KASDI MERBAH UNIVERSITY-OUARGLA

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Department of Letters and English Language

Dissertation
Academic Master
Domain: Letters and Foreign Languages
Field: English Language and Literature and Civilization
Specialty: Linguistics

Submitted by: Bounaama Marwa

Djezzar Imen

Enhancing students’ oral performance

Title through Turn Taking
strategies.
Case study: Second Year License Students at KMUO

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Master Degree in Linguistics

Publically defended on:

/ 06 / 2019
Before the Examining Committee
President KMU- Ouargla
Supervisor KMU- Ouargla
Examiner KMU- Ouargla

Academic Year : 2018/ 2019

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Abstract

Developing intercultural awareness is cardinal for EFL learners in order to become good

communicators as well as be able to handle communicative exchanges with native and non-

native users of English smoothly and effectively. One of the essential mechanisms of

conversation is Turn taking and its conventions vary from culture to culture. Thus, EFL

learners face difficulty while taking turns naturally and properly in conversations. Turn taking

is the process by which participants speak in alternating turns. Sack,H., Schegloff, E. A., &

Jefferson, G. (1974) elaborated the system of turn taking organization as a model, which is

based on turn taking phenomena. The current study attempts to examine the way that when

raising EFL learners awareness of turn taking principles, enhances their oral performance.

Thus, the hypothesis set forth at the beginning of this study is that teaching EFL learners turn

taking strategies would promote their spoken discourse. The research methodology adopted in

the present study is quasi-experimental method. In order to test the hypothesis, a questionnaire

is distributed to the third year students in order to know their attitude towards Turn Taking

system in conversations and a an interview with oral teachers  as well as an experiment on

third year students at the university students of Kasdi Merbah Ouargla.

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4
 General

Introduction

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Background to the study 

Language is a vital tool of communication. It is the primary means through which humans

are able to communicate and interact with one another as well as to transfer one’s culture and

beliefs . Therefore, many countries are emphasizing teaching foreign language in their

pedagogical settings. At present, English is considered a langauge for international

communication ; science ; commerce ; advertising ; deplomacy and transmitting advenced

technology. It has also been a ‘lingua franca’ among speakers that speak different languages

(willis, 1996, and Coury & Carlos). Hence, unlike past language classes which emphasis

Teaching grammatical rules and list of vocabulary, nowadays the main concern of EFL

Classes is to make the learner communicatively competent. The communicative approach is

based upon the belief that when learners are involved in real situations and deals with

authentic materials in classroom, they will be competent in using language in natural settings.

In 1972, Dell Hymes coined the term ‘communicative competence’. He theorizes that

Communicative competence is what the speaker need to know in order to be communicatively

competent in speech community . He asserted that the ability to communicate properly

should be Cultivated in language teaching. Learners should learn how to use a language

in their daily communication in order to demonstrate their mastery of a language. Since

speaking is one of the productive skills and considered a vital one, teaching oral

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communication is, undoubtedly , one of the complex yet a necessary activity in the teaching

process. For that reason, one way to enhance learners’ oral performance is to make them

aware of turn taking techniques in conversations, since those techniques are considered vital

to improve learners interactional competence.

1. Statement of the problem 

Turn taking is often troublesome for EFL learners owing to its sociocultural variations.

A smooth turn taking not only require a knowledge of linguistic rules but also a knowledge of

conversational rules of the target language. Therefore, some EFL learners fall silent instead

of taking a turn, although they may have a not bad baggage of linguistic rules of the target

language. Second year students of Ouargla university seem to be no exception. It is noticed

that in classroom discussions some students fail to take parts in conversations or discussions

due to the lack of knowledge of conversational rules and turn taking strategies that enable

them to take part in conversations and hold their turns to express their ideas smoothly with no

awkward silence. EFL teachers find it difficult to find a way in order to raise students

awareness of the turn taking strategies. In this regard the problem cultivated from this study is

to examine whether the explicit instruction of turn taking strategies can enhance their oral

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performance.

Purpose of the study

The overall aim of EFL classes is to teach English for communication and to do so it is

vital that teachers have to shed light on the system that govern conversations and teach it to

learners in order to reduce their weakness in turn taking in spoken dialogues. Teaching

learners Turn taking strategies (TTS) would make them perform appropriately in real life

situations. Therefore, the ultimate aim of the present study is to examine the way in which

making students aware of Turn Taking strategies enhances their oral performance.

Reseach questions 

- What is the impact of raising students awareness of turn taking strategies on their oral

performance?

- To what extent teaching students strategies of turn taking enhances their oral

performance?

- What are third year students of English attitudes towards applying Turn Taking

strategies during oral performance?

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Research hypothesis

It is hypothesised that:

-student’s awareness of turn taking strategies promotes their use of language during oral

performance.

- teaching third year students principles of Turn Taking would enhance their oral

performance.

-Third year students would possibly hold a positive attitude towards learning the turn taking

strategies.

The structure of the dissertation:

The present study is divided into General Introduction, General Conclusion and two

main parts. The General Introduction is devoted to background to the study, statement of the

problem, the purpose of the study, research questions and hypotheses and the structure of the

study. Part One is devoted to the literature review. It is divided into three sections. The first

section

tackles the speaking skill and its teachabilty in contexts. The second section deals with

conversational

analysis and approaches to discourse as well as turn taking and it`s impact on learners oral

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production. The second part presents the methodology, the sample population, and the data

collection tools in addition to describing the analysis of the results.

Finally, this work ends with General Conclusion.

1 The speaking skill 

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 Speaking is a fundamental skill that reflects the competence of the individual. However,

it

is not a process of production of sounds and grammatical correct sentences solely, but it

rather covers a range knowlege of pragmatics, social interactions as well as functions of

language. According to Brown(1997) speaking is a process of constructing meaning that

involve both producing and receiving as well as processing information. In the same vein

Chaney (1998) stated that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through

the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols in context. Nunan (1999) pointed out that the

success of the process of learning of a language is measured by the performance of a learner

in a conversation of the target language. Thus , mastering speaking in the target language is a

priority for most of EFL learners. The mastery of speaking skill involves the mastery of

speaking sub-skills or competencies such as linguistic competence, discourse competence,

pragmatics competence and fluency. The competence of the learners is measured by their

ability to express themselves appropriately, properly and fluentley. Ur

(2012) stated that

“Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) speaking seems

intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of

that language; as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing” (p.117).

1.2Accuracy and fluency

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Learning English is somehow troublesome to some learners due to the complexity of its

components. Among the components of the language which are taught in EFL classes are:

Grammar, vocabulary, structure of language and so on. EFL learners are expected to be

proficient in using the target language. Therefore, it is vital to adapt exercises, activities and

the overall teaching effort to support both their accuracy and fluency in using the language.

Brown (1994:254) stated out the distinction between accuracy and fluency. Accurate means

clear, articulate, and correct in phonologically and grammatically. Whilst fluent means the

ability to communicate without hesitation and too much pauses or any breakdown in

communication. According to Byrne(1988), accuracy is the capability to produce sentence by

using a correct grammar and vocabulary. It refers to the use of appropriate forms where

utterances do not include errors that affect the phonological, syntactical, and semantic or

discourse features of language.

1.3Functions of speaking

According to Yule and Brown (1983), spoken language is devided into two parts

according

to its functions : the interational function and the transactional function. In the case of

interactional function is a listener-oriented. The aim of the speaker is to maintain social

relationship. An illustration of the interactional function is telephone conversation between

friends. While the transactional function is the transference of information thus it is a

message-

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oriented bacause the speaker beleives that less knowledge is shared with the listener such as

the teacher and students. Further, Bruder and Tillit (1985) add a third function of speaking

which is formal use (i.e when talking to strangers, people with higher status) and informal

use of language ( speech used with relatives, friends).

