THE I NSTRUCTOR’S P ERSPECTIVE
5.2 Learning as a Result of Peer Influence
5.2.2 Realization of the Responsibility as an Academic Presenter
First of all, some participants reflected that their awareness to fulfill an academic presenter’s responsibility is to update the information provided by the textbook. One instance is how Peter’s careful attention to the information in the textbook influenced Tony’s awareness of being a responsible presenter. In his first presentation, Peter found that the mentioned number of zizygotic and monzygotic twins provided by the textbook was out-of-date. Thus, he tried to find related information via the Internet and a research paper to provide updated medical statistics (Fieldnote dated Oct, 28th). Some other peers mentioned that Peter’s behavior was impressive and set a precedent because they had learnt to be cautious of the information provided by the textbook, as for example, the reflection in Tony’s interview shows.
「Peter 的那次報告讓我印象很深刻!他更正了教科書裡的數據，自己做了一些功課找
出最新的數據。所以後來我自己做第二次報告的時候，我對課本裡的內容就不敢大 意。我的那篇在討論天花，裡面還在說 President Bill Clinton. 真的有點過期了啦 (笑) !所以後來我也就跟著補充一些最新的資料在我自己的報告裡。」
“Peter’s presentation impressed me a lot! He provided us the most updated statistics by paying extra effort to check recent research. It influenced my second oral presentation because I become cautious of the content of the reading. The topic in my presentation referred to smallpox. But one part talks about President Bill Clinton’s argument on the issue. That’s really out-of-date! (Laugh) Therefore, I also added some updated information in my own presentation.” (Interview)
Obviously, Peter’s behavior of modifying statistics in the assigned reading raised Tony’s awareness of the numbers provided by the textbook. Such awareness
is not taught or reminded by the instructor; instead, Peter’s demonstration indirectly shaped other students’ realizations of knowing the importance of double checking information given by the reading. Through Peter’s performance, students learned indirectly that if the statistic is not correct or current, it is the presenter’s responsibility to provide an updated one. Another similar example is from Mark’s interview, showing his sense of connecting his responsibility as a presenter to his future career,
「醫生工作的其中一部分就是要知道最新訊息，不斷的更新自己知道的東西。這堂課 的口語報告就給我類似這樣的訓練。如果我要報告，我會把課本裡提到的數據或病 名再 Google 一次才安心，就覺得站在台上不會覺得心虛沒自信。」
“I think one of the duties of being a doctor is to keep himself/herself posted with the most updated information. The oral presentation task in this class provides such training. In my turn to give a report, I’d feel safe and right to re-check the statistics or technical terms provided by the textbook via Google. By so doing, I won’t feel I’m lacking in confidence.” (Interview)
From the above excerpts, it shows that from Peters’ cautious attitude toward data given by the textbook, students learned that providing the most updated figures shows responsibility as an academic presenter. It seems that this kind of realization gained by the interaction with peers is a very essential social practice for them to have a better understanding of academic presentation requirements that could not be gained without fellow participants’ contributions.
5.2.2.2 Knowing Best and Acting Professionally
Yet, providing updated information is not the only realization that students regard as important for an academic presenter; moreover, they also consider that a presenter should know the topic best and act professionally when presenting, as Andrew reflected in his interview,
「做口頭報告這件事，對我自己來說是很寶貴的經驗，因為它讓我學到該怎麼做好一 場好的報告…事先看過文章不是只是簡單的看過，我必須很深入的去了解他在說甚 麼。也就是我必須要真的看懂，然後我才能盡我的責任當一個稱職的 presenter 跟 聽眾互動。其實就好像一種專業的責任:當你站在台前，你就被期待應該要非常熟悉 報告的內容，而且要表現得很專業。像有些同學的報告就看得出來很盡責準備過，
而不是隨便混過去就好了。」
“The practice (i.e., oral presentation) is very valuable for me personally because it makes me learn the procedure and mode of academic presentations…Previewing the article is not just previewing anymore because I’m forced to analyze it in depth. I have to read it with a certain intensity so that I can fulfill my responsibility to be a good presenter to have a lively interaction with peers. It is like an academic responsibility. When you stand and present in the front, you’re expected to know your material and act professionally.
For example, we can tell some students were well-prepared instead of just letting it go.”
(Interview)
Andrew’s case shows his realization of being a responsible presenter entails knowing the topic best because he thinks that this is expected by the audience. In the collected data, such a realization is not provided through the instructor’s reminder, but from his observations of other peers and involvement in the oral activity with other fellow students. Through this engagement, students further develop their conceptualization of doing an oral presentation, including discussion manner for taking turns during interactions and realizations of the responsibilities of an academic presenter. Afterwards, students became more aware of the natural behavior of turn-taking in a discussion and also realized the academic presenter’s responsibility to be cautious of the information in the assigned reading. In addition to these perspectives reported by participants, there was another realization that they considered important to be a successful presenter: employing various strategies to engage audiences in the Q & A session.
