EFL Research Series for Teachers

EFL Research Series for Teachers: Pedagogigal Innovations Facilitated by ICT in the Classroom

CONSEJO EDITORIAL ACADÉMICO

Ed. Marcia Gilbert de Babra

Presidenta Consejo de Regentes

Mgs. Leticia Orcés

Vicecanciller

Ph.D. Ernesto Noboa Rector

Ph.D. Bernardita Justiniano Vicerrectora Académca

Ph.D. Rodrigo Cisternas Director General Académico

Mgs. Claudia Patricia Uribe Directora de Investigación

PhD. Lucila Pérez

Decana de Postgrado

Mgs. Juan de Althaus

Director Departamento de Publicaciones

MBA. Modesto Correa

Decano Emérito Facultad de Administración y Negocios y Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Derecho Dr. Francisco Huerta Montalvo

Ph.D. Gabriela Baquerizo

Decana Facultad de Comunicación Mónica Herrera, Facultad de Artes (e) y Facultad de Diseño y Arquitectura (e)

Mgs. Daniel Calderón

Decano Facultad de Ecología Humana, Educación y Desarrollo

Mgs. Daniella Fernández

Decana Facultad de Administración y Negocios y Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Derecho Dr. Francisco Huerta Montalvo (e)

Mgs. Ingrid Ríos

Docente investigadora

Mgs. María Mercedes Mercedes Zerega

Daniela Ortega Carrera

Ph.D. Bernardita Justiniano

Coordinadoras editoriales

EFL Research Series for Teachers

Pedagogigal Innovations Facilitated by ICT in the Classroom

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila y Lucila Pérez Cascante coordinadoras

Rana Khan

Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran

Fernando Oña Sandoval

Karina Moreno Rodríguez

Yazmín Lisseth Pinto Sánchez

Carlos Felipe Santamaría Velasco

Cristina Elizabeth Salazar Paredes

María C. Quiñones Guilott

Sandra Priscilla Bustamante Ruíz

Gerald Alberto Yépez Jouvín

Lisseth Priscilla Cabanilla García

Matthew Nall

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza

Rodrígo Guerrero Segura

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila

Tatiana Gabriela Pineda Guzmán

Kari Lynn Miller Bauer

Tatiana Cozzarelli Vásquez

Karina D. Izquierdo Zamora

Carlos Lenin Álvarez Llerena

Helen Gabriela Moreira Olives

autores

EFL Research Series for Teachers: Pedagogical Innovations Facilitated by ICT in the Classroom

Guayaquil: Universidad Casa Grande, 2022

Colección Paidea

2. Enseñanza de Inglés

EFL Research Series for Teachers: Pedagogical Innovations Facilitated by ICT in the Classroom © 2022 Universidad Casa Grande

Primera edición: 2022, distribución gratuita Universidad Casa Grande

www.casagrande.edu.ec librosacademicos@casagrande.edu.ec

Coordinación editorial: María Mercedes Zerega, Daniela Ortega y Bernardita Justiniano Diseño y diagramación de cubierta: Daniel Olmedo Corrección y diseño interior: La Caracola Editores

Impreso en Ecuador

peer review

Colección Paidea bienestar y psicología con énfasis en desarrollo integral infantil, innovación educativa, inclusión, familia y dimensiones psico-sociales. Las investigaciones pueden considerar estudios con enfoque ecológicos, sistémicos o contextuales, enfoques empíricos cuali o cuantitativos o de carácter crítico, estudios de caso, sistematizaciones de experiencia o de investigación acción. Forma parte de Colecciones Universidad Casa Grande, que tienen como objetivo el diálogo académico y la produccióncimiento desarrollados como Universidad.

Prohibida la reproducción de este libro, por cualquier medio, sin la previa autorización por escrito de los propietarios del copyright

Table of Content

Prologue

Rana Khan .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Speaking

Practical Action Research for Improving EFL Presentations:

Can Self-Assessment and Mobile Assisted Language Learning be Helpful?

Matthew Nall..............................................................................................................................................................................

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza & Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran ...............................

Collaboration for Enhancing Oral Accuracy

Fernando Oña Sandoval ........................................................................................................................................

Pronunciation in Pre-Service English Teachers

Rodrigo Guerrero Segura & Karina Moreno Rodríguez

Listening for Details in Seventh Graders

Yazmín Lisseth Pinto Sánchez, María Rossana Ramírez Ávila, Tatiana

Gabriela Pineda Guzmán & Lisseth Priscilla Cabanilla García

Reading

Extensive Reading to Enhance Reading Comprehension: An Action Research Study

Carlos Felipe Santamaría Velasco, Kari Lynn Miller Bauer & Cristina Elizabeth Salazar Paredes .............................................................................

Writing in a Five-Paragraph-Essay Elaborations

Karina D. Izquierdo Zamora & María C. Quiñones Guilott

Facilitated by Google Docs

Sandra Priscilla Bustamante Ruíz & María C. Quiñones Guilott

Facilitated by Google Docs

Carlos Lenín Álvarez Llerena, Tatiana Cozzarelli Vásquez, Helen Gabriela Moreira Olives & Gerald Alberto Yépez Jouvín

Prologue

Rana Khan1 President of TEFL Kuwait

1. Rana Khan holds a master’s degree in English Literature and Business Administration besides a teacher’s cer-

Teaching English to learners of English as a foreign language has always posed a challenge. Educators constantly search for better strategies to enhance motivational levels and improve class performances to change the learning curve. Is there a standard solution to learning prob-

produce results? Students ought to engage in the learning process in such a way that they feel involved and take it in steps. The four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking play a major role as learning tools

diverse ways to acquire language and express learning. Technology can be utilized as one of the powerful tools to acquire and express learning. Furthermore, collaborative approaches that use technology bring a big -

The purpose of this book is to take an initiative and explore varying pedagogical approaches in teaching skills to English language learners. The contributors of this book have tried to approach the task of lan-

ered instrumental in not only teaching students how to write but also in providing them with valuable feedback. Technology plays a crucial role at this step supporting learners in allowing them to use varying forms of simple technology in the acquisition and expression of learning. The book asks the reader to look outside the box and reconsider the methods we employ as teachers in English language classes. Unconventional forms of technology like WhatsApp and other messenger tools can be very useful and user-friendly when it comes to self-learning.

Universities play a crucial role in setting precedents and standards in the world of language teaching as they provide active playgrounds for innovation and knowledge reform. University of Casa Grande has always supported and acknowledged the need for constant reform

the University of Casa Grande to contribute actively to English language learning for EFL learners. The contributions come from across

insights and visions for a better and more supportive language learning environment.

Chapter nine discusses and advocates the use of Google docs to support a better writing environment. Collaboration through Google docs has been encouraged, as learners process writing with a group learning approach both synchronously and asynchronously. Synchronous collaboration promotes peer review, thus providing written feedformat ensures coherence in writing and promotes better brainstorming of ideas much needed for essay writing. Chapter six stresses on reading skills and better comprehension skills among EFL readers. Ingood reading skills among English learners.

tool for better listening skills. Students can improve their listening skills by using these appropriate techniques. The choice and selection of instructional resources are extremely crucial for pre-service teachers, depending on the context and nature of the participants, as stressed in chapter four. The use of WhatsApp for enhancing oral accuracy can be

expression for learning. Chapter two further focuses on using mobile technology for peer feedback on speaking practices. With the limited availability of resources mobile learning paves the way for self-assessment besides peer feedback, so crucial for language learning.

The organizers at University of Casa Grande would like to thank the contributors of this book for their valuable contributions. This book was conceivable due to their innovative and creative pedagogical approaches to English language teaching. The University expresses gratlanguage teaching into a continuous process of change and dynamism.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Speaking

Practical Action Research for Improving EFL Presentations: Can Self-Assessment and Mobile Assisted Language Learning be Helpful?

Matthew Nall1 Miyagi University

Sendai, Japan

matthewgarynall@gmail.com

This practical action research study begins by identifying a problem in a university-level English presentation class in northern Japan. Every year, students enrolled in this course take part in a presentation test during the semester, but in past years they have tended to under-perform on the test. The researcher hypothesized that students might improve their English presentations by implementing a self-assessment

this study, control and experimental groups took part in similar English presentation curricula. However, the experimental curriculum included an element of self-assessment facilitated by MALL. A linguistic T-Unit

in the control and experimental groups’ presentation tests. Results reveal that the treatment curriculum contributed to increase participants’

This information allows educators to design curricula for future English presentation courses more appropriately, and it empowers educators with limited educational resources.

Keywords: EFL presentations, mobile assisted language learning, motivation, self-assessment

Introduction

What is the value of action research in academia today? Judging by the kinds of research articles typically published in top-tier academic journals, action research occupies a marginalized position. However, this does not mean that educators should dismiss the genre. Action research as a methodology deserves our attention, and every competent language teacher needs to engage in action research, even if only in-

ucator to confront real-life classroom problems, test new hypotheses,

a valuable tool for the second language teacher, because results guidepothesis, the venture alone is instructive. Teachers need to implement language teaching, the active engagement of learners in the classroom

evaluating innovative teaching practices in these respects is one important aim of action research.

This chapter describes a practical action research study conduct-

at a public university in northern Japan. The current researcher has taught this course for several years in this context. In this course, students have to take part in an English presentation test during the semester. The researcher noticed that in previous years, many students performed at a level that was below what the teacher knew they were able to achieve. For example, students were often under-prepared, and during their presentations, they ignored the audience or merely assumed that this problem was closely linked to motivation. It was alsotor. This practical action research study was undertaken in order to solve this real-world classroom problem. The researcher hoped thatglish. Going further, improving students speaking skills allows them to engage in academic discussions and polish their academic mastery -

help students to improve their presentation skills.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Literature Review

In to properly understand problems in the EFL classroom, it is important to consider the nature of the broader sociocultural context.

study. Language learning motivation in Japan has received ample atwide-ranging and have foundations in culture and policy, and stakeEnglish educational policy as being in a permanent state of crisis. This comes as the country has invested heavily in English Education while public schools and universities fail to produce many students with

To understand Japan’s status quo concerning the general Englishful. When comparing Japan to its closest geographical neighbors in terms of TOEFL iBT performance, Japan lags behind the vast majority-

nior high school and continued through high school and often into the been introduced as a subject beginning in the 5th grade of elementary -

EFL motivational problems in Japan have diverse origins. One of teachers tend to focus on juken eigovelopment courses, in practice, are actually taught as English grammar

to help students develop oral communicative abilities in the target lan-

and interests, which contributes heavily to motivational issues in the

where university prestige carries more weight than individual achievement in the post-graduation job market, there are not many incentives for university students to apply themselves. In most cases, graduation

growth during their time in the university system. In fact, university se-

and before they have a diploma in hand. This puts some of the blame for student motivational problems on employers. This practice places enormous institutional pressure on teachers to work with failing students by any means necessary to ensure that failing students graduate, even though they might not deserve it by international standards. Clark

or lazy students and having them expelled from the allegedly warm and cozy bosom of the university group is almost impossible, both practical-

a moral obligation to address motivational problems in their classrooms. Studies of university lecture courses have found that motivational problems are often teacher-owned issues, and teacher behavior ranging from minor infractions such as tardiness, to verbal abuse or sexual ha-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

uted to the body of knowledge that shows that teacher behavior can be a prominent source of student demotivation in the sociocultural context -

the macro-sociocultural context of the society and its national policies regarding EFL education, as well as the micro-context of the individual classrooms. Teacher-researchers have an obligation to assess student motivational problems in the classroom and to improve the situation. This is made possible through action research.

Educators and administrators continue to struggle with issues of ELL motivational problems in Japan. At the university level there remains a need for EFL departments to evaluate and re-design curricula and methods informed by action research, to better address motivational problems and to better serve student needs. This study seeks

teaching method in the context of the EFL presentations class. This new self-awareness and improve motivation, and help students to become -

ment is a learner-centered alternative assessment that at its core inwhere EFL students have to produce either written or spoken output. By analyzing their own written or spoken output, students are presented with an opportunity to evaluate and improve their own productive include fostering an active learning environment, promoting student responsibility and ownership, helping students better understand their

self-assessment can contribute to increased metacognitive awareness, -

ditionally, it is common knowledge in second language acquisition that some factors should be given special consideration by teachers, such-

cially when it concerns public speaking in a second language. In sum, self-assessment requires that students analyze their own language out-

ment should become one the tools that educators regularly utilize in their ongoing attempt to produce the best possible learning outcomes for students.

In today’s age of technology and learning, PCs, smartphones, and tablet computers can be valuable tools for classroom use. Students can record and listen to themselves or use a survey or checklist to evaluate electronic devices as learning aids that can be used in or out of the lan-sessment approach to language learning in the classroom. However, and to determine MALL’s feasibility in academic contexts where educational resources are constrained.

Methodology

This quasi-experimental practical action research study examinestion with MALL in order to help students become more motivated, gainsentations in English. The primary hypothesis of this study is that by us-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

ing a student self-assessment approach, students might improve their quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in order to address the research questions below. This study was conducted by university research guidelines, and a research ethics review was completed before beginning the data collection process. Participants in the study signed a written statement of informed consent, and all survey data was submitted anonymously.

Research Questions

course help students to improve their presentation skills? -

nancial or educational resources are limited.

Participants at a public university in northern Japan. They were Japanese citizens of formal English study and they belonged to the Department of Food Industrial Sciences. None of the participants were English majors but were enrolled in the English presentation course to satisfy graduation requirements. The researcher estimated that in terms of oral produc-

Students enrolled in this English presentation course met once through student-centered speaking activities that require them to

presentation in English on a topic introduced as part of the textbook material. Students could to choose their presentation topic from the material covered in class. For the presentation test they were also required to use slideware such as PowerPoint. Students were allowed to memorized and that memorization, eye-contact, and audience awareness were strictly graded. Students were also reminded that merely reading from their notecards for the duration of their presentation test would result in a failing grade.

Classroom Procedures

Due to educational constraints, the participants could not be randomly assigned to either the control or experimental groups. The researcher utilized two existing sections of the English presentation course that he taught. One section was randomly designated as the control group and the other as the experimental group. The experimental design for the control and experimental groups can be seen in Figure -

pants having one 90-minute class per week. As part of the regular curriculum for this course, the control group would prepare and give a one to two-minute presentation to a group of six to eight students each week during class, every week, for four weeks prior to the presentation

student was required to give four mini-presentations to a group of their peers in preparation for the presentation test. Preparation for the group presentations was done each week as homework, and the group pre-

The experimental group completed the same requirements as the control group, except that each week one group would use a tablet computer during the in-class group presentations to video-record their group presentations. Due to budgetary constraints, the researcher was only able to utilize one tablet computer for this experiment. Therefore

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Control Group Experimental Group

Figure 1. The Experimental Design

Participants presentation each week

Week 5: Presentation Test

Participants presentation each week

participants re-sentation, view it and complete self-assessment survey

Week 5: Presentation Test

each week, the group of students that recorded their group presentations would have an additional assignment and were asked to go to the -

Instruments

The self-assessment survey was designed by the researcher and was based on the presentation skills that were covered in the textbook and practiced during class activities. Questions on the self-assessment

After completing of the treatment curriculum and the presentation tests, the researcher determined that it would be helpful to gather some information from the experimental group concerning the participants’ perceptions of the treatment curriculum. The treatment curriculum evaluation survey was utilized for this and, as show in Table 2. The treatment curriculum evaluation survey was designed by the researcher in order to gather information about the participants’ perceptions of the

and questions four to six were open ended.

2. My speaking volume was appropriate.

5. I had appropriate presentation posture.

9. What I did well. [open-ended]

Note. Actual surveys were conducted in Japanese.

2. My speaking volume was appropriate.

5. I had appropriate presentation posture.

9. What I did well. [open-ended]

Note. Actual surveys were conducted in Japanese.

Miyagi Prefecture.

Example 2 Matsushima is in Miyagi Prefecture, and it has many islands. It is on Matsushima bay.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 1. Self-Assessment Survey

Table 2. Treatment Curriculum Evaluation Survey

Table 3 T-Unit Examples from the Data Set

Data Analysis

Presentation tests for both groups were video-recorded and transcribed by the researcher. Transcriptions were analyzed in order

can identify the language maturity of the speaker. Language maturity develops naturally as lower-level learners tend to produce shorter-

control and experimental groups’ presentation tests. Researchers can from the data set. -

not be divided into separate, stand-alone sentences, so the T-Unit value-

For a comparison to native-speakers’ language maturity, Hunt -

per T-Unit. Language maturity, therefore, develops along a natural progression. Since participants in the present study were required to write and practice their presentation scripts before participating in the presentation test, it was determined that this scale would provide for an appropriate comparison between participant presentations and native speaker academic language abilities. When comparing the T-Unit exgrade native speaker level of academic language production.

Results

Initial Descriptive Analysis of the Results

Participants in the control group, produced more language than participants in the experimental group. The control group had a higher mean number of words produced per presentation than the experimental group. Additionally, the mean presentation time for participants in the control group was longer than the meantime of participants in the exminute was calculated for each group, and it was found the experimen-

Quantitative Findings

Transcripts of the participant presentations were analyzed for T-Unit content. The researcher divided each presentation transcript into -

lyzed by determining the mean length according to the mean number of T-Units, the mean length of T-Units, the mean number of error-free

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

T-Units, the mean error-free T-Units as a percentage of T-Units produced, and the mean length of error-free T-Units. For the purpose of calculating errors in the T-Unit analysis phase, errors were considered to include syntactical errors, missing parts of speech, subject-verb

Results of the T-Unit Analysis can be seen in Table 5. It was found that the control group produced more T-Units, as par-

presentation. Concerning grammatical maturity, the experimental group

Mean number of T-Units

Mean length of T-Units

Mean number of error-free T-Units

Mean error-free T-Units as percentage of T-units produced

Mean length of error-free T-Units

Table 5. Descriptive Representation of the Results of the T-Unit Analysis

produced slightly more mature language, with the mean length of

of the whole, the experimental group out-performed the control group -

tion. Additionally, the experimental group had slightly longer error-free

The control group produced error-free T-Units with a mean length of the treatment curriculum helped the participants produce more accurate and mature language on the presentation test.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Control group

Experimental group

Figure 2. Holistic T-Unit Data Analysis

The holistic T-Unit analysis considers language features at the T-Unit level and above, while atomistic analysis examines language features found within individual T-Units themselves. A visual representation of the holistic T-Unit Data Analysis for the control and experimental groups can be seen in Figure 2. This includes the mean number of T-Units produced per presentation by each group, the mean number of error-free T-Units per presentation, and the mean number of error-free T-Units as a percentage of each presentation of the total T-Units produced by each group. The control group produced slightly more T-Units and error-free T-Units than the experimental group. However, the experimental group produced a higher mean number of error-free T-Units as a percentage of the whole. This indicates that the participants in the experimental group spoke with more accuracy than the control group.

examine the mean length of T-Units produced by each group, as well as the mean length of error-free T-Units produced. Compared to the control group, the experimental group had slightly longer mean length

Experimental group Control group

Figure 3. Atomistic T-Unit Data Analysis

of T-Units, as well as a longer, mean length of error-free T-Units. On the other hand, the experimental group was able to out-perform the control group concerning the ratio of error-free T-Units to total number of T-Units produced.

