USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' SPEAKING SKILLS

This research article examines the effectiveness of communicative activities in enhancing the speaking proficiency of secondary school students. Developing oral fluency remains one of the most significant challenges for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners due to psychological barriers, such as speaking anxiety, and a lack of interactive environments. The study was conducted at Secondary School No. 25 in the Kyzyltepa district of the Navoiy region, involving a purposeful sample of 50 students from the 6th, 7th, and 9th grades. Following a qualitative action research design, the study implemented various communicative tasks, including role-plays, information-gap activities, and logical games like "Alibi." Data were collected through structured observation tables and teacher reflection journals over a four-week period. The results indicate that 70% of the participants (35 students) demonstrated a measurable improvement in fluency, lexical diversity, and communicative confidence. The findings suggest that shifting from teacher-led instruction to student-centered interactive tasks effectively lowers the "affective filter" and fosters spontaneous language production. The paper concludes with practical pedagogical recommendations for English teachers to integrate communicative strategies into the secondary education curriculum in Uzbekistan.

本研究旨在探究交际活动对提升中学生口语能力的成效。对于英语作为外语（English as a Foreign Language, EFL）学习者而言，提升口语流利度仍是最具挑战性的任务之一，其成因包括口语焦虑等心理障碍以及交互式学习环境的匮乏。本研究在乌兹别克斯坦纳沃伊州克孜勒泰帕区第25中学开展，选取6、7、9年级共50名学生作为目的性抽样样本。研究采用质性行动研究设计，实施了角色扮演、信息差活动以及《Alibi》这类逻辑推理游戏等多种交际任务。本次数据收集周期为四周，通过结构化观察量表与教师反思日志完成。研究结果显示，70%的参与者（共35名学生）在口语流利度、词汇多样性与交际自信心方面均取得了可量化的提升。结果表明，从教师主导的课堂教学转向以学生为中心的交互式任务，可有效降低情感过滤（affective filter），并促进语言的自发性产出。本研究最后为乌兹别克斯坦的英语教师提供了实操性教学建议，以将交际教学策略融入中学英语课程体系。