Thursday 20 November 2008

Interrupting: Useful tips

As a research student/candidate, either like it or not, someday there will a day for us to present our research project.

Here, I would like to share some useful tips on how to participate in presentation (as presenter or audience). I've used a few of this tips for my own research seminar/presentation last 2 weeks and believe me, it helps me a lot (in order in smoothing the Q&A session and improve my pronunciation).

WHEN to interrupt

There is no right or wrong time to interrupt. However, in English speaking cultures, unless the discussion is very formal, then interrupting is not normally seen as impolite. In fact, not interrupting can often be taken as a signal that the listener is disinterested in the topic. Even in a very formal debate, there will be parts of it when interrupting is the norm.

From a linguistic point of view, there are several places in the turn where interruption can normally be made without breaking conventions:

- at the end of a sentence, but not between points 1 and 2
- in a long silence, if the speaker seems to have dried up
- when intonation falls, but not in the middle of a point

HOW to interrupt

Look at the following which are potential signals in a conversation that someone is interrupting:

- er...
- yeh, but...
- sorry, but...
- good point, but...
- can i add here that...
- can i ask a question?
- can i add something?
- may i ask something?
- i'd like to say that...
- can i say something here?
- i'd like to comment on that
- if i could just come in here...
- excuse me for interrupting, but...
- i'd like to say something, if i may...

HOW to avoid interruption



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