Statistical Analysis of the Quantitative Findings

IBM SPSS version 25 was utilized for the statistical analysis portion of this study. Independent t-tests were run in order to determine

areas: the mean number of T-Units produced by the group, the mean length of T-Units produced by the group, the mean number of error-free T-Units produced by the group, the mean error-free T-Units produced as a percentage of all T-Units produced, and the mean length of T-Units produced by the group. Results were considered to be statistically sigt-test resulted in a p value, where p<.05. Results can be

According to the t-t -

by the control and experimental groups. All other data points in this analysis portion did not have a p-value where p<.05. Lower and upper

Mean number of T-Units

Mean length of T-Units

Mean error-free T-Units

Mean error-free T-Units as percentage of whole

Mean length of error-free T-Units

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 6. Independent t-Test Results

dence intervals of the mean number of T-Units produced by the groups did not cross zero. Therefore, the mean number of T-Units produced experimental groups.

Qualitative Findings

study, the researcher administered the treatment curriculum evalua -

I was able to see myself how others would see me during a presentation.

I could understand how I speak in English.

I was able to know the things that I was not good at, and improve them on the test.

I could improve my weaknesses.

5. If the treatment curriculum wasn’t helpful, in what ways wasn’t it helpful?

I’m nervous talking in front of people, so it didn’t help me. Speaking in front of the class is more stressful.

watched your video?

I thought my presentation was not good enough I couldn’t make eye contact with the audience I need to work on my pronunciation

Note. Actual surveys were conducted in Japanese.

Table 7. Self-Assessment Survey

end of the study to understand student perceptions of the treatment curriculum. -

mental group said that the self-assessment survey was helpful. Participants were then asked if the treatment curriculum was helpful, in what ways was it helpful? They were also asked to explain how the treatment curriculum was not helpful. Finally, participants were also asked what they thought about their experiences watching themselves making a presentation in English. Common responses to the open-ended ques-

Lastly, participants in the experimental group were asked whether they thought students enrolled in the same course in future semesters -

dents believed that future students should participate in the treatment curriculum. This result is supported by the positive feedback concerning the treatment curriculum as evidenced in participant responses to Discussion can help students improve their presentation skills in terms of accu-

er hoped that the participants in the experimental group would have a raised self-awareness of themselves and their language abilities that through the treatment curriculum and the self-assessment survey. It was thought that this raised self-awareness would result in the participants becoming more motivated and trying harder on the presentation test. As a result, they would improve their presentations by increasing

used to identify ways in which the experimental group improved as a result of participating in the treatment curriculum.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

self-assessment and argued that it could help students develop metacognitive awareness and control and increase their autonomy by helping

data in the present study showed that the experimental group actually produced less language on the presentation test than the control group.

the students to become aware of elements of a successful academic presentation. A large part of this is preparing for the presentation, focusing on the message and presenting it in a clear and concise manner without wordy-errors such as repetitions, false-starts, or rambling

learners’ metacognitive awareness and control increased as a result of the treatment curriculum. The experimental group presented their ideas more clearly and concisely than the control group. This shows that the treatment curriculum helped participants to improve their metacognitive awareness and learner autonomy. This result falls inline with the

It is necessary to discuss the atomistic elements of the dataent, they can still be helpful to the educator when planning a course curriculum. It is important to note that the experimental group actually out-performed the control group in accuracy, with the experimentalgests that experimental group participants spent more time preparing their scripts, checking for errors, and practicing their deliveries. The experimental group was also able to produce longer error-free T-Units,

increased metacognitive awareness and learner autonomy.

According to the survey administered to the experimental group at the end of the data collection portion of this study, several

conclusions can be made concerning the participants’ perceptions of -

ing that they believed that future students enrolled in similar courses should participate in the treatment curriculum. Participants also perceived the video recording and self-assessment survey were helpful in -

pants’ self-awareness and helping them to improve how they speak and appear when giving presentations in English. The researcher observed that many participants enjoyed the video-recording and self-assessment portion of the treatment curriculum as seeing themselves speak in English was a new and interesting experience. It allowed them to become more self-aware of their own English speaking and presenting abilities. They believed that it helped them to prepare for the presentation test by allowing them to identify their weaknesses and improve -

Self-assessment can increase student motivation and help learners to an empowering force that encourages students who would have otherwise given up. The positive feedback from the treatment curriculum

self-assessment. Many of the participants had not previously had the opportunity to see or hear themselves speaking English. They enjoyed seeing themselves make a presentation in English and evaluating their performances. As such, the self-assessment contributed positively toporating MALL in second language classrooms with restricted educa-

only able to utilize one tablet computer in class due to strict budgetary constraints and spending rules at this particular university. This may be surprising in an industrialized nation like Japan, but this scenario is com-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

mon in many contexts. Examining ways that educators can encourage student motivation through the incorporation of technology in the classroom when budgets are tight was one of the main objectives for undertaking the current study. Results have shown that while this situation is not ideal, the incorporation of a single tablet computer in classroom

and learning. It can be concluded that when technology is thoughtfully incorporated into instructional design, even if only in a small way, that

tivation and metacognitive awareness, and it lends support to greater learner autonomy and self-directed learning.

Conclusions

The current action research study aimed to address a problem with student performance on EFL presentation tests and to evaluate the inclusion of MALL when resources are limited. Conclusions can be made from both the linguistic and the learning perspectives.

a self-assessment approach to an EFL presentations class can be bengroup were able to focus their messages and present their ideas more clearly and concisely than in the control group. The experimental group with more mature language. From the learning perspective, most participants in the experimental group had a favorable disposition toward the treatment curriculum. The self-assessment experience contributed positively toward addressing the motivational problem. Students were able to become more self-aware. They were able to identify their weaknesses and work toward improving those areas.

Research question 2 addresses the feasibility of incorporating MALL into EFL courses when educational resources are limited. Results positive outcomes of the treatment curriculum and the incorporation of a single tablet computer into classroom activity. This study has shown

that the incorporation of technology, even if only in a minor way, can have an important impact on pedagogy and learning.

There are some limitations in the present study. First, this study was conducted within a single university department with a relatively

improved in future studies if a larger number of participants were included from a wider variety of departments. Additionally, participants in the study had a wide range of individual English language goals and motivations. Controlling for these variables in future studies would al-

mended that future studies utilize more tablet computers in the treatment curriculum.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

References

Psychology for language

learning: Insights from research, theory and practice Palgrave Macmillan.

Language learning mo-

tivation in Japan. Multilingual Matters. Beyond the classroom: Mobile learning the wider world. Monterey, CA: The International Research Foundation for English Language Education

Teaching and researching: Autonomy Routledge.

learners of English still alive after exam hell? JALT Journal, -

The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching -

nition: Facilitating metacognition in the primary school through teacher-pupil interactions. Thinking Skills and Creativity

The Japan Times -

ommon European Framework of Reference for

Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment-

an-framework-reference-languages

Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson Education, Inc.

devices for listening and speaking practice on a French language programme. Open Learning,

Teaching and researching motivation. Longman. est and score data summary for TOEFL iBT tests: January 2018-December 2018 test data.

learner demotivation. The Language Teacher, -

The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching st -

haviors as motivating and demotivating factors in college classes. Communication Quarterly,

objective measures. The Modern Language Journal

Joetsu University of Education Bulletin,

National council of teachers of English: Research report No. 3. United

Language Assessment Quarterly, -

behaviors: What students don’t like about what teachers say and do. Communication Quarterly, -

glish classrooms: Exploring with qualitative research methods. Language Teaching Research,

schools in Japan: Ideals vs. reality. RELC Journal,

English: A survey study. JALT Journal,

engagement in second language task performance. Language Teaching Research

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

guage portfolio: Two L2 English examples. Language Teaching: Surveys and Studies,

English education in public primary schools in Japan. The Language Teacher,

English language teaching: The case of Japan. Munich: Lincom.

stronger student motivation and higher achievement. Educational Horizons -

Journal of College Student Personnel,

awareness for speaking. TESOL Quarterly. Advance online publica-

English education reform plan corresponding to globalization

The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching st John Wiley & sons, Inc.

Teaching English to second language learners in academic contexts. Routledge.

Tedium in college. [Paper presented at the -

Investigating the attitudes of young Japanese people towards the learning of English. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching

The

TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching st Edition, pp.

Educating the Whole Child

Chapter Eleven: Sounding Educated. University oflege classrooms: A cross-cultural investigation in China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. Communication Education, 222.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

on Speaking Skills Using Bubbly

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza1

Universidad Casa Grande

Guayaquil, Ecuador

macespinoza77@gmail.com

Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran2

Universidad Casa Grande

Guayaquil, Ecuador

kwigby@casagrande.edu.ec

cativa Bilingue de La Inmaculada. EFL Teacher.

Abstract

This study explores the role of peer feedback through a microa private high school in Guayaquil. Learners had to record six speaking tasks which they posted in Bubbly, and then they received peer feedback in the same app. The instruments applied were a pre and post-test with a speaking rubric as well as students’ learning logs and interviews to anashowed an increase in the mean between the pretest and the post-test

results show that students viewed peer feedback as a valuable tool to enhance speaking. Finally, the implications and challenges of using peer feedback as a strategy in EFL learning are discussed. Since peer feedresearch helpful for its implementation in class.

Keywords: peer feedback, speaking skills, microblogging voice app., EFL Learning.

Introduction

A primary concern of EFL teachers worldwide has always been the development of their students’ speaking skills to communicate effectively. However, one of the biggest limitations in EFL teaching and learning in countries such as Ecuador is that there are not enough opportunities to use the language outside the classroom or get feedback on its use. Additionally, in EFL classrooms, many times, there are big

Along with the limitation for developing speaking skills, the use of technology in education is now an essential tool since teachers need to be updated with the technological knowledge that their students

to the internet and technology has a positive correlation with a better English level. This means that in countries in which students have more access to technology, English levels are also higher. In addition, learners with access to many materials that help support their learning. Thus, now it is not a question for the teacher of whether to use technology in the class or not, but to select tech tools that are the best for the context of their students. Regarding the use of technology -

ed that students engaged more and had more oral interaction in EFLdents who used Whatsapp for voice messages improved their verbal interaction.

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature

that teenagers have a positive perception towards using mobile devices in performing ubiquitous learning. They perceived that mobile devices could be used for gaming and entertainment as well as for education because they are very convenient, give fast responses, and are easy to using video conferencing as ansynchronous tool.

Many studies have also pointed out the importance of formative feedback to enhance students’ learning, including feedback from the

ed that if the student receives feedback and then has the opportunity to use that feedback, this process will improve the student’s performance and learning. Given the relevant role of feedback in learning, teachers need to be aware of its use when designing their activities. However, giving frequent, quality feedback to each student can be

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

There are several studies on the use of peer feedback for enhancing oral skills which have concluded that peer feedback improves However, there are very few studies about peer feedback at the high mentioned above concluded that peer feedback enhances speaking, others question such a claim. For example, Murillo-Zamorano andsentations unless there are enough sessions. Also, Wichmann et al. successful changes and improve language skills.

There is little research about the use of technology to improve speaking skills in the reality of Latin America and Ecuador. The only use of mobile phones through audio and voice recordings to improve pronunciation and intonation. They concluded that students felt more English.quirement for the English level of high school students. However, most the situation at a private bilingual high school in the city of Guayaquil, at the moment of graduating from high school. Nevertheless, on the speaking.

There is a gap in research on using of technology with computers and mobile phones for peer feedback in Ecuador and at the high school level. Thus, the current study will provide further data for improving speaking skills and teaching practice. That is why this action research study focused on how a group of EFL learners could have more opportunities to improve their speaking skills with peer feedback using Bubbly, a

voice microblogging mobile and computer application that permits users to create, post and share 90-second voice messages to peers.

This study focused on one aspect of spoken production, the sus-within the personal, educational, public, and vocational domains rather

Therefore, there are three main research questions for this study:dents’ speaking skills?

2. To what extent did the quality of peer feedback improve?

technology through a mobile and computer application in class?

Literature Review

This study focused on the aspect of spoken production that refers to sustained monologue. Therefore, it was essential to analyze

acquisition described the importance of the role of output in acquiring a language. He mentioned that it is useful in automatizing existing knowledge and in giving students opportunities for improving discourse skills such as producing long runs, which is the objective of this

output indicating that it refers to language that has a communicative purpose.

The theory that supports this innovation is Social Constructivism since it emphasizes learning through group work and pair work, as well

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

ulated by the interactions with people who have better skills or know more, such as peers, parents, or teachers. Vygotsky also believed that cultural tools, which could include computers, the internet, and mobile devices, have a relevant role in cognitive development. For this innova-

that focuses on engaging students in communication so that they can develop their communicative competence.

Bubbly is a Voice Microblogging application and is known as Twit-

is one study on the use of Bubbly to develop oral production skills in EFL but at the university level in Japan, made by Renaud Davies. Davies

and improved their spoken production skills.

The focus of the current study is the development of speaking skills

can be one of the hardest skills to improve, but it is also frequently the principal objective of every language learner. For this reason, communicative competence is often the main purpose of learning a language. about

speech and conversation. One is organization and behavior, which

pronunciation. The researcher has considered these three components in the speaking rubric that was used in this study. -

continuity and rate as well as to connect and sequence ideas to pro-

discourse refers to the ways to link sentences and organize ideas. The as she pointed out, involves a variety of constructions commonly used spoken discourse, grammar structures are usually shorter, simpler, and more informal. Therefore, grammar is an important descriptor to take into account when practicing speaking skills, and it goes together with vocabulary use.

the spread of communicative approaches, the teaching of pronuncia-

importance of stress, rhythm, and intonation.

The present study aimed to understand if peer feedback can pos-

communicated to the student that is aimed at changing the learner’s thinking or behavior to improve learning. In the same vein, Wiggins

actions to achieve it, and receive information related to that goal. Therefore, it was important for the application of this action research to make sure that students understand how to give quality peer feedback.

need information that tells them if they are headed in the correct direction. Furthermore, they also need opportunities to use that feedback to reshape their performance and be able to achieve their

and informative language so that it tells the student what they did

sessment, such as the direct participation of learners, the stimulation

rized by saying that feedback has to be precise, actionable towards a

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

goal, and timely. For this reason, the feedback rubric included those three aspects.tices could enhance speaking skills if four conditions are met: clear characteristics, and strong integration with the curriculum. In addition, could help teachers to provide learners with feedback and for students to check their work.

However, there are two essential aspects to consider about

high-quality feedback represents an important demand of teaching time, especially in classes with many students. The second aspect is that not every student has the same motivation to provide the best feedback, which would be a drawback for the students who could re-

study some concerns that students have about peer feedback, which -

relationships.

Methodology Design

This study is action research because the author is involved in the study. The research design is mixed since it analyzes quantitative and

steps in which those who participate examine their teaching practice in detail using research techniques. The action research project was carried out at a private bilingual high school in Guayaquil.

The convenience sample was 22 students in their senior year of non-random sample in which participants have been included because of easy accessibility or availability. In the case of this research, the participants were the ones assigned to the teacher doing the action research at the beginning of the school year. The ages of the participants -

levels. These results were obtained through the application of a mock PET test at the beginning of the year. -

tions stated as the purpose of the study. Therefore, the expectation was -

sessment of quality feedback, and a positive perspective from the students toward the use of peer feedback to improve speaking as well as the use of technology and the mobile application Bubbly to enhance EFL learning.

Classroom Procedures

The innovation took place as part of a regular learning unit in whichcabulary and language as well as communicative activities aimed at speaking. Students uploaded six task-based voice posts using Bubbly, and received peer feedback in the form of comments posted to their speaking recordings in Bubbly.

At the beginning of the innovation, students were taught how to -

students also learned how to use the speaking rubric. Students prac-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

The speaking rubric was used by students to give feedback on the following aspects: grammar and vocabulary, discourse management

Students also used the rubric for self-assessing the feedback they were providing to their peers. Additionally, students completed two learning logs

they had to take to improve their speaking tasks using the feedback given.

-

ated by Bubbly, improve EFL students’ speaking skills? The teacher and a second evaluator used a speaking rubric adapted from Cambridge -

-

-

ly, and then the researcher averaged the results of both evaluators. As two or more scorers while validity refers to the degree to which a test assesses what it is supposed to.

The second research question about the quality of peer feedback was answered using the corresponding rubric. The researcher assessed

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza & Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran

models of quality feedback with the corresponding rubric. In the following weeks, students were introduced to the content of the unit through listening, reading, speaking, and writing activities, as well as group and pair work. Later, they posted their speaking tasks on Bubbly and got peer feedback as an activity at home.

to analyze the progress and improvement in the quality of feedback. The third research question is related to the students’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback mediated by Bubbly. For this purpose, the researcher interviewed eight students who were chosen considering students with the highest speaking scores in the posttest, students in the middle, and students with the lowest scores in order to have per-

improve the innovation in the future. The interview protocol proposed questions related to the categories chosen for qualitative analysis in this research: students’ feelings towards the use of Bubbly and technology in the EFL class, as well as the students’ perspectives about the quality

that the interviewer could obtain in-depth information about an issue and get further answers. In addition, students completed three learning logs, which included the categories of students’ feelings about the use of technology in the class and their perspectives on the quality of feedback received and given.

Data Analysis

The researcher expected that by using the speaking rubric, the

speaking task with the application of peer feedback. The researcher used of the pretest and posttest results to determine basic descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations as well as the p value and

After analyzing the quality of feedback given by students using the rubric, these results were contrasted. Finally, the researcher analyzed the peer feedback posted in Bubbly as comments by looking for patterns or emergent themes in the answers to group data.

For the students’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback as a tool for improving speaking, the researcher examined the answers given

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

according to positive and negative opinions from the students. This information was then contrasted with the learning logs each student anstudents’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback.

Results

ated by Bubbly, improve EFL students’ speaking skills? the researcher used the results from the pre-test and post-test.

the post-test. The values of the standard deviation in both the pre and post-test indicate that the scores are quite closely clustered around the mean of the test. The p means that there is strong evidence for stating that the improvement is dpost-tests.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of Speaking Pre-test and Post-test

Table 2 shows the values for each descriptor of the speaking rubric in the pre-test and post-test. The second construct, Discourse Management, is the one that shows more improvement with an increase in the

the scores were not farther away from each other for all variables than p three constructs is less than 0.05, which means the correlation between d

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Figure 1. Mean Comparison of Speaking Pre-test and post-test

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the theoretical constructs

results are educationally meaningful. Figure 2 visualizes the comparison of the means of each variable in the pre and posttest. The second research question was: To what extent did the quality of peer feedback improve? The teacher assessed the peer feedback

rubric. The results of the assessment of feedback at the beginning and the end are as follows:

Figure 2. Comparison of the means of each variable in the pretest and posttest of speaking

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of pretest and posttest of quality feedback

students improved by the end of the innovation. The p value with an

ment in the quality of feedback given by students is meaningful. Additionally, the peer feedback given in Bubbly was carefully read to compare the scores of the quality of feedback assessment with the comments posted by the students in the application about their part-

Bubbly. Students focused on the three areas of speaking mentioned

that students focused most of their feedback on Discourse Manage-

and the use of connectors. On the other hand, comments about grammar, and pronunciation mistakes were more general.

