Which one to choose: self-recorded, oral, or poster presentations?

There is a need for students particularly those from Hong Kong to be proficient in spoken English due to its service-oriented economic activities (Hill & Storey, 2003). Consequently, not only English teachers but also faculty members have realised the importance of developing students’ oral communication skills. An example from the latter is to systematically embed presentations into the faculty accounting programmes (Kerby & Romine, 2009). To further motivate students, oral skills are also assessed. The problem then is which form and tool of the oral presentation should be adopted for achieving desired outcomes. This paper presents two cases in which disciplinary teachers from a nursing subject in service learning and an engineering programme in database system approach the speaking assessment rather differently. Specifically, it explores the rationale behind the chosen assessment and its format with respect to program objectives, and students as well as faculty members’ opinions towards the language weighting and the assessment rubrics.