Title: Exploring the effect of VoIP tools as a foreign language instruction on learners' English speaking errors

Authors: Yen Chen Yen; Huei-Tse Hou; Kuo-En Chang

Addresses: Graduate Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec. 1, HePing East Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan, R.O.C. ' Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology and Computer Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No.43, Keelung Rd., Sec.4, Da-an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan, R.O.C. ' Graduate Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec. 1, HePing East Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Abstract: This study aims to compare the effects of two different environments, i.e. Skype and face-to-face (F2F), on learners' speaking performance by assessing the frequency of errors (e.g. verb tense, verb form and sentence structure) occurring in the learners' oral productions during role playing. Fifty-two young adult English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) learners recruited from a business college were randomly and equally assigned into the experimental or the control group. Oral interviews were used as the pretest and post-test in this study. The participants were required to complete the given tasks in pairs after the instruction. The experimental group undertook the tasks via Skype and the control group performed the tasks in an F2F environment. Verbatim data from the students' recorded utterances in two environments were analysed. The results indicated that the experimental group showed more improvement than the control group in their oral performance.

Keywords: CALL; face-2-face; role playing; Skype; speaking errors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2017.087134

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2017 Vol.27 No.4, pp.339 - 357

Received: 06 Sep 2016
Accepted: 05 Nov 2016
Published online: 06 Oct 2017 *

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