The third research question was: What are the students’ perspectives about peer feedback using technology through a mobile and computer application in class? An analysis of data, which included extracts from the students’ learning logs and the eight interviews, reveals perceived improvement in the students’ performance and positive perceptions towards the use of peer feedback to improve speaking skills facilitated by Bubbly. For example, these are some extracts from the learning logs which show that:

sounded nervous and in the following speaking tasks I could listen

because I could see my mistakes and in my next task I could im-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

The analysis of the interviews and learning logs shows that although some students felt uncomfortable giving comments and feed-

mistakes in their classmates’ speaking tasks using the rubric, they helped each other identify errors in their tasks, preventing them from making the same mistakes again. For example, in some extracts of the students’ learning logs they mentioned the following:

back. However, I tried to give her some advice and motivation for

tips to avoid mistakes and solve them, such as about the way of

tened to the post several times to write down mistakes… so they

This is supported by the students’ perspectives mentioned in the interviews about the quality of the feedback they gave. For example, some extracts from the participants’ responses mention:

listening to the posts several times... For example, if they made

mistakes in detail and how to solve them. For example, to pause less, if they had problems with a word, to look for a synonym that

Therefore, most students interviewed considered that the use of peer feedback was a good experience and a helpful tool to improve their speaking skills in a creative and fun way in which they could interact with others in the same way they use a social network. For example, some students’ perceptions taken from the interviews were the following:

guage and listen to other people who have the same interests.”

One student considered that the peer feedback was not helpful because her peers were too general in their comments. Also, one stu-plication at the moment of uploading the posts.

Discussion by Bubbly, improve EFL students’ speaking skills? The results were positive. Pre and post-test comparisons indicate that peer feedback permitted an improvement in speaking skills. These peer feedback results on speaking skills are coherent with those found in previousies also revealed improvement through the application of peer feedback.

The pre-test and post-test analysis results showed that the area of speaking which improved the most was discourse management, whichstudents because that was the area in which participants gave more comments according to the results shown before. Class observations revealed that students were more worried about improving in this area

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

of Discourse Management because they expressed more questions and interest in it during class. Furthermore, students avoided mentionwere uncertain how to use them.

The second research question was: To what extent did the quality

improvement in the quality of feedback may be due to the training given of feedback improves.

The third research question was: What are the students’ perspectives about peer feedback using technology through a mobile and computer application in class? In general, the analysis of the quality of the peer feedback given demonstrated that students were very encouraged by their partners’ work, trying not to criticize their task too harshly.

their study on peer assessment. They found that students did not provide negative feedback when they had to mention their names instead -

In addition, most students felt that the quality of the feedback they gave to their peers was good and useful.

Furthermore, peer feedback in this study emphasized the importance of the formative assessment to improve students’ speaking. Stu-

they received in Bubbly. They were able to improve their speaking by trying to avoid the same mistakes in their next tasks. What is more, most of participants had a positive perception of the use of Bubbly and found it creative, interesting, and valuable.

The social use of Bubbly and the interaction through peer feed-

speaking skills’ development. These emerging social functions are coninteraction, and having classes that were more interesting.

Conclusions

in improving EFL students’ speaking skills. Moreover, the students expressed their approval and showed a positive perception toward it, and -

oratively.

The researcher observed that the participants could express themselves freely without the typical anxiety and fear of making mistakes in class. Being able to talk and share with their peers’ ideas about a topic

way to practice and enhance speaking skills. However, one student had technical problems with the application when posting her audios. Peer -

back and for the student who gave it. The students that commented had also more aware of their own mistakes whereas the students receiving it could improve on their next speaking post due to the recommendations given by their peers.

The researcher also observed the important role of appropriate training for students before applying peer feedback as a strategy to ensure its good quality. This was a completely new activity for students, so it is important to note that the time given to training students was -

dents since the similarities of this app with social networks appeal to the students better than writing.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

time to train the participants before starting the speaking tasks.

riods would be necessary to test the results. These kinds of studies

feedback through technology for speaking skill improvement. Training peer feedback. Further research in this area would be useful for understanding the best strategies for training students before implementing peer feedback. -

mance. Moreover, as Bubbly is a social network, it could be a good idea to add extra activities outside the classroom. Voice microblogging is an attractive new area of research which opens new teaching opportunities. The researcher hopes that the results of this study may be helpful as a reference for future similar studies.

dents’ self-awareness and collaborative work to improve their speaking skills.

REFERENCES

Bubbly

Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York. NY: Pearson Education. -

ment. TESOL quarterly -

ers outlook on peer assessment for oral presentation. Journal of Education and Practice -

a” Journal club” for undergraduate science students that develops oral communication and critical evaluation skills. Journal of Learning Design -

guage learning and intercultural exchanges. CALL communities and culture – short papers from EUROCALL 2016 -

Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -

tions of a voice microblog for the development of their L2 spoken production skills. JALT CALL Journal, 11ing of countries by English skills

sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics

Action Research. Rhode Island, RI: Brown University: Educational Alliance.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Learning and Instruction

training using a blended method: A UAE case. Issues in Educational Research

Computer Assisted Language Learning: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London, England: Routledge.

Teaching and researching: speaking. New York, NY: Routledge.

Speak-

ing: Band Descriptorsing-band-descriptors.ashx -

Critical CALL-Proceedings of the 2015 EUROCALL Conference, Padova, Italy

Working Papers

in TESOL & Applied Linguistics

students’ performance. Journal of Educational and Social Research,

feedback in Turkish high school EFL writing. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies

-

Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET -

ties in an EFL high school classroom? TESOL Journal

Second language acquisition applied to English language teaching. Virginia, VA: Tesol Press, TESOL International Association.

on Speaking Skills Using Bubbly

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza & Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran

peer assessment. Teaching in Higher Education

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

teachers engage in peer feedback. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique appliquée

General guidelines for conducting research interviews. Minnesota: Authenticity.

EFL learners’ verbal interaction outside classroom contexts. English Language Teaching

Ecuadorian in-Service English Teacher Standards ie: inquiry in education

higher education: a comparison of the impact of peer and teacher feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school: Expanded edition. Washington, DC: National

Second Language Teaching & Learning. Kentucky, KY: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

ing beyond the classroom. RELC Journal

Creating cultures of thinking: The 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

know what you’re doing right and wrong!” Peer feedback quality in synchronous peer assessment in secondary education. Europe-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

sessing Iranian EFL learners’ speaking ability. English Language Teaching

Introducing second language acquisition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Review of educational research -

dent Motivation and Writing Quality-

International Association for Development of the Information SoInternational Conference on Educational Technologies.

audio and voice recordings to improve English pronunciation and intonation. International Conference: ICT for Language Learning.

university students’ English-language presentation skills with mobile-video recordings. JALT CALL Journal -

ing skills through games in a Colombian public school.sues in Teachers’ Professional Development

peer feedback in an academic writing activity through sense-making support. European Journal of Psychology of Education

María Cecilia Espinoza Mendoza & Karen Elaine Wigby Cochran

an Journal of Psychology of Education -

tive-Feedback.aspx

Educational Psychology: Active Learning Edition.The-

tions toward assessors, classroom climate and learning activities. Computers & Education -

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Collaboration for Enhancing Oral Accuracy

Fernando Oña Sandoval1

Unidad Educativa Fiscal Conocoto Quito, Ecuador

teacherfernando2@gmail.com

to what extent students’ attitudes changed towards speaking English. Action research was the main methodology used in this work. After an innovation that considered a lesson that focused on a real task activity, -

the end of the innovation, participants also claimed that their attitudes towards speaking English improved. It is concluded that collaboration and recordings facilitated by the use of this technological tool, can improve the oral accuracy of students and improve their attitudes towards speaking English.

Keywords: oral accuracy, collaborative work, WhatsApp, recording, formulaic language.

Introduction language. In this process, English has become the lingua franca in the world. As a result, more people use English in various multicultural situ-

of their life because it allows them to have better opportunities.

In Ecuador, learning English in public schools is compulsory from standards of English teaching, high school students should conclude

going comprehensibly, even though pausing for grammatical and lexical planning and repair is very evident, especially in longer stretches of free accomplished since the level of English knowledge of students at the Traditionalistic approaches to speaking instruction have been preteachers explain English vocabulary and grammar directly or transle to teacher standards, the use of technology in the classroom should be mandatory. Especially, domain three, in the curriculum development, urges teachers to be aware of the use of technological resources in students to understan the content and to increase attention on topics

There is seldom planning of the use of technological gadgets in the macro and micro curricular planning. In addition, there is no evidence of technological resources to be part of the objectives, content, or as a resource

plications that can contribute to the improvement of oral skills. Previous studies have been conducted using WhatsApp to pro-

ria, Spain. In this research, the group exposed to the innovation showed better results than the group not exposed to the innovation. Another

WhatsApp was useful for the objectives of the course. A Likert scale sur-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

vey was applied. This survey showed that participants strongly agreed technology in the classroom. These studies showed that WhatsApp was

cially in the high school context and in teaching English. The motivation for applying this intervention in the classroom is to change the old teaching methodology. Students have struggled during their learning phase to properly speak English. In class, there was frequently low participation during oral presentations, together with great levels of anxiety. Due to this, low grades were usually given to students, increasing stress and frustration. Therefore, it is important to give stu-

reduce anxiety.

Literature Review

the aim of this innovation will focus on accuracy. Accuracy is the capaauthors like Ellis and Barkhuizen stated that accuracy is the ability to evade mistakes while speaking, showing better control over the target

In order to understand the meaning of accuracy, it is important to

Students struggle when they come to articulate sentences. Speaking is the hardest skill to master, for it integrates more than the use of only integrate vocabulary and grammar but also social communication. Since social communication supports real-life situations, it is recommended to use activities that promote this kind of interaction. Despite -

This innovation is grounded in collaborative work. The purpose of collaborative work is to enable the social aspect of language using the cooperation of learners by giving the students the chance to participate in oral interaction. This discussion is based on real-life situations. Students

This is supported by Senra, who also stated that second language students should get training to use language that people use in real-life sit-

periences should be part of the learning process. This is supported by Ausubel who promotes the use of previous knowledge that students have in comes from prior life experiences. Hitotuzi stated that students possess prior knowledge in areas such as life, language, and content areas that

In order to build up rapid transitions to have a variety of lexicon choices to pick from when speaking, it is important to create a useful vocabulary that students can use in various real and meaningful situations. McCarthy and Carter, in their study, have recognized 200 formulaic lan-

This is supported by Boers et al. who found that L2 students that used

In addition, pronunciation of the English language is also an im-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

talking about oral accuracy. Levis and Levis pointed out that compreThe attitudes that students have toward speaking English have become a source of anxiety that can be detrimental to performance in the classroom. This is corroborated by Macintyre and Gardner who consider speaking a source of anxiety for students when speaking a a language is not a sign of lack of awareness of the language, but it

In order to improve students’ attitudes toward speaking, studies have demonstrated that implementing ICT tools in the classroom reduces anxiety. These tools can help students to comprehend the content and increase stimulation by bringing interesting topics into the

uses to language learning is important to reduce anxiety in students.

Dörnyei stated that communicative strategies create positive attitudes

to encourage interaction between students and instructors as well as to

The use of mobile applications such as WhatsApp in the educahelps participants to have discussions and enables members to over-

search considered collaboration facilitated by WhatsApp to improve accuracy and to reduce anxiety when speaking English. To sum up, by considering the gaps in previous research, combining ICT mobile tools,

would allow the use of WhatsApp to improve oral accuracy. Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following questions: to what extent do students from the second grade of International Baccalaureate improve speaking accuracy in English through collaboration using WhatsApp? And, to what extent can voice recording using WhatsApp change students’ attitudes towards speaking English?

Methodology Design

This investigation is based on action research with an analymixed-method design occurs when qualitative and quantitative methanalyze data, the results will be triangulated to support quantitative claims. Action research allowed the teacher to participate and to put

tative data was to comprehend and analyze the participants concepts, perceptions, and beliefs participants to answer the research questions.

The post-tests interviews gather information about the reasons, old experiences, attitudes towards speaking drills, and topics of interest that students liked to speak about. These post-tests interviews led the researcher to improve the lesson and adapting new possible ways to intervene. The observations served as means for listening for students’ accuracy.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

The quantitative data gathered information from a pre-test. In

teacher used a rubric to assess students’ oral production. The teacher graded the conversation using the rubric. The purpose of collecting numerical information was to analyze, interpret and present the inforpre-test helped the teacher highlight the aspects that needed more attention. The quantitative investigation aims to generalize results from

After the intervention, the researcher proceeded to take the posttest, along with the same rubric, in order to quantify in what amount the intervention helped the students. Along with the pre-test and the posttest, there was a survey using a Likert scale. Likert scales are items pre-

sights about students´ attitudes towards using technological devices to record voice samples to check accuracy while they speak.

Ethical standards in this study assured the anonymity of the participants as well as the educational institution where the research took place. In this work, there is no trace of students’ personal information which can

were informed that they were into a study and their audio recordings were used by the researcher only for academic purposes. In addition, WhatsApp messenger was used only for recording and sending information for the development of the innovation and not for other purposes.

Participants

The group of students that participated in this study belonged to years old. These students were part of the international baccalaureate

dents. They had a middle – low economic status. Even though they were at an economic disadvantage to other groups of students, especially

In order to know the level of the participants, it was necessary to take the use of online messaging was strong among the contestants. Twenty-two participants had access to technology.

Classroom Procedures

executed in one unit. Students learned useful vocabulary, phrases, and formats for writing the corresponding written and oral assignments.

portfolios by developing a Curriculum Vitae and a cover letter. Later on, students read job ads. These job ads helped students to develop their job interview skills. Students used the information and experience they collected during their business internship class. In order to develop the job interview, students interacted with peers by using digital audio recordings on WhatsApp.

Since this innovation involved the use of WhatsApp, the teacher made sure that students had this application installed on all their phones. Second, the teacher paired up students and created a WhatsApp group for each pair of students. The teacher was the moderator of each group. This was important to keep high levels of participation. In each group, students actively interacted orally. Students role-played a job interview situation. They used learned vocabulary in order to interact correctly. This was the pre-test activity. After the pre-test, students peer evaluat-

down according to the evaluation criteria. This rubric was prepared by the teacher in anticipation of the task.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

The instruments used in this study were accordingly used to meet used a rubric meant to measure to what degrees students’ speaking skills, on a scale from zero to ten, had before the innovation and increased after the innovation. The rubric consisted of three categories -

ries considered in this rubric were vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Each one of these categories contains a scale of requisites that students have to meet in order to obtain the points.

Next, the second research question used two interviews from different characteristics that were applied to obtain qualitative information.

information. The purpose of these questions was to observe the attitude that students have towards speaking English in class. The second qualitative survey was a Likert questionnaire. Students answered twelve questions intended to assess the experience of using WhatsApp in the classroom. This Likert-style survey was recorded in physical and digital form. In order to test the reliability of the survey, Cronbach’s alpha was

ten questions about the post experience of using collaboration facilitated by WhatsApp in order to help participants to increase oral accuracy.

Data Analysis

cess of analysis. The main features that this statistical software was to

amount the students improved their ability to speak English accurately. Cohen’s d was used to know the impact of the innovation. Finally, Cronbach’s alpha was run to get the reliability of the survey.

In addition, in order to obtain the qualitative data, one interview and two surveys were applied. First, an interview was carried out after the innovation was applied to all students that participated in the study. The by the participants in a physical and digital form. The second post-survey,

Results

from the second grade of the International Baccalaureate improve accuracy in English in collaboration using WhatsApp? The mean and stanp-value. It is important to mention that these results are p-value is less than 0.005.

Table 2 shows the general results from the interviews and answerscording using WhatsApp help students to speak English with a better that participants had after they participated in the innovation.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 1. Pre-test and Post-Test

Questions Answers

Do you feel comfortable with your pronunciation and grammar when speaking English in class? Why?

When speaking English, do you feel more comfortable to practice with your teacher or with a classmate? Why?

nounce well”,

ated.”

comfortable with the teacher because he can help a classmate because I don’t feel afraid to make mistakes”.

How would you feel using your cellphone in order to speak English? because I would be less nervous”

How do you think that the use of a cellphone improved your grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary performance?

recordings, I feel that my pronunciation has improved”.

Along with this interview, one Likert scale survey was also applied. This survey considered the attitudes that participants had towards using WhatsApp messenger, which contributed to answering the second research question. Among the results, participants agreed that the use of this technological tool could add value to the course and they agreed that WhatsApp was useful for the course. But, more importantly, students agreed that WhatsApp helped to interact with their partners.

Table 3. Survey results

Discussion the second grade of international baccalaureate improve speaking accuracy in English in collaboration using Whatsapp. It was found that using oral recording devices can indeed improve oral accuracy. Thus,

three aspects of accuracy were taken into consideration. First, participants have a great increase in their vocabulary skills. The mean score shows that there was an increase of 2.0 points after the post-test. The

size index asserts it.

Among the other components of oral accuracy, grammar is also insize and shows an increase in skill. Grammar, as one important aspect of an increase in the post- test. The mean score in this section after the treatment is considered to be just below the passing grade which also suggests that participants need improvement in this area. This increase is not as large as the previous feature but also large in scale.

The way participants improved their pronunciation during this innovation also displays an increase. Pronunciation is an important aspect in oral accuracy, and through this innovation, participants improved how that pronunciation is how people produce words clearly when speaking. Pronunciation as an essential part of oral accuracy and also shows an an improvement in this skill. The total mean in this aspect after the participants get a passing grade and also meet the expectations. It is

p-value of all of the three components are less than 0.005, which deter-

The second research question deals with to what extent can voice recording using Whatsapp help students to have a better attitude towards speaking activities. In order to obtain the information to answer this question, one interview and one survey were applied. Anxiety was one of the issues that participants had to deal with when speaking Enclass is corroborated by the answers obtained from the interview with I do not feel good since there are unknown words that I cannot pronounce well My partners make fun of me and I feel humiliated”. In other words, the negativity towards speak-

Collaborative work was tested to reduce anxiety when speaking I feel more comfortable talking with a classmate because we can support each other” and “I like to talk with a classmate because I don’t feel afraid to make mistakes”. In addition, participants agreed that using Whatsapp helped them to interact and to get support from their classmates. Also, participants agreed that Whatsapp made them feel good when communicating with others.

The members of the study stated that using ICT tools such as Whatsapp transformed the experience of speaking English in class. They I feel good because we are young and I like to be in touch with technology I think that it would be good because I would be less nervous”. According to these answers, it is shown that participants felt comfortable and secure when speaking English. They also mentioned that this innovation helped them to communicate with other participants creating a more comfortable environment. Participants mentioned that feel good because I can communicate with people who know English

helped participants to enhance communication and reduce anxiety.

By reviewing the results, it is important to notice that participants’ attitudes towards using WhatsApp in speaking activities have increaseduse of Whatsapp was helpful for the course and it was a good complement for the course activities.

Conclusions

This innovation focuses on improving secondary high school students’ oral accuracy using collaboration in oral recording tools facilitated by WhatsApp. After the innovation, the use of oral recording devices

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

cient tools in order to improve their oral skills. The researcher used a lesson plan which focused on a real-life task. This motivated participants to be engaged in the activity.

The achievement of this innovation is to have improved oral accuracy using collaboration facilitated by a technological tool that is usually underestimated by teachers and school authorities. By looking at the results, collaboration through WhatsApp largely helped participants to learn new vocabulary and improve grammar, and pronunciation. This was done by having a pre-test to measure the participants’ skills before intervening. This helped the researcher to have an overview of the weakness that participants had. By applying a well-developed lesson plan and using collaboration facilitated through WhatsApp, it was possible to meet the aims of this research.

The second research question measures participants’ attitudes towards speaking English in class. Surveys were applied. These surveys

facilitated by applications like WhatsApp can reduce anxiety in students when speaking in class. This fact obtained from research can help teachers that deal with anxiety when doing speaking activities in class. In addition, the attitude towards speaking English also changed since students’ anxiety decreased when using this technological tool. To conclude, a collaboration facilitated by WhatsApp messenger made it possible to develop accuracy in high school students.

