Public speaking: how to enhance verbal communication skills – a study of public speaking uses through EFL with eleventh graders students at “Rosa de Jesus Cordero” high school

Abstract

The main goal of this graduation work is the use of public speaking to enhance verbal communication skills in the Eleventh Grade at Rosa de Jesús Cordero High School. In order to discover the validity of this proposal, three steps were followed: 1) the administration of an initial survey to a hundred students to analyze their interest towards including public speaking into their English Syllabus: 2) the learners’ presentation of a speech without any guided preparation: and 3) the application of a second survey to examine their experience after the intervention process. Throughout this study, it was found that the students are eager to express themselves in a structured manner in order to convey a message in public. Also, they were aware that with the appropriate preparation and constant practice they could overcome the negative feelings that speaking in public may cause. Finally, the students have shown their capacity to consolidate their knowledge of the target language when delivering a speech. To conclude, this graduation work has been shown to be valid and transferable, becoming able to be applied in the educational field.