Gaze-Point Analysis of EFL Learners while Watching English Presentations: Toward Effective Teaching

Abstract

Various studies point out the importance of eye contact for effective presentations. This research aims to cross-analyze the number of times presenters made eye contact with the gaze points of the audience during two English presentations to obtain useful information for teaching and learning English presentations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Although there are many studies on presenters’ eye contact and subjective evaluation by audience, only a few include an objective analysis of audience behaviors. This research used an eye-tracking system to analyze the gaze points of 16 participants (audience) watching two English presentations. After recording the gaze points, the heat maps and time-series graphs of the gaze points were extracted. The results show that the audience tend to stop watching a presenter who makes little eye contact in the first 26 seconds of the presentation. These results are expected to provide resource for EFL teachers to develop more detailed instructions and materials on delivery skills.