English Speaking Class Research Articles

College Students' Perceptions on Performance-Based Assessment Use in Boosting Speaking Ability

Assessment is one component of a learning process that cannot be excluded by an English teacher in the teaching-learning process. The form and type of assessment applied in the teaching-learning process are adapted to the orientation of learners’ target outcomes. It is recognized as a space of reflection for teachers and students in the awareness of shortcomings and achieving such learning goals. Performance-based assessment is one of the possible appropriate options for measuring all criteria fulfillment in the English speaking class. The present study aims to analyze the implementation of performance-based assessment and disclose students' responses to this assessment in the speaking class. This research is a quantitative descriptive study administered between November 2020 and January 2021 for three months. Participants (N=49) in this study were selected from two first-grade English Education Study Program classes, Universitas Katolik Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng. Speaking rubrics and questionnaires were the instruments used in collecting data. The data taken from these instruments were then analyzed with the Excel Chart Data Series software program's aid, accompanied by a qualitative interpretation from the data provided. The research findings show that the type of performance-based assessment affects increasing speaking ability (the post-test average = 76), and college students' perception of performance-based assessment use in speaking was primarily included in positive perception. The lecturers are encouraged to apply this type of assessment to their speaking class.

English Speaking Class in a Mathematics Program: Students’ Difficulties

This is a qualitative research with a case study research design which aimed to find out the students’ difficulties in speaking at Non-English Speaking Class in Mathematics program study at UIN Raden Fatah Palembang. The researchers selected three students who met the criteria as a research participant by using criterion sampling. In collecting the data, the researchers used an interview as instrument. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The result showed that the students faced some difficulties in speaking, such as lack of vocabulary, inhibition, mother-tongue use, and lack of confidence. The findings of the study encouraged students to practice speaking English more until they developed a speaking habit, which made them able to improve their speaking skills and also expanded their vocabulary better.
 

The Effects of Nearpod-Incorporated English Classes on Korean University Students’ Speaking Performance and A ffective A spects

Nearpod, an online teaching cloud-based platform, offers great potential to generate pedagogical tasks and yield better results in teaching communication skills. This study thus examined the effects of Nearpod-based English-speaking classes. To this end, one-on-one speaking tests were conducted twice in a semester, and a questionnaire was administered to assess university students’ perceptions of the usefulness of Nearpod in offline classroom. The participants comprised 39 university students who took a mandatory English class titled Communication in English. The paired samples t-test results indicated that the students’ overall speaking performance has improved over time. Specifically, compared to the high-level students, the low-level students showed a significant increase in speaking performance. The questionnaire analysis demonstrated that most students were satisfied with Nearpod-based English speaking classes because of enhanced interest, active participation in class, and increased interaction with class content and peers. The pedagogical implications are suggested and the limitations of the study are further discussed.

Teachers’ Perspectives and Actual Practices of OCF Types in English-speaking Classes

Teachers’ Perspectives and Actual Practices of OCF Types in English-speaking Classes

STUDENTS’ AFFECTIVE REACTION TOWARD USING G-SUITE MEET FOR EDUCATION IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING

This qualitative descriptive study aims to expose the students’ affective reactions after learning speaking through G-Suite Meet as one of G-suite for education features. This also confirms do affective reactions support the enhancement of students’ speaking performance and can this featured be maintained in the future? The respondents of this study were twenty students of SMA Negeri 3 Palu and three of them were as informants. They are chosen as the subject of this study because their English speaking class is conducted in Google meet. In collecting the data, 13 points of questionnaires in term of likert scale and four interview questions in term of semi- structured had been distributed. The responses of the students were displayed using frequency and percentage on the table and then it was described, interpreted and concluded. The information of the interviewees was limited to describe the scope of this study. The results of this study convey that the students expose positive reactions related to the use of G-suite features in term of Google meet to bridge learning speaking. The positive reactions also support the enhancement of students’ speaking performance. However, this study showed a phenomenon that some students do not show significant enhancement related to their performance. In addition, this study also informs that although students confirm positive reaction and the students also show improvement related to their speaking performance, learning speaking through Google meet cannot be regularly maintained, it only stands for urgent situation because conducting learning through Google meet are claimed not optimal.

