An Evaluation of Oral Language: The Relationship between Listening, Speaking and Self-efficacy

Abstract

Listening and speaking skills are fundamental determinants of an individual's academic success. The aim of this research is to establish the relationship between listening and speaking skills, and study how listening predicts and cognitively arranges speaking. The research was carried out using the quantitative pattern in correlational type. The population of the research consists of a randomly chosen sample of 662 secondary school students from the city of Aksaray in Turkey. The data were gathered and analysed using the percentage and frequency techniques and gender variance comparisons were made. Independent group t-tests, and variance analysis were used on grade, parental education status, book reading, TV watching and internet use. To determine the relationship between the variables, Pearson correlation coefficient was used and to determine the predicting relationship, simple linear regression analysis was used. The research found that girls have higher verbal communication skills and that the higher the level of parental education and the more time spent reading books led to an increase in verbal communication skills and self-efficacy, whereas the amount of time spent watching TV and using a computer had a negative effect on self-efficacy. Statistics show that listening skill is a significant predictor of speaking skill.