Development Of Oral Communication Skills Research Articles

The improvement of oral communicative competence in english through the artificial intelligence

The study "Improvement of Oral Communicative Competence in English through the Artificial Intelligence" focused on exploring how artificial intelligence technology can influence the development of oral communication skills during the teaching and learning process of English as a second language, with the participants of this research being future teachers of the subject. This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of artificial intelligence applications, such as voice assistants and speech recognition systems, in improving students' oral communicative competence. The study examined how these artificial intelligence systems provided instant and personalized feedback, as well as opportunities for continuous oral practice for students. It also explored how artificial intelligence can adapt to the individual needs of students, which was beneficial for those with different skill levels or specific learning needs. The results of this research demonstrated that teaching and learning mediated by artificial intelligence had significant implications, suggesting how artificial intelligence technology can play an integral role in the development of oral communicative competence in English and possibly other languages. Finally, this teaching approach promises to facilitate more effective and accessible learning for a larger number of students, enhancing their oral communication skills in the process.

Utilizing a Poster Project as an Assessment in an Introductory Abstract Algebra Course

ABSTRACT Though posters have been used as a pedagogical tool in a variety of fields, the literature suggests that the use of posters as an educational assessment tool by the mathematics community has been limited. This is unfortunate given the numerous potential benefits of a poster, including the development of oral communication skills and the ability to examine a mathematical topic at a deeper level. We describe the use of a poster project in an introductory abstract algebra course with specific implementation guidance including a schedule of assignments and assessment criteria. We also include reflections on the success of this project over several semesters as well as advice for adapting the project to a remote course. Samples of student posters are available upon request to the authors.

The Prominence of Rhetoric in Japanese University English Oral Communication Courses

Due to a rapidly globalizing world, there has been a recent resurgence in the demand for university graduates entering the workforce who understand and utilize spoken English rhetorical strategies and techniques. These rhetorical skills are necessary in a wide range of fields (e.g., advertising, communication, international relations, politics, psychology, etc.), yet rhetoric rarely features in EFL or ESL curriculums. With the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan emphasizing the need for English education to specifically foster the development of oral communication skills through the Global Human Resources (GHR) project (2018), there is a definite need for integrating instruction on English rhetorical strategies and techniques into the curricula of higher education. However, explicit rhetorical instruction in EFL and ESL curriculums in Japan almost exclusively focuses on written genres, such as essay writing. The core research question framing this exploratory study is: How prominent is instruction on rhetoric in Japanese university English oral communication courses? This qualitative study firstly examines if rhetoric-based instruction is addressed in a sample of English language oral communication textbooks, before documenting the language learning experiences of ten Japanese university students. An amalgamation of the data reveals a dearth of explicit rhetoric-based instruction in Japanese university English language oral communication courses. The implications of this finding are discussed, and suggestions are then proffered on how to better equip Japanese university graduates with practical English language rhetorical tools so that they may play a more active role in the globalizing world.

Using Mobile-Supported Self-Learning Modules in Developing Oral Communication Skills of Grade 9 ESL Students

With the recent pandemic, the development of oral communication skills became more challenging to address. Hence, the study sought to determine the effect of mobile-supported SLMs on oral communication skills and identify the attitudes of students toward the use of the material. The study used one-group pretest-posttest design. The scores in the pretest and posttest were analyzed through paired-samples t-test, while the answers in the attitude survey questionnaire were analyzed through the median of every item and triangulated with the students’ essay and teacher’s log. The study found a statistically significant difference in students’ oral communication skills before and after exposure to the mobile-supported SLMs, and students generally have a positive attitude towards the use of the materials. It was concluded that students in low-resource contexts can still develop their oral communication skills and that they like using mobile-supported SLMs to develop their oral communication skills during education in emergencies.