1.4Micro-skills of Speaking

Brown (2001, p.272) suggested several micro-skills for oral communication and they are as

following:

 Produce chunks of language of different lengths.

 Orally produce differences among the English phonemes and allophonic variants.

 Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed positions,

rhythmic

 structure, and intonational contours.

 Produce reduced forms of words and phrases.

 Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) in order to accomplish pragmatic

 purposes.

 Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery.

 Monitor your own oral production and use various strategic devices-pauses, fillers,

 self-corrections, backtracking- to enhance the clarity of the message.

 Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems ( e.g., tense,

agreement,

 pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.

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  Produce speech in natural constituents – in appropriate phrases, pause groups,

breathgroups, and sentences.

 Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.

 Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse.

 Accomplish appropriately communicative functions according to situations,

participants and goals.

 Use appropriate registers, implicature, pragmatic conventions, and other

sociolinguistic features in face-to-face conversations.

 Convey links and connections between events and communicate such relations as

main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization,

and exemplification.

 Use facial features, kinesics, body language, and other nonverbal cues along with

verbal language to convey meanings.

 Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as emphasizing key words,

rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the meaning of words, appealing

for help, and accurately assessing how well your interlocutor is understanding you.

As a matter of fact, EFL learners may not have the opportunity to acquire these micro-skills;

however, they need instructions to practice them. Students are trained for these different

micro-skills in

oral classes in order to produce accurate verbal communication to achieve their

communication purposes. These micro-skills are cardinal for language learners in order to

enhance their speaking performance.

1.5 The importance of teaching speaking

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The ultimate goal of most language learners is to be good communicators using the target

language. Communication takes place when there is speech. Thus, without speech, a language

is considered a mere script. Despite the enormous significance of speaking skill, In the past,

oral communication instruction had less attention and it was somehow neglected due to the

misconception that communicative competence increases naturally over time (Chanay,1998).

However, Goh(2007) claims that speaking is not merely a means for communication but also

it can enhances the aquisition and the developement of the foreign language for EFL learners.

In this respect, Rosana (2011) pointed out that speaking has a major function and enhancing

learners speaking skill may seem not an easy task for learners to attain. Although the

complexity of the teaching process of speaking

« speaking is the vehicle par exellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of

professional advancement and of bussiness. It is also the medium through which much

language is leanrt, and which for many is particulary conductive for learning. Perhaps,then,

the teaching of speaking merits more thought »

(Bygate,1987.P,1)

Teaching speaking not only improves learners communication skill but also, recent research

indacates that speaking can support other language skills and concidered that oral interaction

as a vital factor that increase learners language developement (Gass & Varionis, 1994).

In particular, it was proved that leraning speaking can help the development of reading

skill (Hilferty, 2005), the development of listening skill (Regina, 1997) and the development
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of writing (Trachsel & Severino, 2004).

1.6Teaching speaking in EFL classroom

Reaching a perfect level of competence in using a language is not a must for learners to

be considered a speaker of that language. In fact, EFL learners can communicate orally with a

few amount of linguistic knowledge if they use pragmatic and sociocultural factors

approapriately. According to Mariannne Celce-Murcia and Elite Olshtain(2000), there are a

number of prerequisites in order learners would be considered effective communicators.

Mariannne Celce-Murcia and Elite Olshtain suggest a set of linguistic, sociocultural, and

discourse competencies needed to enhance oral communication :

a- Knowing the vocabulary relevant to the situation.

b- Ability to use discourse connectors such as well ; oh ; i see ; okay.

c- Ability to use suitable « opening phrases » and « closing phrases» such as excuse

me or Thank you for your help.

d- Ability to comprehend and use reduced forms( reducing vowel sounds in

particularly important in English)

e- Knowing the syntax for producing basic clauses in the language.