A Study on Task-based Elementary English Speaking Classes using the Metaverse Platform ‘Gather.town’

Objectives The purpose of this study is to present a teaching plan using a metaverse that allows elementary school learners to immerse themselves in learning with interest and interest as a task-oriented activity that can provide learners with opportunities to directly use English. Accordingly, a plan for elementary English speaking class was presented using Gather.town, one of the metaverse platforms. Methods For this purpose, this study first investigated current task-based instruction models and reformulated a task performance model for elementary English classes. For the task-based class design, the task-based instruction model of Willis (1996) and Skehan (1996) was modified to fit the purpose of this study, and according to the class development, it consisted of the pre-task stage (task introduction), task performance stage (speaking practice), and post-task stage (presentation). As a task-based activity for each stage, a lesson design method using Gather.town was introduced. Results The functions of Gather.town that can be utilized in each stage were introduced, and the class development and activity methods using the functions were presented. The metaverse-using class design model presented in this study can be used in whole or in part as a class operation plan according to the judgment of the teacher, considering elementary school students' cognitive development ability, task performance, proficiency, and English level. Conclusions Through realistic speaking tasks using metaverse, learners' immersion in the task situation can be increased, and it is expected to bring positive effects in terms of learners' interest in class and usefulness in learning to speak. In addition, the educational use of metaverse is expected to provide an opportunity to increase interest in English and improve the listening and speaking skills of English, which is a target language, by practicing English in an elementary English class environment where there are few opportunities to use English directly.

Role-play and Speaking Anxiety: A Case Study in an Online English Speaking Class

Though studies about role-plays may be frequent, studies specifically investigating the possible relation between role-plays and speaking anxiety may still be very rare, particularly in the Indonesian second/foreign (L2) context, despite anxiety being a quite widespread phenomenon among language learners. Hence, the present study was conducted to investigate Indonesian learners' extent of participation in role-play activities in an online English speaking class and learners’ and teachers' views about role-plays concerning speaking anxiety. The study employed a qualitative case study using online observations and interviews. The participants were 25 English education department learners and two teachers implementing role-plays. Through observations, the study found that role-plays were unable to make most of the learner participants voluntarily participate in class. Through interviews analysed using Thematic Analysis, the study found three themes. Learners' nervousness and fear of making mistakes negatively affected their role-play performances. Authentic situations in role-plays allowed them to feel more comfortable. Next, preparing role-play for performances in groups lessened learners’ anxiety. It is suggested that teachers offered learners choices whether to do live role-plays or show pre-recorded one. The latter may reduce anxiety and make it possible for learners to redo some parts, allowing them to showcase their best possible performance.

The predictive roles of enjoyment, anxiety, willingness to communicate on students’ performance in English public speaking classes

Abstract Despite the extensive research on willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and foreign language enjoyment (FLE), few studies have tested the roles of these variables in predicting L2 learning outcomes. This line of inquiry is imperative, especially because the importance of L2 WTC primarily lies in its presumable role in enhancing L2 learning. This study examines how FLA, FLE, and L2 WTC predict English public speaking performance. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire that contained closed-ended and open-ended items to 132 Chinese university students who took an English public speaking course. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that FLE was the single significant predictor of L2 WTC and public speaking performance. Participants’ responses revealed a range of major categories underlying classroom episodes when they felt most enjoyable, most anxious, and most willing to communicate. Implications for future research and pedagogical practice are finally addressed.

Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills Test Instruments for English Speaking Classes: Sing a Song Material

This study aims at creating HOTS items for the "Sing a Song" material, establishing their level of validity, and determining their dependability for tenth-grade students of MA Madani Alauddin Pao-Pao. The design of this research is research and development (R&D). The improvement version this is used refers back to the Plomp version which includes five levels of development, namely Preliminary investigation, Design, Realization/Construction, Test, Evaluation and Revision (Test, Evaluation and Revition), and Implementation (Implementation). The subjects in this study are students at class X MIA 2 in MA Madani Alauddin Pao-Pao. The instruments used in data collection were validation sheets and HOTS items. Based on the findings of the study, it obtains that the extent of validity of the HOTS gadgets changed into 3.7 that is withinside the very legitimate category, the reliability of the HOTS gadgets is 0.81 suggests in superb category, the issue degree of the HOTS gadgets is 0.60 suggests withinside the medium category. The implications of developing HOTS items can train and encourage students to do high-level reasoning so that they are not fixated on the pattern of answers that result from memorization without understanding the concept of knowledge, and can make students think critically while working on the test in the "Sing a Song "Material so that answers can be produced based on in-depth reasoning.