Play-based pedagogy for oral communication in early grade and preschool classrooms

Background: Teachers are responsible for developing and enhancing communication skills amongst young learners. Unfortunately, the overly structured pedagogy which many teachers adopt inhibits the optimal development of oral communication skills. Hence, the researchers investigated ways of strengthening group-work play-based pedagogy to stimulate oral communication.Aim: This research aimed to find out (1) what prior knowledge, skills and classroom practice teachers have and how they demonstrate their competence in implementing group play-based pedagogy; and (2) how a professional development programme assists teachers to implement play-based group pedagogy to develop oral communication skills in young learners.Setting: The study took place in the Owerri Education Zone in the eastern part of Nigeria.Methods: The researchers implemented a participatory action research (PAR) design. Nine participants were purposively selected from a cohort of teachers who taught the 5–9-year age group. Teacher participants responded to the semistructured interviews and observational schedules used as tools for data collection. The researchers used inductive thematic data analysis techniques to make sense of the data. This was performed in three phases: sorting the data and organising them in data sets, after which the analysis process commenced.Results: Findings from the study showed that although the participants had a fair understanding of play-based pedagogy, they did not know how to operationalise their understanding of play-based pedagogy directed at oral communicationConclusion: The participants gained expert knowledge of play pedagogies that require children to increase oral language use in interaction with each other, using vocabulary and phrases introduced by the teacher as scaffolding for their communication.

The argumentative design principles of three courses in a Physics undergraduate teacher education program

To assure that current science education practices are aligned with recent educational research findings, there must be a constant effort of investigating the environments in which teachers are educated and prepared for their pedagogical action. One of the epistemic practices that should be discussed and taught in every teacher education program is argumentation. Preparing future teachers to construct and evaluate arguments and enabling them to design activities that scaffold students’ argumentative skills has become a highly desirable goal in science education in the past few decades. Despite that, few studies have been devoted to studying the role of argumentation and argumentative development in initial and continuing teacher education. The present study was aimed at observing and analyzing some of the characteristics of three courses of an undergraduate Physics teacher education program at a public university in the State of São Paulo (Brazil), and to compare them in terms of their potential contributions to the development or argumentation skills of its students. Preliminary results suggest that the curricular reform that has been implemented was responsible for shifting practices to a much more updated and theory-informed model, but the program’s focus is still on written instruction, and not on the development of oral communication skills, which would be key for a fertile argumentative development.

Application of Mobile Technologies in Foreign Language Learners’ Project Activity

<p class="0abstract">The article analyzes the specific features of project work organization in English classes with blended mobile learning with the participation of students who previously haven't studied foreign languages or had school experience in learning other foreign languages – German or French. The relevance of the proposed work is caused by the application of the project method on the basis of mobile technologies that promotes the development of oral communication skills in the most effective way, taking into account the individual characteristics of the student and allows him in the future conducting a free conversation in a foreign language. The novelty of the methodology used lies in the complex application of systemic and integrative approaches using mobile technologies to the formation of oral skills in a foreign language. The hypothesis of the study that the application of the proposed teaching method contributes to a stable average for all students to improve the quality of knowledge throughout the entire period of study was fully confirmed. Student’s participation in the project work and the use of mobile technology to share information and knowledge are an independent creative activity that ends with the creation of a fully communicative and linguistically correct speech message. Free speech in a foreign language based on students own multimedia product is considered as a practical result of using an intensive method of teaching a foreign language from scratch.</p>

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Studying the factors of successful acquisition of ESL speaking skills in Ukrainian adult learners, the authors focused on the correlation between emotional intelligence and development of oral communication skills, and, on the other hand, on the growth of these indicators as a result of purposeful inclusion of content-related emotions into activities aimed at the development of speaking and listening skills. Theoretically based on the ideas of emotional intelligence as an important factor in human interaction and guided by the hypothesis that content-related emotions intensify emotional involvement and have a positive influence on the acquisition of oral communication skills, the researchers applied Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test and the English Language Oral Communication Skills Test developed by the authors, to measure the key oral communication skills indicators against a 100 point scale. Experimental teaching of 124 undergraduate students of International Relations during September 2018 – May 2019 proved a beneficial influence of including emotions in the learning activities on the acquisition of ESL oral communication skills, as well as on student motivation and overall quality of student experiences. Significant increments in Emotional Intelligence and ESL oral communication skills in the experimental group compared to insignificant growth of the same indicators in the Reference group allow to establish a positive correlation between the growth of emotional intelligence and acquisition of the ESL speaking skills pursuant to inclusion of content-related emotions into the ESL learning in Ukrainian students.

