The Role of the Group-Work Technique in Developing EFL Speaking Skills

This paper aims at identifying the role of the group-work technique in developing EFL speaking skills. The study is descriptive in nature. It uses a sample of closely related group members; formed of teachers of English from different Saudi schools. That group is made up of 40 teachers. The data collection tool used is a questionnaire for the teachers. The weighted means for the individual items and the whole aspects of the tool are calculated. The results are used to answer the study questions and to verify the hypotheses. The study comes out with some important results that include (a) most of the EFL teachers adopted positive attitudes towards implementing such strategies in EFL classrooms.  (b) They may have realized that through their experience in TEFL, and reflected it on the obtained data, which indicated that most EFL teachers were against teacher-centered teaching strategy in EFL classroom. The paper offers four recommendations concerning (a) To learn a language is not to focus on the structural patterns of communication. But the two should be used correctly to develop speaking skills and communicative competence.  (b) Learners need to be provided with effective instructional technology such as cooperative group work technique for improving the quality of learners’ oral production which used by successful teachers. (c) Learners should be provided with more opportunities to practice their English among themselves without having to worry about the too many mistakes they make. (d). The paper also suggests three areas for further research. These include (a) The impact of cooperative learning strategy training on improving teachers’ performance. (b) The students` speaking problems with their different types involving psychological as shyness, fear of speaking publicly, instructional as in the teacher-centered approach and contextual as in the fixed seating arrangement, the teaching span, and classroom interrelations. (c) The importance of classroom interaction to make EFL learners aware of its significance.