Abstract
Oral presentation is one of the most important language skills for English language learners to develop or possess in both academic and workplace settings (Evans, 2013; Kim, 2006). However, oral presentation instruction is often challenged by the lack of authentic materials in ESL/EFL settings (Moll, 2007). Although textbooks are constantly criticized, little studies have been conducted to examine whether instructions in textbooks are far from how presentations are delivered in real life. Drawing on Chang and Huang’s (2015) move and step prototype, the present study compares presentation structures taught in commonly-used textbooks with those employed by TED speakers and explores how experienced EFL instructors perceive and teach presentation structures and utilize online resources (such as TED talks) to aid their instructions. Four textbooks and interviews with four experienced instructors were compiled and analyzed to examine how presentation structure is taught in class and how such instruction differs from the way that experts structure their presentations in real life. The findings reveal that even though differences do exist between the instructions provided in textbooks and the structures employed by presenters in real life, there are similarities regarding the frequencies and sequence of moves and steps between these two datasets. As for instructors, when teaching presentations, it appears that they offer more instructions on introductory and concluding moves, and have mixed opinions toward whether TED talks are suitable authentic materials to be applied in presentation classes. The findings suggest that material developers may need to include contents currently insufficient in the textbooks and consider authenticity, instructors’ and learner’s needs when designing textbooks. In addition, practitioners are encouraged to pay more attention to the selection of textbooks and evaluate their instructional materials through applying existing models.