Chunks and Oral Communication

Abstract

To develop and master oral communication skills, the most important aspect is to have a wide lexicon that allows expressing ideas, thoughts, and feelings besides starting and maintain a conversation proficiently. This research is aimed to establish the influence of lexical chunks in students’ oral communication. This study was developed with 28 students from Fifth Semester “A” of Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros at Universidad Técnica de Ambato. This study has been labeled as experimental research with qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, an online survey was applied to students in order to diagnose the students’ current use of Lexical Chunks. For data gathering, the researcher used Part 4 of the Speaking Section from the PET exam as a Pre-test and Post-test. The subjects were exposed to seven sessions of lexical chunks’ classes and activities. After giving students the Post-test, the statistical tool SPSS and the T-test method were used to tabulate and analyze the collected data. In the end, the results showed that lexical chunks had a positive impact on students’ oral communication. By providing students with useful words, phrases, and expressions, students will become orally competent. Consequently, they will be able to express and understand conversations content in an accurate way which is vital to have a good speaking performance