English Oral Communication Research Articles

STUDENT PERCEPTION IN USING MADLIPZ IN AN ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION CLASSROOM: A CASE STUDY IN UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH, MALAYSIA

The English language is seen as an important medium of communication between people especially in higher institutions in Malaysia and also in the working world. Thus, a lot of effort has been put in to producing students who are competent in communicating effectively in a different social and professional context. One of the ways in enhancing students’ proficiency in English is by using Madlipz. Madlipz is an application that could be downloaded to the handphone. The application allows students to dub their voices and create their own dialogue or monologue based on the video clips that they chose. With regards to this, this study looks into the use of MadLipz in enhancing students’ proficiency in English. Students who took Oral Communication in English were involved in this study. A mix-method approach has been applied to collect data for the purpose of the study. The findings of this study revealed that not only has MadLipz improved students’ pronunciation in English, but the application has also improved students’ selfesteem and confidence level to speak English.

An Overview of the Utilization of TikTok to Improve Oral English Communication Competence among EFL Undergraduate Students

The field of English language communication competence learning and acquisition has been revolutionized by the increasing development of technology. The application of social media has now been popular inside and outside of the English language classrooms. The development of technology in the past fifty years, the more recent mobile devices and the Web 2.0 technology have provided numerous opportunities for its use in improving English communication competence. TikTok, one of the popular social media platforms among Chinese international undergraduate students, is now playing an interesting role in their English communication competence learning during Covid-19 pandemic because TikTok supplies English videos with popular topics among youngsters. However, very few studies have been conducted on the utilization of TikTok on EFL undergraduate students' English communication competence. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the potential on the utilization of TikTok and how it impacts on English language communication competence acquisition among Chinese international undergraduate students by reviewing previous and recent studies focusing on TikTok as well as other social medias such as Facebook, YouTube, WeChat and so on. It is important to note that even though previous relevant studies have showcased the positive effects of using social media as learning aids in English language communication acquisition, very few literatures having been published focusing on the utilization of TikTok in English language communication acquisition. The expected findings of this paper could reveal the potential of using TikTok for international undergraduate Chinese students out of EFL classroom in improving their English Communication Competence and for increasing their interests of speaking English. The researchers showcase critical views, recommendations, as well as implications for the utilization of TikTok in the field of English language communication competence acquisition among EFL undergraduate students.

Investigating Strategies to Improve English Oral Communication Skills Among Undergrads at Mehran UET, Jamshoro

An Oral Communication (OC) plays a significant role in our day-to-day life. It has been considered as a life changing tool of the conversation. In academia,it is given a primary importance. (OC) is a two-dimensional work and it includes both listening and speaking simultaneously. This paper aims to investigate strategies, impacting students’ oral English communication performance and to make them effective and fluent speaker of English language.In this thesis, the researcher introduced many strategies to help students to improve their speaking skills of English language which actually comprises oral communication. First the study attempted to develop the questionnaire for statistical analysis named strategies for oral communication which was then classified as strategies for speaking skills. There were nine strategies of speaking. The research project was based on close-ended questionnaire for speaking and composed in a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly agree (SA) 2 agree (A) 3 Neutral (N) 4 strongly disagree (SD) 5 disagree (D).The target population for this study were the 132 students of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Sindh. The research contains sequential mixed method for the collection of data that is based on both quantitative data, that was collected from students through questionnaire and the qualitative data that was collected from 5 English language teachers of MUET, Jamshoro. The data was analyzed in grand percentage, mean and standard deviations. To validate the use of the instrument, participant reports on the Strategy for oral communication were compared with the result of the OCS. It was revealed that students with high or low oral proficiency tended to use these particular strategies, such as social affective strategies, fluency-oriented strategies, negotiation of meaning and etc.Some of these strategies can directly influence their effectiveness of learning communication skills of English, but some do not have direct influence on oralcommunication skills of English. Understanding these strategies and their impact would enable both instructors and students to improve their teaching, learning environment as well as methodology. Keywords: Communication Strategies, survey research (sequential mixed method), speaking skills, high proficiency, and low proficiency. Investigating Strategies to improve English oral Communication skills among undergrads at Mehran UET, Jamshoro DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/79-05 Publication date: May 31 st 2021

