Challenging Academic Presentations

Giving academic presentations is beyond any doubt one of the challenges most university students and teachers have to cope with. However, when these presentations are delivered in a foreign language, the challenge is even greater. If according to CEFR (Council of Europe, 2011) the level of fluency of the students trained to speak before an audience is B1-B2, the challenge might seem just too great to cope with. If we consider the main principles of successful speakers to be confidence, purpose and preparation, then we can better comprehend the importance of communication apprehension. Moreover, we should also bear in mind that there are culturally-specific influences on the way presentations are structured and that it is important to view a presentation as a process rather than a product, because it is in the process of preparation itself that students become successful presenters in a foreign language.