The use of ICT and authentic materials to enhance oral skills in EFL students

Abstract

The oral skill is one of the language skills that is not taught as it should when it comes to a context of foreign language teaching. Much more attention is paid to the rest of skills and this reduces meaningful oral practice in the EFL classroom. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and authentic materials play a significant role in education; however, these tools have not been taken into account when it comes to teaching English. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing the use of ICT and authentic materials to enhance the oral skill. Twenty-one studies were carefully chosen for this research. They had to meet different inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to categorize the information and analyze it more efficiently. The studies analyzed acknowledged the effects, perceptions, and attitudes created by the use of these strategies. The findings obtained showed that, after using these resources, students performed better in English while interacting with others. Furthermore, it was observed that the students’ engagement with the class and the target language reached a higher level. Finally, it was shown that students were more willing to participate with their peers as well as they felt more satisfied with the contents used in the teaching process