Iraqi EFL Preparatory School Students' Conversational Skills and Speaking Performance: A Correlational Study
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Abstract
One of the primary goals of learning English is to facilitate communication, which involves exchanging ideas, feelings, and information as well as expressing opinions and negotiating subjects in productive dialogues. Interactive communication which relies heavily on conversation, and masters both verbal and nonverbal communication skills is a key component of language instruction. One of the most important language acquisition skills is speaking, the foundation of dynamic communication. Most people use it to determine if someone can get a FL or an L2. Since learning an L2 or a FL necessitates oral communication that involves both speaking and listening, most students find it difficult to acquire speaking abilities. Accordingly, the present study aims at finding out conversational skills among Iraqi EFL preparatory school students, their speaking performance level, and the relationship between conversational skills and speaking performance. 120 male students from Iraqi EFL preparatory schools (fifth grade) in Karbala Governorate were chosen at random. This paper uses two instruments: a speaking test and a conversational skills test. Data were gathered after confirming validity and reliability and analyzed using statistical methods. Findings show a moderate level of conversational skills and speaking performance, and a direct relationship between them.
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