Oral Communication Toolkit

Ideas for Oral Communication Skills' assessment

• A five-minute tutorial presentation where students are required to explain complex tax planning ideas to a specific audience, which includes a peer assessment component. That is, students are each nominated an audience type to which they will be presenting. They may be asked to address an audience of small businesses owners, professional clients who run large business organisations, taxation professionals at a Tax Conference, university students or a group of both business and non-business people attending a free public seminar.

• Tutorial 'spot checks' participation, i.e., students are required to prepare written answers to preset tutorial questions and at the beginning of the tutorial session students are randomly selected to show their attempted answers. During the semester there are two random checks per student with 1% allocated to each spot check. This activity encourages students to prepare for the tutorial session, and to actively engage in the discussion, by expressing their own opinions and asking questions.

Effective methods for assessing Oral Communication Skills

• For the oral presentation, marks are specifically allocated for:
  • Content - e.g., purpose clearly stated, good overview, clarity of argument, well sourced and credible conclusion;
  • Organisation - e.g., good structure and sequence, interesting introduction, well developed main section and clear conclusion;
  • Pitch - e.g., the presentation addresses the appropriately for audience;
  • Pace - e.g., speed of delivery, good use of pauses and reacting to feedback from audience;
  • Visual Aids - e.g., appropriate to talk, confident in use and well designed handouts;
  • Contact with audience - e.g., good posture, eye contact, rapport, relaxed, moves about, and engaged;
  • Voice - e.g., loudness, pitch, varied tone and good diction; and
  • Handling Questions - e.g., appears confident, is honest when doesn't know answer, friendly and remains in control.
• The oral presentation assessment format also provides students with feedback listing the best things about the presentation and suggestions on what the student could consider next time they made a presentation.

• The students' presentations are assessed by the tutor and include a peer assessment component. For the peer assessment, two fellow students comment and grade the presentation and this is taken into account by the tutor for allocation of the final mark for the presentation. Every student in the tutorial has a turn at being a peer assessor.

• The tutorial participation is a means of providing a prompt indication of whether students have correctly identified all the relevant issues relating to a particular problem. Feedback on this assessment is provided by the following week.

What students like about Oral Communication Skills' assessment

• The students appreciate the oral presentation skills workshop that is held to assist them with these assessments. The workshop is organised by the Lecturer in conjunction with Learning Services to ensure that the workshop information is relative to the students' tax presentations.

• The students benefit from the oral presentation by developing confidence in presenting material and explaining complex ideas as well as demonstrating their knowledge on the subject.

• The students are given the opportunity to witness a variety of presentations styles and to participate in peer assessment.
• The students appreciate the tutorial participation assessment format, because it assists in developing their ability to articulate a clear argument and in providing them with prompt feedback.

• The students rate the 'spot checks' highly as a method of encouraging them to attend and prepare for tutorials and for improving their oral communication skills.

Further comments

• The students are asked to evaluate the oral presentation skills workshop, the oral presentation and 'spot check' tutorial assessments.

• The assessment of oral communication skills also encompasses the development of other graduate skills, e.g., critical evaluation skills, problem-solving skills, etc.

• The assessment may be refined by:
  • Continuously searching for examples of good assessment processes; and
  • Incorporating feedback from students' evaluation of the oral presentation skills workshop, the oral presentation and 'spot checks' tutorial assessments.

The most difficult aspect/s of assessing Oral Communication Skills

• The difficult aspects of the assessment relate to:
  • Catering for the students' various levels of oral communication skills and being as objective as possible.

Course information

• Accounting for Taxation - 3005ABF

• Course details can be found at: http://www.ua.gu.edu.au/subject_outlines/abf/2004/s2/3005ABF.pdf

• Course Convenor: Mr Brett Freudenberg
  Lecturer
  Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics