Revista Científica Multidisciplinaria Arbitrada YACHASUN. Volumen 8, Número 14 (Ed. Esp. Abril 2024) ISSN: 2697-3456

The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46296/yc.v8i14edespab.0430

THE USE OF SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS'

SPEAKING SKILL

EL USO DE LA DISCUSIÓN EN GRUPOS PEQUEÑOS PARA MEJORAR LA

HABILIDAD DE HABLAR DE LOS ESTUDIANTES

Flores-Limongi María de la Merced ; Macías-Loor Miguel Ángel ²

1

Estudiante de la Maestría en Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros Mención

Enseñanza de Inglés, Facultad de Postgrado, Universidad Técnica de Manabí. Portoviejo,

Ecuador. Correo: mflores6507@utm.edu.ec.

2

Doctor en Lingüística y Lenguas. Docente del Departamento de Pedagogía de los Idiomas

Nacionales y Extranjeros, Universidad Técnica de Manabí. Portoviejo, Ecuador.

Correo: miguel.macias@utm.edu.ec. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5958-3541

Resumen

Uno de los desafíos más difíciles que enfrentan las escuelas ecuatorianas es la cantidad de

estudiantes por aula, lo cual dificulta el proceso de aprendizaje del idioma inglés, especialmente

para desarrollar la expresión oral de los estudiantes. Es una habilidad importante y esencial para

comunicarse e interactuar con los demás. Por esa razón, el objetivo de esta investigación es

mejorar la destreza oral de los participantes en el idioma Inglés mediante grupos pequeños de

conversación. La investigación utiliza el enfoque cuantitativo. La muestra está compuesta por

treinta y nueve estudiantes de décimo grado de educación básica de una unidad educativa

fiscomisional ubicada en Manta, Ecuador. Los instrumentos para la recolección de datos son (1)

cuestionario, (2) hoja de observación y (c) prueba de habilidad oral para determinar el progreso

de los participantes. Los hallazgos muestran que el uso de la discusión en grupos pequeños

mejoró en 2-3 puntos el 100% de la habilidad oral de los participantes. Se concluyó que los

estudiantes interactúan en idioma inglés con mayor frecuencia para compartir ideas, experiencias

o conocimientos cuando participan en discusiones en grupos pequeños. Además, los

participantes se dan cuenta de que participar en grupos pequeños genera un ambiente de

aprendizaje amigable, lo que reduce el estrés y mejora la confianza en sí mismos al utilizar un

idioma extranjero.

Palabras claves: discusión en grupos pequeños, habilidad oral de los estudiantes, efectos

positivos, interactúan, mejorar.

Abstract

One of the most difficult challenges that Ecuadorian schools face is the number of students per

classroom, which makes the English language learning process difficult, especially to develop

students' speaking skill. It is an important and essential skill to communicate and interact with

others. For that reason, this research aim is to improve the participants speaking skill in English

language using small groups of conversation. The research uses the quantitative approach. The

sample consists in thirty-nine students of tenth grade of basic education from a school located in

Manta, Ecuador. The instruments for data collection are (1) questionnaire, (2) observation sheet,

and (c) speaking skill test to determine the participants’ progress. The findings show that the use

of small group discussion improved in 2-3 points the 100% of participants’ speaking skill. It

concluded that the students interact in English language more frequently for sharing ideas,

experiences, or knowledge when take part in small group discussions. In addition, participants

realize that participating in small groups emerges a friendly learning environment, reducing the

stress and supporting their self-confidence using a foreign language.

Keywords: small group discussion, students’ speaking skill, positive effects, interact, improve.

Información del manuscrito:

Fecha de recepción: 12 de enero de 2024.

Fecha de aceptación: 20 de marzo de 2024.

Fecha de publicación: 04 de abril de 2024.

2

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

The study conducted by Crisianita

and Mandasari (2022) shows that

small group discussion gives

students many opportunities to

participate and express their ideas.

Such as interaction greatly improves

students´ speaking skills and respect

to different points of view.

1

. Introduction

English is the official language of 53

countries worldwide, this makes

people recognize the importance of

speaking English. Consequently, this

creates a need in schools to manage

effective strategies for developing

learners’ four English language skills,

especially speaking.

