Enhancing Thai Students’ Oral Language Experience using the CEFR –PBA through the Technique of Oral Presentation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ experiences of communicating orally and non-verbally. The participants were forty-four students in their third year of English education at a Thai Rajabhat University. Nine students were purposively selected as the student-presenters. The research methods applied were action research and case study. Data collection gained was from two sets of video recordings of students’ oral presentations. The data analysis employed speaking strategies analysis from Charttrakul (2009) as a guideline, and grounded theory (Strauss & Cobin, 1990). Findings revealed that students employed five speaking strategies in their oral presentation, particularly speaking from memory (100%). Also, the results show that five NVC strategies were employed as a parallel communication tool in all student-presenters’ oral presentation; and the most commonly NVC used was hand gesture (100%). This paper recommends using an oral presentation technique to promote Thai students’ oral skill relating verbal and non-verbal communication.