EFL Students’ Perceptions of Collaborative Learning in Facilitating the Development of Speaking Skills

Abstract

Speaking proficiency is fundamental to language acquisition, particularly for learners of English as a Foreign Language, but it remains challenging for many students. This study explored how collaborative learning can facilitate the development of speaking skills of intermediate-level EFL students and identified the factors hindering their communicative development. Participants were 116 fourth-level EFL students (60 women and 56 men) from a public Mexican university. The study used mixed methods, administering a survey and an interview to collect data. A total of six collaborative learning activities were applied to encourage spontaneous oral production and interaction in a supportive, low-pressure environment. Results indicated collaborative learning facilitates EFL students’ oral production, fostering cognitive, psychological, and social benefits. Students perceived collaborative learning as an effective strategy to facilitate vocabulary learning, improve pronunciation, develop conversational fluency, and enhance listening skills. Psychological benefits included increased selfconfidence and reduced anxiety, while social benefits involved better peer interactions and a greater sense of belonging. However, linguistic challenges such as limited vocabulary and pronunciation errors, along with psychological barriers like fear of ridicule and low self-esteem, were identified as significant obstacles to oral proficiency. Therefore, the implications of this study suggest that incorporating collaborative learning activities in EFL classrooms could significantly enhance students' communicative abilities and help eradicate linguistic and psychological barriers, leading to more effective language learning environments.