Arab Educational Information Network

The present study is an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of cooperative language learning (CLL) in developing the main micro-speaking skills (accuracy, fluency and pronunciation) of a 28 randomly chosen sample of ESP first year university students of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria, Egypt. In order to achieve the purposes of this study, two instruments were used: a) a student questionnaire for identifying ESP students’ perceptions of CLL , 2) a teacher questionnaire for identifying ESP instructors’ perceptions of their students’ CLL, and c) an oral test to evaluate the level of students’ oral skills. A speaking teaching program (Rossita Stone Application, Basics+1-5) was used as an experimental intervetion. The sample was assigned to two groups (control and experimental); the latter was exposed to (CLL) whereas the formar to conventional teaching. Findings of the study revealed that accuracy and fluency as speaking sub-skills improved remarkably both structurally and semantically which may be due to the learners’ ability to recognize their ideas more adequately. Pronunciation, on the other hand, was the least developed sub-skill and this could be related to their unwillingness to run the risk of imitating the native accent. (Published Abstract)