TEFL trainees’ attitude to and self-efficacy beliefs of academic oral presentation

Abstract

An oral presentation is an essential skill for successful academic and professional careers. Trainees’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation play significant roles in their oral presentation development in a foreign language context. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation and the association between the two variables. A concurrent mixed-methods design was adopted to address the research questions. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select 150 M.A. trainees at post course works from four public universities in Ethiopia. However, only 123 (82%) filled out and returned attitude and self–efficacy beliefs scale questionnaires. Besides, five trainees were randomly selected for retrospective interviews. Mean scores, standard deviation, Pearson product-moment correlation, ANOVA and Post hoc methods were utilized to analyze quantitative data, while thematic verbal descriptions were employed to analyze the qualitative data. The questionnaires and interviews showed that TEFL trainees had highly favorable attitudes toward oral presentation. Although the results from the questionnaire indicated the trainees had high self-efficacy beliefs towards oral presentation, the interview revealed they had middling confidence in an oral presentation due to their poor English language proficiency, as English is a foreign language to them. Moreover, a positive and significant moderate correlation was found between the trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentations.

Keywords:

• attitude
• academic presentation
• attitude to oral presentation
• oral presentation
• self-efficacy beliefs

Public interest statement

English language has been serving as a medium of instruction from junior secondary school to tertiary education in Ethiopia. Since it is a foreign language, students do not have opportunity to interact with outside of classrooms. As a consequence, most of them have poor English language proficiency. At university education, we observed the students showing fear and anxiety of making oral presentation in front of a crowd. To this effect, we explored TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation with the hope of working to encourage and nurture our trainees’ oral presentations. The results displayed TEFL trainees had highly favorable attitudes toward oral presentation. Besides, the results obtained from the questionnaire indicated the trainees had high self-efficacy beliefs while the interview results disclosed moderate confidence in an oral presentation. We forwarded our recommendations to the concerned stakeholders to alleviate the problems.

1. Introduction

Oral presentation has become a critical skill in university education and workplaces. This is important for the success of academic and professional careers. The ability to present information orally, clearly and fluently in different professional contexts is an essential skill that higher education students should attain (Dunbar et al., 2006; Zivkovic, 2014). According to Zivkovic (2014), the oral presentation includes seminar and small group discussions, debates, role plays, group and individual oral presentations, projects and thesis/dissertation mock and viva as an integral part of the curriculum.

The inclusion of oral presentations into the curriculum could create opportunities for students in many ways. First, it allows them to gain new insights into various issues while they gather data for their presentations (Ekmekçi, 2018). Besides, it promotes students’ autonomy, team spirit and creativity. Specific to teacher education, the development of oral presentation skills plays a significant role in the academic and professional life of teacher trainees. Among these, for instance, it allows them to practice speaking, create paces for the trainees with different learning styles, explore presentation topics in-depth for better understanding and provide them with independent and critical learning (Brooks & Wilson, 2014; Munby, 2011). In addition, effective presentation is also linked to high-quality teaching as it relates to the potential for effective message communication (Brooks & Wilson, 2014; Tsang, 2020). Furthermore, the effectiveness of the presentation was associated with perceived teacher competence and student achievement (Mabuan, 2017). Consequently, an oral presentation can provide the trainee teachers with the skills mentioned above, particularly in English as a foreign language context where the trainees have low English proficiency.

Studies indicated that oral presentation skills had become a necessity in higher education. As a result, educational institutions have included it in their curricula to serve numerous purposes. These include developing the confidence of the students to speak before an audience, the opportunity to practice specific presentation skills and communicate information to fellow class members, having ownership of classroom subject matter and sharing information from personal experience (Amirian & Tavakoli, 2016; Girard et al., 2011; Tsang, 2020). Understanding the values of an oral presentation to the academic and professional careers of teachers, higher education institutions have also incorporated it into their curricula (Gedamu, 2016; Tsang, 2020; Zivkovic, 2014). Accordingly, the learning and teaching activities involved oral presentations in various settings.

Despite the importance of oral presentation, studies show that students attempted to avoid oral presentations as they could not present their ideas evidently and efficiently due to their limited English proficiency (Fitriani, 2019; Panggabean & Wardhono, 2017), lack of confidence to perform a presentation in English (Juhana, 2012), limited opportunities to practice English (Aljumah, 2011; Sawir, 2005), negative self-efficacy (Muyan & Tunaz, 2017), speaking anxiety (Öztürk & Gürbüz, 2014) and fear of presenting their ideas to the crowd (Kheryadi & Hilmiyati, 2021). These imply that limited English proficiency, low self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation, an unfavorable attitude of students and other unspecified reasons seem to affect their oral presentation.

Therefore, trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation in English as a foreign language context, in particular, can significantly determine the students’ levels of oral presentation (Harris et al., 2016; Tahaineh & Danna, 2013). Consequently, higher education institutions in foreign language contexts give more attention to oral presentation and trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation to improve related practices.