The limitation of this study is the accessibility that some students

members do not have internet access from their homes. This is also a problem when using digital platforms such as Schoology. In addition, there were some participants that did not have a cellphone to do the activities and Internet connection to send the recording to the instructor.

claimed to have basic knowledge of technology. This delayed the application of the innovation since it required extra time to immerse the participants in the use of technology.

Other researchers would enrich this study by following the following recommendations. First, this innovation focused on improving stuis highly suggested by the results obtained in this research. Additional research needs to work on pronunciation which was the component with the least improvement. Second, it would be recommended to have other recording devices such as computers or other devices that would facilitate the use of participants. When necessary, it is recommended to work with only one device per group. This is recommended since there are a few participants that are not familiar with the use of the application. In addition, it is also suggested to request internet access from school authorities in order to facilitate the use of online data sharing. Finally, according to the survey, participants also suggest that the use of WhatsApp can be used in other subjects.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

References

ing: whatsapp and its potential to develop oral skills. Media Education Research Journal, (25)

the achievement and attitudes of female students compared with face to face learning in the classroom.nal

The acquisition and Retention of knowledge: A Cognitive View. Paidós.

Boers, F., Eyckmans, J., Kappel, J., Stengers, H., & Demecheleer, M.

ting a Lexical Approach to the test. Language Teaching Research,

schools: a summary of recent research. SLMQ

cation process. International Journal of Progressive Education (IJPE),18

pre-service teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowl-

Computers & Education

Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment -

erence: What’s Happening? The Electronic Library

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

Scale development. Newbury Park, NJ: Sage Publications.

Analyzing learner language. Oxford University Press. How does your English Compare? Take a Quick English Test: EF SET

Translation today: Trends and perspectives

speakers’ conversational English. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice -

formance for the English learners in Indonesia. Universal Journal of Educational Research

Higher Education Studies,tion research. International Education Studies second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics -

Klein, A. Z., Junior, J. C., Mattiello da Silva, J. V., Barbosa, J. L., & Baldasso, International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET)

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

accredit previous knowledge in American and British literature in a bilingual education program.al Development -

University of Michigan Press.

tures: contrastive stress for intermediate learners. The CATESOL JOURNAL, 30

group-based learning in EFL classroom. English Language Teaching, 7 -

ship to other anxieties and to processing in native and second language. Language Learning

This that and the other: Multi-word clusters in spoken English as visible patterns of interactionversity Press.

English Teacher Standards and English Language Learning Standards -

pdfGiST Ed-

ucation and Learning Research Journal

vista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa

Instant Messaging Collaborative Tool or Educator’s nightmare!

Learner Participation and Transform Pedagogy at a South African University of Technology. British Journal of Educational Technology,

Communicative Language Teaching Today. New-

guage.pdf

Investigation Methodology. McGraw-Hill.

in distance learning. Elia

European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. Los Sage Publ.

speaking English on the use of communication strategies by English majors in Thailand. Theory and Practice in Language Studies,

teaching: The investigation of students’ foreign language learning motivation and views. Journal of Education and Training Studies, Likert-type scales. Journal of Agricultural Education

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Exploring the Utility of Instructional Resources to Address Pronunciation in

Pre-Service English Teachers

Rodrigo Guerrero Segura1 Universidad de Guayaquil Guayaquil, Ecuador rodrigo.guerreros@ug.edu.ec

Karina Moreno Rodríguez2 Universidad de Guayaquil Guayaquil, Ecuador karina.morenor@ug.edu.ec

An appropriate selection of resources supports the presentation of contents and strengthens the learning of knowledge. For these reasons, print, audiovisual and electronic resources were selected to answer these research questions: Could these three types of resources, printed, audiovisual and electronic, be useful for pre-service English teach-

How exactly were these resources useful to these pre-service teachers? least relevant resources were English songs, pronunciation sheets, and the board, an additional category that emerged from data analysis. Another unexpected result was the instructor was considered a resource to raise the quality of education. These results could have implications -

cal limitations of this institution, it is suggested to explore other resources, use a control group, a larger sample, and for a longer time.

Keywords: Explicit instruction, pronunciation resources, phonetics, phonology, ELT

Introduction

People who have decided to be English teachers should bear in mind that an acceptable pronunciation is a necessary component of context where Spanish is the mother tongue, the instructors are non-native speakers, and students are pre-teachers?, is a challenge that im-

ments for educational training, especially for students learning a foreign need to create new articulatory habits through oral training and develop can only do one of these two things, it is necessary to apply explicit forresources play a fundamental role. Depending on their type they can spread visual and sound messages that can cover these gaps, facilitate setting, they can help learners develop their language skills. However, when it comes to pre-service teachers, their language acquisition process involves two other purposes: good communication and teaching -

Then, these resources should be used to explain the linguistic dimensions of the English language, especially those related to phonetic and

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Gap in Research

Didactic resources are materials that serve as mediators for the development and enrichment of students, favoring the teaching and -

and studies that have been carried out on resources for improving pronunciation, few have focused on ELT contexts where the participants are pre-service teachers. Besides, in the Ecuadorian context, research has been mainly focused on EFL students at the primary and secondary level, addressing strategies and techniques for English classes. Therefore, it was considered necessary to focus the research on thirty-nine English pre-service teachers enrolled in the eighth semester of a public university in Guayaquil since they require other types of resources to improve their educational practices and address the phonetic-phonological aspects of the English language.

Researchers and educators should consider that education is subject to quality educational standards. Consistent with the Ecuadorianknowledge of these interrelated aspects of language to help studentsimprove their educational practices and ensure compliance with these standards. For that reason, three types of easily accessible resources

Rodrigo Guerrero Segura y Karina Moreno Rodríguez

resources be useful for pre-service English teachers? teachers?

Findings could have implications for the selection of materials, ases for ELT contexts.

Literature Review

Explicit instruction is a direct approach to teaching where students are guided through the learning process. In explicit instruction, students are exposed to the learning objectives, explanations of the purpose and reasons for learning new skills. They also receive support during the practice stage and feedback until independent skills are mastered

The Explicit Instruction Process

sequenced steps: Modeling, guided or directed practice, and independent practice.

Modeling. At this stage, content and examples are introduced to promote understanding of the learning objectives. Instructors describe what they are doing as they do it.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Guided practice. This stage allows for achieving the desired learning objectives with adequate resources. Collaborative work is essential at this stage.

Independent Practice learning situations, testing understanding, applying what was learned in

They are a wide range of materials that are used to facilitate instruction and promote learning activities. They also make learning more

Types of Instructional Resources

Instructional resources are all those physical materials and means that instructors use to implement instruction and facilitate the achievement of learning objectives. They can be printed with audio and images,infographics, and pronunciation sheets, are the most common in class-eo, and multimedia elements develop listening comprehension, traintablets, smartphones, and applications. They integrate all the above re-

Criteria for the Selection of Resources

Resources should promote the development of competencies

language teachers should consider the following aspects: For Printed Resources. The information in these materials must be related to the topic. The sources must be reliable, updated, and contrasted with the literature. It must have adequate spelling and vocab-

For Audiovisual Resources. The information in these materials must be related to the topic. The recording of the material must be clear so that its reproduction can be observed and heard without interference. The contents must arise interest and have an adequate length.

For Electronic and Interactive Resources. The information in these materials must be related to the topic. They must have a clear and ordered structure in their components and a design that facilitates the orientation of the students throughout their use. They must facilitate educational and interactive activities with reliable, updated, and recog-

must also contain appropriate language, with a good combination of colors, sizes and fonts, backgrounds, and illustrations, allowing reading

Pronunciation is the act of producing speech sounds to commu-

teaching pronunciation in the classroom with their students, they analyze the way of speaking, the sounds that intervene in human commu-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

for future English teachers, is essential to understand the aspects of oral

Instructional Resources for Teaching Pronunciation

guage, especially those that are not common in the students’ mother tongue, they need to create new articulatory habits through oral training

Then, instructors should evaluate and select the strategies and resourc-

nouns because in the Spanish language, both consonants sound the

tion cards with phonetic information of every consonant. A second resource would be the use of phonetic transcription, which is the visual representation of speech sounds by means of symbols. The most comsound discrimination. A fourth resource would include audio and video material to observe and listen to the production of these sounds in

Pronunciation for EFL and ELT Students

When it comes to teaching pronunciation, instructors should determine the context, the age of the participants, and their previous experiences with the language, to select the strategies, mechanisms and resources that contribute to the development of genuine, and spon-

EFL and ELT students have already had experiences studying the English language and acquiring lexical and grammatical knowledge from previous experiences allow these learners to establish and maintain pronunciation rules when they speak spontaneously or when they read

they must have knowledge of phonetics and phonology and demonstrate linguistic competence in the language that they are teaching

adequate linguistic competence, enables language instructors to diagnose pronunciation errors, develop the ability to teach aspects of oral communication, and use the right techniques and resources to addressclear and acceptable pronunciation.

Analyzing Resources, Strategies, and Approaches in EFL Contexts

the learner’s ability to listen to and imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention of explicit instructions -

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

tions, tables of the vowel apparatus, and contrastive information, to This explicitly helps students focus their attention on the sounds and the analytical-linguistic approach as a reference, a brief chronological below:text, the use of the PPS changed the role of the instructors from distribreducing fear and embarrassment when pronouncing English words. In pronunciation of EFL students. Through voice and text messages, the integration of images, and short videos on rules, and other procedures,er-assisted pronunciation instruction. This tool facilitated training and feedback. It also motivated students to participate in more pronunciation practices than traditional paper-based and classroom exercises in adult learners. Findings revealed that carefully selected themes were useful for improving pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and grammar acquisition, and learning about the culture.ies for practicing and improving pronunciation. In this context, monolinused to verify the pronunciation of a word by reading phonetic symbolsview strategy to improve English pronunciation. This learning modelgated the impact of theoretical-practical pronunciation instruction us-

ing minimal pairs, isolated words, and long sentences. With this type of instruction, participants achieved a more accurate pronunciation andnunciation. After application, participants demonstrated improvement in their pronunciation skills compared to participants who did not use it. The platform also provided immediate feedback and contributed to the production of English-speaking sounds that did not exist in their nativeence of written phonetic transcription on English pronunciation. After an intense period of using transcriptions to pronounce words, phrases, and

Analyzing Resources, Strategies, and Approaches in ESL, ELT, and ESP Contexts

promote the learning of English as a second language. In this context,tive English teachers about printed skill books, and online pronunciation teaching books. Participants expressed preferences for texts with basic information on the characteristics and functions of English pronunciation. Furthermore, they preferred online texts and manuals for their de-of classroom pronunciation teaching. In this context, study circles succeeded in raising awareness among teachers to integrate pronunciation instruction into their study plans. Also, an improvement was achieved in diagnosing and prioritizing instructional problems to focus not only on segmental characteristics but also to address suprasegmental el-

evaluated the use of an online resource guide for teachers of English

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

as a second language to improve pronunciation instruction. Participants indicated that the contents and design of the guide were clear and easy to use. The website met the needs of most users, and it worked as it was expected. -

with the curriculum, the objectives of the students, requirements, and -

mary needs and characteristics that required improvement, such as the textbook is limitations or in the ability to address pronunciation

suprasegmental characteristics so that students would identify, understand, and produce language, using modeling, guided practice, strategies, and explicit feedback on their level of precision. Stage 5 promoted the autonomy of learning and the self-regulation of the stu-

suprasegmental features of spoken English in pre-service teachers. Findings revealed a moderate improvement in the four suprasegmental features of spoken English.

Exploring Pronunciation-Related Problems in EFL Contexts

came from teachers who had not received enough pronunciation instruction. They had been transferring their errors to their students through incor-

problems related to the teaching of pronunciation and speech, and focusing particularly on the role of accent on words to maintain intelligibility.

stress placement of words. However, they suggested more exploration because they noticed that misplaced stress sometimes allows understanding. -

tion in classrooms where English was taught as a foreign language and as a second language. The author concluded that pronunciation teaching should not only focus on perception but also encompass production and relevant parts of phonology. Furthermore, pronunciation teaching should be applied in functional and meaningful contexts and be part of communi-

Exploring Attitudes in ELT Contexts

Attitudes are evaluations or psychological tendencies that peopleimply being predisposed to face and solve problems, as well as seeing -

titudes are unfavorable dispositions and behaviors that a human being shows temporarily or regularlyplored the attitudes of trainee teachers towards explicit pronunciationments. Attitudes towards these two aspects were positive. However, only the segmental elements were easy to pronounce. Suprasegmen-

of pre-service teachers towards online video-based forums for the improvement of suprasegmentals were mostly positive. However, the researchers suggested a longer period for the practicing and avaluat-

cal competence for teaching pronunciation in English teachers. Pronun-

instruction and demonstration activities. Although the activities were practical simulations, instead of communicative and interactive tasks, participants showed little command of phonology.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Methodology

This was action research with a mixed method. Action research is a process in which participants examine their systematic educational

research:

Identify the problem area and focus. At this stage, curricula, educational standards, teaching strategies, and especially instructional materials for teaching pronunciation were examined to identify strengths and weaknesses and understand how to address possible problems. Then, it was determined that the research approach would be mixed, and initial questions were generated around this approach.

Clarify theories. At this stage, an analysis of the theoretical bases and results of other researchers was carried out concerning the topic and approach. The scope of explicit instruction for teaching pronuncia-

Determine the research questions. After selecting a focus area

generated, which were described at the beginning of the study.

Collect and organize data. This stage included the design, validation, and piloting of the three research instruments, to collect data to answer the research questions.

Analyze and present data. In this part, quantitative and qualitative -

the research questions.

Take informed action. After reviewing the collected information and -

Evaluate the results were evaluated to determine if there was an improvement in teaching practice.

On the other hand, a mixed method uses numbers, verbal data, texts, graphics, and symbols to provide a better understanding of the Participantsly selected because instructional resources will be part of their teaching profession and will be used to improve their pronunciation and support their class explanations. Their average age was 25 years old. All of them

Context Description

The study was carried out in a career that has been training procareer belongs to a public university located in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In this context, the study of the English language is mandatory for eight semesters. The study modality is face-to-face. Depending on the semes-

material is an English book with twelve units. Regarding the teachingal competence and included topics, such as individual vowel sounds, articulation of the schwa sound, stress on nouns, adjectives, complex sentences, intonation to show empathy and pronounce numbers in context. Students were also exposed to pronunciation instruction through

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Description of the Procedure

The intervention process was conducted from April to September

The instructor used a laptop, a video projector, a Bluetooth sound system, a smartphone, headphones, and microphones. As this was a public university, it was prohibited to request students to purchase additional resources or materials. Therefore, for this study, three types of easily-

The instructional process was divided into the three phases pro-

structor presented learning objectives, contents, methodology, as well as teaching resources and evaluation procedures. Guided Practice: -

ticulation of vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, allophones, homo-

bles, simple and compound words, sentences, rhythm, and intonation

the resources used and the contents learned.

Instruments

For the quantitative phase, researchers designed an eight-item contained demographic data that was processed to describe the characteristics of the participants. The second section contained the purpose of the instrument and the instructions. The third section contained eight items intended to answer the question: Could these three types of

resources, printed, audiovisual and electronic, be useful for pre-service English teachers?

For the qualitative phase, the researchers designed a questionsection of the questionnaire contained the same demographic data. The second section contained the purpose of the instrument and instructions. The third section contained eight open questions aimed at answering these two questions: Which resource would be the most -

vations of the phenomenon that was being studied and contributed to answering all the questions. The researchers registered descriptive information on the time, date, state of the physical and social environment, descriptions of the subjects and their roles in the environment, possible impact of the observer on the environment, and subjective

Instrument Validation

The validity and reliability of the survey were obtained by consulting the opinions of seven experts who work in public and private uniwith masters’ degree in English language teaching, curriculum, and inwho were not part of this study. Cronbach’s alpha value of the scale reviewed the questionnaire. They only made observations on the order of the questions.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Data Collection Procedure

Researchers collected quantitative data at the end of the study. All 25 minutes. For the qualitative phase, the researchers administered a questionnaire at the end of the study and took notes to document the

Data Analysis and Processing

Researchers coded raw quantitative data on an Excel spreadsheet. Processed information was then transferred to the SPSS pro-

the scale. In the second analysis, they generated frequencies and de-

pronunciation sheets, video tutorials, English songs, electronic dictionaries, plus two other unexpected categories that emerged from the

learning experiences.

Results

1. Could these three types of resources, printed, audiovisual and electronic, be useful for pre-service English teachers? Findings are detailed below:

about English pronunciation

2 These three types of resources motivated the teaching of English pronunciation

These three types of resources complemented the teacher's instruction

These three types of resources helped you perform pronunciation activities in less time

5 These three types of resources helped you solve pronunciation problems

These three types of resources contributed to increasing the quality of education

These three types of resources helped you consolidate knowledge on pronunciation

These three types of resources encouraged the development of other learning experiences

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Figure 1. Results of the survey

Table 1. Descriptive statistics on the utility of instructional resources

agreed’ that these resources were useful for the teaching and learning of -

three types of resources are useful for pre-service teachers. However, to obtain more precise information, researchers administered a questionnaire to answer another research question, which is detailed below:

2. answer this question, the responses to a questionnaire were analyzed and organized according to the type and purpose of the resource. Findings are detailed below:

2. Pronunciation sheets

5. Electronic dictionaries

Findings revealed that video tutorials played a fundamental role in-

context. Electronic dictionaries only stood out in two aspects: Prob-though the role of the teacher as a resource was not being explored, he also contributed to increasing the educational quality in the classroom and the whiteboard. To determine how exactly these resources were useful, another research question was derived. Findings are described below:

3. How exactly were these resources useful to these pre-service teachers? To answer this question, responses from the questionnaire were analyzed again. Excerpts are presented by categories: pronounce dif-takes related to word stress. native teachersation practice.” new

searches for information related to unknown linguistic terms searches for short conversations, grammar, and vocabulary to continue learning and practicing outside the classroom.” and precise explanations on the pronunciation of complex words;sessions more interesting.”

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

the participants received information on the segmental and suread paragraphs and dialogues faster and with the right intonation; reduce the delivery time of the communicative activAmerican, British and Australian accents.”

5. Problem Solving. The resources which contributed to prob-nounce consonants /th/, /dz/, /sh/, /z/, /s/, /b/, /v/; vowels and diphthongs; minimal pairs, ship-sheep, full-fool, lick-leak; the /r/ in the words urgent, occur, girl, world; the /ed/ of regular verbs in past. On the other hand, by watching videos, it was correct pronunciation errors, such as the rolling /r/ and learn that that consonant /r/ requires a special curvature of the tongue; /th/ requires to place the tongue between the upper

ent levels of friction.”

he knew the subject, answered all the questions; was prepared to help everyone; integrated all the contents and resources to explain the classes; was dynamic; made learning more attractive to students; promoted collaborative work to achieve the goals; explained in detail the use of instructional resources.”

I did not pronounce like that; I was taught that word differently; what kind of English is that person speaking?” They also watched videos after class, took notes of the most relevant parts, and used this information to discuss in an online forum. On the other hand, the textbook, despite being a traditional resource,

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

to take notes; underline new words that later were looked up in online dictionaries; or as a source of information for discussion in the forums.”

structures, culture, and technology management.