3E08 技術者教育のためのオーラルコミュニケーション:－Willingness to Communicateを意識した段階的スピーキング活動の取り組み－

3E08 技術者教育のためのオーラルコミュニケーション:－Willingness to Communicateを意識した段階的スピーキング活動の取り組み－

Oral Portfolio in Spanish as a Third Language: Harnessing the Potential of Self- and Peer-Assessment

Even though research in second language acquisition has demonstrated the importance of oral production and interaction, there is a growing tendency toward distance learning. Therefore, in order to include oral practice and evaluation in an online course, a new pedagogical tool was designed, namely the oral portfolio. This article describes and analyzes an oral portfolio which included learner production and self- and peer-assessment. Combining these aspects provided data on both linguistic and metalinguistic abilities. The results revealed a relationship between oral competency and self- and peer-assessment abilities, suggesting a beneficial role of metalinguistic reflection in the development of oral communication skills. Moreover, this study explored how self- and peer-assessment could be better implemented in a language course. Based on the observations gathered throughout the study, we believe that learners need to be trained and to develop the formative assessment competency, in order to maximize the benefits, for assessment to be as sustainable as possible.

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES USING ICT FOR THE ENGINEERING STUDENTS: AN INDIAN CONTEXT

The importance of developing engineering students’ competence in English professional communication skills to achieve their career goals in the 21st century needs to be acknowledged. In a multilingual and multicultural context of India where students come from diverse linguistic communities, it is a challenge for most of the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) practitioners to develop students’ English speaking skills (Presentation, public speaking, group discussions etc.). The English language course is a part of the curriculum of the first year engineering undergraduates, however, how much focus is given to the development of oral communication skills in that course is questionable. The present paper is an inquiry into the existing curriculum of professional communication being offered to the engineering undergraduates, and it also probes the weightage being given to the teaching and learning of speaking skills in it. In the era of information technology, where oral communication has a varied mode, it is of utmost importance to delve into the discussion of the pivotal role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in improving the oral communication skills of engineering students. Indian classrooms are turning into smart classrooms, hence, integrating the teaching and learning of speaking skills with ICT is a pre-requisite for the teaching of professional communication. The present study aims to reveal the significance of the combination of such an advanced teaching and learning method. This study has adopted a methodological approach, such as interactive methods and communicative method of teaching English language supplementing it with the application of ICT. The theoretical part of the paper is followed by a more practical approach of suggesting activity-based practising of speaking skills in a specific ESP class; to narrow down the gap existing in the curriculum and the need for the speaking skills of engineering students.

Broadening the voice of science: Promoting scientific communication in the undergraduate classroom.

Effective and accurate communication of scientific findings is essential. Unfortunately, scientists are not always well trained in how to best communicate their results with other scientists nor do all appreciate the importance of speaking with the public. Here, we provide an example of how the development of oral communication skills can be integrated with research experiences at the undergraduate level. We describe our experiences developing, running, and evaluating a course for undergraduates that complemented their existing undergraduate research experiences with instruction on the nature of science and intensive training on the development of science communication skills. Students delivered science talks, research monologues, and poster presentations about the ecological and evolutionary research in which they were involved. We evaluated the effectiveness of our approach using the CURE survey and a focus group. As expected, undergraduates reported strong benefits to communication skills and confidence. We provide guidance for college researchers, instructors, and administrators interested in motivating and equipping the next generation of scientists to be excellent science communicators.

Development of Oral Communication Skills by Undergraduates that Convey Evolutionary Concepts to the Public.

Leaders in undergraduate biology education have recommended that post-secondary programs recognize the importance of communication. Scientists are generally recognized as the conduit for communicating scientific information with the public. Traditionally, scientific training has focused on building students’ content knowledge, knowledge of terminology, and ability to communicate with other scientists. The majority of undergraduate biology programs do not include a focus on building their students’ ability to communicate scientific information to non-scientists. Due to both its controversy (outside the scientific community) and conflicting scientific and lay terminology, speaking to non-scientists about evolution can be especially challenging. In this Tips and Tool article, we present an interactive approach to help build students’ conceptual knowledge of evolution and to develop their ability to orally communicate with non-scientists.

