presentation: A Case Study
Author
Deby Lara Sucia M
Widya Gama Mahakam University, Indonesia
debsuc.m@gmail.com
Abdul Rohman
Widya Gama Mahakam University, Indonesia
abdulrohman@uwgm.ac.id
Widi Syahtia Pane
Widya Gama Mahakam University, Indonesia
widi.pane@gmail.com
Abstract
The anxiety of English learners who lack conviction in the classroom. In order to communicate with their tutors
and peers, they need new incentives to enhance their English speaking abilities. For oral presentations to be
comprehended, students must communicate well. This investigation employed qualitative approaches. The study
was a case study because it focused on English Oral Presentation learning and involved numerous English
students. Five English Department students who struggle with English Oral Presentation were selected via
snowball sampling. The research instrument includes guidelines for semi-structured interviews and observation
to capture data and information on the research topic, followed by three data analysis tasks: data compression,
data presentation, and conclusion drawing or verification. This study discovered that participants' anxiety
manifests itself in the following ways: difficulty explaining the topic, perusing the text rather than explaining it,
and avoiding making eye contact with others. Anxiety is the greatest dread when speaking. Participants
recommended studying grammar, exploring the Internet, mastering the subject, and practicing. Students labored
with oral presentations in English. Separated from speaking difficulties were anxiety, self-confidence, and self-
awareness. (grammatical error, switch language, read the text). The majority of students stated that anxiety and
lack of confidence made English oral presentations challenging. According to their research, a number of
experts have resolved student issues.
Keywords
:
Students’ Perspective, Oral Presentation, Challenges, and Anxiety.
DOI
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Received
:
Accepted
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Students’ Perspective on Challenges in English Oral Presentation: A Case Study
1. INTRODUCTION
The oral presentation is difficult for students as presenters because they must be able
to communicate effectively so that the audience can comprehend them. (Tareen & University,
2022) demonstrated that "through Oral Presentation, students can develop complex ideas and
information in a manner that is easily understood by the audience". Due to the significance of
Oral Presentations, the English Study Program has incorporated group and individual
presentations as a grading criterion in the majority of its courses. The primary objective of the
program is to help students practice and improve their English, particularly in oral
presentation activities. In accordance with (Chostelidou & Griva, 2014) who noted that the
majority of students were anxious about presenting in class or in public, one of the students'
challenges in speaking is the transition from their maternal tongue to English. Students have
difficulties with Oral Presentation due to their limited ability to translate from their native
language to English.Cohn & Ravindranath (2014) discovered that comprehension of the topic
or material is one of the challenges students face when delivering an oral presentation. Also,
Gibson (2014) noted that one of the students' considerations was organizing their ideas in
accordance with the assigned topic. To overcome these obstacles, appropriate strategies are
required.
As one of the students enrolled in the English study program, the researcher chose the
title 'Challenges in English Oral Presentation' because he or she wished to investigate the
extent to which their experience learning English oral presentation differed from that of other
students enrolled in the English study program. Due to the anxiety of students who lack
confidence in their ability to learn English in the classroom, the researcher chose this title.
They must acquire new inspirations or motivations for developing their English speaking
skills, as this facilitates communication with their teachers and peers as an audience.
Putri (2016) conducted a study analyzing the impact of speaking anxiety on English class
students' speaking ability. Interviews were used to collect data, and the results revealed that
several strategies have negative effects on students' speaking ability.
In addition, Tuan & Nhu, (2010) investigated the strategies students use to overcome
anxiety when speaking English. The interview method is used to collect data, and the results
indicate that there are a number of strategies that can reduce their anxiety, including
practicing speaking, remembering vocabulary more effectively, and speaking English with
confidence. In addition, other obstacles, such as English-speaking anxiety, have been
overcome. All of the previous research focused on English language proficiency. Therefore,
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the researcher attempted to conduct a study titled "Students perspectives of challenges in
English Oral Presentation.".
2. METHOD
A case study is an investigative design in which the researcher conducts an in-depth
analysis of a case, which is typically a presentation, activity, process, or one or more people.
Milles et al., (2014) used a qualitative strategy and a case study as the research design for this
study. Cases are subject to time and activity constraints, and researchers use a variety of data-
gathering techniques to collect in-depth information over the course of several years. Grieve
et al., (2021) As a college student who was nervous about delivering an oral presentation in
English, the researcher participated in an English study program and interviewed English
Department students.
Additionally, this notion is supported by other researchers who assert that semi-
structured in-depth interviews are the only information source for qualitative researchers.