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 f- Ability to use the basic intonation –or tone– patternns of the language.

g- Ability to use proper rythem and stress in the language and to make proper

pauses.

h- Awareness of how to apply Grice’s maxims in the new language.

i- Knowing how to use the interlocutor’s reactions and input

j- Awareness of the various conversational rules that facilitate the flow of talk

1.6.1 Speaking activities in the language classroom

Speaking activities in classrooms should focus on enabling students to gain experience using

all the aforementioned ‘prerequisites for effective oral communication. Mariannne Celce-

Murcia and Elite Olshtain(2000 :176) . Yule(1995) pointed ou that the teaching of spoken

language in the language classroom is often troublsome for both teacher and learners.

Materials used in classrooms are based on desriptions of written English instead of the

communicative approach that rely heaviley on using language in authentic situations.

The teaching of speaking from a discourse perspective make the teacher shifts from

focusing on linguistic performance to focusing more on pragmatic use of language. Murcia

and Elite Olshtain(2000 :178). Intelligible input as well as social interaction including

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negotiation of meaning are regarded to be tremendous two factors in second language

acquisition (Faltis, 1993, p.101). Thus, language teaching programs should focus on making

learners communicatively competent by engaging them in effective interactional speaking

situations .

According to Harmer’s model, the instruction unit ought to tally the following five stages :

➢ Introduction: introducing the learners to the topic and explaining the aim of the lesson.

Asking them to brainstorm their prior knowledge about the topic. For example, if the topic of

the lesson is enrolling in a private school, students can be asked to guess the content of a

possible conversation in the administration of the school.

➢ Presenting the task: In this stage, the teacher is supposed to present the task explicitley

and the task should be clearly

➢ Observation: The teacher observes learners performance and intervenes when needed with

feedback and corrections if the learner fails to self-monitor. The interferene of the instructor

not only for the sake of correction but also for ensuring that students are progressing

according to the course objectives.

➢ Feedback: teachers feedback is vital to check learners performance. Giving students

feedback on the content of the activity is more effective than on the grammar accuracy.

Feedbacck is enoumous to raise learners motivation thus it should be more positive to build

their self-confidence.

➢ Follow up Activity on the Topic: at the end. a follow up assignment to reinforce the

activities in the lesson can be given

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Introduction and

explanation
The

possession

of the

required
Putting forth the
knowledge
details of the task
by the

learners

The Observation

of the Activity

by the Teacher

The Follow

up Activity
Giving Feedback

Figure 1. The Stages in a Speaking Class (Adapted from Harmer, 2007)

1.7 Communicative competence in teaching speaking

From the instance of its emergence into the linguistic discourse, the notion of communicative

competence has been constantly modified and adapted to the context of its use.The term of

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communicative competence is a combination of two words which denotes ‘competence to

communicate’. The coinage of the word

‘competence’ was by Noam Chomsky in his book « aspects of the theory of syntax » . In his

influencial book he drew a distinction between competence ‘the monolingual speaker-listener

knowledge of language’ and performance ‘ the actual use of language in authentic contexts’.

Soon after it was criticized for focusing solely on linguistic competence. As a reaction,

Hymes coined the

concept ‘communicative competence’ which is broader and more realistic notion of

competence. Hymes defined CC as the ability to use the grammatical

competence in a variety of communicative situations in social contexts. Communicative

approach to language teaching first appeared in print in the field of second language

acquisition (SLA). Savignon (1998) stated that CC is the primary theoretical notion in

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). According to Widdowson (1978), the

ultimate goal in language teaching is the acquisition of communicative competence in

interacting, for it enhances learners’ speaking ability as well as the other language skills.

