The Intentionality Model described previously was developed step by step over the course of the five years of the study. It started from the simple idea to use speech acts to analyse business presentations, and every time a new aspect of the model was developed, it was piloted in an empirical study dealing with a specific research question. The results of the study and the piloting experince were then ploughed back into the model, developing it further. Therefore, at times the study focused on theoretical exploration, then on empirical and classroom-based research, to return later to the theoretical side and so on.
Consequently, the research plan might be called chrono-cyclical (as opposed to chronological). This phrase has been coined to signify that the study is of a cyclical nature and at successive time phases spiralled to and from data-based and theory-based research, whilst the scope of interest widened progressively. A graphic representation of the research plan can be seen in Figure 7.
The chart contains the scope and time frame on the left hand side, the cyclical theory- and data-based development of the research with a widening scope in four phases in the centre. On the right hand side of the chart are the corresponding research questions and methods of data collection and analysis. Each of the four stages consists of a theoretical and empirical part that complement each other, because the instrument design, which is based on a theoretical framework, is then piloted on and applied to presentation transcriptions. The data and results of the presentation analysis, apart from being used to enrich the teaching process, led to further developments of the coding system making improvements and adjustments and completing the cycle from theoretical to empirical and back to the theoretical study again.
Chrono-Cyclical Research Plan
Main interest:
What kind of discourse features characterise business presentations?
Aims:
1) THEORETICAL - Design a model for analysing presentations 2) EMPIRICAL - Describe the genre of business presentations using the model 3) PEDAGOGICAL – Provide theoretical and empirical foundations for instruction
Scope and Model Design: Research Data Data Time scale Theory-Based Research Data-Based Research Questions Collection Analysis
Figure 7. The chrono-cyclical research plan.
6. What are the traits of an expert presenter?
5. How are Presentation Skills taught and what are the fetures of expert presentations?
- expert presentation transcriptions - commercial presentation transcriptions - instruction materials - info session transcriptions
- discourse analysis (macro-level) - discourse analysis (genre analysis) - discourse analysis (micro-taxonomy) - descriptive statistical analysis 4. What are
the features of higher and lower graded presentations?
3. What characterises a higher graded presenter?
- Student presentation transcriptions - grades - observation - long interview - retrospection - member check
- discourse analysis (genre analysis) - discourse analysis (micro-taxonomy) - descriptive statistical analysis - thematic analysis 2. What kind
of changes are there in student presentations over time?
- How might these changes be related to the course?
- Student presentation transcriptions - student discussions - questnionnaire - grades - syllabus doc.
- lesson observations
- discourse analysis (micro-taxonomy) - descriptive statistical analysis - thematic analysis
1. What kind of structures and strategies are present in the question and answer session?
- Students presentation transcriptions - lesson plan - observation - questionnaire
- conversation analysis (turns
& speech acts) - thematic analysis 1.Q&A
Micro-level taxonomy
2.Longitudinal study Genre-based
model
4. Low versus high graded Presentations Presentations
as Macro - Speech Acts
6. Expert case study Placing
presentations within a wider communication framework
3. Student case study 5. Presentation
Skills course and expert presentations (winter 2007/8)
Communication theory
Presentation Skills instruction
(spring 2006)
Role of presentations
(autumn 2005)
The genre of presentations (spring 2005)
Presentations skills development (autumn 2004)
Single presentation (spring 2004)
Question and answer session (winter 2003/4)
Because of their crucial functions, each of the four phases of research will be described here briefly.
The initial stage of the research was completed in the winter of 2003/4. The focus in this phase was very narrow and the scope limited to just the question and answer session of presentations. The study addressed the first research question of how students handle the Q&A session. The data consisted of transcriptions of student presentations, lesson plans and results from classroom observation and a questionnaire. The participants were 12 second-year students at a business college participating in a Presentation Skills course. The data analysis at this stage was very straightforward, based on speech acts (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969), conversation analysis (Sacks, 1986; Sacks, Schegloff &
Jefferson, 1974; Schegloff, 1968; Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975) and turn organisation (Bardovi-Harlig & Salisbury, 2004).
However, later on there was a need to come up with a different template for the analysis of the monologue part of the presentation, since turn taking is suspended in this part of the discourse. Precisely due to the lack of turns, the monologue resembles writing to some extent. Due to this similarity, in the next stage of research, Academic Writing served as a model for the structure of the monologue part of presentations. The structural units at this point in the development of the model were flexible and could be rearranged to best reflect the organisation of the discourse. The speech acts were already grouped into four categories (organisational, informative, territorial, social – later renamed cooperative) consistent with Halliday and Hasan’s (1989) overview of language functions and Brown and Levnison’s (1978) roles of face wants in politeness strategies. The structure templates and speech act categories were combined together to form the first rudimental micro-level
instrument for bottom-up analysis, which was validated in June 2004. The validation of this instrument constituted the theoretical part of the research in this phase.
The scope of the second stage of the research widened to encompass whole presentations, their context and the complete Presentation Skills course. In this phase, three separate studies were carried out: a longitudinal study (completed in December 2004), a case study of a higher-rated presenter (carried out by June 2005) and a theoretical genre analysis study (completed in the autumn of 2005). The longitudinal study addressed the second research question of how the discoursal aspects of the students’ presentation skills change over the duration of a course. It followed the acquisition and development of Presentation Skills by four primary participants that served as instrumental cases (McDonough & McDonough, 1997). The participants were second-year students taking the Presentation Skills course at a business college in Budapest. Data collection included transcriptions of the students’ presentations, student discussions, a questionnaire, examination results, lesson plans and classroom observations. The data was processed through the newly developed micro instrument, the speech act taxonomy, and descriptive statistical procedures. The micro instrument was used to analyse the students’
presentations in three stages of development: at the beginning of the 14-week semester, in the middle and upon the completion of the course.
The case study of a high-rated student presenter dealt with the third research question (What are the personality traits of a higher-rated student presenter?) and resulted directly from the longitudinal research. One of the primary participants achieved an exceptionally high score on her final presentation (78% out of a maximum of 80%), despite seeming to be a rather shy and reserved person. This particularly interesting aspect turned the participant into an intrinsic case (Cohen, Marion & Morrison, 2000). The study
looked at the development of a successful presenter, the influence of personality factors, preparation techniques, the importance of the choice of topic and the presenter’s familiarity with the subject matter. The data was collected from the participant’s presentations, course grades, a long interview and retrospection. The analysis was in the form of open coding allowing for concepts and themes to emerge through “a mixture of data reduction and complication” (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996, p. 30). The long interview guide was used as “a descriptive analytical framework” (Patton, 2002, p. 440).
The genre analysis study, pertaining to the theoretical research aim, completed this phase of the research by providing a theoretical basis for the interpretation of the components of the genre of presentations: the rationale (including context, aims, discourse community, role of presenter and audience) and content (including structure, style, speech acts and language techniques). These components originate from Swales’ (1990) definition of genre, the genre analysis approaches and findings of Bhatia (1993), descriptions and definitions of the notion of speech community and speech events by Hymes (1972a), as well as investigations into communication strategies by Faerch and Kasper (1983) and Gumperz (1982). This study formed a significant part of the theoretical foundation of the current thesis. This genre approach to the description of presentations also led to a further development of the analytical instrument, i.e. a top-down method of coding the transcriptions providing information on the specific presentation aim, context (external or internal), the role of the presenter and the audience. These elements can later be compared to the bottom-up data of the micro-level analysis of the structure (introduction, body, ending and sub-parts) and speech acts. This more complex analytical tool was now capable of yielding insights as to whether the content of the presentation matches the rationale and was necessary for the coding of presentations in the next phase of the research.
The scope of the research in the third phase widened somewhat compared to the previous level and spanned out from the classroom context to a more general setting. This stage of the investigation (completed by December 2005) consisted of two studies: an empirical research project looking into the features of higher and lower graded presentations and a theoretical investigation regarding how and why presentations can be considered to be macro speech acts. The empirical study was designed to answer the fourth research question (What are the contextual and pragmatic features of higher and lower graded student presentations?) and compared eight student presentations, four high and four low graded ones. The presentations were graded independently by two co-assessors. The participants were once more second-year students taking part in the Presentation Skills course, and data was gathered from presentation transcriptions, observation notes and the grades of the co-assessors based on the marking criteria established by the business college, where the research was conducted. The data analysis used descriptive statistics and a combination of the micro-level instrument (the speech act taxonomy) and genre component coding (the Event Analysis) to investigate whether the higher graded presentations have a better match between the content and the rationale.
This investigation might give useful insights into what makes one presentation more successful than another.
