Fostering Oral English Skills Beyond Formal Learning in Saudi EFL Setting

The increasing research on informal language learning illustrates awareness about out-of-class learning. This study aimed to explore how technological advances are being used informally to enhance EFL learners’ oral skills. The study was conducted at the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. Employing a survey, data were collected from 191 learners at the university level. The participants were male and female students who were enrolled at different colleges of the university. Findings revealed that learners frequently use a set of strategies for out-of-class oral skills enhancement. The listening and speaking strategies were quite similar, which indicated that learners were aware of both categories of strategies. In terms of correlation, there was a positive correlation between the learners’ GPA and the extramural speaking strategies (Sig.=.025). On the other hand, there was no correlation between the learners’ GPA and the extramural listening strategies (Sig.=.092). These results suggest that learning oral skills can be enhanced outside the classroom and thus responding to the sustainable language education requirements. The study provides insights for teachers and policy-makers to encourage extending L2 learning beyond the formal curriculum to enrich formal language education. It also calls for future research to find informal learning measurements that educators need to use to include informal language learning as part of learners’ overall linguistic repertoire.