Investigating the Use of Peer Interaction in Teaching Speaking

Abstract

Over the last few decades, there has been a quest in foreign and second language acquisition for finding the best ways of teaching and learning. Much emphasis was put on English due to its prominent status. English now is the most widely used language all over the world. For that reason, learning how to speak it fluently and accurately became certainly demanded. In an attempt to practise the speaking skill, learners of English as a foreign language confront many hindrances due to its difficulty. Consequently, the ultimate objective of teachers lies beneath pushing students to speak in spite of their difficulties and helping them reducing these problems. In this regard, the current research work presents the use of regular interaction with peers as a way to promote speaking. The main aim behind this study is to discover teachers’ and learners’ perceptions towards the ffectiveness of peer interaction in enhancing speaking. Therefore, it is hypothesized that if students interacted with each other, their speaking skill would be improved. Our research, then, is composed of one theoretical framework holding two chapters; speaking and peer interaction, besides a practical one in which we carried out a descriptive research study at Mila University. We took first year students as a case study. Two questionnaires are held to substantiate the research assumption; one questionnaire is distributed to Oral Expression teachers, and the other one went for the learners. The analysis of the results revealed that students learn best when they work under collaborative settings with the implementation of peer interaction activities like role plays, iscussions and debates, and problem solving which, in turn, paves the way for successful communication to r.Accordingly, this data denotes the awareness of both teachers and learners of the efficacy of peer interaction in ameliorating speaking