Enhancing Speaking Skill of Undergrad Students through Group Work

Theory and Practice

Abstract

The focal objective of this study is to explore the effectiveness of group work in enhancing the oral communication skills of undergraduate students. Possessing proficient command on speaking skill in English has undoubtedly emerged as a prerequisite for academic and professional excellence. However, the researcher being a teacher observed that most of teaching-learning time was spent on developing reading and writing skills undermining the practicality of enhancing communicative competency. This negligence results in grave deficiency of using English for conversational purposes at the part of the learners. Making the Vygotskian theory of social interaction base for this study, the research aimed at evaluating the role group work can play in developing oral communication of the learners by participating in collaborative tasks. It also strived to highlight the limitations of applying group activity based learning of English within our contextual constraints. The data was collected through questionnaire and observation checklist and interpreted qualitatively to elaborate the results. The findings of the study substantiated the advisability of group work in enhancing the speaking skill of the learners with increased vocabulary and decreased hesitation mainly. These findings can endorse including group work in the mainstream teaching of English with an objective to develop speaking skill of undergraduate learners within Pakistani context.