Impromptu Speech for Strengthening Tertiary Students’ Oral Communication Competencies in Large Classes

Abstract

Being an accomplished oral communicator is recognized as the hallmark of competent EFL tertiary students. Yet, many students after their graduation, especially from open access colleges with large cohorts, fail to be equipped with adequate oral communication competencies. The present study suggests individual impromptu talks as a strategy for improving students’ oral communication skills in large classes. To test the efficiency of this strategy, a quasi-experimental design was conducted at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Sais-Fez, Morocco involving 15 students in the experimental class and 15 students in the control class. Treatment was done using: impromptu speech technique for the experimental group (Group 1) and the conventional teaching method using oral presentations technique for the control group (Group 2). The results show that students using impromptu talks are far better than those using the conventional method of teaching oral communication skills. These students have considerably succeeded in maintaining constant, coherent talks featured by correct pronunciation, appropriate vocabulary, and well-formed sentences. They have also acquired how to be good listeners and sensible users of non-verbal communication. The study, therefore, underlines the efficiency of impromptu talks for honing EFL students’ oral communication skills at open access colleges.