Topic synthesis: a vehicle for improving oral communication skills, comprehension and retention in higher education

Abstract

Topic synthesis is an approach where students, rather than instructors, summarise the key points of the previous lecture at the beginning of the next class period. Benefits include opportunities for students to make oral presentations, new perspectives for the instructor from which to evaluate whether the key points were evident, and reinforcement of key concepts for the other students in the class. Initially, student reactions regarding topic synthesis were predominantly neutral and there were also several unfavourable reactions. However, by the end of the semester most reactions were favourable because students recognised that topic synthesis supported improvements in comprehension and retention of subject‐matter.

Keywords:

• Topic synthesis
• oral skills
• lecture summaries