Using Role Playing Activities to Improve Thai EFL Students’ Oral English Communication Skills

The purposes of this study were to examine the effects of using role playing activities to enhance students speaking skills as well as to investigate the usefulness of role playing activities in the development of selfconfidencein oral English. The experiment was conducted with an intact group of 50 Thai EFL undergraduate students. The data were collected by using (1) the pre-speaking test and the post-speaking test on oral competence in English communication, (2) the assessment form on students’ self-confidence in speaking English, and (3) an interview form on students’ opinion and self-confidence in speaking English before and at the end of the course. The research results revealed that role playing activities had positive effects both on student’s oral competence and self-confidence in speaking English. The frequent practice over the period of time through the role playing activities is the vital key to enhance students’ speaking abilities and improve their speaking confidence.

A practitioner study on the implementation of strategy instruction for boredom regulation

This article recounts my experience in enhancing my students’ boredom regulation by designing, implementing, and evaluating a strategy instruction project. The project was undertaken with 25 Thai university students enrolled in my English oral communication course for 15 weeks. The project began with exploring how and why my students experienced boredom in my classroom and their habitual boredom coping strategies while examining and modifying the initial design of my strategy instruction. Between weeks 8 and 12, I implemented five boredom regulation strategy sessions by using reappraisals and boredom coping as key components. Students engaged in guided practice, developed their own boredom regulation strategy toolkit, shared their ideas with peers, and reflected on their strategy use. Triangulating data from whole-class surveys, focus group interviews, and the toolkits, I illustrate the positive impact of the project shown on my students’ boredom regulation and on my teacher-researcher development, despite the challenges associated with the complex nature of boredom regulation in an authentic instructional setting. This study sheds light on the ways that students and their teacher can work together to cope with boredom in second language (L2) classroom learning.

Investigating the Problems of Teaching Oral English Communication Skills in an EFL context at the Tertiary Level

Investigating the Problems of Teaching Oral English Communication Skills in an EFL context at the Tertiary Level

A Systematic Overview of Issues for Developing EFL Learners’ Oral English Communication Skills

The objective of this systematic review is to present a critical overview of current studies to explore issues such as the factors causing EFL learners’ poor oral performance and the teaching and assessment methods of oral English communication skills (OECSs) for developing tertiary level learners’ OECSs in EFL contexts. For this purpose, 51 empirical studies of the 2907 retrieved from SpringerLink, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and the Google Scholar database that were published between 2010 and 2019 in different EFL contexts were analyzed. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was analyzed thematically using NVIVO 12, followed by the Mendeley reference management software. Studies that were conducted in native English contexts and non-empirical studies were excluded from consideration for this study. The findings showed that the environmental factor was the primary factor for learners’ poor OECS performance in EFL contexts. For the method of teaching and assessment of learners’ OECSs, the use of technology is rapidly increasing in different EFL contexts. This study suggests some implications for both future researchers and academics for developing EFL learners’ oral English communication skills dealing with environmental, psychological, and linguistic factors along with teaching and learning resources at the tertiary level in EFL contexts.

Enhancing Oral English Communication Ability of Thai EFL Undergraduates via Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT)

This paper reports on the effectiveness of Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT) in improving the oral English communication ability of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) undergraduates. It is based on a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental study employing IRCT, composed of self–study reading assignments and a structured peer-teaching project. The participants who were purposively sampled to partake in the study included 105 second- and third-year undergraduates from various faculties who were enrolled in a functional reading course, of which 46 was assigned to the control group and 49 was treated as the experimental group. One-on-one and group oral assessments were administered to both groups at the end of the course after IRCT implementation. The results showed IRCT had a very positive effect on the oral communication skills of the students in the experimental group, significantly improving their confidence and motivation toward speaking English. The students’ opinions from a questionnaire also revealed high speaking improvement, reinforced by evidence from close observations, interviews, and student work samples. IRCT was, therefore recommended as a reading-based approach to improving students’ oral English communication.

