EFL Teachers/Students Attitudes towards Using Thematic Activities in Developing Students' Speaking Skill The Case of first year LMD students of English at Tébessa University

Abstract

This study aims to investigate teachers/ students’ attitudes towards using thematic activities in developing the communicative skill (speaking) in EFL classrooms. Accordingly, the present dissertation hypothesizes that teachers of Oral Expression at the University of Tebessa hold positive attitudes towards using thematic activities and students of English at the University of Tebessa hold positive attitudes towards using thematic activities. To achieve the aim of this study, two questionnaires are administered to both oral expression teachers and First Year LMD students, at the department of English, at the University of Al-Arbi Tebessi, Tebessa. The results of this study show that using thematic activities/approach helps EFL students to develop their speaking skill and also motivates them to practise the English language outside the classroom. Moreover, it is clearly noticed that the teachers and the students who took part in this research hold positive attitudes towards implementing thematic activities in teaching/ learning English as a foreign language. In other words, the findings of the two questionnaires confirm the hypothesis of the present research. Therefore, the authors of this dissertation highly recommend the use of thematic activities in EFL classes.