Improving EFL Students' Speaking Skills through Oral Reflections

This study investigates the effect that oral reflections might have on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' speaking skills. The study was implemented at one of the universities in North Cyprus on six English Language and Literature (ELL) department, first-year students. The researcher used a quasi-experimental one group pre-test post-test design to find out the differences between the pre-test and post-test scores and supported the study by questionnaires to find out students' perceptions toward using oral reflections in improving their speaking skills. The study was implemented through the use of a mobile application named Podbean which gave students the chance to upload their podcasts and reflect on. The collected data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20 by descriptive statistics, Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Ranking test was employed to compare the results of the pre-test and post-test. The results indicated that the students' performance in the post-test had really improved compared to the pre-test and the students' perceptions were mostly positive regarding the use of oral reflections.