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Volume 4 Number 4, Winter 2007, Pages 1-271   


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Developing Learners' Oral Communicative Language Abilities: A Collaborative Action Research Project in Argentina

    Pedro Luchini and Analia Rosello


This paper describes and evaluates the implementation of an English oral skills action research project carried out at Colegio Atlantico del Sur (henceforth, CADS), a private middle school in Argentina. The participants of this study were 24 learners, their teacher and a teacher-researcher and evaluator. Data were collected from the learners' oral output, questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations. The findings were analyzed against a set of given criteria based on the literature and our own experience as teachers of English. The results revealed that after having worked with collaborative tasks, which combined a focus on form during a relatively short period of time, these learners were able to moderately improve their spoken English; they became more aware of how certain aspects of language work and they were able to develop their self-confidence and stimulate their motivation to continue learning in class. Secondly, action research projects of this type, where teachers are made to work collaboratively and reflect on their practices, are also valuable in that these aspects contribute significantly to improve teacher development. Finally, some avenues for future research in this area were highlighted.

Keywords: evaluation, oral skills development, action research, tasks