The paraphrasing strategy and the English-speaking skills

Abstract

The current research has the objective of analyzing the paraphrasing strategy and the English speaking skills in the students from sixth semester of Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros from Technical University of Ambato, since according to several publications, this strategy allows the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills that are essential for speaking skills. The methodologies used were qualitative, quantitative, descriptive and pre-experimental that involved a group of 20 students. The participants took a pre-test (PET) in order to know the initial level of speaking skills, posteriorly, 8 paraphrasing activities were applied and finally, the same instrument to evaluate was applied as post-test. This study allowed to conclude that the paraphrasing strategy has a positive impact on the students’ speaking skills because when comparing initial and final evaluative results a significant advance is appreciated. Paraphrasing strategy allows the development of mental processes such as evocation, retention, memory, attention, reasoning and reflection. Therefore, it is recommended to use this strategy frequently to develop cognitive and metacognitive processes that are necessary in the language learning process.