An online English for Specific purposes Suggested Program to Develop University Students` Oracy Skills and Reduce their Speech Anxiety

Abstract
This study aimed at developing university students` oracy skills and reducing their speech anxiety through using a suggested program based on online English for specific purposes (ESP). The participants were two groups of 25 male students each. The present study adopted the descriptive analytical approach to prepare the theoretical framework and quasi-experimental design in terms of using an experimental group and a control one. Two intact groups were randomly chosen amongst the first year students at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal university, Dammam, KSA. The experimental group received EFL oracy skills through the suggested program based on ESP while the control group received the traditional instruction. The program lasted for six weeks two times a week. The program was carried out in the second term of the academic year 2022/2023. The instruments of the study were a checklist for oracy skills, an achievement oracy skills test, a rubric for testing oracy skills, and foreign language classroom anxiety scale. The Results of the study showed evidence for the effectiveness of using the suggested program based on online English for Specific purposes in developing university students` oracy skills and reduce their speech anxiety as the experimental group outperformed the control group on the achievement oracy skills test.
Keywords: ESP, Islamic English, Oracy, Speech anxiety
Introduction