An action research on developing English speaking skills through asynchronous online learning
AbstractThis action research aims at developing an action plan to alleviate foreign language speaking anxiety, and accordingly improving speaking performance. The research was carried out by the teacher-researchers of 19 prospective Chemical Engineering students at CEFR-A1 level at Ege University School of Foreign Languages (EUSFL). The research took place over a 12-week period in the fall term of 2015-2016 academic year. The participants created WhatsApp groups; the researchers sent them written or voice messages with English speaking tasks; and they performed these tasks and sent their voice messages to their groups. Data were gathered through the Turkish form of Second Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (SLSAS) developed by Woodrow (2006), participants’ speaking exam grades and semi-structured interviews. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test elicited a statistically significant change in English speaking anxiety of students (z=-2.660, p=.008, r=-.84); that is, their anxiety level decreased. The students’ speaking exam grade average was found to be 12.68 out of 15 (with 84.56% success rate). Also, the results obtained from the qualitative data matched with the results of the quantitative data indicating that the asynchronous online English speaking group (AOESG) worked well to alleviate students’ English speaking anxiety and to enhance their speaking performance.
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