Using the Improvisational “Yes, and…” Approach as a Review Technique in the Student-Centered Biology Classroom

In the biological sciences, students frequently equate understanding to compiling and memorizing information as a series of isolated facts. For this reason, they struggle to connect major concepts across course curriculums. In other disciplines, improvisation techniques have been introduced as a way to engage with millenials, who learn best through inductive and experiential learning. Here we present an improvisational classroom activity called “Yes, and…” as a review technique that can be used throughout the semester and in multiple contexts to help students assimilate and integrate information. Students in small groups first review a major topic provided by the instructor (for example, DNA structure or DNA properties). Then, one student in the group contributes one sentence that starts a narrative about the topic being reviewed as learned in class. Additional members of the group then take turns, one at a time, to add additional layers of details to the narrative. The group dynamic continues until all of the students in the group have contributed at least one sentence to the narrative. Students are encouraged to listen carefully to their classmates’ contributions so that inaccurate ideas can be identified and tweaked through conversation at the end of one round of the exercise. The instructor moves between groups to continue to foster the learning experience. We find that the “Yes, and…” approach promotes deep student engagement with course material, collaboration among students of different backgrounds, and fosters development of oral communication skills.

The expectation performance gap in accounting education: a review of generic skills development in UK accounting degrees

ABSTRACTAccounting educators are criticised for a focus on the development of technical skills at the expense of generic employability skills. This study considers the perspective of UK graduates training for the CIMA professional accountancy qualification and examines their perceptions of the extent to which opportunities for generic skills development are exploited in accounting degrees. The results are compared with opportunities for generic skills development in degrees from other discipline areas, formal work-based training and the training undertaken when studying for professional examinations. The results of the questionnaire-based survey suggest that there is scope for improvement in the extent to which universities exploit opportunities for the development of generic skills. However, across most skill areas trainees’ perceptions of opportunities for the development of generic skills in UK accounting degrees are comparable to those offered in other discipline areas and compare favourably to those offered in both professional training and formal work-based training. The results indicate that the development of oral communication skills, the ability to take a comprehensive and global vision of an organisation, resilience and ethical awareness could be improved.

Dialogue as a Model of Business Language Training in the Teaching Methods of Russian as a Second Language

This article reviews the methods of training foreign students in the fluent dialogic communication skill of the business sphere. Training of the dialogic communication in business sphere is understood to be a key method of professional competences’ development with the students. The system of the dialogic communication skills development in the business sphere is included in the general system of the development of oral communication skills in teaching Russian as a Second Language. Described are the linguistic fundamentals of the oral and written communication skills development in business sphere. The system of tasks is based on the communicative law in teaching Russian as a Second Language. It presents the training model of the tasks arrangement to develop the skills of business dialogue in a foreign language.

5. Comunicación oral efectiva y creatividad en la formación de técnicos agroindustriales

La presente investigación-acción procuró propiciar transformaciones en el aprendizaje de la comunicación oral efectiva para mejorar el desempeño de los estudiantes de la asignatura Lenguaje y Comunicación en el Programa Tecnología Agroindustrial de la Universidad Centroccidental “Lisandro Alvarado”. Los actores sociales fueron cincuenta y seis estudiantes, (el total de inscritos) del lapso 2012-1. La observación participante, los grupos de discusión y el testimonio focalizado fueron las técnicas para recolectar información. El instrumento utilizado fue el diario de registro. Se constató la necesidad de planificar y ejecutar el plan de acción “Comunicación Oral Efectiva y Despliegues de Creatividad”, que se llevó a cabo en dos fases. Los hallazgos evidenciaron que el desarrollo de habilidades de comunicación oral generó aportes agroecológicos que favorecieron la conciencia ambiental. Finalmente, los actores se reconocen como personas creativas-reflexivas, que manifiestan deseos de transformación comunicativa para impactar su entorno social con propuestas novedosas.

Speaking in the classroom: the impact of gender and affective responses on oral participation

The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) Report highlights development of oral communication skills as essential to a legal undergraduate education and one of the top 25 skills and attributes required by all legal service providers. One area in which these skills may be developed within the law school setting is group discussions, which form part of the small class tutorial. A significant body of literature (primarily drawn from the US experience) has, however, identified that female undergraduate students participate in law school class discussions less than male students, and respond to law school by experiencing greater feelings of alienation and loss of confidence than their male peers. Drawing on the themes identified in the US literature, this paper presents the findings of a small-scale empirical study into issues of oral participation in the small class setting involving final year undergraduate students in a UK law school. It reports two key findings. First, the most significant barrier to participation is a lack of confidence. Second, female students are more likely than male students to report considerable anxiety at participating orally in a tutorial setting. The paper posits that female students are more likely to experience a negative affective response to oral communication in a small group setting. Disconnecting the typical tutorial function of “knowledge-checking” from oral communication skills development may serve to encourage increased oral engagement in classroom discussions by every student.

