UT MENG LEI -
KA LON CHAN (University of Macau)

A NEW ‘STAGE’ FOR SPEAKING PRACTICE: EFL STUDENTS’ MALL EXPERIENCE FROM A SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE : COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN ELT

Guided by the mediation approach within sociocultural theory (Thorne & Tasker, 2011), Ma (2017) constructed the sociocultural framework and conducted a study about EFL students’ mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) experience, emphasizing the mediation among mobile technologies, L2 agencies, and other agents. However, the research lacked a focus of a particular skill. In addition, little has been revealed about peer influence that functions as ‘other agents’. The proposed research attempted to address the limitations by focusing particularly on EFL students’ speaking skills with aid of MALL in the format of informal speaking practice among peers. 13 EFL university students in Beijing joined a 6-month experiment and were divided into 2 groups with weekly synchronous and asynchronous practices. The study featured a mixed-methods approach with coding of practices, questionnaires, open-ended feedback, journals, and a semi-structured interview. Findings showed that participants of both modes exhibit more positive views towards their speaking skill development. In addition, they cast light on the effects of peer existence and peer feedback on their speaking performance, as well as their perceived strengths and weaknesses of MALL, reflecting the influence brought by mobile technologies. This research provides inspiration for pedagogies capturing the student-centred speaking practise in the digital era.

Riko is an undergraduate student of English Linguistics at Beijing Foreign Studies University. She excels in English, especially speaking and writing. She is the first Macau student winning the Gold Award in Creative Writing at Genius Olympiad. Her research interest includes EFL/ESL learning, semantics, pragmatics, and cognitive linguistics.

Alan is an Instructor at the English Language Centre of the University of Macau. He received his MA in Applied English. He used to teach high school English, and was awarded the “Distinguished Teacher” Honour by local educational bureau. His research interest includes EFL writing pedagogy and language learning anxiety.