Authors
Patrick van Delft
Centre for Languages and Academic Skills, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1376-9526
Martijn Wackers
Centre for Languages and Academic Skills, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9228-5463
Synopsis
Oral presentation is an important professional communication skill for engineering students, both in educational settings and in future engineering practice. This chapter approaches oral presentations as rhetorical, situational communicative events. It first defines the skill and its main characteristics by drawing on classical and modern rhetoric. It then explains why oral presentation matters in engineering education, particularly as a learning and assessment activity. The final sections translate these insights into educational design principles, discussing how presentation skills can be taught, practised, assessed, and scaffolded across an engineering curriculum.
Author Biographies
Patrick van Delft, Centre for Languages and Academic Skills, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
van Delft, Patrick (0009-0005-1376-9526) is a Lecturer in Communication Skills at the Centre for Languages and Academic Skills at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. His research interests include argumentation theory and rhetoric. He co-developed TU Present, Delft University of Technology’s online learning environment for presentation skills.
Martijn Wackers, Centre for Languages and Academic Skills, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Wackers, Martijn (0009-0002-9228-5463) is a coordinator and Lecturer in Communication Skills at the Centre for Languages and Academic Skills of Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He obtained his PhD degree in rhetoric at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and serves as a board member of the Rhetoric Society of Europe (RSE).
Published
August 26, 2026
Copyright (c) 2026 Gillian Saunders-Smits, Lynn Van den Broeck, Thies Johannsen
How to Cite
van Delft, P., & Wackers, M. (2026). Oral Presentation. In
SEFI Handbook on Teaching Transferable Competencies and Skills in Engineering (pp. 203-220). TU Delft OPEN Books.
https://doi.org/10.59490/mt.266.63
