In the realm of language skills, speaking holds a pivotal position, making it imperative for classroom instruction to place a strong emphasis on its development. Teaching English speaking skills to Nepali EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students poses a unique set of challenges owing to English's non-native status in Nepal. To tackle these challenges and enhance the speaking abilities of Nepali students, English teachers in Nepal must adopt innovative strategies due to the limited daily use of English in their environment. This classroom action research endeavors to enhance the English speaking proficiency of EFL students in Nepal through the implementation of various communicative activities. These activities include role play, impromptu speaking exercises, language games such as "who is telling the truth", video tapping, and discussions. The interventions were applied to a group of 60 undergraduate students at a university who were learning English as a foreign language. The data gathered from participant classroom observations and unstructured interviews underwent thematic analysis, resulting in the identification of six distinct themes. The results demonstrated a noteworthy improvement in students' English speaking skills, attributing this progress to the implementation of communicative activities. The findings underscore the effectiveness of communicative activities as interventions for enhancing the English speaking abilities of university-level EFL undergraduates. In light of these results, it is recommended that both students and teachers remain cognizant of the contextual and appropriate use of communicative activities as a means to further improve English speaking skills among EFL students.

The advent of the "positive psychology turn" in applied linguistics has brought increased attention to psychological constructs such as hope, which significantly impact students’ academic performance, including their effort. However, the intricate relationships among these factors remain underexplored. To address this gap, the present study employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate how specific dimensions of students' hope influence their efforts. A sample of 711 Chinese senior high school students studying English as a foreign language participated by completing questionnaires assessing their levels of hope and effort. Findings from structural equation modeling indicate that pathways, a dimension of hope, directly and positively affect students' efforts in learning a foreign language. This research provides valuable insights for educators, highlighting the importance of fostering hope in English learning to enhance students' strategic approaches to language acquisition and support their academic progress.