The Importance Of Oral Communication

In the last decades, the teaching of a second language has been generally focused on the linguistic component of language than on the real use of it. In fact, most of the universities focus their English courses on the development of reading comprehension skills than on speaking skills. This makes students more proficient in grammar aspects, such as vocabulary, syntax, and semantics etc, but less proficient on how to communicate orally. Classes are also teacher centered and students do not have the opportunity to interact among themselves and consequently they scarcely develop some oral skills.

Although things are changing, and the majority of teachers try to foster real communication through the implementation of different communicative methods, one as a teacher always finds groups which are more proficient on the linguistic part of language than on communicating effectively in an oral way.

There have been several theoreticians who have spoken about the lack of oral communication, lack of interaction and the effect those phenomena have on the development of language proficiency.

Before mentioning their postulates, it is necessary to define what oral communication is.

According to Brown (1994), “oral communication is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” Brown himself gives more importance to the skills of interaction of behalf of the participants in the act of communication. He sees oral