Publication details
PRESENT YOUR PASSION: DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION SKILLS IN LEGAL ENGLISH CLASSES
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Practice of presentation skills is a common part of many legal English courses and training. This may be a natural consequence of the fact that presentation skills belong to the set of communication skills which are needed in the labour market, and by the fact that future lawyers should be able to communicate ideas clearly and precisely. Even though undergraduates themselves realise and admit that this skill is important to master, they are usually not so enthusiastic about having to practise it in English lessons. The reasons for that are varied. On the one hand, some students may feel rather uncomfortable as the fear of public speaking belongs to one of the most common phobias among adults, or, on the other hand, some students may feel that they already know how to present. Teachers can find a lot of materials on presentation skills online or in textbooks, but how does oneensure that learners make the most of the practice in their lessons? Students easily notice that they learn about a topic, e.g. contracts or family law, but it can be difficult to observe to what extent they realise that they learn a particular skill. Based on research carried out in a legal English course at Masaryk University, the paper discusses the results of the study concerning students’ viewpoints on what they have learnt in the lessons. Further, the paper presents several tips and strategies which could be implemented both in and out of the classroom to support enhancing presentation skills. They mainly focus on raising awareness and supporting self-reflection. Many students aim at the final product, i.e.to perform well inthe final presentation, however, but they may overlook the importance of the process, i.e. learning through doing and reflecting. |