English for International Conference Communication1

I’m afraid that our different views on the point may come from the different angles from which we’re looking at the problem. My idea is mainly out of the theoretical considerations, specifically, on the basis of the following three aspects: the first point is…



If you were to do it all over again, what changes would you make? Are there any closing comments you would like to make? (Mention how much you have learned through the research and show your thanks to each committee member).
Questions raised due to other reasons
Answers to questions of disagreement

Well, judging from your question, I can see that your understanding of my viewpoints seems to be somewhat different from my original intention. That awkwardness was due to the so short time that I couldn't put it clearly. Here I’d like to explain it briefly. My original intention is…
English for International Conference Communication
Asking and answering questions
Features of question-raisers


Insiders in the field Familiarity with the presentation content Intention of fault-finding
Three steps to answer this kind of question
ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ

Repetition of the question Answer the question: to offer the information or explanation called for Reassurance: to see if further explanation is needed Is that clear to you? Am I making myself clear? Did I make everything clear?
Nature of questions

Extensiveness Unpredictability Timeliness
Purposes of questions



Questions for clarifying problems Questions for showing special interest Questions for raising different opinions Questions for information-hunting Rebuking Questions


Please discuss how your findings fit or don’t fit with your theoretical framework. What recommendations and implications are there for practitioners in your discipline?
Answers to ordinary questions


Question: I don’t quite understand what you really mean by saying …. Can you explain it again? Answer: To answer your question, I’d like to repeat the third point of what I said just now. well, I was saying…


What did you learn from this project? How would you interpret these findings in light of the _______ Theory? In other words, be able to interpret your findings based on any of the authors that you mentioned in your Literature Review.
Questions for raising different opinions

Perhaps we’re looking at the problem from different viewpoints. To the best of my knowledge, what you say seems to be theoretically unclear in… For example, … Could you give us further explanation on that aspect.


What recommendations do you have for future research? What specific aspects of your findings can be utilized by … in their practice? What is the most important contribution of your thesis? Can you say it in one or two sentences?

I’m very interested in hearing your presentation on the positive analysis of efficient market hypothesis. But to the best of my knowledge, your viewpoint that …seems to be unreasonable. I’m afraid that …. (audience’s opinion) Could you give us further explanation on that aspect?
Questions for information-hunting
Examples

Question: As you mentioned in your talk, you’re making the experiments on… I’m not specialized in the subject, but I’m sure it will involve a rather complicated technological process. Would you mind telling us more about that?
Questions for showing special interest
Examples

I’m very much interested in hearing your presentation today since the work we are going to start has some connections with yours. Now, would you please say a few more words about the …? Particularly at its preliminary stage?
common questions

What are the methodological limitations in this study and how would you correct them given unlimited time and money? What did you like best and least about this study?

Questions for clarifying problems
Examples


I don’t quite understand what you really mean by saying “…”. Can you explain it again? I would like to ask you a question, or rather, make a request. Is it possible for you to show me again your last slide?.

(a question raised to offer the specimen) I’m very glad that you’re interested in our specimen. In your question you were saying about … which, to my understanding, may mean the specific properties of the specimen. To that, I’m afraid, it’s hard to tell within the short space of time now. But I have brought with me some relevant printed materials and I’d like to have a talk with you after the session, if you’re interested. What do you think of that?
Answers to information-hunting questions

As I said in my speech, we haven’t yet finalized the results of the entire experiment because some of the technical indexes to be measured are still under way. So I’m afraid it’s a bit difficult for me to present any more quantitative information at the moment. But I can tell you the framework of the experiment if you are interested, and I would like to inform you of the final results as soon as the experiment is finished. And I also hope to communicate with you in exchanging this kind of information in the years to come…