Browsing by Author "Aedo Chea, Natalia Cristina"

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    Improving english speaking skills through an intercultural and conversational approach
    (2025) Aedo Chea, Natalia Cristina; Gajardo Moller, Consuelo; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Letras
    This action research project explores the effectiveness of an intercultural and conversational approach to improving English speaking skills among 12 school students in Santiago, Chile. Given the limited success of various educational policies implemented to enhance the quality of English as a subject, this study proposes a pedagogical design that may better support the attainment of spoken proficiency. The intervention design followed an action research methodology focused on iteration between action and reflection for constant improvement. Students from 9th to 12th grade participated in a pedagogical intervention to test the effectiveness of teaching English speaking skills through genuine intercultural interactions with fluent English speakers. Participants were tested before and after the intervention on different dimensions of spoken social interactions: Linguistic, Strategic, Pragmatic, Interpersonal, and Intercultural. A mixed method approach was applied to attain a comprehensive understanding of the findings. Different levels of achievement are represented by numerical scores that were analyzed and contrasted quantitatively. Students’ attitudes and perceptions were also collected and analyzed to gain perspective into their subjective learning experience. The findings indicate a general improvement in speaking performance across all areas, paired with increased satisfaction and confidence from students. These positive results could inform further research and pedagogical efforts to develop better English-teaching strategies for communication. They may also help guide the integration of intercultural learning objectives into Chilean schools.