Canale and Swain(1980) viewed communicative competence as a combination of both a

fundemtal system of knowledge and and skills needed for communication. According to them,

there are three types of knowledge : knowledge of underlying grammatical rules,

knowledge of how to use language in a social context in order to accomplish communicative

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functions and knowledge of how to combine utterances and communicative functions with

respect to discourse principles. Canal and Swain’s work (1980) that is built upon Hymes’

theory suggested four sub-competences under communicative competence :

discourse competence, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic

competence. Canal later developed a framework of communicative competence based on an

earlier version by Canal and Swain (1980).

Grammatical
Grammatical
Competence
Competence

Strategic
Strategic
Competence
Competence

Socio-cultural
Socio-cultural
Competence
Competence

Discourse
Competence

Figure 02. Canale and Swain (1980- 1983) Model of

Communicative Competence (Adopted from Murcia, 1995, p. 4)

2. Definition of turn taking

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In conversation, two or more participants exchange ideas this entails that there exist at least

two individuals who take part in that conversation as the speaker and the listener and both

participants have to take turn of speaking. A turn is defined as the time when a speaker is

talking. Turn taking refers to the way in which speakers alternate, from one speaker to

another, in interaction. In this respect, Drew, Paul; Heritage, John (2006), described turn

taking as a process of organization in conversation and discourse where participants speak one

at a time in alternating turns. In fact, it includes processes for constructing contributions,

responding to previous comments, and transitioning to a different speaker and using a variety

of linguistic and non-linguistic cues. Several years of research within a Conversation Analysis

framework have showed that this apparently simple aspect of language use involves a number

of highly complex behaviours. The organization of turn-taking was initially explored as a part

of conversation analysis by Harvey Sacks with Emanuel Schegloff and Gail Jefferson in the

late 1960s/early 1970s, and their model is still mostly accepted in the field. In their article “A

simplest Systematic Organization of Turn Taking”, Sacks,Jefferson,SChegloff clarified that

each participant have an equal chance to speak, however, there will be only one participant

who speaks at that time and a listener who is waiting to take the floor. Those rules are refered

to as the turn taking system.

2.2Turn taking rules

Conversations need to be organized thus there must be a set of rules governs when a speaker

takes the turn, gives turn, or keeps it. These rules are suggested to assure that there is only one

speaker at a time in order to minimize gaps and overlaps in each turn change. Therefore,

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Sacks et al. propose a set of rules governing the turn taking. the description of turn taking

mechanism has been the objective of many linguist. Sacks et al are considered to be the

pioneers in the area of CA who propose the turn taking mechanism after examining several

natural recorded conversations. They conclude that:

1-Speaker change recurs, or at least occurs.

Overwhelmingly, one party talks at a time.

Occurrences of more than one speaker at a time are common but brief.

Transitions (from one turn to a next) with no gap and no overlap are common. Together with

transitions characterized by slight gap or overlap, they make up the vast majority of

transitions.

1- Turn order and size are not fixed, but vary.( flexible)

2- Length of conversation is not specified in advance.

3- What participants say is not specified in advance.

4- Number of parties can vary.

5- Relative distribution of turns is not specified in advance.

6- Turn- allocation techniques are obviously used. A current speaker (as when he addresses

a question to another party), or parties may self-select in starting to talk.

7- Talk can be continuous or discontinuous.

8- Various turn-constructional units are employed e.g., turns can be projectedly 'one word

long' or can be sentential in length.

9- Repair mechanisms exist for dealing with turn-taking errors and violations; eg if two

participants find themselves talking simultaneously , one of them will stop prematurely,

thus repairing the trouble.

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(Sacks, Schegloff, Jefferson PP 700-701)

In the same vein, Thornbury , suggestes two major rules for turn-taking :

1- Long silences are to be avoided .

2- Listen when other speakers are speaking . (Thorn bury ,2005:8)

In order to minimize gaps and overlaps Sacks et al suggest a set of rules governing the turn

taking. it include three components:

1.Turn constructional component

2. turn allocational component or turn taking rules

3. implicit and explicit markers.

1- Turn constructional component (TCUs) is the basic unit of the utterance. The end of the

TCU is a point where one participant may finish and another party may begin is k The

2- Turn allocation component include techniques for selecting the next speaker.