Discussion

People studying to become teachers of English should be aware of the educational resources that will be part of their teaching profession. They should also know how to use them to improve their pronunciation and support their explanations in class. This was evidenced when

Regarding which resource was the most useful in this context, repurpose, that same resource became irrelevant in another category.

tronic dictionaries, on the other hand, contributed to problem-solving songs, pronunciation cards and the board did not stand out in any of these aspects.

This evidence of performance obtained from the use of videos partially coincides with the results obtained in ESL and EFL contexts

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

in Costa Rica and in China, where these elements integrated with images and words provided opportunities to understand pronunciationto consult the meaning of English words, examine phonetic symbols, and listen to American and British pronunciations. These results coincide with those obtained in an EFL context in Slovakia, where monolingual dictionaries were used quite frequently to verify the pronunciation of words through the reading of phonetic symbols and repeated explicit instructional procedures integrated with resources, raised the Turkey where explicit pronunciation instruction generated positive atway to take notes, underline new words, or as a source of consultation for discussion in the forums. It contained tangible and accessible inStates, where participants in an ELT context expressed preferences

On the other hand, English songs in this ELT context were irrelevant or raising the quality of education. They slightly motivated the learn-key, and Spain, where songs, phonetic transcription, and minimal pairs helped participants to improve pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary achieve a more precise pronunciation in words, sentences, and clausboard as a resource in this context was not being explored. This category emerged from the analysis of data.

Conclusions

Explicit instruction is still necessary for ELT contexts to address complex learning elements, especially those related to phonetics and phonology. Although some resources used in other learning contexts, such as English songs, minimal pairs, and phonetic transcription, served to improve pronunciation, acquire vocabulary, and grammar, in an ELT con-

clarify doubts, motivate learning, support instruction, and carry out tasks.

phonetic and phonological topics with images and sounds. Electronic dictionaries ranked second as they contributed to problem solving and the development of other learning experiences. The class instructor, considered as a human resource, raised the quality of teaching in the classroom and ranked third. The textbook, a traditional and frequent material used in most classrooms, ranked fourth and served to consolidate knowledge. The -

of teaching pronunciation at a higher level and in the selection of materiEnglish teachers in this context require other types of resources to improve their educational practices, improve their pronunciation, and address the phonetic-phonological aspects of the English language.

Recommendations

First, it is essential to use a larger sample of participants to generalize the results and implement a longer intervention time. Second, it is necessary to use a control group to contrast the results. Third, the demographics of the participants should be considered to make correlations of gender or age between the variables. Third, it is necessary to explore the use of pronunciation software, web 2.0 applications, and other electronic resources to contrast the results of this study.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Limitations of the Study

a public university. The study only lasted six months. The study setup was limited to the university campus. A control group was not used bestudents shared machines or used their personal phones. The internet of electronic or interactive resources in this study.

Ethical Considerations

cient teaching. Guilford Press.

classrooms? International Journal of Contemporary Educational Researchprehensive schools. Techne serien -

gagement. Language Learning & Technology-

tations of the Same Representational Structures? Review of Philosophy and Psychology materials and tasks on students’ communicative competence at a Colombian language school.glish students. Literatura y Linguística

Construction and implementation of pedagogical competence in pronunciation instruction. International Journal Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Participatory Action Research: Theory and Methods for Engaged Inquiry. Routledge.

through the implementation of multimedia Projects. Gist Education and Learning Research Journal needs analysis, design, development, and evaluation of the English pronunciation guide: An ESL teachers’ guide to pronunciation teaching using online resources. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language -

er training. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching

pronunciation instruction in the classroom. The CATESOL Journal, -

vironment for improving students’ communicative competence at International Education Studiestic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review

ecuador: A focus on activities and resources for teaching listening and speaking skills. English Language Teaching the improvement of suprasegmentals. Lenguas en Contexto

Mixed methods research. Sage Publication.

González, P. F., Ochoa, C. A., Cabrera, P. A., Castillo, L. M., Anna, Q. L., So-

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

tions and awareness of the pronunciation skill, and their attitudes towards its instruction. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language) -

struction: The impact of professional development and directive instructional coaching model. Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Metodología de la investigaciónamericana Editores, S.A. de C.V.

A short guide to action research. Pearson. -

lient pronunciation problem of Kurdish EFL learners. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research in English as a lingua franca contexts. The CATESOL Journal -

glish language curriculum: A framework for teachers. The CATESOL Journal -

logical interventions in counseling: What every counseling psychologist should know. The Counseling Psychologistrates. Plos one

practice by university EFL students. Teaching English with Technology

Ecuadorian in-service English Teacher Standards

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

glish Language Teaching

La enseñanza de la pronunciación como contribución a la mejora de la competencia oral de la lengua inglesa: Una investigación sobre la percepción y la producción de la calidad vocálica en sílaba acentuada y no acentuada [The teaching of pronunciation as

An investigation into the perception and production of vowel quality in stressed and unstressed syllables]. [Doctoral thesis, Universi-

oral production of standard English: A study about the production of vowel quality in stressed and unstressed syllables. English Language Teachingseñanza aprendizaje [Didactic educational resources in the teaching-learning process]. Cuadernos Hospital de Clínicas

using pronunciation power software in the instruction of English pronunciation. English Language Teaching didáctica para la formación de futuros docentes de inglés [Creation of educational videos as a teaching strategy in the training process of future English teachers]. Actualidades Investigativas en Educación -

ucación básica de personas jóvenes y adultas [Teaching English in the basic education of young people and adults]. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa

teachers for classroom realities: Strengthening their competence in instructional materials. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research,

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

pectations of teacher’s manuals accompanying general English and pronunciation skills books. The CATESOL Journal

reporting research instruments in science education. Res Sci Educ, in Teachers` Professional Development -

nese English learners’ pronunciation. Canadian Center of Science and Education

English Language Teaching -

er-assisted adaptive peer review. English Language Teaching -

nunciation. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Listening

Using Recorded Short Stories to Improve Listening for Details in Seventh

Graders

Yazmín Lisseth Pinto Sánchez2 Universidad Técnica de Machala Machala, Ecuador yazminps@hotmail.com

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila1 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador mramirez@casagrande.edu.ec

Tatiana Gabriela Pineda Guzmán3 Colegio de Bachillerato Machala Machala, Ecuador tatypineda85@hotmail.com

Lisseth Priscila Cabanilla García4 Escuela de Educación Básica “Combate de Pilo” Machala, Ecuador lcabanilla1990@hotmail.com

Abstract

This innovation was carried out in a public school in Ecuador. The main objective was to improve seventh graders’ ability to listen for details by using recorded short stories. Quantitative and qualitative methstudents participated in this project during their English classes. The pre and post-test results, the students’ answers to the focus group interview, and their responses in the survey answer the research questions. Pre-test data showed that students had many problems identifying spe-

indicated a Cohen’s d revealed that the use of appropriate techniques and materials improved the listening for details. This research should be read by teachers who want to improve students’ communicative skills, especially listening for details.

Keywords

middle school, techniques.

Introduction

Listening activities are challenging for English as a Foreign Lanno previous activities like activating prior knowledge, assisting students in identifying the purposes for listening, and using well-structured speaking comprehension because most of the learning programs only pay atten-

most students do not understand the target language due to traditional practices, especially during listening activities, because of their inability to concentrate.

ularly when students learn how to listen to English, have similar and ability, accompanied by gestures, facial expressions, or signs, helps the listener to recognize other speakers’ mood or position in the converaccording to the students’ level and the teachers’ techniques. Most EFL learners want to understand the target language and develop their productive skills. In order to achieve this, teachers need to try new methods and techniques to improve students’ language comprehension. Therefore, implementing recorded short stories during class can make their listening activities easier because students can retrieve them as many times as needed.

scribe what students must know and be able to do as they move toward

ring it. During listening, students should understand the main point of a

To carry out this standard, students need to acquire vocabulary during their learning process, which means that teachers need to change their teaching methods and techniques. Unfortunately, as Neuman and Wrightsible in the busy, multi-tasking environment of the classroom.

listening strategies to help students solve their problems. Regarding

claimed that the communicative approach is the method that teachers

ers with solid bases. They established that English as a Foreign Language needs to be taught as a tool for communication, and listening has to be the nucleus of the teaching practice.

vanced listening teaching methods is a crucial factor. In current classes, students are accustomed to follow the teacher’s directions. Hence, it is

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

important to involve students in the development of listening skills in class, asking for suggestions, and making students participate in class.

ed out in his book, only a few teachers realized that the problem came from inadequate listening comprehension. That is why English instruction must address the relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension. Listening skills give students more opportunities to practice the target language and their comprehension level. Voice recording is a helpful tool. It allows students to practice listening comprehension by listening to themselves or someone else, understanding the message, and then transferring the general idea of the message. There are many advantages of voice recording. One of them is that the audio can be played and repeated as many times as needed for the

ers to have more processing time for comprehension and thus com-

pressed that the exact repetition is considered as input enhancement, which may render the input salient, drawing L2 learners’ attention to

nunciation, word stress, and accent when students are practicing their productive skills.

This action research was developed in a public school with EFL students from seventh grade in Pasaje, a city of El Oro province in Ec-

about listening comprehension are reviewed. Therefore, innovation was applied to improve listening for details subskill and contribute to better communication.

Literature Review

Listening Skill

In the eyes of many researchers and learners of English, listening is a complex and active mental process that involves perception, at-

the most neglected skills in second and foreign language classrooms, that listening is the receptive use of language, and since the goal is to make sense of the speech, the focus is on meaning rather than language. Thus, for students, listening means understanding what a teach-

begins with listeners when they communicate with themselves while thinking, making decisions, or when they are engaged in any type of communicative activity.

process of attending, perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and re-

tening is used as a primary medium of communication and learning in

language, one must be able to listen and comprehend. As listeners understand spoken language by listening, it is easier to improve their other

cognitive development. This kind of recording promotes students being more expressive and develops language skills through vocabulary by using a fun environment.

Other kinds of recordings are fairy tales which are often used by

consisting of text and pictures, in which the story depends on the interaction between written text and image and where both have been -

dents than listening to their English teacher and to classmates telling a personal story and then answering with another story.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Listening for Details

people listen very closely, paying attention to all the words and trying

formation.ings is based on words. Regarding the importance of vocabulary to devocabulary and comprehension to improve their oral language skills. Atance to vocabulary while they listened because they exclaimed that if they knew the words, they knew what the audio was about. This con-that any listening comprehension test should cover a wide range of topconsidered too.

Students’ Problems

the listening process. First, listeners cannot control the speed of delivery. Second, listeners cannot always have words repeated. It is a serious problem because students cannot decide whether or not to replay a recording, and it is even harder for the teacher to know if students limited vocabulary. This makes students miss some parts of the speech.guage. For students, it is easier to follow a conversation when the topic is interesting.

were distractions and missing or misperceiving words’ sounds related to perception. Students were accustomed to translate every word to try to understand the main idea of the audio. Other researchers highlighted that in the bottom-up listening skills, such as listening for details.

Voice-Recording Equipment

instruction was the cassette tapes and students had to listen to the oral production and perform the activities in class. Fortunately, the digitalization of recording tools arrived. Technology has greatly improved teaching and learning procedures. It helps to enhance students’ competences. Technological resources are a trend in EFL teaching today. However, most institutions lack technological devices to be used in

Nowadays, modern tools, such as digital audio and student-produced recordings, are new ways to engage students and encourage them to learn the target language. Digital audio recording is a useful device in a foreign language to practice speaking, hear how they sound, through digital elements provides the opportunity to practice the skill practice listening skills anywhere, anytime. On the other hand, Dai

could think that it is unnecessary to add more explanations, examples, and conclusions during the class. Although the textbook can be the most important resource in the classroom, it is necessary to add

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

teachers use some recorded materials that do not have high quality. The quality of sound can impact the comprehension of learners’ lis-

The use of electronic tools provides students with more opportuof the students have a mobile phone and bring them everywhere. Those mobile devices have a voice recording tool which implies that they can be used as a cognitive and symbolic learning tool.

Due to the students’ low listening comprehension performance, some considerations and strategies taken from the literature review were applied to answer the following research questions:ing?

2. To what extent do short story recordings improve students’ listening for details?

Methodology Design

The innovation was carried out as action research. Action researchical in your teaching methods and techniques. Here, the teacher becomes an investigator of his or her personal teaching context while at

Consequently, action research gives itself well as the methodology option to this innovation process. This research adopts an interactive-

scribing the process of the innovation. The action-taking phase refers to

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

sults. In the evaluation, results are analyzed. Finally, the learning phase

DIAGNOSIS

Low listening for details comprehension in seven graders.

ACTION-PLANNING

Answer 2 research questions based on literature rewiew. Qualitative and quantitative instrumens were applied.

EVALUATION

Results of the quantitative and qualitative instruments.

ACTION-TALKING

The innovation plan

LEARNING

Students need to acquire more vocabulary. The use of technology is necessary for better results.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Figure 1. Susman and Evered’s phases to conduct action research.

corded their voices. They were in seventh grade, ranging from ten to twelve years old. These students were selected as research participants because they were the higher grade at the school and had a good performance during two academic years. The main problem that these groups of students have faced was that they do not have enough background to develop listening correctly. This school incorwho could not get this level the need to implement new techniques to improve listening skills.

Classroom Procedures

The innovation aimed to develop techniques and practices toademic hours in class. Qualitative and quantitative instruments were used to gather information which helped to develop the innovation. The participants needed an electronic device with internet access to complete some activities at home. Students developed easy tasks with the researcher recognizing information in a recording, reviewing some vocabulary, and performing commands and songs using recorded audio during the classes. Participants also developed extra online activities from the Cambridge test on some web pages provided by the facilitator. At the end of the implementation, students created their ownulary introduced and recycled during the innovation activities process.

To present the performance task, they drew their own story into four pictures to use in class, and then their partners ordered them according to the story they told. The use of voice recordings let students tape their own stories as many times as they considered necessary to check their correct pronunciation and intonation. This activity raised students’

pronunciation ability.

Instruments project: pre and post focus group interviews, surveys, and pre and posttest. The instruments are organized according to the research questions.

RQ1: What are students’ complications when they listen to a recording?

Pre–Post Focus Group Interview

dividuals’ perceptions, information processing, and decision. The focus group interview was used to know students’ complications while they were listening. The group members answered four questions related to their problems during classes and what makes the learning process

Nine students were selected randomly: three students with high grades, three students with regular grades, and three students with low grades. By using focus group methodology before applying the innova-

questions to deepen the causes of their complications during listening. In the post-interview, students had the opportunity to share through re-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

imately. The pre and post focus interviews were developed during the ninth and nineteenth classes, respectively. The interview was conducted face-to-face in Spanish because students did not understand the language very well, so for them, it was easier to participate and answer the questions in their mother tongue.

Survey used to describe, compare, or explain individual and societal knowledge, feelings, values, preferences, and behavior. This instrument helped determine students’ listening preferences and contributed to solving students’ complications based on activities that involved topics they liked. The survey was presented in a simple way with four close and simple questions. One question was structured to know students’ reading preferences and the other three questions were used to know if students had the necessary material and experience with the recordings, so students selected yes or no to answer. The survey was in English but also with the Spanish translation because of students’ low comprehension levels. The survey was answered by all students.

Data obtained from the survey were used to select the best kind of stories according to students’ preferences between fairy tales, personal stories, nursery rhymes, and picture storybooks. The survey also helped to know if students had any experience listening to a voice recording during their English classes or if they had ever recorded audio by using a recording device, a mobile phone, or other devices.

RQ2: To what extent do short story recordings improve students’ listening for details?

Pre and Post-tests

Before and after applying the innovation, students were assessed performance. The test was taken by all participants in two sessions. All participants in two sessions took the test. It was applied at the beginning of the innovation to measure students’ level of listening comprehension. At the same time, the post-test was taken at the end of the intervention to verify if students improved their ability and the score after developing

Data Analysis

Pre–Post Focus Group Interview

lected during the focus group sessions. Using a voice recording, students’ answers were audiotaped and then transcribed in English. The researcher took notes from the focus group results and determined if the innovation

Pre and Post-tests

The data from the pretest and post-test were analyzed using SPSSto determine if the innovation had achieved the expected results.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Survey

The survey was applied to determine what kind of stories students prefer listening to when they develop a listening activity. Descriptive statistics such as frequency were calculated to analyze data from the

Results

RQ1: What are students’ complications when they listen to a recording?

Pre–Focus group interviews analyzed the main problem when students listen. For one of the students, the problem when listening was: the noise, and I do not understand what the audio is about”. Most of the interviewees expressed that outside noise was what distracted them most of the time. Participants also mentioned that they distracted themselves when they were in a listening practice, so they could not follow the activity.

On the other hand, the post–focus interview showed that students -

Online practice was interesting, and I admired myself because I discovered that I could ”.

Nevertheless, they did not feel sure of being able to comprehend other listening activities very well. During the interview about what they en-

seeing the stories listening to the stories listening to music.” Finally one ordering the pictures while we listened”. Lastly, data revealed that students preferred developing activities related to the test and practicing similar tasks according to the topics.

1 Survey results: Students’ access

ITEMS

Access to an electronic device

Experience with recordings

chose nursery rhymes and picture storybooks. Due to the results, fairy tales and personal stories topics were added to the innovation activities -

tronic device, had experience with recordings, and recorded their voice

RQ2: To what extent do short story recordings improve students’ listening for details?

Record voice with a device Instruments Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Cohen’s d Pretest Posttest

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

and large in magnitude, respectively. According to the results, Cohen’s d

Discussioned that the main problem in carring out this research was that the lismakes students miss some parts of the speech because they do nottening activities.

RQ1: What are students’ complications when they listen to a recording?

During the pre-focus group interview, one of the interviewees exin class; I cannot listen because of my partners’ interruptions” the next class makes much noise, so I cannot listen very well”. These were some problems that students faced while they were developing listening tasks. These answers were conthat determined in their report that the most dominant problems were a distraction and missing or misperceiving words’ sounds related toterial on tape or radio lacks visual and aural environmental clues, which means that not seeing the speaker’s body language and facial expresmeaning and contributes to failure in this skill’s tasks.

On the other hand, as a result of the post-focus group interview,portance to vocabulary while they were listening. However, in the report,

revisit new vocabulary because of the busy multi-task environment in the classroom.

RQ2: To what extent do short stories recordings improve students’ listening for details?dents to identify the purposes for listening, and using well-structured -

portant to develop all skills, especially listening, where students need to understand words and comprehend complete ideas.

Electronic devices allowed most of the students to practice their short stories the times they wanted to improve their performance. Thesethey allowed them to practice listening skills anywhere, anytime.

study. The use of new techniques and methodologies encouraged them -

tening teaching methods is the most crucial factor.

Conclusion

After completing this study and getting the innovation results, it is results in the students’ listening performance. During class, vocabulary more words that they could use in the tests. It is a fact that students acquired more vocabulary knowledge. They could identify the meaning and the correct spelling of many new words. Subsequently, students improved their listening for details subskill by using techniques that allowed them to better understand the activities process.

