Role of Situational Language Activities in Developing Oral Skills of EFL Learners at Tertiary Level

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the role of situational language activities in developing the oral skills of Sudanese EFL learners at tertiary level. EFL students at tertiary level face difficulties and hindrances when they start to speak in English; therefore, this study intends to help them overcome those problems. The researcher has adopted quasi-empirical and descriptive methods. Two instruments have been used as primary tools for collecting the data relevant to the study, namely a questionnaire for teachers of English language at Sudan University of Sciences and Technology, and University of Khartoum. The study sample of questionnaire comprises (50) teachers whereas the oral (pre-post) test involves (40) students. Also, ten students were interviewed for a short time concerning their impressions about situational language activities. So, both quantitative and qualitative tools are employed. The researcher applied (SPSS) program through Likert scale to analyze and verify the hypotheses. The study results are firstly, situational language activities play to some extent an important role in developing EFL students’ oral skills. Secondly, situational language activities expand students’ knowledge of vocabulary. Thirdly, situational language activities motivate the students to grasp better communicative oral skills. On the light of these results, the researcher recommends that students should be rendered sufficient exposure to situational language activities. Curricula designers, educators, and experts should include sufficient language activities in the syllabus in order to courage and motivate the students in learning the foreign language. Teachers should encourage their students to work collectively to improve their speaking skills. Finally, the study includes some other recommendations and concludes with some suggestions for further studies.