Studies in Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

Oral communicative competence enables speakers of a language to interact effectively with each other. Oral communicative competence includes a wide semantic field since the oral expression is a way of expression for the thought and it provides feedback and develops by means of the linguistic function (Vygotsky, 1992; [1,2,3]). English communicative competence is based on the use of the language as a tool of communication, both oral and written, of representation, of interpretation and of reality comprehension. This investigation aims to analyse the oral communicative competence in English of students who have finished the stage of Primary Education. It also tries to know if the center where students study, the students’ gender, the attitude towards the English language and attendance to private lessons increase the oral communicative competence. The sample was intentional and stratified (rural-urban schools and ordinary-bilingual schools). It is composed by 265 students and the instrument is a questionnaire provided with reliability and validity. The results show high levels of competence, higher than expected, and with light differences that favor the girls and the urban bilingual schools in the acquisition of the oral communicative competence in English. Obviously, the pupils who dedicate more time to the revision and study of the English subject obtain better results in the acquisition of the linguistic communicative competence in oral expression and oral interaction.