The theoretical research in this phase dealt more specifically with the goals of business presentations. It formed the second major part of the theoretical foundation and attempted to consider the genre component of “aim” or communicative purpose to be the macro illocution of the presentation, viewing the presentation event itself as constituting a macro speech act. The study was predominantly based on van Dijk’s (1977a) description of macro speech acts and Ferrara’s (1985) work on speech act subordination. However, it
also took into consideration further studies on discourse (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000;
Cook, 1989; Cutting, 2002; de Beaugrande, 1997; McCarthy & Carter, 1994; van Dijk, 1997) and context (Berns, 1990; Halliday, 1978). In terms of later use, as part of the instrument, the notion of speech act subordination enabled looking at the relationships between the micro illocutions and the macro illocution in order to see whether the main aim of the presentation is appropriately reflected in its content. Looking at the aims of presentations in terms of macro illocutionary acts also led to a deeper understanding of why presentations take place, which purposes of communication they fulfil and which contexts necessitate the use of presentations. This insight opened up the possibility of looking at the role of presentations in human communication and determining the sociolinguistic aspects of this form of discourse, which was the focus of the theoretical research in the next phase.
The scope of the research in the fourth and final stage was the widest, looking at the functions that business presentations can perform in communication. The focus here was no longer on student presentations, but on expert presentations. The final phase (completed at the beginning of 2008) once more consisted of an empirical and a theoretical part. The empirical research addressed research questions five and six (What characterises Presentation Skills instroction materials and courses? What are the characteristics of an expert business presenter?) and looked at expert presentations in teaching materials in order to determine what kind of presentation examples are provided to students in the teaching process. A case study of an expert presenter was also carried out to investigate what characterises a professional speaker. The data consisted of transcriptions of 16 expert presentations, a long interview with the expert presenter and observations of many of his talks. By this stage the model was almost fully completed, and it was employed in the
analysis of the transcriptions. During the long interview, the expert presenter was also asked about his views of the model, which contributed to the second validation of the framework carried out after the completion of the study at the beginning of 2008. Seeking expert opinion on the model also coincides with the final step of Bhatia’s (1993) advice on analysing unfamiliar genres. Relying on the views of informants and practicing members of the disciplinary culture is part of the validation procedure. The design of the model needed to be double-checked against the reactions of a professional in the field, which would contribute to the credibility and reliability of the research.
The last theoretical study completed the final elements of the model. The analysis of the organisational structure of the talk based on writing templates, which was introduced in the second phase of the research, was dropped in favour of Bhatia’s (1993) moves of promotional genres, thus finalising the intentionality hierarchy. Due to the central position of the notion of intentionality in the framework, it was called the Intentionality Model of business presentations. The second validation of the final model, completed in January 2008, concluded the research.
There are expectations that the research ought to fit either the rationalistic or the naturalistic paradigm (Guba, 1981). These terms are not the same as the research methods, which can be qualitative and/or quantitative. In fact, either of the paradigms can combine both methods. This is precisely what this dissertation does: it uses both quantitative and qualitative elements, but does not completely conform to either of the methods as outlined by Fraenkel and Wallen (1993). Descriptive statistics are used, but there are no hypotheses to be proved, as the primary aim is to describe a genre that has so far been relatively uncharted. The sampling in some cases is random (e.g., the longitudinal study) and in other cases is purposive (e.g., the case studies). The results of the research, especially the
empirical studies will not be widely generalisable, but in some instances (the case studies) they will hopefully be transferable. The analytical device resulting from the theoretical framework, on the other hand, will be applicable, with a few minor adjustments, for the analysis of any presentation (or even perhaps any public speech) because it enables the analysis of the context and pragmatic content of the talk, regardless of the type of monologue being researched. The recorded presentations are naturally occurring or set as classroom tasks, and the transcriptions are verbatim, but the focus is more on the text, the genre itself, and less on the background of the participants. So, in this respect, the research resembles studies of discourse analysis, rather than qualitative investigation.
As Lazaraton (2003) points out: “…it is hard to envision how criteria that privilege analytic induction of data from several sources (as in most ethnographic work) can be fairly applied to conversation analytic studies that are based on in-depth analysis…”(p. 5).
This view that conversation analysis (in this case, presentation analysis) abides by neither the qualitative nor quantitative norms completely, but should have a separate status is also supported by Davis (1995) who states that “conversational and discourse analyses within applied linguistics have also formed firm parameters and theoretical expectations for conducting these forms of research and could therefore easily claim method status”
(p.435). This resolves the method dilemma, yet the research design on the whole is exploratory, its main aim being to “map an uncharted” territory (genre) and provide a
“description of what is found” (Hitchock & Hughes, 1989, p. 16).