The Practices and challenges of Teaching Oral Skills: A Study of Secondary Schools in East Wollaga Zone, Ethiopia

The ability to communicate appropriately, effectively and persuasively to a diverse audience is a mandated learning outcome for all Australian law students. Communication skills include both written and oral skills. This article examines and evaluates a project aimed at reconceptualising and, thereby, expanding the learning and teaching of oral communication skills in law through the digital presentation of a hypothetical problem using Second Life.

Thorough academic studies and pressing needs to meet professional demands in Brazil were the driving force guiding this work, which catered to map out non-native English teachers regarding to their oral skills. The research, within the context studied, identified the profile of practitioner's (oral skills) teaching primary and secondary levels, within the public and private sectors and an educational cooperative language school, Cooplem Idiomas, in the capital of Brazil. We aimed to find out whether or not the target language (English) circulated in the classrooms observed between 2014 and 2016, and analyzed how the recruitment and selection process worked to identify the teaching oral skills of the non-native English language teachers. The results of the observations pointed out that the same teacher taught in the target language in one educational sector, but taught the target language in the mother tongue (Portuguese) in another sector. It was, also, identified that teaching target language in the mother tongue can be a result of poor oral language skills, lack of awareness to teach English in English and specific school policies. Therefore, we concluded that we would like to see the Brazilian government bringing more investment into education, and assess teachers oral skills before entering into teaching, so proper and effective funding can foster better results for the nation, concerning to language teaching.

One of the factors influencing literacy among kindergartners, and in particular their expressive skills, is the visual-auditory channel. However, there is no consensus in the scientific literature in everything pertaining to the degree of causality of this contribution to expressive skills among this population. The aim of the present study was to test the effect of viewing movies in literary Arabic on the oral skills of kindergartners whose mother tongue is Arabic. The research design was quantitativeexperimental. The research included 70 kindergarten-age children who were sampled from two kindergartens in the Arab society in the north of Israel, using a convenience sample. The children were aged 5-6 years. Of these, 35 (50%) are boys and 35 (50%) are girls. The research instruments included early literacy tests: morphological awareness, phonological awareness, vocabulary. Oral language skills were tested by a language test after viewing each of the movies. The findings indicate that the research hypothesis, according to which a positive effect of viewing movies in literary Arabic on their oral skills will be found, was supported. Thus, viewing movies in literary Arabic significantly improved kindergartners’ oral skills.

One of the factors influencing literacy among kindergartners, and in particular their expressive skills, is the visual-auditory channel. However, there is no consensus in the scientific literature in everything pertaining to the degree of causality of this contribution to expressive skills among this population. The aim of the present study was to test the effect of viewing movies in literary Arabic on the oral skills of kindergartners whose mother tongue is Arabic. The research design was quantitativeexperimental. The research included 70 kindergarten-age children who were sampled from two kindergartens in the Arab society in the north of Israel, using a convenience sample. The children were aged 5-6 years. Of these, 35 (50%) are boys and 35 (50%) are girls. The research instruments included early literacy tests: morphological awareness, phonological awareness, vocabulary. Oral language skills were tested by a language test after viewing each of the movies. The findings indicate that the research hypothesis, according to which a positive effect of viewing movies in literary Arabic on their oral skills will be found, was supported. Thus, viewing movies in literary Arabic significantly improved kindergartners’ oral skills.

In this paper I make the case for embedding oracy practices in the HE curriculum through explicit teaching of oracy skills and a shared common language to describe these skills. Active learning and teaching approaches as well as growing expectations of graduate employability skills have resulted in greater demands on students in UK higher education in terms of their oracy (speaking and listening) skills. Whilst oracy skills have long been the focus of studies in compulsory educational contexts, there is little transfer of research findings to a higher education context. With the aim of opening up the discussion on oracy skills in HE, this paper reports on an exploratory study carried out to investigate how teachers on two undergraduate business modules incorporated oral communication skills in their content, pedagogy and assessment. Data were gathered from observations of lectures and seminars, course documents, and semi-structured interviews with tutors. With reference to an Oracy Skills Framework the paper concludes with suggestions for how oracy skills may be more explicitly embedded into the undergraduate curriculum.

In the 21st century, computers have become a common feature in classrooms. Given the importance of both technological and pedagogical aspects of Computer-Assisted Language Instruction (CALI) in educational settings, computer technology plays a vital role in teaching English as a Second Language. In many developing countries, English learners often do not see the practical use of the language beyond examinations. Therefore, this study sought to examine how CALI is integrated into the teaching of English language oral skills in secondary schools by assessing the extent of the teachers’ awareness of integrating CALI in the teaching of English language oral skills; investigating the preferred instruction resources, examining the importance of integrating CALI in the teaching of English language oral skills and finding out the extent of Integrating CALI in English language teaching of oral skills. The study was conducted among selected secondary schools in Kakamega County, Ikolomani Sub-County, Kenya. The study focused on 132 English teachers and used a descriptive survey design. Purposive sampling was employed to select public secondary schools with computer laboratories within Ikolomani Sub-County and stratified sampling was used to provide a sample of 110 teachers. Primary data were collected from 6 school principals and 104 teachers of English using questionnaires and key informant interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically through content analysis. The analysis showed a significant positive relationship (coefficient of determination of 0.69 or 69%) between the extent of CALI integration and the teaching of English oral skills. An F-value of 0.598 indicated that this relationship is statistically significant. The study concluded that the degree of CALI integration positively affects the teaching of English oral skills. It is recommended that school administrators encourage the use of CALI in English language instruction and implement ICT training programs to enhance teachers' ICT skills.

