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Academic Communication for Advanced Secondary Schools Participating in oral presentations

Participating in a debate

To participate in a debate requires one to master some skills and techniques that will
make ones participation impactful. The following are some helpful techniques:

1. Recognise your audience when deciding on the language to use. Make the language
simple and clear to make the audience understand. Avoid jargon or complex
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terminologies that may confuse your audience. Use examples from real life situations
to make your arguments more relatable and understandable.
2. Focus to a single idea for maintaining respect throughout the debate. Focusing on
a single idea, presenting logical arguments and providing supporting evidence can
effectively persuade others of the validity of your position.
3. Project confidence through your body language, tone of voice and facial expressions.
Maintain good eye contact with the audience and speak with conviction.

4. Structure your speech by arguing around your claim. Make sure you emphasise the
main points when you talk to defend your arguments with conviction without the
fear of criticism.

5. Incorporate research for giving evidence and examples. The more knowledgeable
you are about a subject, the better you can engage in a debate.

6. Anticipate opposing claims so that you can prepare statements to defeat them.
7. Be an active listener so that you can address your arguments’ weaknesses.
8. Employ analogies, metaphors or rhetorical questions to make your arguments more
persuasive and memorable. When these figures of speech are used appropriately,
they can draw the listener’s attention to the key points.

Procedures for conducting a debate

To get the intended information through debates, organise the activities in a way that
can invite participants to debate effectively. You can do this through considering some
procedures for debating. It is important to note that when you prepare a debate session,
set the procedures following the context and topic.

The following are some procedures for conducting debates:

(a) Choose a topic for the debate
When selecting a topic, consider the goals of the debate, the learner’s age, and their
language ability.
(b) Create teams
Ensure that two groups are supporting and opposing the topic, respectively. Each
group must be equal in representation.

(c) Research on the debate theme
Use authentic sources to collect information related to the debate topic and analyse
the information critically before the discussion.

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