There are two types of techniques: those where the current speaker selects the next

speaker, and those where the next speaker self-select.

3- Rules govern turn construction: Once a Transition Relevance Place is attained, the

following rules are applied in order:

 The present speaker selects the next speaker and transfers the turn to them.

 One of the non-speakers self-selects, with the first person to speak claiming the

next turn.

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  No one self-selects, and the current speaker continues until the next TRP or the

conversation ends.

Turn taking strategies

Importance of teaching turn taking strategies

Previous research on turn taking:

The following table represents previous studies that are related to this field of research.

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Researcher first foreign technique results
Language language

Bahman Gorjian Iranian English Quasi - conversation

strategies
Parviz Habibi experimental had a significant
method impact on
performance
conversations.

-the application
of TT strategies
in the classroom
motivated the
learners to
speak outside the
the classroom.

O.F. Elkommos - English Descriptive -EFL learners

Method should be equiped
with pragmatic
rules to support the
to acquire the pragma-
-tic competence.

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 Practical part

Introduction

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 The present chapter is devided into two sections. The first section is devoted to the

research design opted for, the participants, the data collection procedures, the data

analysis as well as what elements have made this study valid and reliable. On the other

hand, the second section deals with the analysis of the results gathered from training

sessions and post-test and it ends with a presentation of the results interpretation of the

observation sessions and the students interview.

Research Design

Research Setting and participants

The present study was conducted at the Department of Letters and English Language at

Kasdi Merbah University of Ouargla (KMUO). Concerning the English department, it started

during the academic year (1991/1992). Twenty-four (24) teachers are certified to teach a total

number of nine hundred eighty-nine (989) students.

Research Sample

The sample of the present study is sixty (40) from a total of two hundred sixty-three (200)

second year students of English at KMUO during the academic year 2018/2019. The sample

is divided into two groups, and each group contains thirty (20) students. The sample of the

present study has been chosen purposefully since second year undergraduates are assumed to

have been developed their basic linguistic knowledge. Moreover, they will surely benefit from

the findings of this research in their further studies.

Table (05): Participants' profile

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Group N° of students %

A 20 50%

B 20 50%

Total 40 100%

Research Instruments
This chapter is intended to discuss the results obtained from the analysis of the observation.

Furthermore, the present study takes place during the second semester of the Academic year

2018/2019 at the Department of Letters and English Language at Kasdi Merbah University

Ouargla with students of second year licence where English is considered as FL. An

observation, video record, and semi-structured interview with the teacher were programmed

to gather information about student’s development of using tenses in oral performance after

pre-test and training sessions.

Research Procedures

The present study takes a place at the Department of Letters and English Language at Kasdi

Merbah University Ouargla. LMD system of instruction qualifies the students to graduate

with a “license” after the first three years and Master degree in English specialties after two

additional years. This study intended to collect data from post-test under the observation

during the oral session in order to diagnose students’ progress. In addition, we opted for an

interview students. Furthermore, the participants of this study were one teacher of oral and 42

second year license students of English.

Training sessions
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Training sessions designed in one session. The teacher explained Turn-taking rules and turn

taking strategies and provided them with hand-outs that contained a full explanation of turn

taking and strategies, Training sessions aim at providing students with the useful information

about turn taking to make students aware of Turn Taking strategies and enhances their oral

performance.

Post-test

In order to confirm that the training session was helpful enough for students or not, in

making students aware of turn taking strategies and enhances their oral performance. Thereby

one post-test session was designed in order to determine the extent of the training session that

affected the students in oral performance Thus students were asked to perform presentations

such as debates and TV show as well as telephone conversation that showing students become

aware or not of turn taking strategies to enhances their oral performance.

Training session

One way to make students aware of TTS is to expose them

The training is a formal instruction in the classroom. It is teaching students TTS with
illustrations.