Oral English Communication Expectations of Business Graduates in the Workplace in Sri Lanka

Graduate employability is a topic of much discussion, and employability skills among graduates is an equally important topic of discussion, as it has been stressed in many scholarly articles that, most graduates do not possess employability skills. Among these skills, oral English proficiency rates high, as they play an important role in the employability and marketability of graduates. Much importance has been placed on English proficiency and good communication skills among graduates which will help in increasing their employability (Ting, Marzuki, Chuah, Misieng & Jerome, 2017). The results of a survey conducted amongst ten employers revealed that in order to be ‘employable,’, business graduates need to develop their oral English competencies, and that good English communication skills can increase the employability of graduates as English is particularly important for graduates (Shivakumar & Sharma, 2017). Thus this article intends to examine the oral English competency that graduates are required to possess, in order that they may be gainfully employed.

The antecedents of boredom in L2 classroom learning

This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of boredom among Thai university students enrolled in an English oral communication course. The primary data collection tool was a whole-class survey (n = 25) eliciting the learners’ boredom experiences in a particular class over the course of seven weeks. Concurrently, focus group interviews (n = 5) were conducted five times to gain in-depth views about boredom and its antecedents in the L2 learning context in general, as well as the learners’ boredom experiences in the class. A modified version of constant comparative analysis of the survey data yielded nine thematic factors as the antecedents of boredom, which were supported by the interview findings. Activity mismatch, lack of comprehension, insufficient L2 skills, task difficulty, input overload, and lack of ideas were shown to create conditions under which internal learner factors and external classroom factors were ill-balanced or mismatched, resulting in the emergence of boredom. Learners’ physical fatigue, unfavorable appraisals of classroom tasks, and negative behaviors of classmates were also identified as the antecedents of boredom. Adopting a situated approach to exploring L2 learners’ boredom, this study sheds light on the context-dependent view of how and why learners experience boredom through an emic perspective.

RETRACTED: Smart Japanese listening course design based on data intelligent analysis and FPGA

Japan's lack of English communication opportunities proves to be a challenge for the learner, as there is no consistent training in listening and speaking English and will not provide significant improvement as a foreign language. A Japanese faculty teacher will launch a mobile-assisted language learning shadow application to overcome these difficulties. Students can cultivate their ears during shadow training. It is officially accepted that technology can be useful in improving speaking and listening. It then considers the change in motivation, influence, oral communication in English, English proficiency of first-year college students, and most science and engineering significant activities. Referral services based on user activities on the Internet, such as data analysis, can benefit Internet service providers and users. Although these services use a lot of statistical data that can be obtained through content and online transactions, they also face the challenge of ensuring that service providers do not infringe on their services' privacy. However, the large amount of data received by a network imposes a high predictable cost of the new implementation. This article focuses on accelerating its use in web service data anonymization and enabling data anonymization in Field Programmable Gate Teams (FPGA). Anonymizer proposes RAM and uses real network traffic to evaluate how it completes the test network usage.

A probe into the application of English euphemism in college classroom teaching under multimedia network technology

With the rapid development of modern computer technology, computer information management system has basically replaced the information statistics based on handwritten records. Due to the rapid development of computer technology, big changes have happened in people's way of life. Accordingly, along with the network technology and the computer technology development, the teaching method also develops rapidly. From the initial projection technology to the current multimedia classroom, microphone audio screen is available. At present, most online teaching platforms provide students with a unified teaching process, and cannot provide corresponding learning resources according to the different characteristics of learners. In order to ameliorate the efficiency of educational information, it is necessary to arouse the enthusiasm of students in the process of learning, and a variety of multimedia network learning platforms begin to be established. English euphemism is also very important in English teaching, which can improve teachers' teaching level, and secondly, improve students' oral English communication level. In this paper, a network teaching system embedded in English euphemism database is proposed to provide more convenience and resources for teachers and students to learn English. Through the technology of network, database and so on, the design of the network teaching platform is realized successfully. Finally, through the actual test and investigation, the utility of the system is fully affirmed. The application of English euphemism teaching in multimedia has a very profound foundation.

