Abstract:
The present study was an attempt to investigate the development of foreign language learners'
communicative competence through the use of oral presentations and teaching presentation
skills at university level. In the light of what has been previously said, it is hypothesized that:
If students are given more opportunities to make oral presentations, they will develop their
communicative competence to a large extent; and If oral presentation skills are taught and
practised, EFL students’ will succeed to overcome their communication incompetency. The
data was collected through a questionnaire administered to 68 third year students at the
department of English language at Mohamed Seddik Ben Yahia University-jijel, and a
structured interview with six teachers. The findings indicated that both EFL teachers and
learners have positive attitudes towards the use of oral presentations in developing EFL
learners’ communicative competence including its different components. Also, the results
revealed that most learners lack presentation skills, because they do not receive any
instructions concerning that. Therefore, teachers strongly confirmed that teaching presentation
skills at university level is crucial for learners' academic and professional success. And at the
same time, they may raise students' awareness of the importance of oral presentations in
developing their communicative competence.