Attitude has an impulse that stimulates behavior and shapes behavior in a specific direction and is related to learning L2 (Tahaineh & Danna, 2013). Attitude is generally a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behavior (Ajzen, 2007; Hogg & Vaughan, 2009). Specific to language, an attitude is a set of beliefs that the learner holds towards the language and its learning that influence learners’ success or failure of learning the language (Thompson, 2021). The attitude consisted of emotional, cognitive and behavioral components. The emotional dimension relates to feelings or emotions, whereas the cognitive one associates with beliefs, thoughts and attributes associated with an attitude object (Ajzen, 2007). The behavioral component is the behavior of the attitudinal object (Ajzen, 2008).

Understanding students’ attitudes helps TEFL teacher educators work toward improving their trainees’ attitudes to a particular academic subject, thus increasing their desire to learn better (Tahaineh & Danna, 2013). Therefore, it appears crucial to explore Trainees’ attitudes to the oral presentation as it plays an essential role as an obstacle or facilitator. For example, Ekmekçi (2018) conducted a study on first-year EFL students offering them an oral presentation for a semester and the result showed a positive attitude toward the oral presentation. In addition, other studies have found that students have positive attitudes toward oral presentations (Benraghda et al., 2015; Gedamu, 2016; Karimkhanlooei, 2017; Toomnan & Intaraprasert, 2015). Amelia (2022) also explored the attitudes of EFL students in Indonesia toward oral presentations with an open-ended questionnaire. The result of the study displayed that students confirmed that oral presentation was valuable and developed their presentation skills, although it was challenging due to insufficient practice. In contrast, studies have shown that university students have a negative attitude toward oral presentations (Benraghda et al., 2015; Zivkovic, 2014).

The other variable of the study is learners’ oral presentation self-efficacy. According to Bandura, 1977), self-efficacy is a belief in a person’s abilities to organize and execute the plans of action required to produce given results. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how individuals feel, think, motivate and behave (Bandura, 1977). There can be many sources of self-efficacy, including mastering experiences, proxy (vicarious) experiences, social persuasion and emotional states (Bandura, 1977). Sources may contribute to learners’ high or low levels of self-efficacy. Mastery experiences are the direct past experiences of learners, whereas proxy experiences are group or peer-related (Woolfolk et al., 2003). Social persuasion originates from specific performance feedback (Woolfolk et al., 2003), whereas emotional one comes from people’s mental and emotional states (Gallagher-Brett & Broady, 2012).

Tucker and McCarthy (2001) suggested that classroom practice might enhance the effectiveness of student presentations. In the same vein, other studies also indicated that the students had significantly high speaking self-efficacy beliefs in public gatherings (Demirel et al., 2020; Paradewari, 2017) steadily in their studies in higher education. Most of the studies reviewed above were conducted in contexts where the English language is either a native or second language in which the students have better English language proficiency than in a foreign language context. In a foreign language context, students have limited English language proficiency and thus they may not have a favorable attitude to and self-efficacy beliefs to an oral presentation. To this effect, the findings of studies in a native or second language context may not apply to a foreign language context.

Both attitudes and self-efficacy are crucial predictors of human behaviors (Ajzen, 2007; Eagly & Chaiken, 2007; MacFarlane & Woolfson, 2013), particularly when students have to perform tasks for a crowd. For this purpose, teacher educators must consider the prior psychological requirement of their trainees that may guarantee effective presentation (Amirian & Tavakoli, 2016). However, only a few studies have sprung up with the self-efficacy and attitude of oral presentation as concepts and the role of confidence in oral academic presentations. Dwyer and Fus (2002) investigated the relationship between public speaking self-efficacy and communicating attitudes. The result showed that the two variables were inversely related. The result implies that studies on the association between the two variables still need to be conclusive and require further investigations. Consequently, it was critical to examine TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation. In addition, studies of the association between the two variables are few and far between.

Though the oral presentation is essential and is conducted frequently at universities at all levels, there is a need for more empirical works related to attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation in the EFL context. As a result, this study sought to examine the attitudes and beliefs of self-efficacy in the oral presentation of TEFL trainees at selected public universities in Ethiopia. Predominantly, this study aimed to address the following research questions:

• (i) What attitude do TEFL trainees have toward oral presentation?

• (ii) What levels of oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs do TEFL trainees have?

• (iii) Is there an association between TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation?

TEFL teacher educators need to obtain empirical evidence concerning their trainees’ status of attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentations to encourage, support and nurture their trainees’ attitudes toward and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentations. Therefore, the findings of this study are relevant because they offer a baseline of the status of the trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation, upon which TEFL teacher educators encourage, support and nurture the trainees to ensure their oral presentation.

2. Research methodology

This section describes the research design, sample and sampling procedures, data collection tools, methods of data analysis and issues of ethical consideration.