Teaching Oral Communication Skills to Healthcare Personnel Using Communicative Language Teaching Technique

Effective communication among healthcare providers is the key to success in any healthcare system.  The importance of communication skills has long been established in the medical and nursing education.  Although such skills are taught in medical and nursing undergraduate curriculum around the world, but less attention is being paid towards the communication skills of healthcare personnel in Pakistan.  The primary focus of this study is to determine whether the communicative language teaching (CLT) technique had an effect on oral English communication skills of nursing students. This quasi-experimental study was conducted at undergraduate nursing students. Purposive sampling was employed. A pre-test, based on role-plays, was conducted on the baseline status of students followed by a sixteen-hour course.  The same role-play scenarios were given as a post-test. Participants were assessed through rubrics adapted using proficiency descriptor and Cambridge English assessment scale.  The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed to compare scores obtained from pre-test and post-test.  The result revealed that the Communication language teaching technique had a significant effect on the oral English communication skills of nursing students.  The study suggested that activities conducted within the classroom should have a greater impact and involve real life communication in order to facilitate learning and proficiency in oral communication skills of students.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Turkish Academics' Self-efficacy Beliefs in their Spoken English

Academics are known as individuals designing and conducting scientific research and they are to hold problem-solving skills, use scientific methods, carry out research, and publish at a global level. That said, they may encounter problems while performing the actions mentioned above due to a lack of foreign language proficiency, which interferes with sharing their knowledge with the others in the international arena. Taking that into consideration, this study aims to scrutinize the self-efficacy beliefs of Turkish academics regarding their oral communication in English. For this purpose, the data were collected through e-mails, and a total of 352 academics working in the departments of educational sciences participated in the study. Qualitative (document analysis) and quantitative research (survey) methods were used together in the study. The scale A Self-efficacy Instrument for Academics’ Oral Communication in a Foreign Language developed by Ozer, Cakir & Uzun (2019), was utilized in the quantitative data collection phase. The findings were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that the self-efficacy scores of academics with respect to their oral communication in English showed no significant difference in terms of their department, academic title, academic experience, and age variable. It also turned out that there is a significant difference between self-efficacy belief scores and experience abroad, current language exam scores, and involvement in academic events abroad. As a result of the document analysis, it was uncovered that the number of studies, especially those that examine foreign language use, is limited. It is believed that the present study will contribute to the existing literature.

An Analysis of Oral English Communication Problems Faced by Engineers at Workplace, Pakistan

Engineering organizations are now gradually moving towards the incorporation of innovative and persuasive strategies to augment their businesses worldwide. The significant development of the world, as a consequence of globalization has transformed the conventional strategies and requirements that were previously needed for a business to thrive. Organizations are now putting a great emphasis on the communication skills of engineers because technical skills alone are not sufficient for the engineers to perform efficiently in their respective workplaces. The reason why the facet of communication is being specifically focused on is the fact that the engineering universities and their curriculum is designed in such a way that it concentrates more on the technical skills of the students thereby neglecting their communication skills adversely. This study aims to scrutinize the various problems that the engineering graduates encounter when they are hired in their workplaces. It aims to bring forth the different communication barriers faced by the engineers in Pakistan; where the curriculum and the universities follow a conventional approach of teaching that predominantly focuses on the technical skills of these students. Keywords: Oral communication barriers, engineering students, engineering universities, workplaces, globalization. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/74-06 Publication date: December 31 st 2020

Investigating EFL Learners’ Readiness of Using Smartphone and Problems for Learning Oral English Communication Skills at Tertiary Level in an EFL Context

<p class="0abstract">Although extensive research has been carried out to investigate EFL learners’ readiness of using smartphone and problems in EFL contexts, there remains a scarcity of evidence on EFL learners’ readiness of using smartphone and problems for learning oral English communication skills at tertiary level in EFL context, especially in Bangladesh. The present study was conducted to explore Bangladeshi tertiary level learners’ readiness of using smartphone and problems for learning oral English communication skills. This study employed a mixed-method design, using a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview as data collection instruments. The participants of this study were sixty-one learners (35 females and 26 males) who were studying at the department of English of a university. The findings from the questionnaire illustrated that EFL learners’ level of readiness of using a smartphone was high and the frequent problems they faced were authentic materials, audio-video aids, oral practice environment, large size class and existing teaching method. Similarly, the findings of semi-structured interview emerged three themes regarding EFL learners’ readiness were availability, usability and positivity for the use of smartphone and four themes regarding EFL learners’ problems, such as psychological, linguistic, teachers’ efficacy and use of mother tongue and for learning oral English communication skills.</p>

