Towards The Use of Backchannel Signals during Classroom Oral Presentations: Speakers’ Perspective

Abstract

Classroom oral presentations are crucial across many higher education courses. They also play a key role in developing communication skills and preparing students for future careers. Although oral presentations have long been recognised as important for communication development and are widely integrated into curricula, much existing research has mainly focused on delivery techniques, assessment methods, and presentation design. Conversely, comparatively little attention has been given to the role of the audience, especially the impact of verbal and non-verbal feedback signals on presenters. This paper addresses this gap by exploring how undergraduate students perceive audience backchannel signals - such as verbal cues (e.g., “aha,” “no,” “yeah”) and non-verbal reactions (e.g., eye contact, nodding, shaking the head, smiling) - and how these influence their levels of nervousness, self-confidence, and delivery performance during classroom oral presentations. The novelty of this study lies in its speaker-centred perspective. While previous research has largely viewed the audience as passive recipients of information, this research emphasises the audience as active participants in shaping the speaker’s psychological state and performance. Understanding this dynamic is especially important in higher education, where anxiety around public speaking often hampers learning outcomes. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods (Creswell, 2012). Data were collected through an online questionnaire created in Google Forms and distributed among first-, second-, and fourth-year undergraduate students of the Department of English Philology at the Faculty of Humanities, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. One hundred twenty-seven valid responses were received, ensuring representation across different academic years. The questionnaire included closed and open-ended items, allowing for statistical analysis of trends and a deeper understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions. The data were systematically analysed to identify patterns of anxiety, common triggers, and the role of audience reactions in either exacerbating or alleviating stress. Findings show that most students experience notable nervousness when delivering oral presentations, with the fear of negative evaluation being among the strongest causes of anxiety. However, the data also indicate that positive audience feedback - whether through reassuring verbal cues or encouraging non-verbal behaviours - plays a crucial role in boosting confidence, reducing stress, and improving delivery effectiveness. These results suggest that oral presentations should be viewed as co-constructed communicative events, where the audience’s active role is acknowledged and emphasised. This study highlights the importance of training both presenters and audiences in effective communication practices, fostering more supportive classroom dynamics, and incorporating feedback awareness strategies into academic presentation training.