The listening activities need to be developed in a closed classroom with reduced noise. As they mentioned in the focus group interview,

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

they were not able to concentrate during listening activities because of the outside noise. This innovation met that requirement, so students were able to complete the activities successfully. Parents’ help during the learning process was important. They should consider technology at home as an educational complement under their supervision directing them to develop complementary educational activities. At school, it was impossible to use phones because schools did not allow the use of electronic devices. -

manage more vocabulary, phrases, and expressions than before. This

on the contrary, those parameters’ mean was regular. When students

helpful because they could carry the audio before the presentation to correct pronunciation and make necessary changes, until the presentaincluding the oral presentation with the researcher. Participants realizednunciation and present a better one. This research presented some limitations during the process, such as the lack of technological tools in students’ homes, so they could not do the extra practice they had learned in class to get better results. This occurs because most of them come from low-income households. Most students had electronic devices, but they did not have internet access. Another condition presented during the study was the students’when English was included in their curricula. Although students sometimes did not attend classes or arrived

There is a lab with a projector in the school, but there was no internet,

access so students could not see a clear example of how to use the cellphone and students took turns to see some videos to understand better.

Lastly, the number of students who participated during the innovation was a limitation. There were few students for the study, which did not allow us to obtain more information from the applied instruments or -

dents from seventh grade or higher in a public school, it is important to replicate this study from fourth grade. Students should practice longer

Consequently, they would be prepared with better communicative skills to continue their studies according to the curricula.

During classes, it is necessary to involve more vocabulary activities, so they store more words and can use them in the future to help themselves to understand what they listen to. The present research should be developed with a larger sample of students because this group was small to generalize the results. It is important to teach students to take bullet – point notes to help students remember important information from the recording, so they can check their notes to complete the listening tasks.

Finally, during the focus group interview, it would be useful to ask for psychologist support. It was noticed that some participants had problems expressing their opinion easily during the interview because some of them were shy. The psychologist could intervene to use appropriate techniques and communication alternatives to get more information.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

References and how to be taught. International Journal of Teaching and Education -

tion. Columbia: Academic Commons

Children reading pictures: Interpreting visual texts. Taylor and Francis

EFL listening comprehension. TESL-EJ -

guage learning on developing kurdish EFL students’ listening sub-skills at Koya University. Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Scienceslearning class. Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World

Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners in enhancing their oral performance. Revue Sciences Humaines

ELT Journal

Teaching Listening. Cambridge University Press. -

RoutledgeTeaching languages to young learners. Cambridge University Press.

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

ommendations for multimedia teaching in local vocational schools. Physics Procedia

How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide

learners’ reading comprehension skill and the strategies for improvement. International Journal of English Linguistics

Clear speech teacher’s resource and assessment book: Pronunciation and listening comprehension in North American English. Cambridge University Press.

comprehension problems. System

Gonzalez, P. F., Ochoa, C. A., Cabrera, P. A., Castillo, L. M., Quinonez, A.

Region of Ecuador: A focus on activities and resources for teaching listening and speaking skills. English Language Teaching -

lems encountered by saudi students in the EL listening classroom. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Developmentries. Creativity in the English language classroom -

ing: improving vocabulary and comprehension for English-language learners: teachers can use this strategy to systematically build the vocabulary and comprehension skills of primary-grade English-language learners through daily read-alouds. The Reading Teacher -

ucation. Edublog.net

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Poetry and Ethics

in second language acquisition. Language Learning

The English Language Learning Standards

Classroom Assessment Suggestions.tices. Teaching English as a second or foreign language

used kindergarten core reading curricula. The Elementary School Journal -

an EFL students’ listening comprehension problems. Theory and Practice in Language Studies -

ers’ English listening comprehension and the strategies for improvement. Journal of Language Teaching and Research Lis-

tening in everyday life: A personal and professional approach challenges & strategies in teaching listening. International Journal of Education and Information Studiesing questions, repetition of input and topic preparation on listening comprehension of iranian EFL learners. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research

Jurnal Ilmiah Humanika

Focus groups: Theory and practice

action research. Administrative Science Quarterly

Teaching listening. Longman.

language listening comprehension research. Language Teaching, English Teaching Forum

Making the Right Movies. European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Reading

Extensive Reading to Enhance Reading Comprehension: An Action Research Study

Carlos Felipe Santamaría Velasco1 CTT de los Andes Language Center Ambato, Ecuador

cttlc.asistenteacademico@cttdelosandes.com

Kari Lynn Miller Bauer2 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador kalymiller@yahoo.com

Cristina Elizabeth Salazar Paredes3 CTT de los Andes Language Center Ambato, Ecuador

jefecentrodeidiomas@cttdelosandes.com

The objective of this action research was to determine how an ex-hension skills and to analyze students’ perceptions and opinions aftermonth ER program in addition to the institutional English curriculum. On the other hand, the CG just followed the institutional curriculum. Data obtained from a pre-test and a post-test, rubrics, interviews, and learning logs were used to answer the research questions. At the end of the

results between the two groups. However, unlike students from the CG, students from the EG improved their reading comprehension skills -

ditionally, participants showed an overall positive perception of the ER

Keywords: extensive reading, action research, development of reading skills, EFL Ecuadorian university

Introduction

Although English is only the third largest language in the world-

As a result, English is used worldwide to give news and information, entertain, travel, carry out business, diplomacy, and political meet-

English is important to learn, and it has led the Ecuadorian government to create rules, policies, and regulations for educational institutions regarding English language learning and teaching. According to the insti-

the students from Ecuador who desire to get a university degree must

A teaching context is considered EFL when language instruction takes place in a country or location in which English is not spoken out-

opportunities to get exposure to English or produce it in meaningful sit-

in order to achieve the high standard level required by Ecuadorian highbe sought by English language instructors. books or magazines focusing on general understanding and meaning, instead of focusing on grammar, vocabulary or any feature of language

oping spelling, grammar structures, text structure, reading comprehension, and writing skills. In addition, ER helps ELLs to cultivate a positive attitude toward reading itself.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

that comprehension is the main purpose of reading. Moreover, reading to have learners read and understand texts, so in the future they can be

Despite the importance of reading, a survey performed by local same situation was found in a preliminary survey taken of the partici-

Several research studies have been performed in order to explore the impact of ER on reading comprehension skills among EFL learners -

several research projects that used qualitative methods to discover pera Venezuelan university, found that students who took part in ER described it as enjoyable and useful. On the other hand, in a Taiwanese large-scale study on students’ perception of ER, the results showed that ER caused resistance and unwillingness at the beginning of the pro-

Although the use of ER to enhance reading comprehension skills

Ecuadorian context at a university level, which is the rationale for the present study. It is necessary to say that it would be interesting as well to understand what perception Ecuadorian students have on using ER. Furthermore, due to the importance reading has in academic contexts, the present study is of great interest to any EFL teacher who seeks to improve reading skills among their students in order to make them better and more independent learners. Thus, the following research questions are posited in this study:prehension?

2. How do students feel about using extensive reading at the end of the treatment?

when reading extensively?

Literature Review

Input and Output Hypothesis

As stated above, teachers must provide students with enough L2esis, which claimed that a person who is given comprehensible input-

clues. In this way, a learner progresses in acquiring a language. Although most SLA researchers agree on the importance of input

Swain noticed that despite the great amount of input received by some of her immersion students, they did not develop a good enough gram-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

cient for students to realize all the complex and intricate features of the language. As a result, she suggested using pushed output with pupils, so they could produce correct language utterances.

one is that it helps ELLs to notice what they can and cannot convey grammatical forms and their linguistic system. The second is that output provides students with opportunities to play or hypothesize with the language. They test expressions, chunks, utterances, and based on feedback, they modify their output to accomplish what they desire to convey. The third purpose is metalinguistic, which means that ELLs

makes learners face communication problems, so they are forced to overcome them, which eventually leads to a successful acquisition.

learning for ELLs.

When having students work with ER, they get exposure to the language or input by seeing grammar, vocabulary, collocations and prepositions used in a meaningful and real context. However, ER should be complemented with post-reading activities in order to complement lan-

Extensive Reading

extensive reading programs students get as much reading as possible in order to learn new information from the world and get enjoyment.

which the main goal is to have students read large amounts of informa-

ELLs with exposure to the target language.

ful extensive reading programs. Although all of them can be considered important, it is critical to understand that in an ER program, students must read self-selected varied material that is within their comprehension level or even below. Also, students focus on general understanding rather than on any linguistic item. Finally, in ER teachers must always keep track of students’ progress.

There is not a single way to approach extensive reading. It can be said that an ER program that tackles all the ten extensive reading -

sive reading,” and not all the researchers considered the ten principles, so as a result, it was necessary to create an extensive reading continuum.

It was previously said that an ER program that takes the ten princi-ly, if there is a program that does not apply any of the principles, it ising students’ level, there was a substantial variety of books available for students, pupils were free to read anything that they wished, and the objective of reading was not to solve intricate comprehension exercises but to provide them the opportunity to read in English, and during half of the ER program, students read individually and in silence. reading strategies while encouraging pupils to take part in pure exten-

sive reading” to talk about an ER program that included output activities such as discussions or roleplays.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

ture. To start with, ER enhances reading comprehension because of an

brain, which means that everyone has an innate ability to learn languages, but for successful results, the LAD has to be activated. ER, when applied correctly, can provide comprehensible input and meaningful interactions for the learner, which will eventually activate the LAD leading

Reading Comprehension

Undoubtedly, reading is a complex receptive skill, in which human beings start by decoding visual representations from paper, associating these symbols with sounds, understanding and discovering the literalreading even more complex to learn is that humans were not born to are human inventions, unlike speaking and listening, which are abilities

people read. They are ER and intensive reading, which, unlike ER, focusIntensive reading is usually done in class to pick up grammar structures and vocabulary items for further examination by the teacher and the

pupils. Maley and Prowse also mentioned that some experts in reading claim intensive reading cannot be considered reading at all owing to the fact that pure reading does not involve any further deep analysis.

There are several reading skills to achieve comprehension, but the details, predicting, inferring vocabulary meaning by using context clues,

of reading that is being performed. For instance, if a person is looking for the hour an event will take place in the newspaper, he or she might not use inference or prediction skills, but instead, the person might use scanning skills. -

time, they struggle to make sense of what they are reading. Research has shown that a crucial factor to enhance comprehension is text struc-

type of text facilitates comprehension. Good readers can normally differentiate text structure. Another critical aspect of reading comprehenis the greatest tool to develop vocabulary, which consequently will develop good comprehension.

Students’ Perceptions

es and the environment. It also involves how the person behaves after comes to education, students’ perception of learning processes is ab-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

solutely important in order to make informed decisions for improvement

teachers and administrators to have a bigger picture of a certain classroom procedure, methodology, technique, or practice.

Methodology

Design

The present work was an action research study that included qualitative and quantitative methods in order to answer the research

institutional priorities.

Four classes from a private university in Ecuador took part in this

EG studied English in the institution following the typical curriculum for the A2 level, but ER reading was added to their classes. Conversely, the CG just worked with the A2 level normal curriculum.

Participants 25. Before this action research began, a 50-item multiple-choice place-

one native Quichua speaker. Some students had knowledge of other

equipment such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and so forth. In addition, all of them had internet access at home. Students were from different degrees like business administration, law, and tourism, but most of them were medicine or dentistry majors. The following chart presents other important demographic information. Characteristics

**Time spent on voluntary reading

0-2 hours a day

More than 2 hours

**It does not include books read for career purposes.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 1.Demographic Information

Classroom Procedures

in-class hours and eight autonomous hours. The ER program had two

mance task.

tained prediction activities, guided reading, and post-reading activities such as comprehension logs, role plays, and discussions. In the second phase, students chose a book they would like to read in the class at review document. After every reading session, students were asked togram, pupils created a video in which they recorded themselves saying the review of their favorite book, posted it on Moodle and were asked to watch and comment on each other’s videos.

Instruments

Pre-test and post-test.

Some parts of the reading test from the Cambridge KET were used to measure reading comprehension levels at the beginning and at the end of the investigation. The sections from the KET exam used were other parts from the Cambridge KET exam were not considered since and applied by using the institutional Moodle website in order to avoid plagiarism and facilitate grading.

Final performance task rubric.

during the video recording in order to persuade an audience to read their favorite book. Vocabulary range and text recognition focus on using a wide range of suitable vocabulary for the text type in a correct way. Another criterion was digital quality and preparation, which measured the video quality per se and students’ readiness before recording the material. The last criterion, content and reading comprehension,

comprehension after reading a book. The maximum score possible in each criterion was 2,5.

Interviews and learning logs.

open-ended questions that elicited general feelings students got during the ER program, positive and negative aspects of the program, and challenges students faced. In addition, two questions focused on getting to know whether or not they felt an improvement in their reading

questions. They were asked about what they learnt during the reading class, what was something easy about the class, what was something challenging for them, and how they overcame those challenges. At the end of each learning log students were asked about the abilities they spelling, writing, reading, among others.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Data Analysis

Pretests and posttests were graded automatically by Moodle LMS. Later, those results were coded and analyzed on SPSS 25. Rubrics from

tions. The investigator computed and examined the scores obtained by students on the criteria vocabulary range and text recognition and content and reading comprehension.

and written down. Then, interviews were read and coded into categories to make all the information more comprehensible. Student selec-

high achievement, eight average achievement and eight low achievement students took part in the interview. The questions were directed to get qualitative data to answer question two.

Regarding learning logs, they were digitalized on Moodle to facilitate grading and management. As mentioned above, they were assigned as homework after each class session. Learning logs were alsocomplete.

Results

Results for Question 1

make information more comprehensible for the reader, the results were

Paired sample t-tests

Two paired sample t-tests were carried out comparing the pretest and posttest means from the CG and the EG. Table 2 shows that there

improved their reading comprehension skills due to the ER program.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Experimental Group

Control Group

Figure 1. CG and EG Means Obtained in the Pretest and the Posttest.

Group p-value Cohen’s d *CG

Table 2. Paired Sample t-test Results from CG and EG

Independent sample t-test.

In addition to the paired sample t-tests, the researcher also performed an independent sample t-test to compare the means obtained in the

Final performance task.

At the end of the treatment students from the EG worked on a video in which they reviewed their favorite book. This task was assessed by

text recognition skills, it can be stated that students achieved a desirable considerable level of comprehension and vocabulary usage.

Table 3. Posttest CG and EG Independent Sample t-test Results

Table 4. Rubric Criteria Descriptive Statistics

Results for Question 2

The interviews revealed the students’ perception of the ER program they took part in. Generally speaking, students had a positive percepvocabulary.” However, during the interviews, they also expressed some

gave suggestions and there were some unexpected comments. Students openly expressed that ER was useful and constructive. It was said by all students but one that ER helped them to improve their English skills, particularly vocabulary. They also felt ER made them improve their reading comprehension, vocabulary inference, and reading

Some negative ideas about ER were also expressed. The most common was that at the beginning of the program students felt anxious about reading in English, and for six students, reading for two hours was dull. However, most of the students who experienced anxiety before end of the innovation. There was one student who openly expressed negative feelings about the comprehension logs and the book reviews that were assigned. But, at the same time, ten students said those tasks helped them to evaluate their own comprehension when reading, and three students told the researcher that they liked the post-reading activities because they could express what they felt.

Suggestions also arose during the interviews. Students felt it would be good to include short breaks during the sustained silent reading time in order to avoid attention loss. They preferred to read a book of their choice rather than having a book for all the class because they liked to read at their own pace. Another suggestion was that the teacher or

topics, so students could choose from a greater variety of books to read. Seven students felt ER should be done by all teachers. Table 5 presents the ideas mentioned by the pupils during the interview in detail.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Positive Comments

Table 5. Interview Comments

I liked to do comprehension logs and book reports because I could Comprehension logs and book reports helped me to notice whether Reading has been a way to relax and get distracted from my career

Negative Comments

It would be good to have short breaks during the two reading hours,

Suggestions for Teachers

Every day, there should be some reading time at the end of the

Reading should be done in class because we do not have enough

Other Comments of Interest

I prefer doing comprehension logs and book reports because they

Results for Question 3

Learning logs showed what aspect or feature of language students felt they improved in after the ER program. Many aspects were mentioned -

quency students pointed out an aspect of language. The most commonly mentioned aspects were vocabulary, reading, writing, and grammar. This information matches with what was said during the interviews.

In addition, students answered four open questions in the learning logs. Pupils expressed some commonalities. They mentioned the biggest challenge when reading was dealing with new vocabulary and some unknown grammar structures. Another big challenge for them was trying to read without translating every single word and trying to follow the sequence of some stories that did not have a simple plot.

other, using the dictionary, and their inference skills. Also, teacher help

Note: Some learning logs contained more than two aspects of language.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Figure 2. Aspects of Language Students Believed They Improved with ER

The present study was designed in order to answer three quesoutperformed the CG in the post-test, the independent sample t-testgests that the EG and the CG reading comprehension skills remained the same in spite of the ER program. However, it is worth noticing that the paired sample t -

tion that did not occur with the CG.

Despite the results from the independent sample t-test, the paired sample t-tests demonstrated the ER program had a positive impact on the EG students’ reading comprehension skills. These re--

tistically outperform the CG in the post-test. Another possibility is that -

The second question sought to understand students’ perceptions toward the ER program. It was clear that they had positive feelings and ideas about reading extensively, not only because they felt it helped them improve their English, but because it motivated them to read in Spanish and English. Even though students felt anxious or reluctant to read in English at the beginning, these perceptions gradually vanished and became positive. These outcomes resemble other qualitative stud-

a formal test, students claimed their vocabulary, reading, writing, and grammar among other skills, were enhanced with ER. This resembles

as well as having students read appropriate material at their own pace, which is suggested by the literature.

Finally, the third question scope was on the linguistic aspects students believe they improved while reading extensively. The coded data from learning logs and interviews pointed out that they felt their vo-

also felt their reading comprehension, grammar, and writing skills were enhanced during the program. The instruments used during this study

remarked on the importance of vocabulary when reading, which interestingly was mentioned by students. It was stated that dealing with new vocabulary was a challenge for them. Thus, book selection is crucial for them to succeed in an ER program.

Conclusions

students’ comprehension skills, but it is necessary to have longer application periods to get more consistent results. Also, ER was seen as something positive and useful by the students who took part in the program. Having a good perception of reading might cause students -

terviews raised some must-consider aspects when implementing an ER program in the Ecuadorian EFL context. Finally, students feel their vocabulary is mostly improved when doing ER.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Limitations

The present study had some limitations like time, and bias due to the nature of the investigation project. In addition, this study was limited cannot be generalized to a whole context, and to do so further research will be needed.

Recommendations

The main and the most important recommendation for researchhas to do with application time. An ER program might not have immewhen performed for longer periods.

In other research projects focused on ER, it is important to consider not only reading comprehension skills. It would be of great use to include formal assessment tools to measure vocabulary acquisition, and spelling, among other language skills, to increase the scope of future studies.

ER programs require certain conditions to be successful. For instance, ER requires teachers and administrators to provide a wide range of books and reading material. In spite of having a considerable number of books during the present ER program, some students suggested that and genres. Moreover, it should be considered that ER should be done during class hours and with short breaks during sustained silent reading. In addition, it is advisable to let students read the book they chose at their own pace. In this particular study, students mentioned they did not like to have a book for the whole class. Lastly, book selection is cru-

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

References

The Read-

Educational Leadership,

Behind.aspx

Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy nd-book-for-teachers.pdf -

al high school students’ L2 vocabulary and reading rates. English Teaching-

hancing-vocational-high-school-students-l2-vocabulary-reading-rates

Reglamento de régimen académicoReading in a Foreign Language

Extensive reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge University Press.

Test and score data summary for TOEFL iBT® tests

System

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

comprehension and attitudes. International Journal of Research in English Education

can’t EFL programs deliver as expected? Procedia Social Behavioral and Sciences -

ing and listening comprehension among senior high school students. KATE Bulletin -

guage reading abilities. Prospect

comprehension. Teaching Exceptional Children

Educational Leadership, -

ality.aspx

Hábitos de Lectura en Ecuador -

ing in EFL. Reading in a Foreign Language

classes in Turkish context. European Journal of Language and Literature Studieses and their implementations. RELC Journal

The Internet TESL Journal

Second language acquisition: Theory, application and some conjectures. Cambridge University Press.

