Arab Educational Information Network

Investigating skills critical to speak English clearly and convincingly in public contexts is an issue worth examining for its significance in helping students speak with poise and engage with a large audience. Simultaneous interpretation resembles a real-life form of public speaking where the interpreter transforms what is being spoken between two languages before a live audience. The aim of this study was to identify the effectiveness of employing simultaneous interpretation in teaching a proposed public speaking program on the development of students’ public speaking skills, cognitive achievement, and attitudes toward speaking in English among non-specialist undergraduate students. A descriptive analytical method as well as a semi-empirical experimental method with a two-group design were used to investigate the variables of this study, which was conducted with 70 non-specialist undergraduate students of English enrolled in the second level at Port Said Faculty of Education, randomly assigned into a control group (N=35) and an experimental group (N=35). The data were collected using a list of public speaking skills, a scale on public speaking skills, a cognitive achievement test, and a scale on participants’ attitudes toward speaking the English language.The experimental group received the proposed training program that included (20) sessions and lasted for (10) weeks in the first semester of the academic year 2019/2020. Data of the pre- and post-applications of the instruments administration were collected, statistically analyzed, and contrasted. The results revealed that the proposed training, using simultaneous interpretation, affected positively public speaking skills, cognitive achievement, and attitudes toward speaking English among non-specialist undergraduate English students at Port Said Faculty of Education. Implications, suggestions for further research, and recommendations for EFL teachers, students, researchers, and curricula developers are submitted. (Published abstract)