TED talks as resources for the development of listening, speaking and interaction skills in teaching EFL to university students

Abstract

The article presents a study conducted on 27 university students and 5 of their teachers in the Winter semester 2020/21. The study was conducted because of recommended online teaching at Polish universities and almost four decades after the first TED event, when the TED community has become worldwide and the recordings of the events can be accessed online cost-free by anybody. The popularity of TEDs and the need to teach online prompted the author to incorporate it in teaching practice and review research literature from the areas of SLA (Second Language Acquisition), EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching and learning, socio-constructivism and adult learning. Based on this review, a hypothesis was formulated: TED talks support the development of listening, speaking, and interaction skills when used as a supplementary resource in teaching English as a foreign language to university students. Three supplementary questions were formed to test the hypothesis. Data was obtained in an online questionnaire and analysed using the qualitative data analysis framework of Miles and Huberman (1994). The study confirmed the hypothesis. Lessons with TEDs are valued as varied, interesting, inspiring and supporting oral communication skills’ development. Results are discussed, conclusions drawn and further research explored.