Developing Speaking Skills Using Virtual Speaking Buddy

Radzuwan Ab Rashid,Saiful Bahri Mohamed,Mohd Fazry A Rahman,Syadiah Nor Wan Shamsuddin

doi:10.3991/ijet.v12i05.6955

Abstract

This interdisciplinary study integrates ICT in education through the innovation of an interactive audio-based application as a tool to enhance English language speaking skills among less proficient students. Drawing on the sociocultural perspective of learning, the application named ‘V-Buddy’ has been developed and tested with a group of participants which consists of five primary school students and an English language teacher. The teacher was briefed of her role as a facilitator before the students were exposed to V-Buddy for eight weeks. Adopting one group pre-test and post-test experimental design as its methodology, the teacher was asked to evaluate the students' level of confidence to speak prior to and after their engagement with the V-Buddy. The teacher was also interviewed to obtain her feedback on V-Buddy whilst the students were asked to complete the Personal Report of Confidence (PRC). The analysis reveals that all the students developed higher confidence level after their engagement with V-Buddy and the teacher perceived it positively which suggests its potential to be used as a tool in developing speaking skills among less proficient students.

Highlights

Good speaking skills are crucial for everyday situations and career opportunities
In Malaysia, the inability to speak in English confidently is faced by primary school students and the degree holders which become one of the contributing factors to their unemployment [4]
All the five students scored higher points in the post evaluation conducted by the teacher which suggests that they have developed higher confidence level after their engagement with V-Buddy

Summary

Introduction

Good speaking skills are crucial for everyday situations and career opportunities. In Malaysia, English has long been considered as another important language besides iJET ‒ Vol 12, No 5, 2017Bahasa Malaysia as it is widely used in various aspects of life, such as business, education and administration. Most people experience some levels of speaking anxiety when they have to speak in a second language [1], especially if they have low level of proficiency [2]. This speaking anxiety can lead to the ‘social phobia’ [3] which is the fear that they will act in a humiliating way and that other people will judge them negatively. In Malaysia, the inability to speak in English confidently is faced by primary school students and the degree holders which become one of the contributing factors to their unemployment [4]. As argued by [5], recorded audio is ‘a rich, flexible and engaging learning space’

Methods

Results

Conclusion