Oral communication in the English language classroom : A study of the attitudes of some English teachers and 9th grade pupils in Sweden towards oral communication in the English classroom

Abstract: The overall aim of this essay was to investigate what attitudes some English teachers and pupils in 9th grade in Sweden have towards oral communication in the teaching of English. I wanted to find out why oral communication is an important part of the teaching of English, what factors teachers and pupils believe contribute to orally active pupils in the English foreign language classroom and what English teachers think of the assessment of pupils' ability to express themselves orally in Englsih. I have interviewed three English teacers, and 85 pupils have answered a questionnaire. The result show that the techers and a majority of the pupils think that oral communication is an important part of the teaching of English, mainly because of the fact that being able to express yourself orally in English today is of great importance and because through this the pupils get to use the English language a lot themselves. Factors that contribute to verbally active pupils in the English classroom are a safe classroom atmosphere, pupils' self-esteem, small groups, meaningful assignments, enthusiastic and encouraging teachers and motivated pupils. The result also show that the teachers believe that the assessment of the pupils' oral ability is hard because it is not as concrete as other skills that they assess in the English foreign language classroom. Other reasons why the assessment is hard are the problem of getting shy or unmotivated pupils to participate orally and lack of time.