Effectiveness of Using Improvisations to Develop English Speaking Skills
Abstract
Most learners find speaking in English
challenging, and tend to be silent in English speaking
classrooms due to psychological factors like inhibition,
fear of making mistakes and language difficulties. In that
regard, improvisations or spontaneous role plays can be
used as an effective tool to develop their speaking skills.
This paper presents an experimental research on
identifying the effectiveness of using improvisations to
develop students’ English speaking skills. 48 intermediate
level law undergraduates were divided into the
experiment and control group. The speaking competence
of both groups in terms of their fluency and accuracy was
tested in a pre-test. The students in the experimental
group acted out 15 improvisations in pairs as the
intervention whereas the control group only engaged in
the activities in the English programme for fifteen weeks.
A post-test was conducted to identify whether there is a
significant improvement in the speaking competence of
the experimental group. The objectivity of the tests was
identified using inter-rater reliability, and 80% of ratings of
the two raters was identical. Results of Paired Sample t-
Tests of the pre- test and post- test of the experimental
group indicated that there was a significant difference
between the mean scores of the pre test (M= 6.47, SD=
0.994) and the mean score of the post test (M= 7.47, SD=
0.744), t (23) = (-10.018, P = .00 < .05. The magnitude of
the mean difference is large and indicates that
improvisations developed the undergraduates’ fluency
and accuracy in speaking. In addition, teacher
observations and informal interviews conducted with the
students present the benefits of using improvisations. In
improvisations students practice a number of skills:
engage in active listening, be aware of body language,
maintain eye contact, build rapport with the audience, and
produce utterances spontaneously in unexpected
situations. It is important to study the effectiveness of
using improvisations related to specific situations of
undergraduates’ future professions to cater the needs of
the learners in English for Specific Purposes programmes.