Second language acquisition applied to English language teaching. TESOL press.

Applied linguistics and materials developmentademic.

The World Economy -

hanced extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language

among intermediate learners. Sci. Int. (Lahore)-

ception. The Reading Matrix

acquisition and instruction. Reading Research Quarterly

Outcomes placement test. Retrieved

ELT Journal

RELC Journal,

Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice -

comprehensible input approaches to foreign language instruc-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

tion at the intermediate level. System -

Guiding school improvement with action research. ASCD. -

he Bonn handbook of globality

International Publishing.

reading: A case study. The Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics English prepositions through enhanced extensive reading instruction. RELC Journal

The teaching knowledge

test course nd -

sion, reading rate, and vocabulary acquisition. Reading Research

Quarterly -

en’t enough. Canadian Modern Language Review -

Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning -

cacy of extensive reading. The Reading Matrix

non-English majors: Factors and attitudes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English LiteratureApplied linguistics and materials development

English writing. World Journal of Education

What is perception in Psy-

tion-theory-quiz.html.

Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. HarperCollins.

on L2 extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language System -

a foreign language. Reading in a Foreign Language -

ing. JSTOR Language Arts

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Improving Writing Skills in a Five-Paragraph-Essay Elaboration

Karina D. Izquierdo Zamora1 Guayaquil, Ecuador

karina.izquierdo.zamora@gmail.com

Maria C. Quiñónez Guilott2 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador guil@bellsouth.net

mediate students, studying English language in a higher institution in Ecuador. A pretest and posttest experimental design with assignments to treatment or control group was used to measure the learners’ writingthe experimental group when compared to the control group for com-

pairs enabled them to improve their writing skills. The study has impli-ers and learners about the importance of following a structure to write

Keywords

brainstorming, writing skills

Introduction

Teaching English as a Second Language is an active process, which requires an in-depth knowledge of the language and the proper application of the four English skills. Within the core components of the English language, writing is one of the four macro, active and productive language skills of communication. It demands the most attention from the teacher and the student. Nevertheless, second language learners seem hesitant towards practicing this domain in and out of the class-

uate learners, they struggle when writing any text because of their low

that students produce unclear and incoherent writings that include a strategies for writing skills development presents a gap in organization and coherence for students.

Considering the relevance of developing good writing skills, a -

organizers, along with web tools, is pivotal in the writing performance. Moreover, studies in Iraq, Jordan, Iran, Thailand, Colombia, and Canadaduring the writing process.

Focusing on the Ecuadorian educational system, the governprogram. This project aimed at improving the learning of the English undergraduate students reach the Common European Framework oflearning is how to approach the writing process as a teacher and as a based on initial interviews.

To emphasize the necessity of improving undergraduate learners’-

er when it is not possible to achieve an individual learning objective they reach their independent learning level.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Another topic to consider is that the CEFR for Languages gives clear guidelines concerning the writing standards that must be met by university. These standards include understanding the main ideas of complex texts and the production of clear, detailed texts, essays or reby the accredited EFL faculty.

production, as evidenced by the low scores obtained in the diagnostic test that revealed poor writing skills. Lack of organization, poor development of ideas, and non-existent logical sequencing among other

the students’ quality of writing, and accordingly, learners are failing at producing well-structured essays.

Research on this academic issue is gaining attention among advanced students at international levels. However, there is no available

context.

plan to achieve positive outcomes in learners’ writing performance. When students attempt to learn a skill in English, they need the teacher’s assistance until they acquire knowledge and master independent tasks.

Literature Review

provisional structures that builders situate around the outside of new buildings to access and work with ease. Once the building is able to

en to students to develop tasks so that they will be capable to complete similar assignments on their own.

learner can develop on his own and what he can do with assistance.

strategies that involve the use of structures, activities, and temporary support for the students to construct knowledge.

essential element of cognitive learning used to help learners perform a task that they do not know or that is beyond their current ability. In

that are within their capacity for understanding. If students cannot perform complicated tasks due to their complexity, then the instructor can

guidance gradually until they can learn the process and carry out the -

English Department, School of Languages, and its results revealed that

their writing. Within this approach, the author emphasized that working

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

classroom during the writing learning process. They are modeling, project draws attention to the modeling category, in which a mentor text is presented to students so they can improve their writing and produce good essays.

Mentor Texts

approach that facilitates new learning ways to improve any compeappropriate method of guiding poor writing, or a text, which is observed and analyzed so that learners try to emulate one or more linguistic functions. These assertions are valid, especially with undergraduate learners whose writing of well-written essays has been poor throughouthance students’ writing skills.

Research on the Application of a Five-Paragraph-Essay Structure.

Examining in greater depth the issues raised by the absence of unan essay means and how it helps students to write in an organized and out that writing an essay means that a topic should be completed in a written form, and the students illustrate their ideas and perspectives on the topic following some requirements such as organization, content, and language.

a better quality of writing. The mentioned authors demonstrate thatelaborate an organized and coherent piece of writing. They used brainconclusion.-

lege students at the Faculty of Education in Bitola. These essays weregave basic skills for writing, which guarantees positive results. Hence, the previously mentioned authors recommend that students follow ations to develop the necessary skills in academic writing.

Peer Collaboration

which indicates that students work collaboratively with one partner or

the sharing of ideas and strengthens the internalization of the stages of the writing process. Working collaboratively stimulates students’ cognitive areas and helps them generate ideas and produce related and logcan give any ideas they have on their minds and share them with their peers. Learning in collaborative contexts allows learners to construct knowledge in social interaction that involves students and teachers,

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

ed similar results asserting that doing pair work shows the better quality of writing and positive feelings about collaborative writing assignments.

motes free, non-judgmental opinion and allows conclusions to be drawn about issues that are part of the lives of students. Caviedes et al.

of writing. It also helps students to think critically, giving their points of view about the topics discussed. In a research on pair and group work, allows students to comment on their texts, giving extra details and producing a better text. Learners develop a sense of responsibility for sharwrite essays and need their peers’ collaboration to produce a better piece of writing.

Brainstorming

to consider the topic and write down any promising ideas since many students will forget their previous ideas while thinking about the new

lows learners to work collaboratively to generate possible topics and

ideas and thoughts stemming from the judgment-free dynamic interaction with others. These thoughts can motivate students to discover what to say and how to say it on paper. In addition, brainstorming encourages communication skills, helps promote thinking and decision-making ca-

egy can enhance the students’ writing skills while developing essays.

Graphic Organizers

sentations, symbols, images, or visual models that are used to process information. Graphic organizers allow the student to better understand a large amount of information that must be learned in a limited time.

maps, story maps, semantic maps, bubble maps, T-charts among oth-

and the T-chart to help students classify and describe information related to the essay topics.

Answer Garden and Padlet Web Tools

cannot go unnoticed. ICT enables communication among learners and teachers and creates an interactive environment. According to Santopic questions. Therefore, the application of these web tools can motivate second language learners’ learning process. There are arguments that writing essays may not always be feasible. It is useful to look at the studies that have yielded results that aresays embodys an essential task to develop an organized and coherent text independently at university levels. Even though for some authors writing essays involves good organization and logical order of ideas,

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

beginning writers. They emphasize that university teachers have found many weaknesses in the students’ writings and that it is necessary to create consciousness in learners about written production. They also by pointing out that writing instruction should be designed so that thelyze any topic critically.-

lowing research questions.

intermediate EFL learners improve their writing performance?

2. To what extent does collaboration at the brainstorming phase of-

Methodology Design

This is quasi-experimental action research with qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Action research is a systematic strategy presented in scenarios that require the participation of teachers as researchers so that they can use their investigation to improve their

instructor-researcher developed the project lasting six weeks and con-graph essay structure, peer collaboration, and graphic organizers along with web tools.

Participants

EFL learners from the English Language Center at a private universi-

Classroom Procedures

The innovation started the second semester of the academic yearate students enrolling in the English 5 level. The objective of this study -

tion, and graphic organizers along with web tools. The instructor-reexperimental group.

At the beginning of the innovation, the teacher-researcher applied a pre-test to the control and experimental groups. After the pre-test, scaf-

peer collaboration, and graphic organizers along with web tools were applied in sessions two, three, and four. The teacher-researcher used

researcher explained how to organize thoughts and arguments. After-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

wards, the teacher-researcher demonstrated how to write an introductory paragraph. Finally, the researcher showed the students how to give feedback. Using the writing process as the larger framework, students weresess. Following the strategies, the experimental group wrote two essays. The control group developed its essays without any support. In-

Instruments

The researcher applied pre and post-tests, interviews, and col-the students’ perspectives with supports such as collaboration and the and post-test. The instruments were applied before and after the intervention to obtain information concerning the students’ previous andgraph-essay. The researcher used a rubric, which was adapted from

Development of ideas

2. Organization

Word choice

5. Convention agreement

To respond to the second research question referring to students’ collaboration during the brainstorming phase of writing, the research-

brainstorming stage were collected through these instruments. Field notes included observations on misunderstandings, areas of confusion, and student engagement.

The third research question refers to what are the students’ per-

say structure after completing the innovation. Based on the students’ performance and scores obtained in the post-tests, the researcher interviewed eight students with the highest and lowest scores after the intervention. The interview session was conducted face-to-face withtic and a less structured tool of data collection.

of a research concept can be measured. Thus, to guarantee the validity of data, and using the same rubric, two other instructor colleagues

the post-test. Their results matched with the ones the instructor had scored. All collected relevant and supporting data was compiled and saved. All of these techniques were prevalent to ensure the credibility of the research project.

Data Analysis

The students’ writing on the pretests and posttests constituted the quantitative data that were collected in two sessions of the innovation. -

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

of collaborative writing during the brainstorming phase and using the the research questions that are explained below.

intermediate EFL learners improve their writing performance?

The data of pre-test and post-test were analyzed using Indepen-of writing that are the development of ideas, organization, word choice,

RQ#2: To what extent does collaboration at the brainstorming phase of writing help students generate ideas? -

laboration during the brainstorming stage were collected daily. The instructor included observations on misunderstandings, areas of confusion, and student engagement. During the six-week sessions, students

RQ#3: What are the students’ perspectives with aids such as colinnovation?

The interview session was conducted face-to-face with each participant. The nature of the interview was to understand in detail the participants’ experiences and perspectives on writing in English and writing

and transcribed by the researcher. Transcriptions were grouped according to the participants’ insights about collaboration during the brainstorming stage of writing.

Results

Quantitative Data from Pretest and Posttest Using Rubric helped intermediate EFL learners improve their writing performance. had an impact on students’ quality of writing. The data corroborates that modeling a mentor text and following instructions helped the students write a clear and poignant essay on their own.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 1. Results of Comparison between Pre-test and Post-test: Control versus Experimental

Figura 1. Comparison Post-test Control vs. Experimental

post-test of control and experimental groups in which the latter who participated in the innovation made an improvement when applying

structure, peer collaboration, and graphic organizers. From the initialimental group before and after the intervention. The statistics show that-

sidered the highest value among the other constructs. This construct also demonstrated that peer collaboration plays an important role in performing writing skills. Padlet and Answer Garden were part of this enhancement.

The p level. Since the p p writing of the experimental group.

Table 3. Post-Tests: Control versus Experimental

the way they organized their ideas and paragraphs. For that, they ap-ed during the activity.

Another important result was the positive outcome obtained in

In every session of the lesson plan, students had to correct sentences increase, which means that students greatly improved their grammar skills.

tests of the control and the experimental groups after the intervention. indicates the highest value among all the constructs. The post-test data of the experimental group reveals that the participants showed the greatest improvement in the components of the language, especiallynizers helps students improve their quality of writing when developing essays.

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

Qualitative Data from Collaboration at the Brainstorming Phase of Writing,

interviews with them also helped identify student views on writing in English, and how collaboration during the brainstorming phase helped

to brainstorm ideas in a collaborative way. Participants attempted to work in pairs and obtained positive results when sharing their opinions with their peers to improve their writing. It was relevant for the students that their opinions were taken into consideration during the brainstorm-

students felt comfortable when giving feedback on their essays. The students provided feedback, and that enabled them to highlight the effort their peers made while giving feedback on their work. The feedback also motivated them to see that this work was not useless.

Figure 2. Students’ Perspectives

Findings from the Post-Test

adequate to brainstorm ideas during the pre-writing stage of the writing process to improve learners’ writing performance. The application of a requires that students develop essays as part of their learning practice. The experimental group made more progress than the control group and graphic organizers along with web tools during the innovation.

in the Ecuadorian tertiary EFL classrooms. To give more emphasis on the structure works fast; it was organized and allowed me to classify relevant information before writing essays. Doing the essay step by step made

consistent with this study.

Findings through the Interviews

The results of interviews disclose that working collaboratively among students aided them to create writing that is more appealing to them. Additionally, sharing ideas or thoughts during the brainstormingwork shows better quality of writing and positive feelings about col-stormed in the pre-test.

Working in pairs helped my partner and me to develop clear and well-structured ideas. It is the best way to

Collaborating with my peers made me feel secure and free, especially when I had to give opinions without feeling intimidated. The most challenging part was to classify the information -

in the literature review, which says brainstorming ideas in collaboration with peers indicates that students work collaboratively with one or more partners to go through the writing process.

an essay on my own at this point was competitive. I was able to create a poignant and clear essay based on the mentor text and the instructions I

The researchers have pointed out that a mentor text facilitates the students to order their ideas and improve their writing skills.

and Field Notes

felt rushed working in pairs. Despite using a structure and having peer collaboration during brainstorming in the prewriting stage, it appeared to be arduous for students to accomplish it. This obstacle seems to be related to the shortcomings in the organization and development -

peer collaboration, and graphic organizers, students could write in an organized and coherent way. Modeling a mentor text, students could

mat and has to be written considering three factors, which are content, language, and organization.

The following is another student’s opinion that stated that the This format works better. Do-

It also motivated me to see that this work was not in vain

the teacher-researcher to create a positive classroom environment by assisting the students until they mastered the task.

The experimental group was reluctant to face the uncertainty, and they felt uncomfortable. The students thought that writing paragraphs did not need attention and organization. The following interviewee’s opinion made the researcher think about how students were mistaken about developing paragraphs. “I thought a paragraph contained only two

that a paragraph must-have what the group was going to do, the students decided to collaborateprove their writing skills.

Findings through Components of Language

construct during the treatment had a marked increase, which means that students greatly improved the way they organized their ideas and paragraphs. For that, they applied the bubble chart and the t-chart that were provided during the activity. Another important result was thetervention. In every session of the lesson plan, students had to correct

a marked increase, which means that students greatly improved their grammar skills.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

improved the students’ quality of writing. Padlet and Answer Garden web tools facilitated interaction and collaboration among peers.

Conclusions

In an Ecuadorian EFL context, where learners struggle to break barriers of language, writing in an organized and coherent way has become a hard task to develop in undergraduate students. The present rebetter results in the post-test. The results from the statistical analyses post-test.

One possible explanation for these obstacles found when atat tertiary levels are that researchers and practitioners have not given L2 learners’ writing skills might present complications when writing simple texts or essays. performance. Based on the results, the experimental group was sig-

oration, and graphic organizers was key to facilitating students writing a good English text in an organized and coherent way. The students whoexperimental group was essential considering that its primary objective was to improve the learners’ writing skills.

courage students to write who are not yet skilled in English language

better disposition towards the implementation of the structure in comparison to the control group. The control group only developed the assignments given by the researcher.

Concerning the second research question, working in a collaborative way strengthens students who previously felt intimidated and reluctant to write because they felt uncomfortable sharing ideas and opinions with others, as noted in their interviews and the research-

with their peers and improve their own. The use of Answer Garden and Padlet web tools also enhanced collaborative brainstorming, which

motivated students to interact and brainstorm ideas freely and without much hesitation.

Referring to the third research question, learners’ perspectives on writing in English lead the researcher to build adequate approaches to enable learners to develop a good piece of writing. Regarding essays, students demonstrated very positive perceptions because they could get peer feedback, especially when developing the topics. Students were keen to make the necessary adjustments to their peers’ observations.

The results of the study clearly indicate that the use of the scaffolding strategies improved intermediate undergraduate students’ texts

graph-essay structure to enhance intermediate undergraduate learners’ writing skills is still recommended.

Among the limitations of this study, the following stand out as when doing their assignments. Second, undergraduate EFL learners at this private university receive three hours of English class every week. Third, a small sample size might be another shortcoming that set. Fourth, the time might also be another constraint to improving the

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

tervention phase was accordingly carried out in the allotted time. In other words, all the learning objectives and their assignments were suc-

positive learning outcomes.

Although it is true that evident motivation ignites the students’ learn-

this motivational plateau. A positive attitude and willingness are needed in order to lead learners to succeed in second language learning.

be a reasonable initiative to improve students’ writing skills. Instructors could implement a portfolio, in which students and teachers can moni-

are appropriate to the content students need to reinforce.

ployed by thesis advisers in the graduate school. The Bukidnon State University Research Journal -

developing creative problem solving skills among male students in Kuwait: A Field Study on Saud Al-Kharji School in Kuwait City. Journal of Education and Practice -

view. English Linguistics Research

on improving writing performance of English major students at Balqa Applied University in Jordan. Journal of Education and Practice -

critical writing skills. Nurse Education in Practice the resurgent interest? Action Research

English in Ecuador: An examination of policy, per--

guage learners’ identities when editing academic texts. How

learning. English Language Teaching

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Acta Didactica Napocensia -

ect-based course. Universal Journal of Educational Research of academic writing structures: A functional approach. How process approach. Journal of Education and Practice

Educational Research and Reviews

Teachers’ Voices-

storming as a pre-writing strategy on EFL advanced learners’ writing ability. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, promoting the students’written expression in the Republic ofMacedonia. International Journal of Education -

New-Words-In-The-English-Language-And-The-English-Teachers-

Research in the Teaching of English -

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

teaching and learning areas: A meta-analysis study. Education & Science/Egitim ve Bilim

of collaborative writing on EFL students’ writing performance. Advances in Language and Literary Studies aiac.alls. -

elling and common approaches to teaching writing in Iranian EFL context. International Journal of Instruction

Advances in Language and Literary Studies -

demic writing for improving the redaction in English about preliminary publications applied to students enrolled in 5th English level at Centro Académico de Idiomas (CAI) at Universidad Técnica del Norte Ibarra-Ecuador

digms, and perspectives. International Journal of Qualitative Methodsgies through facebook for learning and improving the writing process and writing performance. E-bangiing classes: insights from three experiments. TESL Canada Journaldards of Educational Quality

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

wards more sophisticated academic writing: Moving beyond the Asian-Focused ELT Research and Practice: Voices from the Far Edgeity to write essays? JOTSE: Journal of Technology and Science Education

Communicative language teaching today. NY, New York: Cambridge University Press.

demic writing development through project work. Colombian Journal for Teacher of English

in Enriching Writing Skills in Language Learning and Teaching. Global English-Oriented Research Journal

Edmodo-and-Padlet-as-a-collaborative-online-tool-in-EnrichingWriting-Skills-in-Language-Learning-and-Teaching.pdf

writing in L2. Journal of Second Language Writing

matics: explicit and comprehensive. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching

ing activity using google docs on students’ writing abilities. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET,-

struction: A synthesis of recent research. The English Teach-

Six traits paragraph writing rubric. Retrieved from-

and focus groups. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University -

folding techniques on students’ writing achievement. Journal Pendidikan Humaniora in the EFL college classroom. Research Papers in Language Teaching and Learning -

Understanding by design. Retrieved from-

gies to enhance writing skills among second language learners. International Journal of Instructioning activities. Higher Education Studies

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Improving the Revising Stage when Writing Through Collaborative Work on EFL Students

Sandra Priscilla Bustamante Ruiz1

Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil Guayaquil, Ecuador

sandra.bustamante@casagrande.edu.ec

María C. Quiñones Guilott2 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador guil@bellsouth.net

This study aimed at analyzing how students’ collaboration when through Google Docs. The research addressed the revising stage of the writing process. An action research investigation analyzed quantitative private higher education institution in Ecuador. The instruments used to interviews. The results evidenced that collaborative work improved students’ performance at the time of writing and enriched their texts. All constructs tested at the end of the innovation improved by more than

progress of the study was shown in the results of Supporting Details

respectively. The research matters to students who are looking for strategies to improve the writing process, and investigators who need

Keywords: collaborative work, peer review, writing process, revising stage

Introduction

Individuals who are keen to learn a foreign language attempt to communicate through the written word for personal and academic reasons. Students who are learning a second language face problems at the time of writing, mainly at a university level where they write col-

ciencies in the ability to write could compromise the academic success

writing skills educators should consider what students learn and build, through social interaction, and what motivates them to learn.