To

manage

overpopulated

classrooms teachers often divide

students’ large group into small

groups, because it allows learners

them to interact, practice, and

discuss among themselves. This

way students can talk freely

communicating in English language

their ideas without feeling hesitant

Speaking is the most important and

essential skill to communicate and

interact

directly

with

others.

According to Akhter, Haidov, Majeed,

and Hussain (2020) People need to

express their ideas, emotions, and

thoughts. And, in order to achieve an

effective they

emphasize the development of

productive abilities, particularly

communication,

(Crisianita & Mandasari, 2022).

The research questions that guide

this study are:

speaking skills. EFL/ESL students

understand that improving speaking

skill is necessary to stay up with the

1. What are the participants’

perceptions about small group

current challenges.

For those

discussion

to

develop

their

reasons, teachers are responsible for

selecting the most appropriated

strategies to obtain better results in

English language learning process

from an early age, and this depends

on many factors such as the number

of students in the classroom, didactic

material, contextualized classes and

learning environments.

speaking´s skills? The participants

answers are in table 2.

2

. What are the changes in the

participants’ speaking skills before

and after the educational

intervention?

3

. How the small groups of

conversation

motivate

the

3

Revista Científica Multidisciplinaria Arbitrada YACHASUN. Volumen 8, Número 14 (Ed. Esp. Abril 2024) ISSN: 2697-3456

The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

participants to take part in the

conversation practices?

its

full

implementation,

understanding that a successful

government policy for inclusive

education also requires population

cooperation.

This research aim is to improve the

participants speaking skills in English

language using small groups

discussion.

In English as a Foreign Language

(

ELE) classes, students must strive

to expand their knowledge of

grammar, expand vocabulary,

The review of the history of English

language teaching in Ecuador shows

1

912 as the starting date (El

improve pronunciation, choose the

appropriate intonation and achieve

the required fluency (Asdar, 2017).

Comercio, 2016). After a few years

in which the curriculum was modified

and

different

programs

were

Thus, speaking is

a

relevant

implemented to help teachers

improve language proficiency, the

current government policy for

teaching English in Ecuador is more

flexible. It includes five blocks

aligned with the exit profile and the

promotion of the values of justice,

innovation and solidarity from the

communicative skill for people in

professional or academic topics, and

in good interpersonal relationships.

According to Andrade (2019), the

conversation classes that achieve

the objective of strengthening

speaking skills articulated with

creativity strategies, use topics of

interest to students, use appropriate

equipment and, above all, deploy

actions to motivate students for EFL

learning. Therefore, it is essential to

carry out motivational support

activities for learning English (Sulon,

2021). Thus, teachers must prepare

students so that they are able to face

the exams of the international

certification tests with solvency.

English

class.

The

proposed

educational reform carries out

various transformations in the

curricular networks of all subjects of

primary and secondary education

(Peña, 2019). At the same time,

universities are graduating new

generations of teachers of English as

a foreign language who have

developed their teaching skills.

However, the strengthening attitudes

and knowledge that support inclusive

education still requires more time for

Daely, Astarini and Husnussalam

(2019) state that small group

4

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

discussion allows shy and fearful

students to take part in it. They also

consider that students acquire more

responsibility and independence

when they work in groups of few

students. In addition, Crisianita and

Mandasari (2022) argue that since

opportunities to express their

opinions and ideas without

embarrassing; also, they learn by

sharing and correcting each other.

Their research showed that when

teachers

used

to

small

group

their

discussions

improve

quiet

students

may

avoid

students' speaking abilities, they

responded favorably. Most students

acknowledged the advantages of

using small groups to improve their

skills in their comments.

participating in large groups, it is

generally better to avoid them for

effective small group discussion.

They believe that the small group

should have 4-5 members so that the

students know how to improve their

skills based on their problem, which

is difficult in a group of many

students.

2

. Methodology

The study used the modern

paradigm, which focuses on the

student as the center of learning, and

the quantitative research approach. It

was executed in a school located in

Manta, Ecuador during 2023-2024.

Komaruddin,

Basthomi,

and

Roekhan (2021), consider that Small

Group Discussion allows students to

interact with each other, building their

own point of view and expressing in

turns, which motivates them to

participate in the learning process.

