Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Developing Presentational Communication
Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Developing Presentational Communication
This domain tests planned, one-way communication for an audience in speaking or writing. Presentational tasks may be rehearsed and revised; the key is that learners organize and deliver a message rather than negotiate it in real time.
Core rules and concepts
- Set a clear audience, purpose, and format: a class video, a blog post, a poster, or a short speech.
- Teach the process: analyze models, plan, draft, get feedback, revise, and present.
- Use rubrics that reflect comprehensibility, organization, language control, and cultural appropriateness rather than grammar alone.
- Scaffold with graphic organizers, sentence frames, and pronunciation rehearsal, then reduce support.
- Require learners to use their own language and ideas; a read-aloud script may be presentational, but it should not be the only preparation.
- Connect presentational work to interpretive models so students see genre conventions.
Worked example
Novice learners create a digital poster about their school day. They first interpret a model schedule, then draft sentences with frames such as 'I have ___ at ___.' The teacher gives feedback on comprehensibility and organization, and students revise before recording a short narration. The reasoning: the task has an audience, follows a process, and is scored with a rubric aligned to presentational criteria, not just vocabulary accuracy.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating an unprepared, unrehearsed speech as the only presentational task.
- Scoring mainly on grammar and ignoring audience and organization.
- Giving no model or no revision stage.
- Allowing cultural stereotypes in 'culture' presentations.
- Using a rubric with vague labels such as 'good' or 'nice work.'