Reflecting on Oral Communication: Strategies, Strengths, Next Steps and Connected Skills

Thinking about your own thinking and learning: noticing what you did, what worked and what to change.

It's vague and can't be checked. A strong goal is specific: "Rehearse twice aloud with a timer and pause instead of saying 'um.'"

Any three: a recording, teacher or peer feedback, a rubric or checklist, audience reactions, a mark, notes from a communication log.

Sample: before: set a purpose and goal, or predict the structure; during: Cornell notes, re-entry strategies; after: summarize, write cue questions, compare notes.

The thesis becomes your main message and the outline becomes your structure, so the talk is organized and coherent.

Watching and analysing skilled speakers, news and videos shows you presentation strategies and delivery techniques to borrow or avoid.

Sample: "In my next seminar, I'll paraphrase at least one classmate before adding my own point, and tally it in my log."

Plan, listen or speak, gather evidence, reflect, set a new goal.

Showing ideas visually, with diagrams, charts, images or video.

False. It names strengths too, with evidence, and specific next steps.

How do I know? (What's the evidence?)

Any: a vivid opening, suspense, dialogue, a turning point, specific detail, timing.

Look for: a named strategy (e.g. I paraphrased before responding), evidence (my classmate said I'd understood her point exactly), and a specific next step (next time I'll ask one follow-up question).

Identify what specifically is hard (e.g. starting, looking up, speed) with evidence from a recording; choose one strategy for that (memorize the first two sentences; keyword notes; deliberate pauses); practise in a low-stakes setting first (with family, then a small group); reflect after each try and adjust.

Revising teaches you to cut what isn't needed, reorder ideas for clarity, and replace vague words. The same moves make a speech shorter, clearer and better organized.

Making an infographic practises choosing the key message, displaying data clearly, labelling, and using space and contrast, which are the same skills needed for effective slides.

Differences show where your self-perception doesn't match how others experience your speaking, which points to blind spots and makes your goals more accurate.

Look for: specific strategies before, during and after; which helped most and why, with evidence; a strength and an area for improvement with evidence; one or two specific, checkable steps; and an explanation of how a reading, writing, viewing or representing skill helped.

A checkable goal tells you exactly what to do and lets you see whether you did it, so you get feedback and can adjust. General goals (be better) give no direction and no way to measure progress, so they're easy to forget.

Sample listening items: I set a goal before listening to classmates' presentations; I took notes on main ideas; I asked a follow-up question. Speaking items: I previewed and signposted my points; I paused before key points; I introduced and explained each visual aid. Items should be specific and observable.