The Role of Authentic Dialogues in Developing English Communication Skills in Higher Education

Abstract

This article examines the selection and pedagogical use of authentic dialogues for developing English communication skills in higher education. It aims to explain how real-world conversational input relates to listening, speaking, pragmatic choices, and interactional competence, and to propose a framework for classroom application. The study uses a narrative review of purposefully selected literature on authenticity, communicative language teaching, conversation analysis, and interaction assessment. The synthesis indicates that a dialogue's real-world origin alone does not determine its educational value. Material selection needs to consider learners' interpretations, task purposes, and the social conditions of classroom participation. The article distinguishes naturally occurring conversations from constructed teaching scripts and proposes a sequence involving contextual preparation, listening for meaning, noticing interactional features, purposeful communication, and reflection. Turn management, contingent responses, clarification of misunderstandings, and collaborative task accomplishment are discussed as formative assessment priorities. Authentic dialogues can provide useful learning resources when combined with appropriate support and meaningful tasks, but their benefits should not be assumed to arise automatically. The proposed framework has not been empirically tested and requires evaluation in the intended teaching context.