This article is a personal statement of the ways in which technology has affected the author’s teaching of oral communication skills. Both low-tech and high-tech means are presented. She begins with the use of simple household devices as visual and kinesthetic aids, describes how readily audiotape and videotape can be used for receptive and productive skills development, and outlines how comprehensively an interactive language lab can contribute to oral skills development. She explores the benefits of accessing sound files on CD-ROM, in presentation software, and on Web pages. She introduces the telephone and voice mail for oral practice and illustrates the advantages of using voiced email for oral development and assessment. The author concludes with a description of the ways technology has affected her teaching overall. She lists the downsides of using technology and closes with the opportunities that technology has brought her students.

This chapter presents a brief rationale for developing intercultural communication as an aspect of enhancing learners' oral skills in English Language Teaching (ELT). It focuses on the context of teaching oral skills in China. The chapter explains how to integrate intercultural communication skills with approaches to develop students' thinking skills and their creative thinking. It shows the application of the suggested approach through the use of published textbook materials and classroom activities for teaching English in universities in China, in particular through the use of 'Participation Activities'. The approach highlights the fundamentals: the development of learners' ability to observe, analyse, and think flexibly. The chapter shows some aims for developing intercultural communication skills in ELT. Teaching Chinese learners in China is a significant case for developing intercultural communication skills. Some applications to develop oral intercultural communication skills in second language situations in Western countries have been developed in Hong Kong universities and schools.

Drama with its dialogue provide a dynamic form in which language and oral skills can be introduced and reinforced. Readers Theatre (RT) is an example of a story dramatization in which readers are given drama scripts to portray characters from the text they have read. As they portray a character, readers strive for good articulation, proper pronunciation, and projection. Our study was designed to investigate the following research questions: Do learners have positive experiences using Readers Theatre to improve their oral skills? Does Readers Theater give learners more confidence to speak? 40 foreign learners from an Asian University Summer Program joined the Language Cultural Program organized by the International Students Centre at the University Malaya from 4th- 20th August 2018. Initially we involved them in role play and improvisations before giving them a Readers Theatre script based on a local historical play. At the end of the program, they were required to give a 15-minute public performance. The participants were evaluated for their oral communication skills at the first meeting through an oral task and at the end of their program through their RT performance by a panel of three experts. The findings from our studies show that RT helped in the fluency, expression and oral skills of English Foreign Learners as they began to feel confident in using their oral skills by varying the pitch and volume to portray the characters. RT also boosted their confidence in handling spoken dialogue.

Business educators understand the value of improving students written and oral communication skills. However, too often assignments used to develop these important skills are taught in isolation. The purpose of this article is to enhance a students written and oral skills by integrating all aspects of the job search written documents and interview practice while utilizing a student-selected job announcement. Each student must find a job announcement for an internship or career position that is consistent with the students major. The job announcement should list the organizations needs in terms of degree required and specific skills. This article outlines an integrated process of teaching written and oral communication skills through the entire job search. Thus, the job announcement is the focal point for the students resume, cover letter, career portfolio, and mock interview. Student feedback from the integrated process described in this article has been very positive and rewarding. Students consistently indicate their satisfaction when they successfully apply their self-marketing tools and secure a desired position prior to graduation.

his study aims to examine the EFL teachers’ perception of their readiness to use different smartphone applications for teaching oral skills at the tertiary level in Bangladesh and compares this to the relevant demographic factors. To reach these objectives, a mixed method research design was implemented: A survey questionnaire was answered by 46 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers from twelve different universities in Bangladesh and a semi-structured interview was conducted with five of these teachers. The results showed that these EFL teachers had a high degree of readiness to use smartphones for teaching oral skills. The teachers agreed that smartphones could help them to deal with the problems like a large class size, a lack of authentic materials, learners' inactiveness, as well as a lack of an oral practice environment inside and outside the classroom. Moreover, there was no statistically significant relationship between the EFL teachers' demographics and their readiness to use a smartphone. The results suggest that smartphone applications have certain potentials/benefits for the university teachers, and that a smartphone-based teaching method for developing EFL learners’ oral skills should be promoted in an EFL context like Bangladesh.

