Pecha Kucha and communication skills: Students’ perceptions February 15-16, 2019 Pecha Kucha and communication skills: Students’ perceptions Aïda EL-SOUFI Assistant Professor University of Balamand - LEBANON

Introduction Importance of oral presentations (university level) to master the content to improve oral communication skills Importance of these skills in the field of education: making oral presentations in class

Facts Students do not master the techniques of oral presentation, do not know how to speak in public, read the contents of the slide show (blocks of text), do not organize the information, exceed the time allowed.

Pecha Kucha : Presentation of Concept "Pecha Kucha" (Japanese): "conversation noise" or "chatter". Invented by two architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (2003): fight against long and boring presentations. Pecha Kucha or 20x20: imposes a limited number of slides (20 slides) which follow one another automatically in a rather short time (20 seconds each) for a total duration of 6 minutes 40 seconds. The presentation must be simple, clear and concise

Pecha Kucha : Added Value Create more creative slideshows - presentations that are burdened with blocks of text that do not allow students to develop their oral presentation skills (Murugaiah, 2016). Pecha Kucha allows students to use Power Point in a more interesting and creative way (Klentzin, Paladino, Johnston, & Devine, 2010; Robinson, 2015). to develop creativity in the use of oral presentations: reduce text blocks and give importance to the use of illustrations (Lucas & Rawlins, 2015). to develop critical thinking, to carefully plan the presentation and to present the slide show more effectively (Murugaiah, 2016).

Only visual format: automatic slide for 20-second duration/ illustrations or graphics (Glendall, 2007). Attractive, engaging and enjoyable for the audience (Christianson & Payne, 2011; Nguyen, 2015). Pleasant and useful format: focusing on the main ideas, practising more, allowing the audience to be more engaged and attentive (Beyer, 2011). Student stress: Exercise at length in a rigid format to ensure a smooth presentation (Christianson & Payne, 2011).

Target Public 9 French educated students - master's level French language teachers Course: Integration of Educational Technologies innovative pedagogical approaches for teaching and learning educational technologies active methods project-based learning Theoretical content: wiki, Forum, PowerPoint presentation Create educational sequences

Approach and Methodology Research: definition of Pecha Kucha (characteristics, advantages, disadvantages). Viewing Pecha Kucha: Understanding the Principle - enriching class discussions. Projection of 2 Pecha Kucha (highlight the characteristics of this technique, the most/least appreciated elements, their point of view) Pecha Kucha: individually presenting a theory of learning

For each presentation: Pecha Kucha: new approach (anxiety and stress)  give a try to have feedback  improve the presentation. For each presentation: size of the image relative to the slide, image quality, clarity and understanding, number of words in each slide idea conveyed

Feedback: content (choice of illustrations, illustration-content correspondence), techniques of oral communication (pronunciation, flow, look, gestures ...), Pecha Kucha format time (6'40 - 20 seconds/slide) evaluation criteria

Evaluation: Oral Discussion Oral discussions - last session: evaluate the use of Pecha Kucha compare it to previous presentations give their point of view present the difficulties encountered present the added value

Evaluation : Survey 10 open questions  speak freely without being influenced by the choices advantages and disadvantages oral skill development use in other courses - with school audience

Summary of Discussions and Survey Difficulty understanding principle of the format: 20 slides x 20 seconds presentation of the content: almost exclusively by illustrations Need to practice Importance of timing the duration of the presentation: Matching the slide flow with the oral content Difficulty to respect the constraint time (20 seconds/slide): read the content – digressions Difficulty watching the audience: fear of being overwhelmed by automatic slide show

Difficulty finding meaningful illustrations of good quality Difficulty creating presentations with minimal text Difficulty to master the language, to master the techniques of oral presentation and to have an oral fluency to do a good Pecha Kucha

Appreciate this new technique: reduce the size of oral presentations and public boredom create dynamic and concise presentations (attract and motivate the audience) present the content in an attractive and creative way easily follow the presentations of others better understand the message conveyed better remember the most important information.  Difficulty adopting this technique in all classes: preparation time required (time-consuming)

Reduced duration (6 minutes 40 seconds) and fast flow maintain the interest and attention of the public present a theme in an original and concise way choose the most relevant information to share with the audience. Short duration: skip certain notions, deliver important information

Conclusion Positive and enthusiastic opinion of the students - subjective perception and point of view Further study and explore the influence of this technique on the acquisition of technological and linguistic skills, Self-confidence, decrease or increase in student anxiety during presentations mastery of the content presented by the students and the audience.

Bibliographie Beyer, A. M. (2011). Improving Student Presentations: Pecha Kucha and Just Plain PowerPoint. Teaching of Psychology 38(2), 122-126. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0098628311401588 Christianson, M., & Payne, S. (2011). Helping students develop skills for better presentations: Using the 20x20 format for presentation training. Language Research Bulletin, 26, 1-15. Retrieved from https://icu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&i tem_id=2660&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=17 Foyle, H. C., & Childress, M. D. (2015). Pecha Kucha for better PowerPoint presentations. National Social Science Association. Retrieved from http://www.nssa.us/tech_ journal/volume_1-1/vol1-1_article2.htm Klentzin, J. C., Paladino, E. B., Johnston, B. & Devine, C. (2010). Pecha Kucha: Using “lightning talk” in university instruction. Reference Services Review, 38(1), 158-167. Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/00907321011020798 Lehtonen, M. (2011). Communicating Competence Through Pechakucha Presentations. Journal of Business Communication, 448(4), 464-481. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021943611414542?journalCode=jobc Levin, M.A, & Peterson, L.T. (2013). Use of pecha kucha in marketing students’ presentations. Marketing Education Review, 23(1), 59–63. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/MER1052-8008230110?journalCode=mmer20 Murugaiah, P. (2016). Pecha Kucha style PowerPoint presentation: An innovative call approach to developing presentation skills of tertiary students. Teaching English with Technology, 16(1), 88-104. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1135930

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