2.1. Research design

The purpose of this study was to explore TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation and the association between these two variables at selected public universities in Ethiopia in the 2021/22 academic year. A parallel mixed-methods design was adopted to address the research questions of this study. The mixed-methods design integrates qualitative and quantitative data collection simultaneously without affecting each other (Creswell, 2009). The combination and use of qualitative and quantitative data provided a better understanding of the research problem under study.

Principally, the qualitative data enabled us to obtain insights into and trace changes in the students’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation. Besides, multiple approaches to the social inquiry can provide the best understanding of the research problem under study and improve the validity and credibility of the results rather than a single approach (Saldana, 2011). Therefore, questionnaires and interviews were employed to study the trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about the oral presentation. Although the qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed separately, the results were integrated into the discussion section for interpretation.

2.2. Participants of the study

The focus of this study was second-year summer and regular graduate trainees who have finished the 24-credit hour course in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) at four selected public universities in Ethiopia. The total population was around 630 trainees conducting M.A. thesis in the 2021/22 academic year at Arba Minch (n = 130), Wolayeta Sodo (n = 130), Dilla (n = 130) and Hawassa (n = 240) Universities. The sample size determination formula, n = z2 p.qN/ e2 (N-1) + z2 pq, (Kothari, 2004) was applied to estimate the sample size. In the formula, “n” is the sample size; “e” is the standard error margin (0.05); “z” is the standard value of the desired confidence level (95%, which is 1.96); “p” is the desired sample proportion (0.15), “N” is the population size and “q” is 1—p (1–0.15 = 0.85). Hence, the sample size was found to be 150 trainees in total for this study.

The next was = how the sample was taken from the population. The total population (630) divided by the sample size (150) gave 4, which is the n^th value. Therefore, a systematic random sampling technique considering every fourth trainee from the sample frame (lists) was used. Consequently, the number of trainees selected from Arba Minch, Wolayeta Sodo and Dilla Universities was 30 from each, whereas the number of trainees selected from Hawassa University was 60. However, only 123 (82%) trainees appropriately filled out and returned the questionnaires.

The final issue was the selection of trainees for semi-structured interviews. Five trainees were randomly selected for the interviews. Accordingly, two interviewees were selected from Hawassa University, while one was considered from each of the other universities.

2.3. Data collection tools

Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed to measure the trainees’ attitudes toward oral presentation and self-efficacy beliefs. The tools are described and presented in the subsections that follow.

2.3.1. Oral presentation self-efficacy questionnaire

The questionnaire was aimed to elicit data from TEFL trainees about the oral presentation self–efficacy beliefs (OPSEB). Wattananan and Tepsuriwong (2015) formatted the items in the form of a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). The scale constituted 20 items with three subscales for measuring the different aspects of oral presentation self–efficacy beliefs. The subscales include language, delivery and organization components of the verbal presentation self–efficacy beliefs. It was adopted (Wattananan & Tepsuriwong, 2015) and served the purpose of the current study. The internal consistency of the tool at the scale level was .81 in Cronbach Alpha. The subscales had consistency values of .77 for the language efficacy and .80 and .88 for the delivery and organization subscales, respectively. The Amharic version of the oral presentation self–efficacy beliefs had a .83 Cronbach Alpha value for the scale. In contrast, the subscales had consistency values of .81 for language efficacy and .79 and .84 for the delivery and organization subscales, respectively. Therefore, the tool was reliable and suitable for measuring the construct it was supposed to measure.

We scored the item scales labeled as “strongly disagree”, “disagree,” “undecided,” “agree,” and “ strongly agree” with values of 1,2,3,4 and 5 for positively phrased responses, respectively. In contrast, the negatively worded items were scored reversely to decide the scale mean value.

2.3.2. Oral presentation attitude questionnaire

The purpose of the oral presentation attitude questionnaire was to generate data concerning the TEFL trainees’ attitudes toward the oral presentation in the EFL context. The questionnaire was adopted from (Karimkhanlooei, 2017) and constituted 11 items on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). The original questionnaire had a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.89. Simultaneously, the Amharic version has an internal consistency value of 0.91. The result showed that the tool is reliable and measures the constructs it was supposed to determine.

Similar to the self-efficacy scale, the positively phrased items were scored with values of 1,2,3,4 and 5, to the responses “strongly disagree”, “disagree,” “undecided,” “agree,” and “ strongly agree”, respectively. In contrast, the negatively worded items were scored reversely to obtain the mean value of the scale.

2.3.3. Semi-structured interviews

Both attitude and self-efficacy are dynamic and can change over time due to learning, experiences and contexts. Retrospective semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture the status and changes in the trainees’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation. The interview data allowed the trainees to recall their entire moves during the course works and thesis writing. In addition, they stated changes in their attitude to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation.

The interviews were conducted in the Amharic language, the official or working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The audio-recorded interviews were translated into English and later transcribed. Two experts checked the accuracy of the translation.