Engineering graduates are faced with solving increasingly interdisciplinary and complex technical problems in a competitive world that requires clear communication and presentation skills. To this effect, oral communication skills should be considered an integral part of an engineer’s formal education. Many engineering departments, however, are currently experiencing a growth in enrolments which is translating to larger classroom sizes. Unfortunately, this is impacting on the ability for students to acquire oral presentation skills because in-class oral presentations can take over limited lecture or lab time which is needed for other critical technical material. To tackle this problem and improve presentation skills, a program called Virtual-i Presenter (ViP) was created. ViP allows students to create, review, and evaluate oral presentations using a webcam and a PowerPoint presentation outside of lecture time and still receive peer and academic feedback. The program has NO video or audio editing capabilities and thus the presentation becomes closer to how live presentations are given. ViP features a system to evaluate presentations, enabling the presenter to receive both technical and presentation skills feedback from peers and lecturers. ViP was successfully tested in classes of 19 natural resources and 78 civil engineering students. Survey results showed that students repeated (practiced) their presentations 4 to 6 times on average before submitting their final one. This is significant because most other students within the department will do less than 3 oral presentations during their academic career. By students being able to “see and hear” themselves present, it made them aware of their oral skills or fallacies and motivated them to enhance presentation skills by practicing more. The survey also showed that student’s overall experience with ViP was positive. As commonly as a lecturer currently asks students to write a report, lecturers can now also assign an oral presentation using ViP. Segments of ViP presentations can be discussed in class to highlight good and poor presentation techniques. Since ViP oral presentations are saved in digital format, students can learn from previous years presentations. Live presentations can not and should not be substituted fully; however, ViP enables students to become better prepared for when they have a chance to give a live presentation.

Smartphones are the most used hand-held devices by people globally, whereas large class size is a common scenario in many EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts like Bangladesh. Besides, EFL learners get scarce opportunities to practice oral skills inside and outside the class to develop oral English communication skills (OECSs). Thus, this study investigates learners' experiences after the intervention of 9 weeks with a smartphone apps-based teaching method (SBTM) employing WhatsApp, call, and voice recorders in an EFL classroom at the tertiary level for managing large-size class for developing learners' OECSs in Bangladesh. For this purpose, a qualitative research design using interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observation was used to elicit learners' experiences and practices for soliciting a model of a smartphone apps-based teaching method (SBTM). The findings showed that learners had positive experiences, e.g., ubiquitous and flexible processes, opportunities for individual and partner practice, recordings facilitated oral practice, and inside and outside classroom oral practice for managing large-size classes for developing OECSs in an EFL context. On the other hand, the negative experiences that learners reported were that this method was challenging for teachers, e.g., for assessment, and the classroom became noisy. The findings of this study will leave implications for teachers, learners, app developers, policymakers, and researchers for practising, developing a new app, and adopting a policy for implementing technology inside the classroom.

Country wide, studies on oral language skills in relation to students’ communicative competence are relatively scanty. These studies focused on testing and performance with less attention to oral language skills instruction. Hence, leaving a knowledge gap. Therefore, previous studies did not consider whether oral skills are included in teaching and learning in ESL classes. The findings reveal that effective teaching of language as communication calls for an integrated approach which represents different skills and abilities as aspects of as a single underlying activity. The present study was descriptive in nature. The study used mixed research approach. The study was conducted in Simiyu region, specifically, Bariadi district. The study used purposive sampling technique. The study used total population sampling which included 100 respondents. Only 75 respondents participated in questionnaires and focus group discussion. Thematic and content analysis were used in analyzing the data. The findings concluded that teaching ESL in ordinary secondary schools does not base on the teaching and learning objectives as prescribed in the 2010 syllabus for developing learners’ communicative competence. The contributing factors include the negative impact of assessment. This means that both internal and national examinations do not test or assess students in terms of mastery of oral language skills. Also, teaching methods especially integrated-skills approach that is suggested to be used when teaching the four skills is not used at all. Therefore, the present study recommends that there is a need of change of both teaching/learning methods, materials, time and assessment objectives so as to meet the intended goals of teaching ESL in ordinary secondary schools in Tanzania

There is a significant gap between societal expectations and pedagogical practices in English Language Teaching (ELT) at all levels in India today. Despite societal expectations for learners to acquire oral skills in English, speech communication is absent from the curriculum at any level. Consequently, textbooks lack tasks related to oral skills, teaching plans do not allocate time for teaching these skills, and there is no testing related to speaking and listening in the examination system. As a result, oral skills are neither taught nor learned, failing to meet the societal expectations. Even when English Phonetics is taught as an optional paper, the chances of learner picking up oral skills are slim due to the absence of a proper testing mechanism. This paper examines the pedagogical challenges in the teaching and learning oral skills in English at the UG level, using Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory and Constructivism derived from Piaget’s theory of cognitive development as its theoretical framework. It identifies modules for teaching and learning content of oral skills in English, suggests possible exercises for practicing oral skills, and reflects on methods for assessing the global communicability of learners.