The role of speaking activities in the development of the learners' speaking skill

Abstract

This study attempts to examine the role of the speaking activities introduced in first year secondary school coursebook ‘At the Crossroads’ in the development of English speaking skill. It aims at discovering the extent to which these activities meet the teachers’ expectations and the learners’ needs. In order to accomplish this aim, we relied on two questionnaires, which have been submitted to teachers and learners to assemble the required data about their views towards the coursebook speaking activities. The results obtained reveal that the coursebook speaking activities are suitable to develop the learners’ speaking skill, however, due to some factors; they are difficult to be implemented adequately. According to the findings, the coursebook speaking activities neither meet the teachers’ expectations nor the learners’ needs because, they are not interesting, they are either too easy or too difficult and do not suit the learners’ levels. Moreover, the speaking activities are not enough; there is dominance of reading and writing activities in the coursebook. Finally, the speaking activities are not suitable to the Algerian classroom and context; learners need definitely more opportunities to practice the speaking ski