INVESTIGATING REDUCTION STRATEGIES IN EFL STUDENTS' SCIENTIFIC ORAL PERFORMANCE
Keywords:
communication strategies, reduction strategies, English for Specific Purposes, scientific oral presentationAbstract
This study aims to investigate the reduction strategies used by Biology Education students during scientific oral presentations in English. It used a qualitative case study approach and included six undergraduate students majoring in Biology Education who were taking an ESP course. Data was gathered by recording oral presentations on video, using the written transcripts of those presentations, and looking at the students' reflective responses. The data were looked at using Faerch and Kasper's (1983) framework, which looks at communication strategies, especially formal reduction and functional reduction strategies. The results show that students used both kinds of reduction strategies to deal with language difficulties while still keeping their speech fluent. Formal reduction showed up as simpler grammar and avoiding hard-to-understand language, while functional reduction meant focusing on basic communication by leaving out detailed explanations or using easier words instead of specialized terms. Of the two methods, functional reduction was the main approach used, allowing students to express scientific ideas more clearly without needing to switch between languages. The study shows that it's important to understand students' ability to communicate and to include strategic skills in teaching English for specific purposes, especially when it comes to speaking, so that learners can better handle scientific communication in academic and professional settings.
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