The Effectiveness of Project-Based Learning in Developing English Oral Communication Skills of Secondary Stage Students

Project-Based learning as a motivating instructional method that places students at the core of the teaching. It is a curriculum-based work/profile which needs collaborative work between learners inside and outside the classroom to collect data, to perform research and produce a certain product. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning in developing English oral communication skills of secondary stage students. The quasi- experimental design was adopted. The participants were two groups which were randomly chosen and assigned to an experimental group (30) from Port Said Governmental Language School and a control group (30) from Abu Bakr Governmental Language School. The English oral communication skills test was developed and administered for collecting data. Descriptive statistics, the t- test and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient were used for data analysis. The results revealed that project-based learning was effective in developing English oral communication skills of secondary stage students.

A glimpse of a stratagem for endorsing communication skills in the line of engineering for career excellence

Today’s corporate world is increasingly suffered with inexpert manpower as graduate employees lack interpersonal skills which plays an indispensable role in bonding with other professional groups and broader community. Since, employers are now more focused on interpersonal skills rather than Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), it is an irrefutable fact that imparting technical knowledge along with the knowledge of communicative competence in English takes a lion’s share in professional success. But the graduates are not ready to learn personality traits, behavioral changes, official demureness and decency to find a better place in their career. The Expertise in English language will not be present and come gradually. While inculcating English language, objectives and methods taught are mostly enabling the students to rewrite the learned or by hearted information and facts in written form of examination. It is painful to say that oral communication in English, a medium to express feelings and ideas, is not really given practice as the components to facilitate oral communication, although present, are not adequate. This can be achievable only through a proper strategy that is focused on imparting technical knowledge as well as improving effective communication and persuasive skills rather than emphasizing to incorporate a course on communication skills. This paper attempts to highlight such a strategy on communication skills for engineering students.

Exploring EFL Teacher Educators’ Goals in Teaching English Oral Communication Skill

The study reported in this article sought to explore teacher educators’ (TEs) perceived goals in teaching English oral communication in an English Education Program in Indonesia. Using a case study method, data for the present study were collected from all TEs teaching English speaking and listening subjects. A semi-structured interview protocols were carried out in English and Indonesian languages. All interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic analysis method. The findings indicate that many of the TEs stress production when teaching oral communication. When asking about the purposes of teaching speaking or listening, they rarely mentioned any expectations that their PSTs would be independent and knowledgeable when dealing with oral communication breakdowns. Yet, this does not necessarily suggest any problems with TEs’ teaching practices and may instead indicate limited opportunities for PSTs to learn how to deal with oral communication breakdowns in the classroom. The findings of this study, thus, shed lights into current understanding of how teacher educators in Indonesia engage in the preparation of school English teachers’ candidates in the domain of oral communication skills.

CA-informed Interactional Feature Analysis of Conversations in Textbooks Used for Teaching English Speaking in Thai Secondary Schools

With Conversation Analysis (CA) insights, this paper examines the textbooks used to teach oral English communication to Thai EFL learners in secondary schools. In an attempt to raise the awareness of features of naturally-occurring conversation and help increase the learners’ exposure to these features, two textbook series, hereafter A and B, were purposively sampled for a close examination of their model conversations and related exercises. Six textbooks, three from each series, were obtained from secondary school teachers voluntarily joining a CA-informed English conversation-teaching workshop in lower southern Thailand. The findings showed that textbook series A contains action-driven, function-based communicative content, whereas B is theme/situation-based, being organized around topics or events likely faced by learners in daily life. Both textbook series put more focus on face-to-face dialogues, offering a significantly smaller number of phone and multi-party conversations. The model conversations in both series are presented with punctuation symbols of written language and without any representations of spoken language features such as stress and intonation. Some of the conversations in series B are sequentially incomplete, and while offering students conversations with various types of action sequences, both series can integrate more opening and closing sequences as well as sequences with dispreferred responses into their model conversations. To raise learners’ awareness of features of natural conversation, more instances of repair and overlap may also be integrated into both audio and printed materials. Finally, to achieve the communicative unit goal, more scaffolding exercises can be provided to allow students to practice not only word and sentence pronunciation in isolation, but in relation to achieving a particular interactional goal via the construction of turns in more manageable, meaningful sequences.