Hajar Mohammadzadeh; Sepideh Rahimpour
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 09 June 2024
Abstract
The present study, following a sequential mixed-methods design, aimed at examining whether internet-based applications, including Big-BlueButton and Skype online instruction differ in terms of communication anxiety and oral communication skills for EFL learners. A pool of 32 Iranian pre-intermediate ...
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The present study, following a sequential mixed-methods design, aimed at examining whether internet-based applications, including Big-BlueButton and Skype online instruction differ in terms of communication anxiety and oral communication skills for EFL learners. A pool of 32 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL students participated in the quantitative phase of the study based on convenience sampling and a pool of nine students participated in the qualitative phase of the study based on purposive sampling. The results of one-way ANCOVA confirmed that there was a significant difference between the Skype group and the BigBlueBottom group in terms of communication anxiety and oral communication skills. Following inter-coder reliability, the most common themes (i.e., novel, challenging, motivating, less stressful, helpful, low internet speed, lack of equipment, and time-consuming) emerged from the students’ responses to the interview questions regarding the role of online learning on oral communication skills. Finally, some practical impli-cations were offered for EFL students and teachers, and some suggestions were made for conducting further studies.
Mohammad Abbasian; Ghasem Modarresi
Abstract
Despite the theoretical importance of online learning, there is a lack of research on oral communication skills. The present study, adopting a mixed-methods design, aimed at 1) examining whether Adobe Connect and Skype could improve listening skills for pre-intermediate EFL learners and 2) exploring ...
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Despite the theoretical importance of online learning, there is a lack of research on oral communication skills. The present study, adopting a mixed-methods design, aimed at 1) examining whether Adobe Connect and Skype could improve listening skills for pre-intermediate EFL learners and 2) exploring the students’ reactions to the role of online learning in enhancing their listening skills. In doing so, a pool of 30 homogeneous Iranian pre-intermediate students participated in the study. The one-way ANCOVA results confirmed a statistically significant difference at the p<.05 level in students’ scores for the two sets of scores. Adobe Connect group outperformed the Skype group concerning listening skills. Moreover, taking the coding reliability and agreement into account, 14 common codes emerged from the students’ responses to the semi-structured interview questions regarding the role of online learning in listening development. Finally, practical implications are offered for EFL students, teachers, and syllabus designers.
