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We report the development of preservice teachers’ oral presentation performance based on a technology-mediated video reflection system. Participants video-recorded oral presentations and uploaded them to an online blog to view and reflect on their performance and that of their peers. Four presentations by forty-one participants were analysed using a range of criteria based on what we call the Modes of Communication (voice, body-language, words and alignment between them) and the Constructed Impression of the communication acts (confidence, clarity, engagement and appropriateness). Results indicate a significant improvement across all criteria with a decreased rate of improvement for later iterations. The recent Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) document, the Professional Standards for Teachers, specifies that graduate teachers should possess “a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement” (see Focus Area 3.5 of the National Professional Standards for Teachers, AITSL, 2011). One aspect of communication competence for teaching is oral presentation performance such as classroom instruction and explaining a topic as opposed to written communication, parent communication, or personal communication with students. This study set out to investigate the development of preservice teachers’ oral presentation capabilities by examining the impact of a series of video-based reflection activities over time. Improving Communication Competence for Teaching Teacher effectiveness is intrinsically linked to their communication competence (Worley, Titsworth, Worley, & Cornett-DeVito, 2007). Principals and accreditation authorities consider communication competence when evaluating teachers and developing preservice teachers' communication competence can help them deal more effectively with student diversity (Simonds, Lippert, Hunt, Angell, & Moore, 2008). Effective communication has also been linked to improved student learning outcomes such as positive attitudes, higher levels of motivation, achievement, and perceptions of control (Chesebro & McCroskey, 2001). Examining how to enhance the communication performance of preservice teachers has been identified as an important pursuit (Özmen, 2010). Preservice teachers often lack the insight necessary to analyse their communication acts more deeply (Hunt, Simonds, & Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol 39. 6. June 2014 2 Cooper, 2002) because they are often more concerned with noticing their own communication acts than considering their impact on students. Self-reflection is crucial in assisting preservice teachers to become more sensitive to their communication actions; in doing so novices learn to interpret and critically analyse their performance and consider how it might be improved (Sherin, 2004). Such explicit noticing is crucial in changing practice because unless teachers notice they are unable to make choices about acting differently (Mason, 2002). Reflective tasks thus afford preservice teachers opportunities to evaluate their performance in a variety of settings, including simulations of realistic teacher activities (McCaleb, 1984). One approach to developing insight into communication actions is through the use of video. A study of 26 science teachers who viewed video of themselves and their colleagues to improve their practice identified that watching the video enabled teachers to engage in critical reflection (Zhang, Ludenberg, Koehler & Eberhardt, 2011). As they observed themselves ‘from a distance’, teachers could analyse their performance from different perspectives, such as that of the students, and identify aspects of their practice that might normally go unnoticed. Also, video afforded closer inspection of the performance of colleagues; teachers could discover new approaches or strategies, and more objectively compare their own teaching to others. Video recordings can also be viewed multiple times, which “affords the luxury of time” (Sherin, 2004, p.13) so that precise observations and finegrained analysis of practice are possible. Video therefore allows for more detailed analysis and commentary on performance (Borko, 2004). A range of online video based approaches have been used to develop teachers’ presentation capabilities. For instance Miyata (2002) developed an online system that enables students to upload videos of their practical teaching at regular intervals in order to track and reflect upon their progress over time. Yamashita and Nakajima (2010) have trialled an ICTbased system that allows classes of students to post real-time assessment of their peers’ presentations using student response technology as well as more reflective feedback on discussion boards. However, neither of these studies consider technology-mediated video reflection over time so they do not demonstrate how multiple opportunities to practise and review presentations might impact teachers’ presentation performance. Video is also being increasingly used with preservice teachers (Wang & Hartley, 2003) because it has the potential to focus attention on particular features of practice (Star & Strickland, 2008). However, previous video-based studies of communication performance have not examined a broad range of competencies, nor have they considered how the components of presentation performance develop over time as a result of successive iterations. The present study seeks to address these gaps in the literature and the limitations in previous research by examining how a process of online video-reflection enabled preservice teachers to develop various components of their presentation performance over time. Students recorded videos of their presentations and iteratively reflected on their attempts throughout an academic year. Previously (Author, 2011), we discussed how this process of viewing and reflecting on presentations improved the preservice teachers’ understanding of communication concepts and their communication competence. The analysis presented in this paper examines how communication performance and its various components developed over time. Features of Communication Competence for Teaching A teacher’s repertoire of communicative competence includes a range of elements, Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol 39. 6. June 2014 3 such as listening, presentation skills, voice projection, body-language and gesture. Effective teaching is dependent upon appropriate nonverbal communication (McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey, 2006) since what teachers “do nonverbally constitutes a continuous stream of messages which impact on the meanings which are stimulated in students’ minds” (McCroskey, Valencic, & Richmond, 2004, p. 199). Body-language and gesture have been the focus of research studies, in particular, in their role in the teaching of Mathematics and Languages (Alibali & Nathan 2007; Lazaraton, 2004). An analysis of speech and bodylanguage in an English as a second language classroom found that gestures and other forms of nonverbal behaviour enhance classroom-based second language acquisition (Lazaraton, 2004). Richland (2008) questions whether gestures are tied to the speaker’s knowledge of the representations and relations they describe, or to pedagogical and /or cultural norms of communication. Whether or not these are attributable to cultural or pedagogical derived gesture routines, it has been suggested that they are under teacher control, and therefore can be developed to improve teacher communication effectiveness (Richland, 2008). Visual cues such as body-language can play a dominant role in conveying emotional meaning (Goodboy & Myers, 2008), though auditory cues can dominate for specific emotions. However, both vocal and visual cues have been shown to contribute to the credibility of the communicator (Goodboy, Martin, & Bolkan, 2009). Vocal qualities or vocalics such as the rate at which a teacher speaks, variability in tone and pitch, volume, are also important characteristics of classroom communication. Vocalics enhance teacher clarity (McCroskey, et al., 2006) and influence student perceptions of their teachers (Hinkle, 2001), which may explain why vocalics have been linked to students’ preferences for one teacher over another (Frisby & Martin, 2010). Effective teachers also use a greater variety of patterns of speech (Oliviera, 2010). The alignment between different communicative modes can influence the way communication acts are perceived. Vocalics can provide cues to listeners that may enhance, diminish, or even conflict with other verbal and nonverbal messages. However, when verbal and nonverbal cues are incongruent, individuals often accord greater credence to nonverbal over verbal cues (Burgoon, Birk, & Pfau, 1990). Teachers’ communicative behaviours are crucial in fostering positive teacher-student relationships and hence in student learning (Campbell, Kyriakides, Muijs, & Robinson, 2004). Students prefer teachers who appear confident and self-assured rather than quiet and apprehensive. Confident teachers are more willing to communicate and have a greater impact on student engagement and learning (McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey, 2002). Clarity is the extent to which a teacher can effectively communicate information and ideas for students through the use of appropriate verbal and nonverbal actions (Comadena, Hunt, & Simonds, 2007). Clear teachers speak fluently, remain on message, and can explain information in an effective manner (Chesebro & McCroskey, 2001). Teacher clarity has also been associated with student achievement and positive student-teacher relationships (Goodboy & Myers, 2008). Teachers who use appropriate eye contact, gesturing and moving around the classroom, smiling, voice modulation, and humour have been found to be highly effective in engaging students (Hsu, 2010). Previously, such behaviours were described as "teacher enthusiasm" or "teacher expressiveness" (Abr

The Effect Over Time of a Video-Based Reflection System on Preservice Teachers’ Oral Presentations