Students’ Perceptions Of Their Oral Skills Learning And Development: Current Situation And Future Orientations. A Case Study Of First Year Students Of English At ISL Gabes

Abstract

Since 2006 Tunisian universities have operated under the Licence-Master-Doctorate, or “LMD,” system, whose introduction was the last important reform targeting higher education in Tunisia suggested by the European Union to its partners in the South (in particular the Maghreb countries) to bring their university system up to European standard

Adopting the LMD system in Tunisia as an educational and structural reform that adapts to European standards has been motivated by a desire to guarantee the scientific value of the Tunisian diploma and all that it encompasses as skills, to establish a flexible and efficient training model, of an academic and applied nature and equivalent at the international level, and to create a new generation of versatile graduates who adapt to a constantly evolving global context (Chabchoub, 2006).

Yet, hand in hand with the introduction of this system into higher education, the structure of university studies has undergone profound transformations regarding the quality of education, students’ learning;   teachers’ assessment of their students’ performance, the time spent on initial training, and the number of hours allocated to teaching practices… 

Taking these facts into consideration, the following paper sets out to gather data on students’ perception of the impact of such transformations on the learning and development of their oral skills, explore major challenges, and figure out key solutions.