Native Speaker Conversation Sessions to Enhance Communicative Competence and Oral Fluency in Tourism and Hospitality EFL Students

This study aimed to explore how monthly conversation sessions with native English speakers influence the development of communicative competence which encompasses grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic components as well as oral fluency in Tourism and Hospitality Management students at the University of Cuenca. A qualitative methodology was employed through three focus group sessions involving ten students each. All conversations were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and subsequently coded both deductively, drawing on Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (i+1, quantity, authenticity, variability, and implicit feedback) and guided by Hymes’ theoretical framework of Communicative Competence. Results indicated significant improvement in discourse competence, particularly during guided city tours, where students demonstrated the use of cohesive devices and coherent speech. Grammatical competence and oral fluency showed moderate progress, hindered by the limited frequency of practice opportunities. Sociolinguistic competence was perceptually activated, though without evidence of critical cultural reflection. Strategic competence remained underdeveloped. The study concludes that unless input quantity increases and tasks become more varied, professional-level fluency and automatization will remain difficult to achieve.