A Program Based on the Constructivist Approach and its Effectiveness in Developing EFL Preparatory Stage Pupils' Communicative Competence

Abstract

The present study aimed at conducting a program based on the constructivist approach and investigating its effectiveness in developing EFL communicative competence (oral and written) among the first grade preparatory stage pupils. The participants of the study were (thirty) pupils and they were chosen randomly from the first grade at a Preparatory School, Qalubiya Governorate. The instruments of the study were: an EFL oral communicative competence skills list, an EFL written communicative competence skills list, an EFL oral communicative competence skills test (used as a pre-post test) and a rubric for correction in addition to an EFL written communicative competence skills test (used as a pre-post test) and a rubric for correction. Before implementing the program, the oral and written communicative competence skills tests were administered to the participants (used as pre tests) in order to investigate their performance on communicative competence (oral & written). They were also administered as post tests after implementing the constructivist approach based program that lasted for nineteen sessions. To investigate the effectiveness of the program in developing participants' communicative competence (oral & written), paired sample t- test was conducted to compare the means of the pupils' scores on the pre and post tests. Results showed that the pupils' EFL oral and written communicative competence skills have been developed as a result of using the program based on the constructivist approach.