Evaluating Public Speaking Cues and Persuasiveness through Video Reviews: A Pedagogical Scaffold for ESL Learners

Abstract

While traditional ESL classrooms often focus heavily on grammar and vocabulary rules, real-world communication demands much more than technical accuracy. To bridge this gap, this qualitative study investigated how analyzing public speaking videos can serve as an engaging, hands-on learning tool to help ESL students develop their public speaking and persuasion skills. A total of eight respondents who enrolled in an English for Informative Speeches course were assigned to watch and review different public speaking presentations. Then, the respondents were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to obtain their feedbacks from the reviews. Through thematic analysis, three major themes emerged, namely: (1) overall delivery of the speaker; (2) speakers’ power and persuasiveness; and (3) real world application of public speaking strategies. The findings of the study suggest that video review serves as an effective learning scaffold that helps ESL learners realize how the integration of verbal and non-verbal cues can build speakers’ credibility and maintain audiences’ engagement. The findings of this study also helped to provide insight on suggesting the meaningful approachable strategies that can be used and applied in real world public speaking. Ultimately, the study shows that using video reviews as a learning scaffold helps students move beyond passive watching to actively mastering the tools of persuasive, real-world communication. Keywords: Public Speaking,Video Reviews, Persuasive Communication, Verbal and Non-Verbal Cues