The interview protocol had two major parts. The first part was concerned with attitude to the oral presentation. The issues addressed in this part encompassed trainees feeling about the oral presentation, whether they liked it or not, whether oral presentation was useful, whether the trainees feel they had a good or poor oral presentation and why and why not questions to each of the points mentioned. The second part was about the trainees’ oral presentation self-efficacy, which requested their confidence concerning language, delivery and organizational components of oral presentation.

2.4. Methods of data analysis

An attitude scale, self–efficacy beliefs questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from the study participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze the quantitative data collected through questionnaires, while verbal descriptions were employed to analyze the qualitative data obtained through interviews.

Before using descriptive and inferential statistics, the data collected were checked against some basic assumptions of statistical tools used to analyze the data. The distribution of the scores of the quantitative data at items and scale levels showed a normal distribution since the skewness and kurtosis values were between +1.5 and −1.5. Besides, the scores had no significant extreme outlier that may influence the mean scores for data analysis. Moreover, the Levene statistic test of homogeneity variance for the subscales of the self-efficacy belief showed no significant differences [df (2, 366) = .062, p > .05]. Furthermore, the normality probability plots (Normal Q-Q Plots) showed straight lines that inform normal distributions for the two variables of attitudes toward and self-efficacy belief of oral presentation. Thus, descriptive and inferential statistics presented below were applied as tools for data analysis.

Mean values, standard deviation, Pearson product-moment correlation, ANOVA and Post hoc methods were applied to analyze the quantitative data obtained through questionnaires. Specifically, standard deviation and mean scores at an item level and item aggregate mean values were employed to address attitudes toward oral presentation. Concerning the self-efficacy beliefs of the oral presentation of the trainees, standard deviation and mean scores at subscale levels were used. Since mean values alone could not distinguish whether there were statistically significant differences among the mean values of the self-efficacy beliefs dimensions, the ANOVA test was employed. Finally, the Tukey HSD test analysis was run to compare the mean scores. In addition, Pearson product-moment correlation was utilized to examine the association between attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation of the trainees. Finally, a five percent (α = 0.05) significance level was employed throughout the study.

Wattananan and Wattananan and Tepsuriwong’s (2015) and Magulod’s (2019) mean scores categorizations were employed to decide the levels of attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs the trainees had toward oral presentation. The mean scores were interpreted as indicated below:

1. 1.00–1.80 (very low)

2. 1.81–2.60 (low)

3. 2.61–3.40 (Moderate)

4. 3.41–4.20 (high)

5. 4.21–5.00 (very high)

Concerning qualitative data analysis, interview transcriptions for the emerged themes were examined about views of attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentations. The themes related to status and changes in the interviewees’ attitudes to an oral presentation concerning feelings, beliefs and behavior were categorized and analyzed thematically through verbal descriptions. Similarly, the themes related to status and changes in the interviewees’ language, delivery and organizational components of oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs were sorted and analyzed through verbal descriptions.

2.5. Ethical considerations

We secured Ethical clearance from the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) ethical approval committee. The letter approved that all ethical issues required to carry out a study and undergo data collection were appropriate. Besides, the CSSH Research Coordination Office of the University also offered us letters requesting the cooperation of the selected universities for data collection.

Upon arrival at the study sites, we clarified the purpose of the study and requested the selected trainees for their willing to respond to the survey and interviews. We also assured them that the information they provided be kept confidential. Besides, we informed them we would not disclose their personal information without their will. Having obtained the agreement and permission of the participants, we distributed the questionnaire. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with the selected trainees.

3. Results and discussion

This study aimed to examine TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation and the association between attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs about oral presentation. To address the objectives of this study, a concurrent mixed-methods design that combined qualitative and quantitative data was adopted. To this effect, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used with selected participants. Finally, the analyses are presented below.

3.1. Questionnaire data analysis

The quantitative data collected through questionnaires were presented and analyzed in this subsection, as indicated below.

3.1.1. TEFL trainees’ attitudes to oral presentation

Mean values and standard deviations were applied to analyze and decide TEFL trainees’ attitudes toward oral presentation. The analysis is presented in Table 1, as indicated below.

Table 1. Mean and standard deviation values for TEFL trainees’ attitudes to an oral presentation

No	TEFL trainees’ attitudes to an oral presentation
	Items	Mean	Std. Dev.
1	I feel oral presentation is a valuable skill	4.50	.63
2	I think I have difficulties with oral presentations	3.18	1.22
3	Good oral presentation skills are important	4.64	.63
4	Oral presentations are interesting	4.36	.68
5	I think I have good oral presentation skills	3.58	.83
6	I enjoy doing an oral presentation	3.94	.85
7	I like doing an oral presentation	3.85	.93
8	I feel nervous when doing an oral presentation	2.86	1.21
9	The oral presentation is too easy	2.81	1.07
10	I dislike oral presentations	2.08	1.11
11	Oral presentations improve my confidence	4.38	.83
	Grand mean	3.65	.32

