The Role of Audiovisual Materials in Enhancing English Speaking Skills: A Systematic Review (2020–2026)

Abstract

Speaking is among the hardest skills for English learners to develop, especially where authentic oral interaction is scarce. Audiovisual (AV) materials such as films, YouTube videos, TED Talks and multimedia courseware are increasingly used to expose learners to natural pronunciation, intonation and discourse. This review follows PRISMA 2020 reporting principles to synthesize peer-reviewed studies from 2020–2026 on AV materials and English speaking outcomes. Fourteen documents were assessed against pre-specified criteria, and four studies (Indonesia, Bangladesh; n = 6 to 50) were included. Every study favored AV-supported instruction for fluency, pronunciation, confidence, interaction and overall oral performance, but the evidence is weak: two studies reported scores, none had a comparison group, baseline or follow-up, and the remaining evidence is self-reported. No study measured grammatical accuracy or tested a moderator. The findings are consistent with Dual Coding Theory, Mayer’s multimedia learning theory, and the Input and Output Hypotheses, yet cannot distinguish among them. The review identifies methodological gaps and recommends controlled studies that vary one component at a time (task, audio-only versus AV, captioning) with reliable speaking ratings and delayed post-tests