Portfolios and Presentations for University Students Who Major in English to Improve their Speaking Skills

Abstract

In English as a foreign language (EFL) environment of Gaza, university students who specialize in English usually lack the opportunity to interact or to expose themselves to English speaking community. This has created a real problem for many of them. In an attempt to help these students improve their speaking skills, the researcher as a teacher used two techniques to investigate possible improvement of their speaking performance: portfolios and presentations. Students have been asked to keep an individual digital file of some video and audio clips which they download from internet by their own choice with some guidance from the teacher. These clips together with a paper file where they put their reflection logs, comments and questions comprise their portfolios. At regular stages, learners are asked to present some topics from their files in front of their peers. They have to use video and audio clips in their presentations. A questionnaire and semi-interviews have been conducted to collect data. The experimental group showed a great interest in such a process and their performance in speaking has improved to a good extent.