Table 1 shows the TEFL trainees’ attitudes to oral presentation rated mean values and standard deviation for items and scale. The mean value of the scale is 3.65, with the standard deviation being .32. It seems that students’ ratings of attitude to an oral presentation do not differ considerably among themselves and fall in the direction and around the mean value of the scale, implying homogeneity in ratings of the students. Accordingly, the trainees rated oral presentation as necessary (x = 4.60, SD = .63), helpful (x = 4.50, SD = .63), improves confidence (x = 4.38, SD = .83) and exciting skills (x = 4.36, SD = .68). Besides, the trainees stated that they enjoy the oral presentation (x = 3.94, SD = .85), like doing an oral presentation (x = 3.85, SD = .93) and they feel they had good oral presentation skills (x = 3.58, SD = .83) although they had difficulties of oral presentations (x = 3.18, SD = 1.22). On the contrary, the trainees disclosed that they did not feel nervous when doing an oral presentation (x = 2.86, SD = 1.21). However, they did not consider oral presentation too easy (x = 2.81, SD = 1.07 and had no displeasure with oral presentations (x = 2.08, SD = 1.11). At the scale level, the data showed (x = 3.65, S.D. = .32) that the trainees had a favorable attitude to an oral presentation.

Concerning the trainees’ attitude to oral presentation, Wattananan and Tepsuriwong (2015) and Magulod (2019) mean scores categorizations showed the trainees had very high attitudes to positively stated items, high at scale level and low to moderate for negatively worded items. Accordingly, the trainees felt that oral presentation is precious, meaningful, engaging and improves their confidence. Similarly, the trainees had a high disposition to their levels of verbal presentation skills. Besides, they highly enjoyed and liked doing an oral presentation. Nevertheless, the trainees moderately had difficulties with and felt nervous when doing an oral presentation and felt that the oral presentation was too easy. However, the trainees had a low level of dislike for an oral presentation that implied they liked it instead.

Since the mean value of the scale on attitude to oral presentation falls at a high level of categorization (Magulod, 2019; Wattananan & Tepsuriwong, 2015), it appeared reasonable to conclude the trainees had a high attitude toward oral presentation in general despite other differences. A high attitude to oral presentation implies that the trainees had a highly favorable attitude toward an oral presentation.

3.1.2. TEFL trainees’ oral presentation of self-efficacy beliefs

The consecutive tables below present data that examine trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding the oral presentation.

Table 2 shows descriptive statistics of TEFL trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding oral presentation dimensions and scale. The mean score for an organization dimension of the trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs (x = 4.05) is the highest, followed by the delivery dimension (x = 3.67). In contrast, the language dimension (x = 3.52) appears to have the lowest mean value. Besides, the overall scale average value was 3.74 with a standard deviation of .63. However, the mean values alone could not distinguish whether there are statistically significant differences among the mean values of the three dimensions. To this effect, the ANOVA test was run to see if there were substantial variations in the trainees’ ratings of the three dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs to the oral presentation, as shown in Table 3.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of TEFL trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs dimensions and scale

Dimensions and scale	N	Mean	Std. dev.
Language dimension	123	3.52	.62
Delivery dimension	123	3.67	.50
Organization dimension	123	4.05	.64
Scale		3.74	.63

Table 3. ANOVA summary of self-efficacy beliefs dimensions

	Sum of squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Between Groups	18.603	2	9.302	26.514	.000
Within Groups	128.403	366	.351
Total	147.007	368

A one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine whether there were statistically significant differences among mean scores of trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs to oral presentation dimensions. As shown in Table 3, self-efficacy beliefs dimensions mean scores differed significantly [F (2, 366) = 26.514, p = .000]. The effect size (η2) was .288, a medium. The result shows a 28.8% difference in the students’ ratings of specific dimensions from those of some other dimensions. Nonetheless, this result does not show the dimensions that contributed significantly to the differences. For example, post hoc comparisons of the dimensions with the Tukey HSD test were computed to identify the dimensions that contributed significantly to the difference, as presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Tukey HSD dimensions multiple comparisons

Mean	1	2	3	Ranks
3.52	—	−.14	−.53*	2
3.67		—-	−.39*	2
4.05			—-	1
* p < .01

The Tukey HSD test comparison of mean score showed there was no statistically significant difference between the language mean score (x = 3.52) and delivery (x = 3.67), p > .05. Nevertheless, there was a statistically significant mean difference between the language (x = 3.52) and organizational mean score (x = 4.05) at p < .01. Similarly, there was statistically significant mean score difference between the delivery mean score (x = 3.67) and organization mean score (x = 4.05) dimensions, at p < .01. Thus, the organizational dimension of oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs had the highest impact, whereas the language and delivery dimensions had equal weight placed second. Nevertheless, the three dimensions and the scale fall in a high self-efficacy beliefs category (Magulod, 2019; Wattananan & Tepsuriwong, 2015); therefore, the results showed that the trainees had high confidence in their oral presentation.