Results and analysis

The analysis of students performance focus on whether techniques and strategies of TTS

after the training, we investigated the effects of the formal instruction. The following part

discusses the obtained results.

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 Table: Post-test Results.

Prese Situations
Numb Strategies used Functions and analysis
er
ntatio of
n studen
ts

Grou
p
1 -TV show: discussion about 3
the absentees in the
classroom Facial expressions and Getting attention
gestures
Interjections
Taking the floor
Eye contact
Fillers; emm.. erm..uh
Avoidance (relinquish the
Appropriate sound floor)
production(prosodic
features)

Grou -1) First part: Telephone Adjacency pairs asking and answering questions
p conversation 3 Prosodic features (answer to summons),
2 Greetings, Topic , closing pairs

-2) second part : TV show: Facial expressions To gain others attention

discussion about the Gaze direction Addressing the next speaker
absentees in the classroom Adjacency pairs Seeking further information

Grou - TV show: discussion Fillers Fillers and repetition help to

p about participation in 3 Gestures holding into the floor
3 English as foreign interruptions Indicating a question is going
language Repetition to be asked, interrupt to take a
Eye contact turn, Getting attention, ask
Adjacency pairs questions

Grou -Debate: who is the best in Tag questions Seeking information

p teaching native vs. 3 Natural fillers( Gain more time thinking to
4 nonnative teacher And Repetition avoid silence

Grou - discussion: what is the Eye contact Holding onto the floor
p best teaching method? 3 Interruptions Overlap trying to taking the

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 5 theoretical or practical? Gestures floor
Falling intonation
Relinquishing the floor

Grou
p 3 Tag questions Addressing the next speaker
6 Gaze direction
Naming Seeking to take the floor
-TV show hard copy vs. Interruption
soft copy Gestures and facial Regain the floor
expression
Holding into the floor

Grou -Debate: what is the best Adjacency pairs Taking the floor
p teaching method? 3 Fillers ( uh….emm…) Eye down and lengthening
7 theoretical or practical? Eye contact sound and with uh…..Emm….
Interruptions to holding into the floor
Gesture and facial interruption to take the floor
expression Avoidance (relinquish the
Termination floor)

Grou - hard copy vs. soft copy Gaze direction Taking the floor
p 3 Rising intonation Holding onto the floor
8 Fillers Relinquishing the floor
Gestures and facial
expression
Interruptions
falling intonation
Grou
p -Using technology in EFL 3 Eye contact Selecting the next speaker
9 classroom Gestures and facial Trying to taking the floor
expression Holding onto the floor
Adjacency pairs Relinquishing the floor
Fillers
falling intonation
Termination

Grou Gaze direction Taking the floor

p 10 - hard copy vs. soft copy 3 Gestures and facial Getting attention
expression Holding onto the floor
Interruptions , sound
production(prosodic
features)

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Grou Adjacency pairs Selecting the next speaker
p 11 -TV show: university 3 Fillers Holding onto the floor
degrees Eye contact Elicit attention
Gestures Relinquishing the floor
Falling intonation

Grou
p -TV show: hard copy vs. 3 Gestures Getting attention
12 soft copy Tag question buying time
Fillers taking the floor
Back channel cues Supporting with interjections
Interjections (yeah, okay…..)
Prosodic features

Grou
p 13 -Participation in English 3 Eye contact Taking the floor
foreign language Facial expressions and Self-selecting
classroom gestures Holding onto the floor
Adjacency pairs Repeating the question to avoid
Fillers the silence of the speaker
Post completor
prosodic features
Grou Facial expressions
p 14 -TV show: university 3 Gaze direction Addressing the next speaker
degrees Rising intonation Holding onto the floor
Interruption Overlap
Fillers Taking the floor
Naming

The above table demonstrates the participants’ use of TTS during their performances. It is

noticeable that students significantly use TTS according to the situation needed. After the

training sessions, the researchers observed that students have digested the hand-outs given to

them and frequently used the strategies to take, hold or relinquish the floor during their

debates. The fact that the participants started employing the strategies of TT after the training

session indicates the improvement in their performance.