5.2.2.3 Employing Various Strategies to Engage Audiences in the Q & A Session
To better understand the expectations and fulfill academic demands of higher education, and besides language itself, students often reported difficulties in learning English-speaking classroom culture and appropriate classroom behavior.Presumably, this group of college students had to learn the new academic culture of higher education. Therefore, they needed to learn the expectations and academic demands in order to become a competent member of this academic community. The group of students in this community reflected that they felt it was challenging to meet the academic demands of participating in the discussion of the Q & A session. For
one thing, audience members had to jump-in dialogues freely and quickly. However, this is not the communication pattern that this group of EFL students is used to.
Nick’s remark can be used as an example. He indicated one major reason that made him feel anxious to sit in the class,
「一開始上這堂課我超緊張的! 有些同學就是可以反應得很快又順，但是我說話一定 得花時間想一想，因為我不想讓自己說的答案沒內容，事實上我也不知道怎麼切入 別人的對話?」
“It was really nerve-raking to be in this class at the beginning of this semester. Some classmates could respond quickly and smoothly compared to others’ opinions. But I need to take some time to think before speaking up because for one thing, I don’t want my answer sounding superficial, for another, I am not used to taking an active turn to jump into conversations in any class.” (Interview)
Nick’s words indeed reflect many non-native English-speaking students’
dilemma, as several previous studies have suggested (Hall, 1993, 1995; Liu & Zhao, 2004; Morita, 2000, 2004; Kim, 2006; Kobayashi, 2003; Yang, 2010; Zappa-Hollman, 2007), indicating the difficulties of taking part in class discussions and knowing the appropriate interaction pattern, since it is not the interaction pattern in an ordinary Taiwanese classroom. In most Taiwanese classrooms, interaction in class usually takes the form of the teacher’s initiation, lectures, students’ response if any, and the teacher’s comment and evaluation, especially in a large-size language classroom. It is thus not difficult to imagine how the students struggled when required to participate openly and actively in discussions in this class.
In Nick’s case, by engaging in numerous practices in discussions throughout the term, gradually, he revealed his change in terms of taking turns during the process of interaction as follows.
「像我上次上課 (i.e., 15th week) 就參與討論好幾次，感覺好像比較能跟同學交談的感 覺了。要插話還是覺得怪怪的啦，但是跟同學在討論問題時的對話練習還是有差，
像現在不像之前那種插話那麼突兀，是接話的感覺，就接著別人說的話，感覺比較 順。」
“Last week (i.e., 15th week), I was involved in the in-class discussion several times. The feeling is more like a natural conversation. I still think cutting others’ words is odd for me, but through many practices with others in the Q & A session, I feel smoother to continue other peers’ topics. The feeling is much better.” (Interview)
Nick’s case explains how the in-class interaction has its influence on participants’ learning about academic discussion manners. Through the interaction process in the oral presentation activity, Nick had a better conceptualization that turn-taking is one part of appropriate discussion manners in an academic community.
He felt weird to take part in a dialogue because he is a slow thinker and feels reluctant to interject due to many reasons, including, oral competence, personality, and not being taught how to participate in a discussion. However, through plentiful practice in interactions, he gradually understood that he needs to engage in others’ discussions when he is in an academic discussion setting, of which it seems that he made progress toward the end of the term. Therefore, Nick’s case shows that the classroom interaction allowed him to realize that participating in the interaction is a natural part in discussions, which again, is not taught by the instructor, but gained from his interaction with peers.
5.3 Chapter Summary
Thus far, this chapter has shown how peers have influenced student presenters to understand, shape and reshape, and finally create their own realization of fulfilling the role as an academic presenter. In the following chapter, the findings in Chapters 4 and 5, and the instructor’s role in conferencing and peers’ influence during and after class, respectively, are combined to offer a further discussion on what these findings mean in terms of academic oral presentations.
Chapter 6 Discussion and Conclusion 6.0 Introduction
Framed in a sociocultural view and drawing upon a language socialization perspective, the present study attempted to capture a holistic understanding of how the six Taiwanese medical students acculturated into academic discourse and culture and how they interacted with and interpreted academic oral presentations. Thus far, as shown in the previous two chapters, we have examined closely the academic discourse socialization experiences of Taiwanese medical majors by investigating their preparation, performance, reflections, thoughts, and feelings about engaging in oral presentation activities in the theme-based language class.
Based on the findings, this final chapter aims to address the research question and further provide theoretical and pedagogical implications. Firstly, Section 6.1 attends to explaining the role of the participants in this community, in addition to discussing the instructor’s and peers’ roles, respectively. Secondly, theoretical contributions and practical applications for higher education contexts with EFL Taiwanese medical students (i.e., Section 6.2) will be explained. Finally, the limitations of this study are addressed and recommendations for future research are provided in Section 6.3, followed by concluding remarks and reflections in Section 6.4.