Exploring the Local Language Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety in EFL Online Class: Students’ Genders and Speaking Performance

Students’ anxiety, speaking performance and their relation to genders have been investigated extensively in the EFL context and most participants are English students, but most of the studies with the same variables were conducted in an offline setting. Thus, the purpose of this research is to describe the anxiety levels of students who studied another language than English in learning English and to investigate the relationship between their anxiety and performance in English-speaking classes. By employing a quantitative approach, 32 male and 66 female Sundanese Language and Culture Study Program students whose anxiety levels were assessed using Horwitz et al.’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) participated voluntarily in the research. Because the data were normally distributed and homogenous, the obtained data were analyzed using parametric statistical tools; independent t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results imply that the majority of the participants’ anxiety levels were moderate, and there was no statistical difference in students’ anxiety levels between male and female students. Further exploration of the relationship between the anxiety levels of the students and their speaking performance was weak and negative (r = -0.12, p .68). Thus, the online and offline foreign language classroom settings do not seem to differentiate students’ anxiety levels for both male and female students.

Students’ Anxiety in English Speaking Class at A Private Junior High School in East Java, Indonesia

One of the difficulties, speaking anxiety, has a significant impact on one’s capacity to speak a foreign language. Students are often hesitant to use English in class during their speaking performance. In line with this, the study aims to scrutinize the types of students’ anxiety and the factors that affect the student’s anxiety in English speaking class. Therefore, the case study as part of qualitative research design was employed to complete the study. The participants were the eighth graders of a private junior high school in East Java, Indonesia, that consisted of 22 students. The researchers obtained the data through observation, interviews, and documentation. The results show that the students experienced state anxiety, trait anxiety, and specific situation anxiety. Moreover, the factors that affected the students’ anxiety were test anxiety, communication apprehension, and fear of negative evaluation. According to the findings, English for Foreign Language (EFL) teachers should not only identify that anxiety is a fundamental factor in students' failure to learn a new language but also help them cope with their feelings of unease and discomfort.

Self Determined Learning Practice in English Speaking Class: A Heutagogical Perspective in EFL Class

Abstract
 The development of teaching and learning practice in EFL class has been prioritized by all educational practioners, linguists and the learners as the subject or the teaching and learning process. The transformational design of learning as promoted in heutagogical learning, a self determined learning has brought many benefits toward students’ life skills. The skills that make the students become autonomous, have high motivation, get better achievement, have positive commitment to survive in learning and compete globally. The objective of this research is to describe how self determined learning is practiced in Speaking of EFL class. It is a heutagogical perspectives in EFL class. To answer that question, Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is used as the method to identify, study, evaluate, and interpret the research about interesting phenomenon with certain relevant research questions. By describing the findings of how self regulated learning is practiced in English speaking from relevant studies, it will be insightful input for designing interesting and innovative teaching and learning processs of English Speaking in the classroom of EFL. The data is taken from relevant studies (bibliometric data) in reputated journal. The literature review explored in this study is about English speaking class and the activities; heutagogy approach, and self determined learning practice. The result shows that: lecturer/ teacher become: 1. a designer of learning (create tasks and instruction digitally using own space); 2. build individual pattern of learning spaces and opportunities (by promoting peer mentorship); 3. draw upon their own context related technological, community, society, subject and discipline knowledge and skills (promoting VLE, Virtual Learning Environment, Creating special social media as the place for presenting and performing speaking skills proficiency). Hopefully, this study can help the teacher/lecturer of English of EFL and the lecturers of Speaking class also the students to bridge the challenging situations in pandemic era and make the students become a responsible manager for their own English speaking learning.

How to Scaffold Young Learners' English Speaking Class?

