Investigating The Effectiveness Of Bachman And Palmer Model On Enhancement Of Communicative Competence Of Undergraduate Students Of Pakistan
Loading...
Date
2017-08
Authors
Sartaj, Shabana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Research shows that oral communicative skills are paid less attention in ELT
practices around the world. The situation is similar in Pakistan. It seems that oral
communicative skills are neglected in the pedagogy of English as compared to the
other language skills such as reading and writing. The reasons indicated in research
were education policies, poor language planning, curriculum design and weak
assessment system. As a result, students cannot develop oral communicative
competence in English and hence face a number of hurdles and problems in their
professional and academic achievements. Secondly, the English language teachers
mainly focus on the grammar, sentence structures, fluency and accuracy, ignoring the
sociolinguistic competence which is an essential need in a multiethnic, multicultural
and multilingual country like Pakistan. Considering all these factors, a module and a
test of communicative competence was developed. In order to investigate the
effectiveness of Communicative Competence Module on undergraduate students of
Pakistan, a mixed methods research was designed on Quasi Experimental method with
control and experimental groups. The communicative competence module and test
were theoretically based on Bachman and Palmer’s model of Communicative
Language Ability while the components of the module and test were designed on
Fink’s model of integrated learning and his taxonomy of significant learning. The
effectiveness of the module was investigated on a pre-test and post-test method of
experimental research. The sample for this research were the students of ITC and
Engineering faculties of SAU Tandojam. A total of 30 respondents participated in each
control and experimental group. Six participants from the experimental group were
purposively sampled for semi structured interviews to inquire about their experiences
of the respondents during the intervention of this module. Findings showed a
significant difference in the enhancement of communicative competence of the
respondents between the results of pre-test and post-test. The respondents of the
experimental group performed higher on the post-test as compared to the respondents
of the control group. The results indicated that there was a significant effect of the
module on enhancement of the three competencies such as linguistic competence,
sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence on performance of the
respondents. The findings of the interviews showed that respondents were eager to
learn Oral Communication and they appreciated the module for enhancement of
communicative competence, its student-centered teaching methods, group activities
and collaborative learning that increased their confidence and lessened the hesitation
and gender gap which is a hindrance in participation in any communicative task in the
class. The respondents suggested that such interventions should be promoted in the
educational system from the foundation level. The respondents complained of the
poor infrastructure, negligence of OCS, teachers’ and peers’ discouraging attitude for
oral communication in the class. It is highly recommended that OCC should be given
priority in the curriculum designing and pedagogy of English language.
Description
Keywords
Oral communicative skills are paid less attention , in ELT practices around the world