Elevating students' presentation skills with Indonesian local wisdom in virtual teaching mode

Abstract

This study examines the impact of synchronous real and virtual teaching modes on students' abilities in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) for presentation. It uses an experimental research design, with the first semester at Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia, as the participants. There were 30 students in the experimental group and 30 in the control group attending the ESP business presentation course. The students’ presentation skills of structure, delivery, and gesture were the skills tested by integrating specific topics of local Indonesian knowledge: Pancasila, local tourist destinations, and free topic. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for data analysis taken from the pre-and post-test scores from both groups. The results demonstrated that both modes of teaching had a positive effect on the overall presentation skills of both groups. However, there were variations in the improvement of specific presentation skills across different topics. Comparing both modes of teaching, the synchronous virtual mode of teaching has shown promise in developing students' presentation abilities, but attention should be given to addressing limitations and optimizing teaching strategies for comprehensive skill development. This study contributes to the understanding of the impact of synchronous real and virtual modes of teaching on students' presentation skills in the context of ESP and has practical implications for educators and course designers involved in ESP instruction. Incorporating a synchronous mode of teaching can be a valuable approach to developing students' presentation skills when combined with the integration of local Indonesian knowledge and diverse topics.