Furthermore, Tan, Polong, Collates,

and Torres (2020) add that in this

method in which English is used to

communicate, it could be a vehicle to

improve the self-efficacy of oral

English.

2

.1. Sample

The sample consisted of 39 students

from 10th grade that attended to a

basic education school. The group is

46% female and 54% male. Ages

between 14 and 15 years-old. The

research has the participants

parents’ consent to take part of the

stages of this research. The identity

of the participant is anonymous. The

data collected and information

resulting of the research will be kept

Crisianita and Mandasari (2022)

state that in small group discussion

the students have

a

lot of

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Revista Científica Multidisciplinaria Arbitrada YACHASUN. Volumen 8, Número 14 (Ed. Esp. Abril 2024) ISSN: 2697-3456

The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

by the research team leader. It can

be used only for academic purposes.

In any case, the data collected will be

commerce.

Table 1. The participants

Sex

Participants

%

Female

Male

total

18

21

39

46 %

54 %

100 %

Source: Register of participants of the project.

Author: Merced Flores Limongi (2023).

2

.2. Instruments

to 15, and to apply the questionnaire

in Spanish language for a better

understanding of the participants.

The time required to fulfill the

questionnaire is 8 minutes. The

format used was printed version.

The instruments used to collect data

are:

Likert

questionnaire.

–

The

instrument was designed to collect

data about participants´ perceptions

in relation to small group discussion

to develop speaking skills. The

The observation sheets. - They were

completed at the end of each class

intervention.

In them were

categories

studies

are

(1)

(2)

considered what worked, what did

not work, and the perception of the

work done. The 5 class interventions

were carried out with 4 different

activities: dialogue, role play, project-

based learning, and a debate, with

the aim of observing the participation

of students in different activities

according to the number of students

assigned.

participants

perceptions,

participants motivation, and (3)

participants knowledge about

speaking practice using small groups

of conversation. The questionnaire

was applied at the end of 5 class

interventions. The instrument was

evaluated for a panel of experts with

more than 10 year-experience in the

fields English as a Foreign Language

Teaching,

Pedagogy,

and

2.3. Procedure

Educational Administration. The

panel of experts recommended to

reduce the number of items from 25

This study was conducted for

elaborating

a

teaching

methodological proposal based on

6

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

the use of small groups discussion to

develop speaking skills in high

school students through the following

specific stages: (1) To determine the

theoretical foundations of small

groups discussion to develop

speaking skills. (2) To know the

students´ speaking development

during the class. (3) To design

different activities of the proposal to

work in small group discussion to

and extrinsic motivation play an

important role in learning. Lack of

motivation

can

delay,

since

motivation is the drive that makes

people act. In other words,

motivation can increase the behavior

of the learning process.

Stage 2: In the second activity, the

group was divided into two (20

students and 19 students in each

group), a role-play was applied using

images and grammatical structures

as support so that students can

interact more easily. Celce (2001)

agrees with the use of this kind of

activity, she considers that to

improve students' speaking skills,

discussion, speeches, role-plays,

improve speaking skills.

assess the feasibility

(4) To

and

effectiveness of the application of

small group discussion to develop

English language speaking skills.

2

.4. The educational intervention

The educational intervention

conversation,

audiotape

oral

consisted in 4 different activities that

allow students to develop speaking

skill. It combines small groups of

conversation with participative and

dialogues journals, and other

accuracy-based activities can be

used.

project-based

learning

Stage 3: The third activity was

considered to work with 10 students

per group; in this Project Based

Learning activity, the students had to

methodologies.

Stage 1: The first activity was

considered to work with the entire

group; in this activity, a party

scenario was created for student

choose

a

musical genre and

research interesting facts, the pros

and cons of it; also, they had to make

a poster and in the next class, they

shared the information with their

classmates in a presentation. The

topic was chosen to motivate

interaction through

a

dialogue.

Sweets and cookies were placed on

the table as a stimulus to attract

students to participate. Anjomshoa

and Sadighi (2015) refer that intrinsic

7

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The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

students

to

investigate

and

learning in scenarios that are like

those encountered outside of the

participate.

Kovalyova, Soboleva

and Kerimkulov (2016) conclude in

their paper that the application of

Project Based Learning activities in

EFL teaching can significantly boost

students' self-confidence in utilizing

classroom.