3.1.3. Relationship between attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation

Table 5 presents Pearson product-moment correlations results of trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentations

Table 5. Correlations results between attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentations

		1	2	3	4	5
1	Attitude	—	.033	.264**	.227*	.220*
2	Language efficacy		—	.386**	.335**	.759**
3	Delivery efficacy			—-	.439**	.754**
4	Organizational efficacy				—–	.789**
5.	Self-efficacy scale					—

**< .001, *< .05

Before running Pearson product-moment correlations to examine the association between TEFL trainees’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs about the oral presentation, preliminary data analysis was conducted. The results ensured no violation of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity assumptions. Thus, the Pearson product-moment correlation was run to examine the association between attitude and self-efficacy beliefs in oral presentation and the corresponding dimensions.

The result showed positive and significant correlations between attitude to oral presentation and delivery self-efficacy (r = .264, p < .001); organizational self-efficacy (r = .227, p < .05); and self-efficacy beliefs (r = .220, p < .05). The strengths of the association for all significant correlations were found to be moderate. The result implied that the stronger the trainees held favorable attitudes toward oral presentation, the more they strived to develop their self-efficacy beliefs toward oral presentation or vice-versa.

3.2. Data analysis of the interviews

The interview aimed to probe in-depth data about TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation. Besides, the qualitative data analysis was presented in the following subsection.

3.2.1. Trainees’ attitudes to the oral presentation

Concerning attitudes toward oral presentation, the interviewees responded that they liked it very much and gained experience and exposure to delivering their thoughts publicly. Concerning this, the third interviewee, trainee 3 (T3), stated that:

I like oral presentations very much because making oral presentations informs me how much I pay attention to my studies. Besides, it develops my instructional skills as a teacher.

Besides, the trainees feel that oral presentation is instrumental that teachers need to develop to deliver messages effectively to learners. Moreover, the interviewees’ underlined oral presentation is beneficial because it enhances good communication and develops their presentation skills for effective instruction as teachers (T1). Besides, they stated that oral presentations gave them a live way of learning to deliver lessons clearly and concisely (T5) and enhanced their development to effectively deliver messages to the learners (T2). On top of this, one of the interviewees (T4) also explained that oral presentation is helpful because, along with oral delivery, the tones and gestures speak more than words and express feelings.

The interviewed trainees articulated their inclination that they feel oral presentation is helpful. They also remarked they had a positive attitude toward oral presentation and stated it improved their speaking skills and the vital skills required of teachers for effective instruction.

Although the trainees explained they liked oral presentation, thought it was valuable and had positive attitudes toward it, an effective oral presentation is demanding and challenging for several reasons. First, despite their positive attitudes toward oral presentations, the trainees stated that it overloaded them in preparing for oral presentations. One of the interviewees (T1) mentioned:

It [oral presentation] requires preparation and hence takes much time as English is the medium and it is a foreign language for us. We do not have a good background in English. To this effect, we have poor English competence and are anxious about making a presentation in English. So, we prepare for an oral presentation taking enough time to have a good presentation.

The above descriptions and quotes about oral presentations implied that the trainees had difficulty making presentations in English as a foreign language. As a result, they are anxious about making a presentation in English as they have a poor background in English which is their foreign language. To compensate for these weaknesses, they used to prepare much that might have burdened them.

3.2.2. Trainees’ oral presentation of self-efficacy beliefs

Oral presentation self-efficacy belief is an essential issue for effective oral delivery. For example, it might be easier to expect an effective oral presentation if one has a high level of self-efficacy beliefs.

Concerning the trainees’ general oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs, the interviewees described that they had average oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, T1 stated that he thinks his oral presentation could be better, although presenting in English is challenging and demanding. He mentioned that he considers he has average oral presentation skills. In the same vein, T2 also disclosed that he thinks he could improve his oral presentation. Besides, T4 feels he has confidence in conducting an effective oral presentation and does not have problems expressing his ideas. Moreover, T5 feels he has good oral presentation and self-efficacy beliefs. His actual oral presentations are also good because he prepares for his topic early and he carefully makes his slides.

On the same issue of concern, T3 also underlined her oral presentation of self-efficacy beliefs as follows:

I feel I have average oral presentation competence. So, I have a better oral presentation of self-efficacy belief. We needed to gain experience in making oral presentations during undergraduate studies. Besides, he stated that the culture we grew up in also discouraged us from speaking in front of people, particularly in front of elders. (T3)

Concerning their confidence in an oral presentation about time management, visual aids use and application of various presentation techniques, the interviewee stated their feeling. Most of them replied that they had confidence in managing the time given for their presentation. For instance, T5 replied as follows:

Well, time management is necessary for an oral presentation. So one has to prepare and present within the given time. I hope I am well in this regard.

On the contrary, one of the interviewees (T4) mentioned that he had difficulty managing time and used to take more than the allotted time. He stated that:

I have a problem with managing time. Most of the time, I take more than the allotted time. I have confidence in managing and presenting by looking at keywords effectively.