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Conclusion

In this part, two major sections were presented. The first section was dedicated to

presenting the research design, explaining the instruments used in collecting the data and

assuring the validity and reliability of this study. The second section, moreover, presents the

analysis of the data collected and their interpretations.

Introduction

This part is devoted to discuss the summary of findings, in accordance with the theoretical
and pedagogical consequences. It also discusses the limitation of the study. Finally, it ends
with implication which is derived from the results of the present study.

Summary of the major findings

The interpretation of the results implies that:

1- Turn taking strategies are important

2- The findings of the experiment proved that the performance of second year students of
KMUO improved due the formal instruction.
3-

Limitations of the study

It is plausible that a number of limitations may have influenced the results obtained.

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 1. First to begin with, it was difficult to find previous studies about turn taking strategies,

especially in the case of the Algerian EFL context.

2. In the experiment phase, a debate was held to figure out whether the explicit

instruction and providing students with handouts about turn taking strategies or

teaching them implicitly and applying awareness raising activities is most effective.

Due to time constrains, an explicit instruction were chosen.

3. Time was not sufficient to measure the efficiency of the explicit instruction of Turn

taking strategies. Hence, we cannot generalize this study.

4. Due to the strikes that students have done, the number of the absentees and the

unexpected holidays, we were obliged to administer merely two sessions for the

training session and the post test.

5. Only one group undergoes this study, owing to the unavailability of the other groups.

6. We were restricted to highlight only the most main elements in the literature review

part.

7. As the research was conducted at one university and with only two groups from the

same level taught by the same teacher. Consequently, this prevented us from

generalizing the findings of this research.

Pedagogical implication

35
36
The Analysis of interviews results
1. Which language skill you think you are better in?

Table : Skills

Students 3 3 5 4

Questions

Students
Q1: which language speaking writing Reading listening
skill you think you
are better in

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 2. How was your oral experience last year? Which methods/ techniques did the teacher
used in teaching oral expression?

Table : Students experience of the oral session

Students 2 4 4 3

Questions
Students
Q2: How was excellent Good Acceptable awful
your oral
experience last
year?

3. What are the main difficulties that you face when you are in a group discussion? Table
: Students experience of the oral session

Students 3 2 3 3 4

Questions

Students
Q Anxiety Not knowing Shyness and lack of interruption
and how speaking in vocabulay
stress to manage ideas public

4. At the end of the oral session, do you feel that you achieved your objectives? Yes, no
and why?

Table : Students experience of the oral session

38
 Students

Questions

Students Yes No To some extent

Q

5. The teacher provided you with hand-outs about the TTS and explained it in the
classroom. Which of the strategies you knew previously and often use ?

Table: Students experience of the oral session

Students

Questions

Students
Q

6. While performing the role plays. Which of the strategies you used?

Table : Students experience of the oral session

Students

Questions

Students
Q

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 7. To what extent the turn taking strategies affected your oral performance?

Table : Students experience of the oral session

Students

Questions

Students
Q

8. During your performance, what strategies you used to take a turn?

9. During you performance, what strategies you used to hold your turn?

10. During your performance, what strategies you used to relinquish your turn?

40
41
1. Which language skill you think you are better in?

2. How was your oral experience last year? Which methods/ techniques did the teacher used

in teaching oral expression?

3. What are the main difficulties that you face when you are in a group disscusion?

4. At the end of the oral session, do you feel that you achieved your objectives?

5. The teacher provided you with hand-outs about the TTS and explained it in the classroom.

Which of the strategies you knew previously and often use ?

6. While performing the role plays. Which of the strategies you used?

7. To what extent the turn taking strategies affected your oral performance?

8. Evaluate the Oral Expression session this semester.

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