They must practice

genuine communication by chatting

about their life, discussing current

events, expressing their thoughts,

and debating issues.

English as

a

key means of

communication in a variety of

engineering activities.

3

. Results and discussion

The data collected is presented

following the research questions that

appear in the introduction section.

Stage 4: In the last activity was

considered 4 students per group.

They read information about the pros

and cons of dogs and cats and

debate in small groups who was

better. Baker and Westrup (2003)

state that it is critical for students to

practice the language they are

Answering the question 1: What are

the participants’ perceptions about

small group discussion to develop

their The

speaking´s

skills?

participants’ answers are in table 2.

Table 2. Participants’ perceptions about small group discussion to develop students speaking´s

skill.

Items

TD

D

N

A

TA

Category 1: Participants’ perception about attention to EFL class

1

. I stay attentive to the activity in the English

0%

2,7%

5,4%

19%

40,5% 37,8%

class when working in small groups (4 to 5

students).

2. I think that when we discuss in groups of 4

24,3% 40,5% 29,8%

to 5 students, we achieve more interaction in

the English class.

3

5

4

. I feel comfortable working in a group of 4 to 2,7%

10,8% 5,4%

21,6% 59,5%

37,8% 32,4%

students.

. I feel better and more taken into account

5,4%

19%

when we discuss in small groups in English

class.

5. I think it is difficult to work in a group of 4 to 35,1% 32,4% 10,8% 13,5% 8,2%

5

students in English class.

8

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

Category 2: Participants motivation to practice conversation in small groups

6. I like to share my point of view when we

2,7%

8,2%

27%

37,8% 24,3%

talk in small groups of 4 to 5 students in

English class.

7. I prefer to work individually in English class. 45,9% 18,9% 21,6% 5,4%

8,2%

8. I prefer to listen to my classmates, I don't 8,1% 18,9% 18,9% 29,8% 24,3%

really like speaking in English.

. I like to participate when there is a stimulus 2,7%

or motivation in English class.

0. I prefer not to participate in English

classes to avoid teasing from my classmates.

9

5,4%

40,5% 32,4% 19%

1

24,3% 21,7% 37,8% 5,4%

10,8%

Category 3: Participants knowledge about advantages of practice conversation in

small groups

11. I know that small group discussion

0%

10,8% 43,3% 45,9%

activities help me improve my speaking skill in

the English language.

1

2. I am convinced that when we discuss a

2,7%

0%

5,4

18,9% 29,7% 43,3%

topic in English in groups of 4 to 5 students,

we can learn more.

1

3. I am sure that if the discussion group has

or 5 students, I will be less afraid to

8,2%

0%

29,7% 27%

35,1%

4

participate.

4. I'm pretty sure that in a small group

1

0%

13,5% 29,8% 56,7%

24,3% 29,8% 35,1%

discussion we all have the opportunity to

participate.

15. I know that participating in small groups

5,4%

calms nerve and builds confidence.

Codification: TD= Totally Disagree, D= Disagree, N= Neutral, A= Agree, TA= Totally Agree.

Source: Likert questionnaire used with the participants.

Author: Merced Flores Limongi (2023).

Findings in table 2 show that 40,5%

of the students agree and 37,8%

students totally agree that they

remain attentive to the activity in

English class when working in small

groups (4 to 5 students). These

results were also confirmed through

classroom observations where it was

observed that students were more

attentive when carrying out activities

in groups of 4 members. When

students worked in large groups or

groups of 10 students, some of them

were distracted by talking to each

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The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

other while other students showed

greater responsibility and completed

the proposed activities. These finding

are supported by Daely, Astarini and

Husnussalam (2019) who consider

embarrassing; also, they learn by

sharing and correcting each other.

As it can be seen in item number

three, 59,5% of the students totally

agree that they feel comfortable

working in a group of 4 to 5 members;

moreover, 37,8% of the students

agree and 32,4% of students totally

agree that they feel better and more

taken into account when they discuss

in small groups in English class (item

4). These results agree with item six,

in which 37,8% of the students agree

that they like to share their point of

view when they talk in small groups.

that

students

acquire

more

responsibility and independence

when they work in groups of few

students.

