The paper investigates the communicative competence of Saudi learners of English at King Khalid University. The study aimed to identify the main difficulties these students face in real communicative situations, which often lead to communication breakdown.
The researcher conducted a questionnaire with 90 students from levels four and eight to examine their use of communication strategies. The methodology involved a pilot study with 10 students to ensure understanding of the questions before administering the full questionnaire.
Key findings indicate that Saudi students lack awareness and use of effective communication strategies. They tend to rely heavily on their first language strategies when attempting to communicate in English. Specifically, students often resort to risk-avoiding strategies like changing topics or using their mother tongue rather than risk-taking strategies to expand their message. The study found correlations between students' low oral proficiency and their lack of communication strategies as well as limited exposure to the target language and culture.
The paper concludes that Saudi students need explicit training in functional competence and communication strategies during spoken English classes to compensate for their lack of exposure. It recommends teaching linguistic competence implicitly while focusing on developing students' strategic competence and sociocultural knowledge explicitly. The author suggests designing conversation courses that incorporate rules, strategies, functions, and cultural context to enable students to overcome communication difficulties with competent English speakers.
This study provides insights into the communicative challenges faced by Saudi English learners at the tertiary level and offers recommendations for improving their oral proficiency through targeted strategy training and increased cultural exposure. The findings have implications for curriculum design and teaching approaches to enhance students' communicative competence.