1. Introduction
　　 EFL university students are often intimidated by academic speaking tasks, including both formal presentation and participation in large or small group class discussion (Han, 2007). In reality EFL students not only need to adapt themselves to taking the challenges of their second language literacy learning, but also need to own the oral and aural ability to achieve academic success. Flowerdew and Miller (1995) note that compared with their academic literacy skills, the second language lecture comprehension and speaking have been largely neglected for most of the EFL learners. High level speaking and listening language skills are needed to participate in these occasions for graduated students. However, presenting academic paper in L2 and attending English-running seminars and international conferences are becoming increasingly important for graduate students. Speaking and listening skills have blocked students’ expression and motivation to achieve their academic goals (Han, 2007).
　　2. Research Background
　　Academic presentation means that a speaker presents a talk to the audience with content loading. It will involve much rather than talking only. Further, the seminar presentation does not simply stand and talk to an extended time to silent, collective audience; instead, it should be ongoing interacted with the audience (Short, 2006). ELS university students are often lack of skills to academic speaking, including both formal presentation and participation in group discussion (Han, 2007). In Asian countries high education has increased gradually to an interactive discussion format (Lucas & Murray, 2002; Mason, 1994; Meyers & Jones, 1993). For instance, Flowerdew and Miller (1995) indicated the issues surrounding the comprehension of academic lectures by L2 learners. Description of academic lectures, listening comprehension processes and L2 students’ difficulties and strategies for understanding L2 have also been illustrated (e.g., Benson, 1989; Chaudron, 1995; Flowerdew, 1995; Olsen & Huckin, 1990; Strodt-Lopez, 1991). Research has found that many ESL / EFL students' academic listening and speaking skills in English are not strong enough to cope with their academic study, in particular, understanding English lectures and expressing their views in English (Banerjee, 2001; Bamford, 2002). Academic listening tasks pose formidable challenges for L2 students, even those highly proficient in English. Mason (1995, cited in Ferris & Tagg, 1996) claims that even for the students with TOEFL scores high (550-600) enough for admission to most US universities, programs may not be linguistically proficient enough for the academic listening and speaking tasks confronting them. Flowerdew and Miller (1995) note that academic listening has its own distinct characteristics and demands put upon listeners, as it compared with conversational listening.
　3. Method
　　3.1 Participants
　　The seven graduate biomedical students who have enrolled in a seminar course in the first trimester of the study year 2010 were as the informants and people to be observed. Among them two are the first year PhD students, and the other five are M.M.S. students. Two are first-year postgraduates and three are second-year ones. This seminar is a joint program by School of Biotechnology and School of Medicine. Instructors from the two schools will present each time.
　　3.2 Course overview
　　This seminar course is compulsive for graduate students. The size of the seminar is flexible, depending on the students’ enrollment for each trimester. The graduate students and the instructors have to speak English in class so as to improve their English proficiency and to enhance their comprehension of academic research articles. The seminar provides chance for the students to improve their English language and academic ability, and helps them get closer more quickly to the frontier researches in their own academic field.
　　The instructors act as the facilitator who may pose provocative questions to the speaker so as to stimulate the discussion about the content as the source of the presentation. For the students, they give a presentation and answer the questions posed by the audience. The students can answer the questions in Thai so that they can express more and give detailed explanations. Otherwise, most of them will feel it hard to express clear and intact ideas because of their lower English speaking proficiency.
　　3.3 Data collection and data analysis
　　The seminar course was observed by the researcher four times in order to get the information for each informant in particular, because two students would be assigned to give a presentation each time, and the seven students would finish one round within four times. The observer will do some preparations prior to the classroom observation: e.g. to get permission from the instructors, communicate with them about the observational aim, and ask the instructor if there was anything to pay attention to. Besides, permission should also be got to video-tape each section and each person in class. I took pictures and video-taped the class. But I did not record some questions and answers, because the speakers’ reaction to these questions was similar in their contents and nonverbal actions. I took careful notes of each speaker and wrote down what was happening in the classroom including all the audiences’ and the instructors’ actions and facial expressions, for example, the speakers’ pronunciation, their fluency and correctness, the reaction from the audience, and the speakers’ reaction to the posed questions. The aim of the classroom observation was to collect data so that the real happening in the class, the speakers’ difficulties in carrying out a presentation and in handling questions and answers, and their nonverbal actions can be observed and explored. (责任编辑：南粤论文中心)转贴于南粤论文中心: http://www.nylw.net(代写代发论文_毕业论文带写_广州职称论文代发_广州论文网）