FOSTERING EFL LEARNERS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE BY MEANS OF MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v6i2.4371Keywords:
motivation, motivational activities, communicative competence, EFL intermediate students, EFL teachersAbstract
The ultimate goal of teaching EFL to students is for them to use English for communicative purposes. This paper seeks to examine the communicative competence of EFL students in the Republic of Benin and to study the effect of motivational activities on their oral proficiency. Moreover, the enquiry aims at examining students’ views about the use of motivational activities during English lessons and to find out the extent to which teachers integrate these activities in the classroom. To achieve these objectives, a mixed research method was used. This includes questionnaires and classroom observation. 205 EFL intermediate students and seven EFL intermediate class teachers participated in the enquiry. The results show that students lack motivation or interest to speak English because teachers do not make their lessons lively by introducing motivational activities. Many teachers ignore that motivational activities are effective in the classroom. It is understandably so because they are not trained to incorporate motivational activities in their lessons. Furthermore, students do not speak in class because they are either bored or they do not know the appropriate vocabulary to use. Though motivational activities make learners eager to practise the language, students revealed that their teachers hardly involve them in dramatic activities. These include various tasks such as role-play, simulation, improvisation. This study concludes that motivational activities have a significant impact on learners’ communicative competence, and calls on teachers as well as trainers and pedagogical advisers to ensure their incorporation in the EFL classrooms.
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