As to their efficacy of using visual aids and other presentation techniques in an oral presentation, most trainees disclosed that they use visual aids rarely as they are very catchy and useful in oral presentations. Besides, most interviewees revealed that they had confidence in using various presentation techniques like eye contact with audiences, using keywords instead of reading from slides and handling questions properly. For instance, T3 stated that she does not read from slides while presenting; instead, she sees them at a glance. Moreover, T2 also mentioned that he used to see slides if need be but did not read them during his presentation. In preparing slides, he uses keywords instead of congested sentences that do not attract audiences (T2). Concerning the audience’s question handling, the trainees said they thought they handled them properly. Finally, one of the interviewees (T5) has come up with an additional attribute he has been practicing in delivering an oral presentation. He stated:

I practiced and rehearsed my presentation. When I present, I carry out an effective presentation. Besides, I collect feedback on my presentation for improvement. So, I developed high confidence in conducting an oral presentation. (T5)

The other aspect of oral presentation efficacy beliefs expected of trainees during their study is having a well-structured and organized presentation. Most interviewees responded that they have been doing reasonably organized presentations, although they think they need to do more. For example, through self-assessment, T4 has been developing his oral presentation confidence from time to time. He uttered this situation as:

Making myself a judge, I sometimes evaluate the presentation I did. I attempt to improve for the next based on the self-evaluation. So, I have been doing well-organized presentations. Nevertheless, oral presentation needs hard work and preparation to develop my English language competence and oral presentation skills. In this regard, I have to do more. (T4)

On the contrary, the third interviewee (T3) remarked that she had the experience of delivering speeches at different public gatherings. The experience of having oral presentations has allowed her to develop organized and structured oral presentations. Consequently, she developed confidence in making an oral presentation and conducted well-organized and structured presentations having an introduction, body and conclusion.

In sum, it appears reasonable that the trainees had middling self-confidence in making oral presentations over their university stay.

3.3. Discussion

The results from quantitative data revealed that the trainees had favorable attitudes toward oral presentations. The interview results also disclosed that the trainees believe they like oral presentation and feel it is valuable as it enhances effective instruction as teachers. Besides, the trainees expressed that they had a positive attitude toward oral presentation and asserted that it improved their speaking and instructional delivery skills required of an effective teacher. Although a positive attitude does not necessarily guarantee the acquisition of oral presentation, effective oral presentation could enhance the trainees to explore various issues in-depth, self-autonomy, team spirit, confidence to speak before an audience and creativity (Amirian & Tavakoli, 2016; Ekmekçi, 2018; Girard et al., 2011; Munby, 2011; Tsang, 2020). Besides, effective oral communication could improve the quality of language learning (Tahaineh & Danna, 2013) teaching (Brooks & Wilson, 2014; Tsang, 2020), which, in turn, improves student achievement (Mabuan, 2017).

In congruent with the current study findings, studies found that students had positive attitudes toward oral presentation (Amelia, 2022; Ekmekçi, 2018; Gedamu, 2016; Karimkhanlooei, 2017; Magulod, 2019; Nadia, 2013; Toomnan & Intaraprasert, 2015; Wattananan & Tepsuriwong, 2015). As a consequence of a positive attitude toward oral presentation, the trainees developed their oral presentation skills (Amelia, 2022). In contrast, trainees were found to have a negative attitude toward oral presentations (Benraghda et al., 2015; Zivkovic, 2014).

Despite the positive attitudes toward oral presentation, the current study also showed that oral presentation is demanding and challenging for several reasons among which limited English proficiency is one. Studies indicated limited opportunities to practice (Aljumah, 2011; Amelia, 2022; Sawir, 2005) and limited English proficiency inhibited oral presentations (Fitriani, 2019; Fauzi & Hanifah, 2018; Panggabean & Wardhono, 2017). Besides, lack of confidence to perform a presentation in English (Juhana, 2012; Muyan & Tunaz, 2017), speaking anxiety (Joughin, 2007; Öztürk & Gürbüz, 2014) and fear of presenting their ideas to a crowd (Kheryadi & Hilmiyati, 2021) could also affect effective oral presentation.

Concerning the trainees’ self-efficacy beliefs about the oral presentation, the data obtained through the questionnaire showed the trainees felt they had high self-efficacy belief in conducting a well-organized oral presentation, followed by good delivery and language fluency appropriate for a presentation. Though there was a significant difference in the trainees’ ratings of the three dimensions of oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs, mean scores categorized by Wattananan and Tepsuriwong (2015) and Magulod (2019) indicated the dimensions and the scale mean scores fall in a high sense of self-efficacy beliefs. Congruent with this, a few studies pointed out that university students had a high level of self-efficacy belief (Demirel et al., 2020; Paradewari, 2017). However, the interview results revealed that the trainees had middling confidence in an oral presentation.