Cognitive Strategies for Dual Imperatives: EFL Listening and Speaking in Chinese Universities

Strategic development of oral communication skills (i.e., listening and speaking) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China is fraught with difficulties, including lack of contexts for authentic language use, examination-oriented pedagogy, and tacit educational practices. The quantitative study reported here was designed around a research question of how extensively three specific cognitive strategies – translation, deduction, and contextualisation – are used when students are listening and speaking in class. It was conducted with a large sample (N = 1,440) of Chinese EFL learners at the tertiary level who were learning in class to speak and listen in English. Findings indicate all three strategies are used extensively in both modalities, but significantly more so in speaking. These findings are interpreted in relation to instructional objectives of preparing students for oral communication beyond the classroom and for passing the listening test in the College English Test Band 4 (CET-4). The development of oral communication (listening and speaking) skills as opposed to the development of literacy (reading and writing) for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in mainland China has been a slow and cumbersome process for both learners and teachers. Whilst factors such as limitations on access to resources and upgrading teachers’ qualifications are constraining variables, most difficulties stem from lack of authentic contexts and purposes for oral language use, together with use of pedagogy which is culturally inappropriate within the Chinese educational tradition (see Anderson, 1993; Harvey, 1985; Rao, 2002; Y. Wang, 1991). Multilingual communities usually present pragmatic reasons for authentic use of oral English as a medium of intracommunity communication. However, in non-English monolingual contexts such as China, typically there is no need for intracommunity communication in oral English. As a result, Language Education in Asia, 2014, 5(1), 46-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.5746/LEiA/14/V5/I1/A05/Liyanage_Bartlett_Tao Language Education in Asia, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014 Liyanage, Bartlett, and Tao Page 47 use of oral English has been limited mainly to language classrooms where learners are prepared for end-of-course examinations rather than for out-of-class contexts. Examination-oriented instruction also calls for heavy reliance on textbook-contrived linguistic accuracy. Hence, major focus has been on explicitly teaching and learning grammar (Rao, 2002). The present study is one of several in a large ongoing research project between Australian and Chinese universities to examine the use of language learning strategies (LLS) by Chinese learners of English. The current research stems from one of the studies (Liyanage, Bartlett, Birch, & Tao, 2012) which explored usefulness of strategies in developing listening and speaking skills as perceived by Chinese EFL learners. The authors extended the focus of that study by revisiting its data with specific interest in three language learning behaviours that are used typically by Chinese learners of English in developing oral communication skills in class. The three behaviours are relying on translation to and from Chinese in mediating meaning in oral English, attending to rules of grammar to deduce meaning when engaging in the use of oral English, and using context as an aid to meaning in the comprehension and production of oral English (see Barlow & Lowe, 1985; Harvey, 1985; Maley, 1983; Scovel, 1983). These behaviours are well represented in the literature – for example, they correspond to the cognitive strategies of translation, deduction, and contextualisation respectively, as described by O’Malley and Chamot (1990, p. 137), and were used in their language learning strategy inventory. In the current study, use of these three cognitive strategies by Chinese EFL learners in university settings was investigated. How these strategies are realised in listening / speaking lessons for a regular class of freshmen and the effect of the use of these strategies on the College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) preparation classes is described in detail.

Do we teach the real language?

This article is about the type of language that is offered to learners in textbooks, using the example of Russian. Many modern textbooks of Russian as a foreign language aim at efficient development of oral communication skills. However, some expressions used in the textbooks are not typical for everyday language. We claim that textbooks’ content should be reassessed based on actual language use, following theoretical and methodological models of cognitive and corpus linguistics. We extracted language patterns from three textbooks, and compared them with alternative patterns that carry similar meaning by (1) calculating the frequency of occurrence of each pattern in a corpus of spoken language, and (2) using Russian native speakers’ intuitions about what is more common. The results demonstrated that for 39 to 53 percent of all the recurrent patterns in the textbooks better alternatives could be found. We further investigated the typical shortcomings of the extracted patterns.