Enhancing Spoken English Proficiency: The Role of Classroom Activities in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

This paper examines the instrumentality of classroom exercises in effective teaching and learning of spoken English. In Nigeria, the curriculum of the Bachelor of Arts (English Language) program reveals that spoken English is crucial in English studies. Courses such as Spoken English, English Phonetics, Phonology of English and Suprasegmental Phonology are immersed in teaching Spoken English. Therefore, in this study, Spoken English is used as a cover-term for phonetics and phonology-related courses. The different names used as course titles are unified in terms of general objectives part of which is “to enhance non-native speakers’ proficiency in English-based communication skills”. It is therefore not surprising that such courses have related or even instances of reduplicated course contents. In Nigeria where, English studies do not achieve much of the expected goals, there is need for research on improved pedagogical approaches, and one of such approaches is the goal-driven use of classroom exercises in teaching discrete skills in spoken English. Hinging on Gruzinskaya’s System of Exercises Theory, this study concludes that classroom exercises facilitate the teaching and learning of spoken English in universities in Nigeria because of the pedagogical functions of such exercises: the exercises are organized, capture discrete skills, engage learners in productive and critical thinking; and are theory-based.