Communication & Presentation Skills: Oral Skills & Spoken English

COMMUNICATION & PRESENTATION SKILLS ORAL SKILLS & SPOKEN ENGLISH MILIND MALSHE Professor Department of Humanities & Social Sciences IIT-BOMBAY

MAIN POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT ORAL PRESENTATION • • • • • • •

(i) effective use of visual aids (ii) adequate eye contact : size of the audience (iii) clarity in pronunciation and fluency (iv) maintaining a proper speed of presentation (v) posture and body movements suggesting confidence (vi) seeking and making proper use of visual feedback (vii) noting down important points arising out of discussion

DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS • 1. Speech & Writing/Printing: a comparison • Speech : pitch, volume, tone, speed, pauses, body movements, facial expressions • Writing/Printing: punctuation, capitalization, spacing, margins, fonts

DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS (continued) • 2. Pronunciation of Words: (a) vowel and consonant sounds • (comparison of sounds with letters a-z); The letter “a” in : fat /æ/, father /a:/, fate /eɪ/, about /ə/ Or the letters “th” in “thin” /ɵ/ & “then” /ð/. Also notice (b) word-stress: ‘language, communi’cation

DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS (continued)

• 3. Use of the phonetic script and the (Pronouncing) Dictionary: International Phonetic Alphabet: free downloading is possible • Dictionaries on CD : listening to the pronunciation and it variety (e.g. British & American) now possible

DEVELOPING ORAL SKILLS (continued)

4. Pronunciation of Sentences: intonation and rhythm INTONATION: rising / (yes /) falling \ (yes \) combination \/ (yes \/) RHYTHM: de dum de dum x ’ x ’

Vowel sounds of English • (Pure Vowels/Monophthongs) initially medially finally • 1. /i:/ east sheet key • 2. /I/ it hit duty • 3. /e / end send • 4. /æ/ and sand • 5. /a:/ art heart car • 6. /ɒ/ ox fox

Vowel sounds of English (continued)

ooze

medially ball put choose

10./∧/

up

cup

11./з:/ 12. /ə/

earn ago

learn police

7. /ɔ:/ 8. /U/ 9. /u:/

initially all

finally saw chew stir maker

Vowel sounds of English (continued)

Diphthongs • 13. /eɪ/

eight

straight

stay

• 14. /əʊ/ • 15. /aɪ/

oak ice

joke mice

slow my

• 16./aʊ/ • 17. /ɔɪ/

out oil

shout boil

how boy

• 18. /ɪə/ • 19. /eə/

ears airs

beard paired

peer hare

Consonant sounds of English • • • • • • •

1. /p/ 2. /b/ 3. /t/ 4. /d/ 5. /k/ 6. /g/

initially pin bin tell day keep get

medially spin tubs stick heads skill jugs

finally keep club light laid stick bag

Consonant sounds of English (continued)

•

initially

medially finally

• 7. /ʧ/

chin

reached teach

• 8. / ʤ / large • 9. /m/ • 10. /n/ • 11. /ŋ/

joke

hinged

met

smoke

team

net

snake rings

tin sing

Consonant sounds of English (continued)

• • 13 /f/ • 14. /v/

initially fan van

medially finally soft if leaves thief

• 15. /ɵ/

thin

months

bath

• 16./ð/

then

clothes

bathe

Consonant sounds of English (continued)

• • • • •

17. /s/ 18. /z/ 19. /ʃ/ 20. /ʒ/

initially sip zip ship measure

medially list loser rushed rouge

finally less buzz hush

Consonant sounds of English (continued)

• • • • •

21. /h/ 22. /r/ 23. /w/ 24. /j/

initially hot rot watt yatch

medially finally behave try sweat tune

Word-stress • Two-syllable words • Stress on first syllable • ‘bargain • ‘govern • ‘secret • ‘mischief • ‘message • ‘cabbage

• • • • • • • • •

‘surface ‘furnace ‘husband ‘butcher ‘proverb ‘thorough ‘oven ‘onion ‘compass

Word-stress (continued) Two-syllable words • Stress on second syllable • ad’mit • for’bid • suc’ced • sup’press • po’lice • pay’ee • dis’miss

• • • • • • • • •

ag’ree se’lect re’quest pre’fer re’fer oc’cur ar’rest com’mence per’haps

Word-stress (continued) Three-syllable words Stress on first syllable • ’advertise • ’educate • ’illustrate • ’furniture • ’government • ’literature • ’recognize • ’signature • ’tentative

Stress on second syllable • ad’venture • com’mercial • de’cision • ex’ternal • in’ternal • per’mission • re’vision • spec’tator • um’brella

Word-stress (continued) Three-syllable words Primary Stress on third syllable • ,addres’see • ,ciga’rette • ,coin’cide • ,devo’tee • ,engi’neer • ,guaran’tee • ,recim’mend

Word-stress (continued) Four-syllable words Primary Stress on first syllable • ’applicable • ’accurately • ’comfortable • ’honourable

Primary Stress on second syllable • ad’vertisement • ap’preciate • a’rithmetic • e’xaggerate • par’ticipate • pho’tography

Word-stress (continued) Four-syllable words Primary Stress on third syllable • acci’dental • appli’cation • exhi’bition • inde’pendent • indi’vidual

• Primary Stress on fourth syllable • dedica’tee • exami’nee

Word-stress (continued) words with more than four syllables Primary Stress on first syllable • ‘favouritism • ‘cannibalism • ‘secularism Primary Stress on second syllable • ad’venturousness • en’thusiasm • con’servatism

Primary Stress on third syllable • elec’tricity • irre’sponsible • popu’larity Primary Stress on fourth syllable • acade’mician • civili’zation • pactici’pation

Word-stress (continued): stress change according to part of speech • COMPARE: Noun/Adjective • ’absent • ’accent • ’concert • ’conflict • ’export • ’produce • ’subject

Verb ab’sent ac’cent con’cert con’flict ex’port pro’duce sub’ject

Attributes of good oral communication • • • • • • •

1.Sounds and sound combinations 2. Stress 3. Rhythm 4. Intonation 5. Speed: pausing 6. Clarity of articulation 7. Voice modulation: volume & pitch variation (avoiding “monotonous speech)