A Case Study of Student-Centered English Speaking Practice for University Students in Korea

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of student-centered speaking practice on speaking proficiency. The other purpose is to explore students views on studentcentered speaking instruction on speaking habits and their learning strategies. In this study, thirty university students participated in a practical English course over a period of 13 weeks which focused on oral presentation. The students were required to give a presentation about their own topic for 15 minutes as a speaking test. During the course, audio and visual materials, especially TED Talks were provided as material to improve learners’ oral competence. In order to measure the change of learners English speaking competence, a pre- and post-test, survey and interview were administrated. The results revealed that the learner-centered speaking instructions were beneficial for t h e students improving oral proficiency and helping them form positive speaking strategies. The findings suggests that learner-centered speaking instruction can potentially enhance second language learners learning strategies in terms of both providing challenges and reducing learning anxiety through teacher support and carefully designed feedback. Based on the results, a number of pedagogical suggestions are also provided.