The research objective is to portray how scaffolding strategy is applied in an English-speaking class of young learners. A qualitative approach with a case study design was employed in the present research. Interviews, observation, and document analysis were used to collect the data. The participants involved in this research consisted of an English teacher and 20 junior high school students. The results indicate that the English teacher applies micro-scaffolding strategies, which are realized in the following six activities: 1) stimulating students' participation and engagement; 2) providing explanations; 3) modelling; 4) repetition drills; 5) confirming students' understanding; and 6) giving feedback. Those activities, combined with role-play technique, have been proven to increase students' positive responses, especially concerning learning excitement, speaking skills element enhancement, and students' confidence. The findings signify that scaffolding is a good strategy for young learners' language skills. The present research strongly recommends exploring new scaffolding activities with the infusion of learning platforms both in full remote and hybrid learning as an endeavour to grant much more tremendous help and support for young learners' productive skills.
 Keywords: English speaking skills, Scaffolding, Teaching Strategy, Young Learners

Lecturer's Online Instructional Strategies in English Speaking Class during COVID-19 Pandemic Period at IAIN Palopo, South Sulawesi

The study aimed to find out the types of online instructional strategies, Lecturer’s perception, how to conduct online speaking class, the impact of online instructional strategies on students speaking activity and Lecturer’s online instructional strategies implementation. The research was conducted through qualitative research with descriptive analysis at IAIN Palopo. The result revealed that direct instruction, indirect instruction, ADDIE Model and Mahmood’s strategy were the types of online instructional strategies were applied in English speaking class, meanwhile, Lecturer’s perception were classified into three aspects: place of origin of the students, poverty issues, and students’ attitude toward online learning. To conduct English speaking class Lecturer utilized online learning platform. The findings revealed there were seven students faced technical problems on online learning, and it was contrasting with other thirteen students. Poverty issues, internet connectivity, neglected area, limitation time, lack of infrastructural development and lack of students’ motivation were technical problems which impacted online learning on English speaking class at IAIN Palopo.

Comparing motivational features between feedback givers and receivers in English speaking class

Abstract In peer feedback literature, the topic of motivation for feedback is not sufficiently explored, and attention to motivational differences between feedback givers and receivers unbalanced. To address this gap, the present study tracked motivational changes of Chinese students performing consecutively the roles of written-feedback givers and of receivers over eight weeks in their English-speaking class. It employed motivation questionnaires and students’ personal letters to collect their perceptions of each role. The results showed that students generally displayed stronger motivation at the giver role than at the receiver role. In particular, their motivation scores of the communicativeness dimension were significantly different between the two roles because this dimension could easily stimulate their sense of fulfilment and critical thinking when giving feedback. By comparison, for the dimensions of peer accountability and class enjoyment, the students reported similarly modest levels of motivation at both roles because they deemed peer accountability and class enjoyment as sources of extrinsic stimulation and less sustainable than the communicativeness dimension.

Multimodal Learning Material in An English-Speaking Class in Kampung Baluwarti

This study mainly concerned about the use of Multimodal learning material in enhancing students’ English-speaking skill. The study was carried out in Kampung Baluwarti Surakarta as the researcher was one of the tutors involved in Community service team of ABA St. Pignatelli Surakarta during January to March 2022. The main objective of this study was to investigate the implementation of multimodal learning material used in English speaking class of Kampung Baluwarti tourism community. Furthermore, their perceptions towards the use of the learning material were depicted as well. Qualitative research with narrative design was used in this study. The researcher collected the data through a variety of data collection got from in-depth interviews with the students, observation, and documents. It was discovered that multimodal learning material could be presented in various mode such as sound, picture, motion and written text to accommodate students’ learning. It helped students to be more active in practicing the target language. Students’ involvement was seen more during the lesson. Moreover, students seemed to be excited and comfortable during the class. In other words, multimodal learning material applied in the teaching learning process makes a difference in students’ speaking skill achievement.

TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS PROFESSIONALLY ORIENTED READING

The article deals with the problem of teaching psychology students reading professionally oriented English texts. It highlights the importance of the development of reading skills in English speaking class and investigates the component skills that are critical to reading comprehension development when teaching English for specific purposes. In this research we try to analyze main curricular principles proposed by scientists to guide reading instructions which can be successfully used when teaching professionally oriented reading to psychology students. In this article we explore goals for reading instructions and try to translate them into practice in various ways in our ESP classroom. Among the component skills that are critical to reading ESP comprehension development we distinguish word-recognition efficiency, vocabulary building, main-idea comprehension practice, discourse-structure awareness, reading strategies for professional goals, reading fluency, extensive reading and students’ motivations. We pay special attention to reading fluency, extensive reading and psychology students’ reading motivation which are also considered very important component skills for reading comprehension development. We tried to understand how to prepare our psychology students for their reading demands that that they will almost certainly encounter in their professional life.

Using the Flipped Classroom to Promote Learner Engagement for the Sustainable Development of Language Skills: A Mixed-Methods Study

In second language education, the flipped classroom has been widely researched and increasingly applied as a teaching approach to improve the academic performance and engagement of English as a foreign language learners. However, learner engagement is a multidimensional construct, and not much empirical evidence exists about whether the flipped classroom can lead to a significant improvement in learners’ behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement in the EFL class. To fill this gap, this study adopted a mixed-methods research approach to evaluate the impact of the flipped College English Listening and Speaking class on four-dimension learner engagement in a mainland China context. After an eight-week intervention we compared the experimental group (the flipped class, N = 34) and the control group (the non-flipped class, N = 35). Findings demonstrate that after eight weeks of flipped instruction, students in the flipped class achieved higher mean scores on the post-test engagement questionnaires in behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement. However, the difference in emotional engagement between the flipped and non-flipped classes was not statistically significant. Semi-structured interviews revealed several factors responsible for learner engagement in the flipped EFL classroom. Positive influencing factors were learning environment, instructor presence, learning content, and learner presence, whereas negative aspects included the excessive workload on learners, lack of learning preparedness, lengthy videos, and technical challenges. Based on the findings, we would argue that the instructor and other educational stakeholders should provide more support to cater to learners’ emotional engagement and help learners cope with the challenges encountered throughout the flipped learning process. The study may assist teaching professionals and researchers obtain a clearer understanding of flipped instruction in the EFL context and design and implement the flipped class by considering the positive and negative elements affecting learner engagement.

Evaluating a mobile instant messaging tool for efficient large-class speaking instruction

The overarching goal of this design-based research was to explore WhatsApp’s potential for facilitating and supporting speaking and pronunciation instruction in an EFL large-class speaking course. More specifically, this paper explored the perceived learning outcomes of WhatsApp-supported pedagogy in large English-speaking classes. Ninety-nine English students practiced their English by recording themselves, listening to the recordings, and comparing their recordings to native speakers’ pronunciation. When satisfied with the quality, they sent their own recordings to a five-member WhatsApp group made up of their classmates. The recordings involved speed reading, singing a song or reading the lyrics aloud, tongue twisters, and making a video summary. Students listened to the recordings of the other four group members and provided feedback on pronunciation. The data were collected via an open-ended survey and individual and focus-group interviews. Qualitative content analysis of the data indicated that the vast majority of the participants reacted positively and mentioned the following major contributions to large speaking classes: (1) educational affordances for pronunciation, speaking, motivation, vocabulary, and reading; and (2) technological affordances, i.e. ease of use and accessibility. The adopted approach supported speaking and pronunciation instruction, specifically through instructor and peer feedback, speed reading, and ease of access. The paper concludes that it is rewarding to unravel WhatsApp’s potential as a mobile instant messaging (MIM) tool in large-classes.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF USING GROUP DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES IN GENERAL ENGLISH CLASSES AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

The paper discusses the current state and solutions of using group discussions in general English classes at Dong Nai University of Technology. It shows that using group discussions in English speaking classes is a very active and effective teaching and learning method. However, some teachers still do not understand how to deploy group work for their students to bring the best effect. Besides, many students still face some difficulties when participating in group discussions, there are still shy students who do not dare to express their personal opinions in front of the group; rely on other group members or use Vietnamese too much in the discussion process. At the same time, the paper also points out practical solutions, appropriate to improve the problems that both teachers and students are facing during group discussions. From there, teachers can deploy and organize group discussion activities more effectively; students can be more confident during group discussions.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0925/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>