Communicate to Captivate: Integrating Discourse Competence Elements in ESL Academic Presentations

Abstract

This ethnographic single-case study examines the manifestations of discourse competence among 15 ESL learners during oral essay map presentations in a blended English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program at a Malaysian public university. This case study aims to illuminate how aspects of discourse competence are demonstrated and integrated within a specific blended learning environment within a defined setting and a limited group of participants. Applying template analysis on observational and semi-structured interview data from fifteen participants, and grounded in Januin and Stephen's (2015) framework, the study delineates five fundamental components: public speaking proficiency (including paralinguistic strategies and question-handling effectiveness), adaptation of written organizational structures to oral formats, interactive and interactional metadiscourse (comprising transitions, frame markers, boosters, and stance markers), metalinguistic awareness (through public speaking and essay-specific terminology), and technological integration (employing audio-visual aids such as Canva and Prezi).
The analysis clarifies how students strategically organise these components to create textual coherence, cohesion, and audience engagement, thereby enhancing existing models by integrating multimodal digital literacies as essential aspects of discourse competence. Examples of this type of language include interactive metadiscourse, which helps things move forward (such as "however" and "first"), and interactional markers that convey someone's feelings about something (like "You will look good too"). Audio-visual aids served as navigational "road signs," reducing confusion and demonstrating the rhetorical effectiveness of technology.
These empirical findings align with fundamental paradigms of communicative competence (Hymes, 1972; Celce-Murcia et al., 1995), highlighting the advancement of discourse competence in technology-mediated educational environments. The results support the need for a clear EAP curriculum that systematically incorporates these skills to enhance persuasive academic communication, particularly for non-native speakers learning to utilise various types of media. Additionally, the pedagogical frameworks utilised in blended learning contexts introduce further complexities, necessitating a re-evaluation of traditional methods to improve academic discourse competence among these varied student populations (Januin & McLellan, 2016; Januin et al., 2023).