Enhancing Students’ Speaking Skill through Role Play Techniques The Case of 1st Year Students of English at Guelma University

Abstract

This research was conducted to sensitize teachers about the potential advantages of the Role-play technique (RP) which is not widely used though it has proved its usefulness and strong contribution in enhancing the speaking abilities of students. The concentration of students on developing their speaking skill –among some other motives- pushed us to investigate such a subject putting a hypothesis that RP activity as a technique may break some psychological difficulties that hinder students’ speaking level from getting better. Overcoming problems like shyness, fear of making mistakes and lack of self-confidence would make students feel at ease and therefore perform better. To collect information we administered two similar questionnaires both to first year students of English and their teachers of Oral Expression (OE). Later the obtained results were analyzed and interpreted. Some pedagogical recommendations are suggested in order to raise O.E teachers’ awareness about the great benefit they would get if they use the RP technique. Some advice were addressed to students of English to make them feel more concerned and raise their sense of responsibility. This research seeks to shed light on the most important efficient ways to better students’ level in English oral expression.