Developing the Speaking Skill through Classroom Interaction: The Case of Third Year Students at UMMTO

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the development of the speaking skill through classroom interaction. It aims at checking whether third year students in the department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou are given opportunities for interaction during oral sessions or not. To this end, our investigation is based on Mixed Methods Research. It combines two questionnaires that are addressed to a group of third year students and their teachers of oral expression. For the sake of gathering more data about the issue addressed in this study, we have opted for classroom observation relying on a checklist adapted from Ur (1996). The outcomes are analysed according to the Interaction Hypothesis, Qualitative Content Analysis and statistical methods of analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. On the basis of the results of the study, it is concluded that learners’ speaking skill would develop if they were given opportunities for interaction inside classes since classroom interaction gives them the opportunity to use English spontaneously and express their ideas and thoughts in a flexible way.