In regard to item number two, the

results show that 40,5% of the

students agree that when they

discuss in groups of 4 to 5 members,

they achieve more interaction in the

English class. Similarly, students

‘responses show that 56,7% of the

During

the

last

two

class

students totally agree that they are

pretty sure that in a small group

discussion they all have the

opportunity to participate (Item

fourteen.) The class observation

evidenced that during the first

activities that were handled with

larger groups, only a few students

participated voluntarily, but when the

activity was developed in groups of 4

students, everyone participated,

respecting each other's turns.

Crisianita and Mandasari (2022)

state that in small group discussion

interventions, the students seemed

more comfortable when they worked

in groups of 4 and 10 members, and

in the last intervention it was evident

that when the students worked in

groups of 4 members, everyone

participated, even the shyest ones.

These finding are supported by

Komaruddin,

Basthomi,

and

Roekhan (2021), who consider that

Small Group Discussion allows

students to interact with each other,

building their own point of view and

expressing in turns, which motivates

them to participate in the learning

process.

the students have

opportunities to express their

opinions and ideas without

a

lot of

1

0

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

The results showed in item five that

challenges when their teachers do

not frequently speak English in the

classroom. These are all common

issues that teachers have to find

solutions for them.

3

5.1% of the students totally

disagree with the fact that it is difficult

to work in a group of 4 to 5 students

in English class. In the same line,

4

5,9% of the students totally

Although in the first interventions it

was observed that the students were

a little more nervous and there was

not much voluntary participation

when they were working with the

whole group and in groups of twenty

members, 37,8% of the students

remain neutral about they prefer not

to participate in English classes to

avoid ridicule from their classmates

(item ten). This is related to the

following results in which 35,1% of

the students totally agree that if the

discussion group has 4 or 5 students,

they will be less afraid to participate

(item thirteen) and 35,1% of the

disagree that they prefer to work

individually in English class (item

six). According to class observation,

all students worked in groups without

difficulty and it was not evident that

any student preferred to work alone.

Regarding item eight, 29,8% of the

students agree that they prefer to

listen to their classmates, they don't

really like speaking in English.

During the first and second class

intervention, which was carried out

with the whole class and then worked

in groups of 20 members, the

students did not participate much

voluntarily, they were very shy and

were afraid that everyone would hear

them, even one student stated that

during virtual classes it was easier to

participate because he did not have

to be in front of all his classmates.

Crisianita and Mandasari (2022)

consider that many people struggle

with using a foreign language while

also using their native language, feel

shy and fearful about participating in

English conversations, and may face

students

totally

agree

that

participating in small groups calms

nerve and builds confidence (item

fifteen). These results coincide with

the class observation where the

majority of students were nervous

and did not voluntarily participate in

the activities of the entire course and

when they worked with 20 students,

but when groups of 4 students were

made, they were more relaxed and

participated with less embarrassing.

1

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The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

These results are supported by

Daely, Astarini and Husnussalam

confidence. Therefore, working in

small classes is more productive.

(

2019) who state that small group

Finally, the results show that 45,9%

of the students totally agree that they

know that small group discussion

activities help them improve their

speaking skill in the English

language (item 11) and 43,3% of the

students are convinced that when

they discuss a topic in English in

groups of 4 to 5 students, they can

learn more (item 12). The results are

aligned with the observations in

which it was evident that when

students worked in groups of 4

members, they achieved greater

discussion allows shy and fearful

students to take part in it; likewise,

Crisianita and Mandasari (2022)

believe that small group should have

4

-5 members so that the students

know how to improve their skills

based on their problem.

In regard to item nine, 40,5% of the

students remain neutral about they

like to participate when there is a

stimulus or motivation in English

class. The first-class observation

showed that the majority of students

did not participate even though there

were stimuli. In the first activity that

was developed with the entire group,

there were cookies and lollipops and

interaction

and

a

better

understanding of the topic.

It is evident that the students

identified the benefits of working in

small groups, this is supported this is

supported by the results of item 7, in

which 45,9% of the students totally

disagree with working individually in

English class.

later the teacher offered

a

participation point and few students

participated. On the contrary, when

students worked in groups of 4

members, everyone participated

without the need for stimuli. It should

be noted that during all activities the

students were verbally motivated to

participate or share. Bray and Kehle

In answer to question 2: What are the

changes in the participants’ speaking

skills before and after the educational

intervention?

