The Effects of the Model Presentations on Beginner-Level “One-Minute Speech” Production
KUDO, Kanako FUJIMORI, Hiroko

We have been experimenting with guided oral presentations that conform to the “JLC Japanese Standards,” at all levels, from beginning to advanced, in the Preparatory Education Program for Pre-undergraduate Students on MEXT Scholarships at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japanese Language Center for International Students (JLC). As part of this approach, in the beginning level, we have included an activity that strives to enable the student to give a substantive talk in a limited amount of time (approximately one minute), called the “One-Minute Speech.” We also realized there was a need to verify the validity of this approach.
This research attempts to explain the effects of the model presentations on one-minute speech production, from the viewpoints of speech construction and topic development.
The results of the experiments elucidated the following three points regarding the mechanism of model speech presentation to students:

1) Guidance in the three-part construction of the model presentation (Opening→ Body→ Ending) was largely effective in helping with speech construction skills in both the beginner and pre-intermediate levels.
2) Students at the beginning level, in particular, are strongly influenced by the model presentations in every aspect, including the construction of the “body” of their speeches, topic development and word choice.
3) Many of the students at the pre-intermediate level can incorporate the model in a practical way to create and deliver original speeches.

Moreover, we were able to use the results of the analysis to gain suggestions in how to improve both the content and style of the model presentations. Incorporating these improvements, we intend to verify the validity of one-minute speech instruction even further.