Tandem and Speaking skills

Abstract

This research study focused on analyzing the perceptions of the students of the Unidad Educativa "Sagrada Familia" regarding the use of the Tandem method and its impact on their speaking skills. This study is characterized as descriptive in nature. The study sample consisted of 60 participants; their age ranged from 17 to 19 years old. A survey was used as a data collection instrument, which was composed of 18 items on a Likert scale and three open-ended questions, distributed one per section. The validity of the survey was corroborated by Cronbach's alpha which obtained a coefficient value (0.804). The results suggest that each Tandem modality has its own perceived strengths and weaknesses. Although all modalities appear to have barriers to their effective use in improving speaking skills, either due to lack of opportunities, perceptions of their effectiveness, or technical difficulties. Regarding the teaching strategies employed by teachers to improve students' speaking skills, the results showed that teachers used various teaching strategies to develop students' speaking skills. Among these strategies, interviewing scored the highest. These finding evidences that students consider collaborative strategies in which authentic communication is encouraged to be valuable in developing speaking skills. Finally, the results showed that the highest rated learning strategies were compensatory strategies and cognitive strategies. This suggests that students prefer to use strategies in which authentic communication is encouraged to improve speaking skills.