(2011) suggests that small class

teaching not only encourages

students' motivation, but also

improves their enthusiasm and

1

2

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

Table 3. Participants’ pretest and posttest grades of speaking skill.

Participants

Sex

Pretest

Posttest

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Female

Male

9.3

8.9

7

9.5

7.5

10

8.5

10

7

Female

Male

10

9.6

10

8.9

7.8

7

Male

Female

Male

10

9.5

8.5

9.5

9

1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

3

Male

Female

Male

10

7.4

7

Male

9.3

9.6

8.9

10

9.3

8.9

10

7.8

9.3

7

8.5

10

7.5

10

9

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

8.5

7.5

9

Female

Male

9.5

10

9

Male

8.1

7.4

8.5

8.9

7.8

7.4

8.5

8

8.5

9.3

9

Female

Male

Female

Male

8.5

9.5

10

9

Male

Female

Male

8.5

7

9

Female

10

1

3

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The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

3

8

9

Male

10

7

9

3

Female

Source: Project Register.

Author: Merced Flores Limongi (2023).

Findings in Table 3 detail the

students' speaking grades before the

class interventions and the grades

obtained after applying the different

speaking activities. These results

Another important factor that could

be evidenced was the importance of

creating environments that motivate

and

help

students

develop

interaction; It is important to give

them previous examples or a

template with which they can help

start the conversation and then flow

on their own while they practice.

Likewise, it is necessary to choose

topics of interest to students because

it motivates them to participate and

be involved in the activity.

reveal

that

there

was

an

improvement in their grades after the

activities were developed in small

groups.

In answer to question 3: How the

small groups of conversation

motivate the participants to take part

in the conversation practices?

Based on the results and class

observations, it has been shown that

when working on speaking activities

in small groups of 4 to 5 students,

there is greater interaction between

them since they have more

opportunities to participate; In

addition, students feel less fear and

more confidence because they do

not have to participate in front of all

their classmates but only in a small

group. At the same time, this allows

students to be more attentive to

activities, achieve more effective

learning and further develop their

speaking skill.

4

. Conclusions

Speaking is the most important and

essential skill to communicate and

interact with others; for this reason, it

is necessary to analyze what

strategies to apply to obtain better

results in learning speaking English

from an early age, and this depends

on many factors such as the number

of students in the classroom. The

use of small group discussion to

improve students´ speaking skill in

the English language is of great

importance and especially benefits

schools that have many students per

1

4

Flores-Limongi et al. (2024)

classroom.

carry out a greater number of class

interventions to observe more the

student behavior and obtain more

details for the research. In addition, it

is necessary conduct interviews with

students to know an in-depth

understanding of their point of view

about the topic.

The fact that students prefer to listen

to their classmates because they do

not like to speak in English was an

unexpected finding in this research,

but at the same time understandable.

They are students who, after two

years of the pandemic, have found it

difficult to overcome the shame of

participating in front of all their

classmates, not only in the subject of

English but in general. Furthermore,

the students develop in an

environment in which the English

language is not their mother tongue,

for that reason it is important to

create environments and activities

that motivate them to participate.

Working in small groups discussion

has many benefits. Students

consider that they achieve better

attention and interaction by working

in groups of 4 to 5 students, this

makes them feel more comfortable

and taken into account. Another

benefit is that students like to share

their point of view when they talk in

small groups because they feel more

confident; They are aware that small

group discussion activities help them

to improve their speaking skill in the

English language and allow them to

learn more. The positive perceptions

of the students coincide with the

information obtained from class

observations and the grades

obtained after the interventions,

which demonstrate that there was

improvement after applying different

activities that allowed students to

practice speaking in small groups.

In the results of some previous

studies there are evidences to

indicate that small group discussion

gives students many opportunities to

participate and express their ideas,

and this interaction greatly improves

speaking skill and allows students to

learn to respect different points of

view. There are many strategies that

can be useful and effective in

learning to speak English, but when

there are large groups in the

classroom, one of the best strategies

is small group discussion.

It is important for future research to

1

5

Revista Científica Multidisciplinaria Arbitrada YACHASUN. Volumen 8, Número 14 (Ed. Esp. Abril 2024) ISSN: 2697-3456

The Use of Small Group Discussion to Improve Students' Speaking Skill.

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