Conclusions and implications
The main aim of this study was to improve speaking classroom practices through involving students in negotiation and designing activities by taking into account students’ needs and wants. Students’ comments revealed that both structural and affective issues should be considered in designing speaking classroom activities.
Considering the structural aspects, the study concluded that Turkish EFL learners favour activities that provide a classroom environment in which they will not feel anxious about contributing. Competitive activities were reported to be effective in terms of providing opportunity to practise spoken language, because students felt comfortable and motivated as they were eager to win the game. Group and pairwork activities were also useful for encouraging student participation. In large group activities, however, students tended to switch to Turkish. To avoid this, small group activities seem to be more useful in terms of engaging each student in oral communication in English and fostering ‘cooperative learning’, which resides in the fact that all learners, regardless of their competency, ‘can benefit from being placed in the role of both tutor and tutees, of learning from and providing scaffolding for peers’ (Crandall 1999, 226). Pair-work activities were therefore found motivating in this study: even reticent students could be involved with the support of their partners.
The level of teacher control in speaking classes also influences the effectiveness of speaking activities. The study confirmed Harmer’s (1991) communication continuum, in that students may ask for activities that involve both communicative and non-communicative aspects of the language. Since students’ engagement in activities is partly determined by the classroom environment provided by the teacher and the extent to which it fosters communication (Xie 2010), teachers should understand the characteristics of individuals and activities should be structured by taking into account as many different views and expectations as possible.
The teacher’s role in activities is also important. While anxious students are likely to favour peer communication, less anxious students may want to carry out activities with more direct communication with the teacher. This supports the assumption that less proficient learners get more anxious when their performances are monitored by the teacher (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope 1986). To provide an appropriate classroom environment for both proficient and less proficient learners, teachers should take into account students with different characteristics.
With regard to the affective issues, topics that students find interesting were one of the important aspects of successful classes. The extent to which students found the activity useful was also important because students were more motivated to be engaged in activities that they perceived had value (Dörnyei 2001; Littlewood 1992; Nunan 1991; Williams and Burden 1997). Teachers should perceive the significance of considering students’ feelings to promote classroom participation (Doran and Cameron 1995) and activities should create a positive climate in the classroom. Taking individual learning differences into account can also help in fostering a climate of purposeful positivity (Dörnyei 1994).
Being involved in action research also influenced students’ perceptions: they perceived the value of this research, and therefore felt more responsible, which resulted in developing positive attitudes towards speaking classes. As a result of being a part of a study that valued students as individuals, the students felt that their views were considered important. This resulted in them developing more positive attitudes towards speaking classes and being more motivated to be involved in activities. This outcome of student negotiation was pointed out by MacBeath et al. (2003), who argue that students who are involved in negotiating about teaching and learning feel that they are respected and taken seriously.
Listening to the views of students helps teachers to identify the reasons why learners are reluctant to participate in speaking activities. Taking these views seriously can lead to greater participation by students, which clearly has the potential to lead to improved fluency and confidence in speaking a new language.