(Bloch et al., 2011). Interviews and observations are the methodologies in question, and the
researcher employed snowball sampling. According to Creswell (2012) snowball sampling is
a term for purposeful sampling that typically occurs after a study has begun and involves the
researcher asking participants to recommend other individuals to sample. Miles et al., (2014)
encourage qualitative researchers to use the Flow Qualitative Analysis with three activities on
data analysis: data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification, after
conducting data analysis.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The researcher presents the research results obtained from the field through interviews
and observations to answer the research question regarding the students' perspectives on
challenges in English oral presentation, as reported by third-semester English study program
students at University of Widya Gama Mahakam Samarinda.;
3.1 The Result of Interview and Observation
In the results of this study, researchers discovered the perspectives of students on the
difficulties of learning oral presentation in English; the response of the five subjects was that
they experience apprehension, which has a number of consequences depending on the
subject. The student’s inability to adequately convey the topic in English oral presentation
was one of the obstacles they encountered during the process of learning English oral
presentation and creating presentation materials. The subject stated that it was difficult to
comprehend the material that would be presented to the audience during the presentation, but
the respondent explained that he or she would attempt to comprehend the presentation topic
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Students’ Perspective on Challenges in English Oral Presentation: A Case Study
so that the audience could also comprehend the topic presented. Anxiety or anxiety, as well
as difficulties with speaking, became obstacles for students delivering oral presentations in
English. Recent research conducted by Al-Nouh, Abdul-Kareem, and Taqi supported this
conclusion. They discovered that apprehension was the most difficult obstacle the students
had to overcome.
The researcher questioned a student about the lecturer-assigned topic. In order to help
their classmates and teachers focus on the most important explanations, students create
pamphlets that summarize their topics. As a result of the lecturer's additional explanations
and hints, some students were able to respond to their peers' queries. To comprehend and
locate examples of explanations on the Internet, students must prepare and research their
respective topics. Instead of being explained, some of them simply viewed the English
version of the PowerPoint presentation. They converse with their classmates and teachers in
Indonesian, but their English is well-pronounced.
Some students failed to attend to their classmate's oral presentation because they were
too busy reading the numerous sentences on the power point. Their written summaries of
English-speaking PowerPoint presentations are plain and concise because they emphasize the
most significant points made in the original presentation. Amin et al., (2014) stated in their
research that practicing more, taking a deep inhale, and never looking at the audience's eyes
are effective anxiety management techniques because they reduce nervousness.
Based on the interview session, one of the obstacles for the students became how to
construct excellent grammar while presenting. Even though he had excellent speaking skills,
one of the participants confessed that he had difficulty formulating well-structured questions.
This finding was consistent with Amogne & Yigzaw, (2013)finding that constructing
grammatically correct sentences had become one of the students' difficulties when delivering
an oral presentation. Mohan (2013) also argued that one of the students' difficulties in
communicating was the manual transfer of L1 into L2. As a result, it will be difficult for the
presenter to formulate grammatically and lexically correct sentences.
The difficulty of organizing the presentation's ideas also became a problem for pupils
when giving oral presentations. It is challenging for them to present the ideas in a logical
sequence. Additionally, Albert et al., (2010) believed that giving a presentation is not a
simple task, particularly when it comes to organizing the content, because it requires effective
presentation skills. In order to solve the problem of organizing the presentation, he advised
the presenter to peruse the material thoroughly. As a result, the presenter would be able to
conquer the topic or material and organize it very well, which means that the main body of
the presentation should be divided into logical points.
According to the analysis, students in the English department encounter a number of
difficulties. The majority of participants also mentioned feeling anxious while preparing their
English oral presentation as a challenge. The second is apprehension regarding one's lack of
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knowledge. The third difficulty is that students are fearful of making grammatical errors, and
the fourth difficulty is that they frequently lose words because they are so afraid of making a
mistake. Students in the English Department struggled with a variety of issues, including
fluency issues, nervousness, and a dread of being the center of attention. Similarly, Algeo,
(2006) discovered that students labored with English due to a lack of grammatical knowledge
and other internal factors such as anxiety.
4. CONCLUSION
The findings, which were derived from an analysis of interviews and observations,
suggest that students' challenges can be summed up in a single word: apprehension. The
effects of their anxiety during the English oral presentation were that it was difficult to
explain the topic, that some of them read the text instead of explaining the topic, that it was
difficult to remember the topic due to blankness, that they feared making grammatical errors,
and that they switched to Indonesian during the oral presentation.
The researcher came to the conclusion that students had difficulty providing oral
demonstrations in English. These obstacles were divided into a few distinct categories, such
as psychological characteristics (such as anxiety issues, lack of confidence, and blankness)
and speaking difficulties. (grammatical error, switch language, read the text). The majority of
students' difficulties when presenting an oral demonstration in English can be summed up in
two words: anxiety issues and a lack of confidence. In addition, the results of some
specialists' research indicate that the difficulties encountered by students can be surmounted
by employing a variety of strategies.
5. REFERENCES
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Students’ Perspective on Challenges in English Oral Presentation: A Case Study
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