Improving Presentation Skills through Reflection

The assignment content discusses the importance of self-reflection in improving English academics skills. The writer reflects on their past presentation and acknowledges its poor preparation, but vows to improve for the next one. They also mention implementing Greenaway's reflective cycle to achieve a successful group presentation. Additionally, they provide recommendations for future presentations, including dividing tasks according to Gibbs' reflective life cycle and concentrating on individual work.

ENGLISH ACADEMIC
SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The English academics skills can be defined as writing the own experiences of handing
the project in step by step process (Shapiro, 2011). The present report is explaining the working
of a team in which members are giving group presentation. This experience is discussed in this
report by following the Gibbs and Greenaway's reflective life cycle.
MAIN BODY
In this essay, firstly I will explain the preparation of my oral presentation so that if it
consist any fault then it can be corrected, then I will think to work in a group. After that I will
focus on my style of delivery for that oral presentation. Hence, I will try to become specific with
my tasks as soon as possible so that I can do by best in future. In order to do so I have taken the
help of Gibbs reflective cycle. The Gibbs reflective cycle gives a very important guide lines
about writing the own experiences or the phases of activities by thinking systematically about
them. It was developed by sir Gibbs G in 1998 (Jenkins and Leung, 2014). I can use this in
making reflective journal of our group presentation. As per the given scenario, a presentation is
given in a group and their experiences has been discussed here. Each stages are discussed
below:
 Action plan: At first the action plan should be made that is what was done is clearly
mentioned so that no confusion will be created in future. The activities like partitioning
the tasks in different members of group, allocating the dead line of completion, and
many more tasks is described in this plan. Who will take initiative and who will present
the conclusion are decided in this plan only. How many minutes a slide should run so
that whole slides are covered in my presentation. This all information is managed before
the day of presentation.
 Description plan: Then the description must be mentioned in next step. In this phase,
what is happened is explained in clear words. It is discussed after the practical
presentation of the topic given. As after presenting, I can easily decide what were the
pros and cons of that presentation. Who had done the best role and who has not
presented better are also explained here. The initiative has given the clear description of
topic or does not conferred right information, the time is taken properly by him or not ,
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etc. These all are tasks can be presented in this planning so that the contribution of each
members are checked properly.
 Feeling: As it was my first presentation, I was nervous or uncomfortable. I feel that it is
hard to speak in the academics style in front of a large number of people including my
friends and faculty. It is my habit to comparing myself with others. So,this makes me
more depressed when I noticed that my class mates have better skills in comparison to
me. But I have never share this feeling to any one. As I was worried, this make my face
so stupid. To be worry or nervous, washed every thing from the brain and any one can
loose their basic thinking capability or abilities to take decisions get totally vanished. So,
at last I decided to watch practical example of presentation that is given by some others.
This will definitely provide me some idea to present. Then I will practise this by
standing in front of mirror.
Now I am discussing the experiences after giving presentation. The work done by team
members are cross checked here and who has given the best performance is decided in this
phase. The issues or challenges faced by the team members are discussed here. Each team
members have the right to express their view points and after that the faults of each of us get
cleared and from next time I will do better by removing those errors.
 Evaluation: Then in the phase of Evaluation, we have to express about our experiences
that may be good as well as bad. The bad experiences or challenges faced by me is
explained appropriately here. For example, When I started to present my speech, my
voice was not clear and loud, as I was some what nervous. Also, I was not looking at the
public side and I keep my eyes directed towards my notes or slides. Before the
presentation, I have memorized each and every point but during that time, I forgot all
those points and loose my thinking abilities. Our task of presentation gets complicated as
some of the members are not coming at accurate timing, due to this the work is not
completed by giving whole dedication of team. And if all the members are not
participated then this is not considered as good group presentation. Our task can be more
properly done if all of the members had concentrated towards their own responsibility.
 Analysis: In this phase, what I have sensed or recognized in this situation is explained.
If the presentation was not given properly then what makes them good are discussed in
this regard. I want to be honest with myself and admit that it was my fault. Because I
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have not done best preparation and that is why I delivered the poor speech. But in next
presentation, I will improve my preparation and present my best. I assure that I will not
become nervous and keep my eye sight towards the public by speaking in a loud voice.
 Conclusion: In this last phase, conclusion is drawn and the overall problems and
solutions should be given by us in order to give focus on correction of the things in next
time. Additionally, what else could be done by me if all team members come at time and
when the presentation was given as per our planning. At last I think that this was a great
experience and I learned many things from it. I recognized my weaknesses too. Now , I
ward hard in order to improve my self.
We can also use Greenaway's reflective in implementing our group presentation plan (Liu
and et. al., 2011). In this we have to make methodologies or schemes then applying it so that the
presentation could be made successful. After then, we can review and discuss our tasks for
further improvement.
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Illustration 1: Gibbs Reflective cycle, 2107

(Figure: Greenaway's reflective cycle, 2107)
CONCLUSION
From the above based report, it has been concluded that the English academics skill is
can be improved by following the guidelines of successful scholars such as Gibbs reflective life
cycle and Greenaway’s reflective cycle. Certain steps are discussed in that are used in giving
successful presentation along with the group.
RECOMMENDATION
The group presentation must be given after making appropriate plan and managing all
works of each team member properly. This is done by dividing the task in different stages
according to the reflective cycle of Gibbs and Greenaway's. The team member should
concentrate on their individual work so that no faults can occur. The reflective skills should be
followed in order to compete the project.
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Illustration 2: Greenaway's reflective cycle, 2107

REFERENCES
Book & journal
Shapiro, E.S., 2011. Academic skills problems: Direct assessment and intervention. Guilford
Press.
Jenkins, J. and Leung, C., 2014. English as a lingua franca. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
Wingate, U. and Tribble, C., 2012. The best of both worlds? Towards an English for Academic
Purposes/Academic Literacies writing pedagogy. Studies in Higher Education, 37(4),
pp.481-495.
Harris, A.J. and Ashton, J.L., 2011. Embedding and integrating language and academic skills:
An innovative approach.
Samson, J.F. and Collins, B.A., 2012. Preparing All Teachers to Meet the Needs of English
Language Learners: Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Teacher
Effectiveness. Center for American Progress.
Liu, J.Y. and et. al., 2011. Is what I need what I want? Reconceptualising college students’ needs
in English courses for general and specific/academic purposes. Journal of English for
Academic Purposes. 10(4). pp.271-280.
Online
Gibbs' Reflective Cycle.2017. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/reflective-cycle.htm>. [Accessed on
7th June].
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