Investigating the Effects of Online Learning on Students’ Speaking Skills Performance.

Abstract

The wide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic forces all universities and institutions to shift from the face-to-face learning method to the online learning method which requires a combination of educational technology (ET) to offer a successful online learning experience. The new online learning method has a direct influence on eaching speaking skills since it requires too much interaction and communication. The present study aims at investigating the students’ perceptions of the online learning and its effects on their speaking skills erformance, and shedding light on the most common challenges that students encounter during the learning process, and lastly, it investigates the most effective tools and strategies for teaching speaking skills in an online nvironment. In order to achieve the aims of this study, a questionnaire was submitted online to third year EFL students at Mila University Center. The obtained results reveal that students are aware of the positive effect of online learning on their speaking abilities. However, they prefer traditional classroom learning because of the ifficulties that they encounter, such as their unfamiliarity with educational technology tools, the lack of interaction pportunities with their teachers and classmates, in addition to the different technical problems. At the end of this work, some pedagogical recommendations are suggested for a better implementation of the online learning process in teaching speaking skills.