The Impact of Oral Presentations on Developing EFL Students’ Communicative Competence: Case of Second Year LMD Students at the University of Tlemcen

Abstract

Learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or a Second Language (ESL) is becoming more and more important in nowadays global world. In recent years, especially with the advent of the communicative approaches to language teaching, which call for developing the communication skills of students who become the centre of the teaching/ learning process, communicative competence is viewed as an important element in the learning of English. Accordingly, it has been observed that some students have weaknesses in communicating effectively in different contexts, although their linguistic competence is, to a large extent, sufficient. Therefore, it is imperative for teachers to use activities in the classroom that help the students to be communicatively competent. Thus, this study aims at investigating the impact of classroom oral presentations on developing students’ communicative competence. A case study research was conducted, with the use of two research instruments: a questionnaire for second year LMD students at the Department of English in the University of Tlemcen, and an interview for the teachers of oral expression module. Furthermore, the data obtained were both qualitatively and quantitatively analysed, the main results have showed that students were highly positive in their beliefs about the benefits and the usefulness of doing oral presentations as a learning activity. Also it has been revealed that classroom oral presentations have a great impact on developing students’ communicative competence, the latter is regarded as crucial for their academic and professional success.