Consequently, it is not wondering if we conclude that there is a divergence between the finding obtained through the questionnaire and interviews as a result of various reasons among which poor English language competence of students, being English a foreign language, lack of sufficient practice, mastery experiences of direct past experiences of learners, proxy experiences related to a group or peer (Woolfolk et al., 2003), performance feedback of social persuasion (Woolfolk et al., 2003), and peoples emotional states (Gallagher-Brett & Broady, 2012) might be some. Studies suggested classroom presentation practices could steadily enhance the presentation and high self-efficacy beliefs over the students’ stay studying in higher education (Demirel et al., 2020; Paradewari, 2017; Tucker & McCarthy, 2001). Moreover, self-efficacy could change through time, context, prior experiences and verbal encouragement (Amirian & Tavakoli, 2016).

The third objective of the current study was to examine the association between TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation. The result displayed a positive and significant moderate correlation between the two variables implying that the more the trainees held favorable attitudes toward oral presentation, the better they developed their self-efficacy beliefs toward oral presentation or vice-versa. Although attitudes and self-efficacy are crucial predictors of human behaviors to perform oral presentations for a crowd (Ajzen, 2007; Eagly & Chaiken, 2007; MacFarlane & Woolfson, 2013), there is a scarcity of studies on this issue as far as the current study researchers are concerned. For example, different from the present study, a single work by Dwyer and Fus (2002) showed an inverse association between self-efficacy for speaking in public and communicative attitudes. The result implies that studies on the association between the two variables still require further investigation.

4. Conclusions and recommendations

This section introduces the conclusions and recommendations of the study. Besides, it highlights the limitations of the study.

4.1. Conclusions

Since oral presentation has been in place as an integral part of curricula in university education, the trainees may get the opportunity to acquire the presentation skills required for successful real-life jobs. Hence, attitude and self-efficacy beliefs are crucial for the development of oral presentation skills of the trainees, particularly in English as a foreign language context.

The TEFL trainees had highly favorable attitudes toward oral presentation despite the demanding and baffling nature of oral presentation in English as a foreign language. Thus, there is fertile ground to improve the trainees’ verbal presentation skills required of proficient English language teachers. Besides, the questionnaire result indicated the trainees had high self-efficacy beliefs, while the interview revealed that the trainees had middling confidence in an oral presentation.

Besides, the study found a positive and significant moderate correlation between TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation. In other words, the more the trainees held favorable attitudes toward oral presentation, the better their self-efficacy beliefs toward oral presentation or vice-versa. Therefore, the trainees have a favorable psychological readiness to acquire verbal presentation skills.

4.2. Recommendations

The TEFL trainees had highly favorable attitudes toward oral presentation. We suggest EFL teacher educators encourage and provide their trainees with valuable oral presentation tasks to enhance the development of oral presentation skills required of the trainees. Besides, we recommend that EFL curriculum designers and teacher educators select oral presentation tasks that attract the trainees’ attitudes.

Moreover, the TEFL trainees had middling and developing oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs in English as a foreign language. Since affective factors and sources of self-efficacy could affect trainees’ oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs, EFL teacher educators should train their trainees to manage and control them. Furthermore, contextual factors like familiarity with the topic or not, the size of the audience and the preparation time could affect trainees’ oral presentation self-efficacy beliefs. Thus, EFL teacher educators should be conscious of these contextual factors in designing and giving tasks for oral presentations. On top of this, the study concluded that the trainees have a conducive psychological readiness to acquire verbal presentation skills. In addition, EFL teacher educators must consider the trainees’ attitudes toward oral presentation and align the selection and design of tasks for oral presentation with the trainees’ attitudes.

This study is specific to TEFL trainees’ attitudes to and self-efficacy beliefs of the oral presentation at only four universities taking a small sample. Further studies need to be conducted on a larger sample size at various levels of education and disciplines for generalization. Moreover, future studies on a similar issue should consider whether the trainees’ gender, levels of education, teaching experiences and fields of study could bring variations in the results of this study. Furthermore, this study is a cross-sectional one. Hence, we suggest a longitudinal study to see if attitude to and self-efficacy beliefs of oral presentation could change through time since both variables are fluid instead of static.

Acknowledgements

We want to acknowledge Arba Minch University for funding this study. We also extend our gratitude to the head of the research coordination office at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) for his direct facilitation of research funds and timely responses to any query we had. We also thank TEFL trainees for providing us with the data for the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abate Demissie Gedamu

Abate Demissie Gedamu has received his M.A and Ph.D. in TEFL from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He has taught English at various levels and institutions for more than 25 years. Currently, he has been teaching and supervising M.A students and PhD candidates who are conducting their theses/dissertation at Arba Minch University. Besides, he has numerous publications on reputable journals. He has keen in conducting research related to language teaching, assessment, feedback, thesis supervision, ICT in education, etc.

Tesfaye Habtemariam Gezahegn

Tesfaye Habtemariam Gezahegn obtained his M. Ed. from the affiliated College of St. Mark and St. John, Exeter University, UK, and his PhD in TEFL from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is an Associate Professor in TEFL at Arba Minch University. He has also been supervising M.A and Ph.D. students in TEFL and conducting studies on diverse topics in ELT and ICT in education for more than 22 years.