The Impact of Open Discussion Sessions on Enhancing the Oral Communicative Abilities of Saudi English Language Majors at Buraydah Community College

Ayman Daif-Allah and Mohammad Khan

English Language Teaching, 2016, vol. 9, issue 6, 108

Abstract: The importance of developing the communicative needs of English language majors has been found a fundamental concern of Buraydah Community college in Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study has been to identify English language speaking skill needs of English language majors and investigate the impact of using Open Discussion Sessions, as extracurricular speaking activities, on developing students’ oral communicative abilities. Thirty-five students and eleven English language teachers participated in the study. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively by means of survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and pre-post speaking test. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in analyzing the raw data collected. The results of the study exposed a perceived need for developing Saudi EFL students’ speaking skill in English as their oral communicative abilities dramatically increased for their needs and interests were clearly identified and the methods for fulfilling those needs were more innovative. Post-test speaking results revealed significant development in students’ speaking abilities due to the use of Open Discussion Sessions that provided a relaxed learning environment void of worry and enhanced learners’ self-confidence through active involvement with real communicative situations with other students as well as with the instructors. Finally this study provided a framework with techniques and procedures that helped teachers to teach speaking skill more efficiently. Suggestions focused on incorporating Social Network Sites and visual cues to enhance students’ interactivity and participation outside the college borders.

Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/download/59581/31945 (application/pdf)
https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/view/59581 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:9:y:2016:i:6:p:108

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in English Language Teaching from Canadian Center of Science and Education Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Canadian Center of Science and Education ().