The Effectiveness of the Four Communicative Tasks in Improving the English Speaking Proficiency: a Case of Farhangian University

Speaking is a skill that needs to be developed independently of the other skills. A lot of teachers used to teach it through repetition practice and memorizing dialogues. However, it has more recently been acknowledged that the aim of teaching speaking skills is to enhance students’ communication skills to enable them to express themselves and communicate effectively with others (Kayi, ۲۰۱۲). Teachers should provide their students with constant scaffolding and feedback for each activity they are involved in (Banciu & Jireghie, ۲۰۱۲). Oradee (۲۰۱۲) asserted that such communicative activities include information gaps, jigsaw activities, problem-solving, and role-playing, all of which can improve students’ speaking skills. The purposes of this study were to examine the effectiveness of the four communicative tasks in improving the English speaking proficiency, to compare the differences between the English speaking proficiency results for each communicative task, and to investigate the students' attitudes towards the four communicative tasks. This study was based on a One group experimental research design that employed quantitative methods. A total of ۶۰ intermediate proficiency EFL students from Farhangian University were randomly selected as the research participants. Eight lesson plans using the four communicative tasks including Jigsaw, Information-gap, Decision-making, and Problem-solving as Communicative Tasks, a speaking proficiency test, and a students' attitude questionnaire were used as the research instruments. Percentage, Mean, t-test for dependent samples, One-Way ANOVA and Least Significant Difference were employed to analyze data quantitatively. The results revealed that the students’ English speaking abilities after using the four communicative activities were significantly higher than before their use. Students' English speaking proficiency results for each communicative task was significantly different at the .۰۱ level. The students’ attitude towards teaching English speaking skills using the four communicative activities were rated as good. Thus, the four communicative tasks can improve students' English speaking proficiency.