1. English for medical students
Developing academic literacies: conference presentations - review

2. Today’s session Review the course Identify general issues
How to continue improving

3. From mirroring to presenting
Adopt a voice
Pace, intonation, & pronunciation
‘Thought groups’
Transfer to your own performance

4. Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer
Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over 20 years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

5. Lifelike simulations that make real-life surgery safer
Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over twenty years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

6. Thought groups Up to 4 ‘beats’ One unit of information
One main shift in intonation

7. Difficult words for brazilian portuguese speakers (And do they matter
Here's the other problem: in the health care system that I trained in for over twenty years, what currently exists, the model of training is called the apprenticeship model. It's been around for centuries. It's based on this idea that you see a surgery maybe once, maybe several times, you then go do that surgery, and then ultimately you teach that surgery to the next generation.

8. ‘th’ words – voiced and voiceless
other
that
together
thereby
thus
arrythmic
Voiceless
hypothesis
health
thirty-three
pathway
methyltransferase
therapy

9. ‘th’ words – voiced and voiceless
other
that
together
thereby
thus
arrythmic
Use d/v
Voiceless
hypothesis
health
thirty-three
pathway
methyltransferase
therapy
Use t/f

10. Past tense regular verbs
-d (after voiced consonant, excepts /d/, and all vowels)
characterised, remained, opened, cared, allowed, aimed, required, pursued, proposed
-t (after voiceless consonants, except /t/)
based, silenced, suppressed, established, promised, kicked, stopped
‘id’: (only after t/d)
indicated, facilitated, supported, demonstrated, needed, impacted, suspended, studied

11. Past tense regular verbs
-d (after voiced consonant, excepts /d/, and all vowels)
characterised, remained, opened, cared, allowed, aimed, required, pursued, proposed
-t (after voiceless consonants, except /t/)
based, silenced, suppressed, established, promised, kicked, stopped
‘id’: (only after t/d)
indicated, facilitated, supported, demonstrated, needed, impacted, suspended, studied
Studies suggest that mixing these up does not affect intelligibility. But…

12. English as a lingua franca
Many participants in international conferences will be L2 English speakers
They will also have L2 accents
You are trying to impress them, not me.
What causes intelligibility problems for everyone?

13. Extra unstressed syllables
eight/eighty
fat/fatty
health/healthy
special/especial?

14. Brazilian Portuguese /r/
Column A rare Rome right rabbit rat
Column B hair home height habit hat

15. Easily confused words a little injection a lethal injection
a lack of patients
a lack of patience
I just wandered
I just wondered
I want to do it
I won’t do it

16. Course survey on moodle – please complete!

17. Feedback from previous course survey
Positive about the flexibility and course content
More face-to-face consultations?
TOEFL preparation?
Speed of course/amount of content in 4 weeks
Range of methodologies
‘Tutorials’ on language topics, eg article usage.
Preview – grant funding applications

18. Issues arising from the present course
Main focus on performance/pronunciation
Some guidance on presentation tips (expert advice/common sense)
Perhaps more focus on the language of presentation?
Technical terms?

19. Final pieces of advice…
Everyone has an accent – learn to love yours
Be aware of issues that might cause problems
Practise, practise, practise
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (with a critical friend)
Carry on mirroring
Check out sites like

20. Acknowledgments Picture credits:
Laboratório de Letramento Acadêmico, USP
The Ayurvedic Man. A figure showing Ayurvedic understanding of human anatomy (detail), Pen and watercolour, Probably 18th Century CE, probably of Nepalese origin, © Wellcome Library, London
Barber DNA, by Robin Blackledge, © ©Robin Blackledge/Wellcome Images
Sources of advice:
Blome, C, Sondermann H, Augustin, M. Accepted standards on how to give a Medical Research Presentation: a systematic review of expert opinion papers. GMC J Med Educ 2017; 34: 1-7
Wellstead G, Whitehurst K, Gundogan, B, Agha R. How to deliver an oral presentation. International Journal of Surgery Oncology 2017; 2:e25