For many EFL educators, communication can happen while deand writing that students demonstrate language acquisition. Some educational institutions in Ecuador, through the Education First program skills of the examinees in one of the six levels established by the Com-country, Ecuador is situated at a low level regarding the knowledge of the English language. After the results, the Ecuador Education Miniswhen preparing curricular plans, including higher education. Accordingedge and skills gained throughout the process.”

One of the learning standards focuses on the writing skill which for English teachers is challenging to develop since writing allows people to communicate and give power to their ideas. Due to the demands of

and cultural activities, learning writing may encourage them to work collaboratively, provide feedback, and join ideas to produce a powerful message. The study carried out at one private University of Ecuador by developed at the time of peer review practice.

The Ecuadorian government through the Ministry of Education the students, at the time of accessing higher education, should man-

English texts in their chosen careers. However, this is not the reality in some Ecuadorian Universities, and English educators have noticed that

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

CEFR is A2. Considering the data that has been gathered at the institution where the current study took place and the feedback obtained via conversation with other English instructors, it corroborates the fact that students lack a clear notion of what revising texts is about. Students’ scores at the university level attest to the fact that learners at the time of writing are not familiar with the revising stage in the writing process.

to understand.

the teacher’s role has the tendency to evaluate the student’s writing and does not provide feedback during the writing process. So, the student does not have the opportunity to act on the teacher´s opinion. This might end up in students’ lack of interest when writing tasks are assigned to be done in the classroom, since teachers may not be able to answer all students´ questions, leaving the unattended students un-

Literature Review

Writing is essential to socialize and inform ideas and opinions.

between the writer and the reader. In education, working collaboratively motivates students to perform peer review and peer feedback so that they are able to elaborate coherent documents. Peer interactions help students to acquire new strategies of learning, construct knowledge,

Peer Review

Peer review is a practice whereby students provide and receive

provided. This raises the question: how do peers and teachers know whenpractice and students must take into account that its regular application provides the reviewee and reviewer opportunities to give, receive and apRevision

Revising is the stage at which writers try to improve the text they produced while planning and constructing an initial draft. However,

it, particularly through substantive revisions and undervalue the imporwho wrote an essay. The essay received feedback from peers and the proved noticeable changes in linguistic features from original to revised drafts. Revised essays were longer, included more transitional phrases, and were somewhat more cohesive.

draft helps the students to examine their writing from a new perspective during each revision in order to strengthen it. When writing, the writer’s objective is to produce a text that represents their intent and the audience’s needs, and revision is necessary to achieve this objective. During a writing revision, the relationship, and interaction between the student and the teacher, as well as the communication that exists between peers of a working group, allow the synergy of knowledge, points which in turn, generate the construction of knowledge. This synergy, acinvolvement of students, accountability for the task they perform, and more critical collaboration among participants.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

and considers social interaction essential to generate and consolidate knowledge. A collaborative work environment in a classroom can bring their collaborative work competency level. A collaborative competency

correlation between the high level of collaborative work competency and academic achievement. Collaborative work helps the student academically, socially, and psychologically as it improves critical thinking, and the learning process, develops social support, and develops posi-

community practice where interdependence stimulates an atmosphere of cooperative responsibility, mutual respect, and a sense of group -

time-consuming and might create a chaotic situation in the classroom. For the latter study, one of the concerns was students’ behavior when working collaboratively. Furthermore, there was the possibility that

Feedback be provided to students when performing writing and it can be given

learners consider the teacher’s feedback to be trustworthy and unques-

that feedback is an assessment form performed by equal status learners to help them to understand better not only what must be improved in the writing but to increase the ability to understand feedback, and therefore to perform well in future assignments.

Collaboration through technology

interaction and technology are integrated that helps create a peer social interaction language environment. Google Docs is considered a web learning resource that encourages students to interact with their class-

it lets the students’ participation be constant and motivating. Google Docs. is a free and convenient resource that facilitates carrying out tasks concerning the writing process, as well as encourages peer feedback. Google Docs enables users to view what has been, and who is editing in

the current research because it revealed that students showed positive attitudes towards the application of Google Docs., which enhanced students’ ability to express their ideas and comment on their peers’ writing

that if higher education institutions decide to include technology as part of the learning process for future professionals, it is necessary to take into account that education will not improve just by using it and technology can fail. Some questions are necessary to consider such as fails?”

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Methodology Design

To improve the teaching performance, the investigator carried out an Action Research study that included a quasi-experimental design.

study what the academics must know to improve performance. The research involved quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The validity of the study is supported by the triangulation of the study results

interviews. The instruments for data collection answered the three research questions:sion phase of the writing process?

2. How does shared text enhance participants´ peer collaboration?

Participants

The participants for this research were students enrolled in an English level 5 course at a private institution of Higher Education. The the students who are promoted to level 5 have an entry level that corresponds to level A2 of the CEFR. The study included two groups of participants, the control and the experimental group. There were twengroup. Both groups assent to participate in the study.

Classroom Procedures

The innovation implemented was designed to enhance writing focused on the revising stage of the writing process, using collaborative work and peer feedback. The appropriate use of technological resources during learning has been proven to engage students and improve academic performance. Where possible, the participants used Google Docs to perform peer review, provide peer feedback, prepare questions for an interview, and verify the information collected to write a paralesson plan, the students learned the parts of a paragraph and the use of Google Docs. The researcher modeled for the students a Mentor Text to demonstrate how to break down a paragraph. The students performed activities related to the writing process in Google Docs so that the collaborative contribution could be evidenced, monitored and registered. The following weeks, the students learned to provide peer review and feedback and they applied the revising process. The researchpeer feedback, as self-assessment . The students were introduced to -

to reach a goal. The second rubric was related to the revision stage, so the students knew how to assess their writings during the activities. The third rubric was the components of a paragraph.

Throughout the weeks in which the innovation was run, the students carried out individual and collaborative activities, in which the topics were focused on their professional careers. In the last week of was also done by the control group.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Pre and post-test.

Regarding quantitative data and for the pre-test, taken during the were asked to write a paragraph on paper about the topic given in class.

mance task in a Google document. The experimental group used Google Docs. as a supportive resource to save time on tasks that required the teacher’s monitoring in real-time while students were working collaboratively. However, the control group used Google Docs. to write the

and the post-test were graded based on the same rubric to evaluate the components of a paragraph. To validate the scoring and avoid bias,

experimental and control group.

The Field Notes helped to record students’ behavior during the innovation. They included a summary of session feedback from the students. The purpose of the data collected was to interpret students’ behavior in each session of class during the innovation that included

researcher direction about misunderstandings and concerns about the tasks performed in class to be improved in the following intervention -

ceptions of the participants towards the use of Google Docs to enhance collaborative tasks when revising their writings and giving peer feed-

importance of context and the co-construction of knowledge the between researcher and the participants to understand and interpret.

The face-to-face interview was carried out. Eight students agreed to participate in an interview to understand the student’s perception of the writing process. The students were selected according to those who had the highest grade points and the lowest grade points. The interview was recorded with the students’ approval and then transcribed into a

to 9 minutes. That time allowed participants to express their ideas naturally. During the interview, there were moments where other questions arose to clarify a response.

Data Analysis

Quantitative Data

The data collected from the results of the pretest and posttest measured the impact of applying the revising stage in the writing process, using Google Docs. as a collaborative resource. The information was processed in the software SPSS to obtain descriptive statistical information and then used to compare the students’ performance throughout the course. The results answered the research question to what extent does peer feedback enhance writing in the revision phase of the writing process?

Qualitative Data

The data collected were the responses of an interview and theswer the research question How does shared text enhance participants´ peer collaboration? the information obtained from the interview was an-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

alyzed to understand the perceptions of the participants towards the application of peer revision. To respond to the research question to what revising stage in the writing process?dents’ attitude toward the process of the innovation and the perspective -

tigation to understand the students´ perception of the use of Google Docs. to enhance collaborative tasks and therefore to enhance the EFL students to produce authentic writing.

Results

Pre-test and Post-Test Experimental Group

General Results: Pre and Post-test of the Experimental Group

hen´s d, r t-test

The above table shows the overall results of the pre-and-post test of the experimental group. Before applying the innovation, the group -

d has a value greater innovation.

Table 2 Descriptive Analysis: Pre-test and post-test of the Experimental Group

Construct

Topic

Sentence

Supporting

Detail Organization and Transition

Style

Mechanics

General Results: Pre and Post-test of the Experimental Group

The table above shows that, according to the results in the exper-

each area when comparing the pre-and-post tests. The average of the

result of Mechanics corresponds to the fact that the revision of this component during the writing process is a usual practice of the previous courses that the students have taken.

The variability of the data in comparison to pre-and-post tests de-

the lowest value of all, followed by Supporting Details with a percentage

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

lowest the percentage of variation of the constructs, the closest to the mean they are.

Post-Test of the Control and Experimental Group

The following tables show the posttest results of the control and experimental group after six weeks of class. The experimental group was exposed to an innovative academic program while the control group participated in regular classes where no innovation was applied.

The table above shows that the constructs of the control group evidenced a low average in all of them where Organization and Transition

of 5.00. The highest construct is the Supporting Detail construct with an construct that has the greatest mean was Mechanics and the lowest was Organization and Transition.

Table 3. Descriptive Analysis: Post-test of the Control and Experimental Group

In the control group, the Topic Sentence construct has a high disMechanic of variation in the construct Mechanics value of all, followed by Supporting Details with a percentage of variation Organization and Transition construct the disper-

the post-test result of the control group shows that the result increased in all the constructs, it is more perceptible that after the innovation in the experimental group there was a great improvement in each construct.

perimental groups, in which the scores of the post-tests of the con-improved their writings after practicing the revising stage in the writing d has a value greater

greater the value in the Cohen’s d, the greater the value of r. Cohen´s d

experimental group in comparison with the control group improved because of the innovation. The p-value was 0.000, which implies that there

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Field Notes

The phenomena observed during the sessions of the class showed as the class sessions were developed. Group work through Google their peers’ feedback.

At the beginning of the innovation, the students did not feel conuse of them to assess the paragraph, the revising stage, or feedback. After some explanations, the rubric revision and the rubric to assess the paragraph were easier for them to understand and follow. However, the rubric to assess the peer’s feedback had to be explained in detail during the class sessions from the beginning of the research to the end of it.

Students were also introduced to the use of Google Docs. and had to be explained its function and features. Two students knew about it and helped classmates to create the Gmail accounts and a Google document. During the second session of class, the students were introduced to the Mentor Text that helped them understand the components of a paragraph. During the following sessions of class, it was noticeable that the students participated and spoke more in class after they had worked in group or in pairs. By the end of the innovation, the students performed better and faster on their own and started asking questions to their classmates and not to the teacher. The students also provided feedback following the rubric and self-assessed their writings.

Students´ Feedback

During each session of class, students were asked to answer the following questions in order to complement and support the information collected through the Field Notes.

1. How did working in a group helps you to engage in a discussion?

Most of the students answered that working in-group helped them to create a better relationships with their classmates. Besides, it helped them to express their viewpoints by learning their peers’ viewpoints. Some students also said that they had problems expressing their ideas, so learning that they were not the only ones, made them feel better and -

tive work helped him to improve his writing and avoid mistakes in the next writing. It helped that the text was reviewed by the teacher and the classmate.

2. How did Google Docs help you work collaboratively?

The students answered that Google Docs. helped them to share the document, revise the document, and give feedback in real-time. They also mentioned that since they could see other classmates’ comments, they could notice if what they were doing was on the right track. S2 men-

before working collaboratively such as writing run-on sentences. But, looking at their peers’ work helped her to improve her writings.

3. Was the Rubric easy to understand?

The students answered that the rubrics were easy to understand. However, they had to check them every time they were asked to write or rewrite the document.

teacher explained it thoroughly.

4. Was your peers feedback good enough to revise your document?

The students answered that it was good enough because the

the changes to be done when he had the teacher’s feedback.

The students said that the rubric is important to self-assess their writing because it was the only way to know what the teacher expects

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

from them when they write a text. S5 stated that rubrics are useful to students since with them the students are aware of what teachers expect from them. Also, teachers should provide students with rubrics to help them to review their writings.

Student’s Interviews

Eight students answered the same questions and expressed that peer feedback helped them to improve their writing. Six students mentioned that in their previous English courses, they usually give attention to correcting grammatical mistakes, and less or no attention to other writing components such as audience, support for arguments, organization, transitions, and style. Consequently, it took them time to become familiar with the revising process. Even though the students preferred to correct grammar before the other components of a paragraph. Students also mentioned that collaborative work made them feel

peers and not necessarily the teacher about their comments. They perceived that their writings improved after considering their peer’s suggestions and the rubrics to rewrite their documents.

One student mentioned that she did not know about Google Docs. and noticed that at the beginning of the intervention, it was a little confusing to their classmates. But, the fact that she worked in groups helped them to understand its uses quickly. All students mentioned doing the revising stage and providing feedback through Google Docs. -

tioned that they would consider using Google Docs when working on their thesis at the end of their career studies.

Findings from the Post-Test

The results of this study are explained regarding the social-constructivist understanding of learning in which the premise that social interaction and collaborative work stimulate cognitive development. As explained in the literature, social interaction is essential to generate and

At the beginning of the research, the students were unskilled writers, and only took time to review grammar, ignoring other components of the writing. After the innovation, there is evidence that the students who worked in collaboration were able to improve each of their writings after following the revising stage since they gave and received feed-

practice of writing more than one draft helps the students to review their

Additionally, collaborative work helps the student academically, socially and psychologically as it improves critical thinking, the learning process It also develops social support, and develops positive attitudes towards

On the other hand, even though the results of the control and experimental group improved, it is noticeable that the post-test results of the experimental group are considerably higher than the post-test results of the control group. So, when analyzing grades, it was possible to infer that the students’ writing performance quality was related to collaborative work competency they developed when practicing peer review and peer feedback. It is noticeable that the construct that improved the most in the experimental group was mechanics. This construct is related to the

during their previous English courses. It is important to consider that the second construct that improved was Supporting Detail, which means the students were able to build substantial information on their own related to a well-structured topic sentence.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Findings in the Field Notes

The notes registered during the sessions of the class evidenced the participant’s behavior. At the beginning of the intervention, the stuto revise their documents and felt discouraged when they had to use rubrics for that purpose since they were not familiar with them. Nevertheless, after implementing group work and peer review tasks, the students´ positive attitude to do collaborative work helped them to per-

opportunity to receive and give information on their work and therefore, peer feedback gave me the opportunity to realize how other classmates learn was not good enough and asked my teacher if the writing was ok. But, in the end, I could work on my own”.

ical thinking, and respect peers’ opinion. Furthermore, as they learned assess their texts, and consequently accomplish better writings. Ibarra rubric is a document that provides the expected level of performance as described by various indicators, and it is useful to certify competence acquisition rubric was important to know what the teacher expects when I write.”

It is relevant to state that during the intervention the researcher modeled a mentor text and broke down its components. The model helped them to understand and match the constructs used in the rubric to assess them with the content of the mentor text. The participants used the document during the time the intervention lasted. A I will keep this format for my English and Spanish writings

mentor text when teaching writing helps EFL and ESL students to im-

prove their writing competence since they are instructed on how to imFindings in the interview

The answers of the participants revealed that working with others not only helped them to improve their writings but also committed them to participate with responsibility. The students highlighted that peer collaboration plays an essential role during the writing process because -

tice stimulates an environment of cooperative responsibility to pursue I

learned how to express some of my ideas by learning others´ viewpoints.”

while working on their writings. The students agreed that Google Docs. -

tioned, there is an academic impact when social interaction and technology are integrated. The students mentioned that even though Goo-

The day the Internet service went down I enjoyed writing down in my notebook again. I like Google Docs. but sometimes I prefer to write it down on a piece of paper.” Thus, Google Docs. is a learning resource that facilitates student collaboration but its use should not be a constant methodological requirement when preparing an instructional design.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

The current study reveals that the results of the experimental group evidenced a considerable improvement in the scores obtained after the intervention. The instructional design of the experimental group facilitated the conditions to develop group work, individual responsibility, and peer assessment, which led to generating collaborative teams, acting thoughtfully, and developing tasks on schedule.

es participants to revise their writings. The results of the experimental and control group demonstrate that the participants who applied the revising stage during the writing process created opportunities to improve the students’ writings and helped them think about how their work is projected to the audience. Hence, it helped the participants to understand the importance of revision to make their writings better. The

writings, assessed their peers’ writing and produced up to two coherent paragraphs. Modeling a paragraph and breaking down its components was necessary for the participants to use it as a reference when writing their assignments.

Regarding the second research question, sharing texts to enhance participants’ peer collaboration, the students showed interest to learn

enough to receive feedback from peers as well as from the teacher. In the introduction it was explained how the teacher could not monitor all students so by collaborating and getting peer feedback, the students could strengthen their knowledge through each other. The educator facilitated the learning process. The students who shared their docu-

their opinions. Group and peer assignments encouraged the students to work with certainty and tolerate peers´ suggestions.

Regarding the third research question, students’ perception of using Google Docs. in the writing process, there was a constant in the answers from the students given in the interviews. Google Docs, encouraged the

students to work collaboratively, revise a peer’s writing, and give feedback. However, they also mentioned that there is a risk to rely on technolcan get lost if the computer fails and more importantly, future professionals should be able to perform their assignments with or without technology. Teachers must take into account that this learning tool requires the internet to work and classes cannot depend on it in case of failure. -

and students to review the document during the writing process. When writing practices at lower English levels focus on collaboration, the stu-

therefore improve their writing skills. The writing process is interrupted

Therefore, monitoring students throughout the process is critical. The limitation of this research refers to the amount of time the students used to learn English. Students attended classes at the Language

Based on University academic-administrative regulations, students’ priority concerning attendance is in their career subjects. Hence, if they have any academic activity in their departments, missing English class was jusreduced to 20 students on any given week. The irregular attendance canber of participants attending each session of class. Even though they agreed to participate, the researcher had to insist on their weekly attime of working collaboratively. Therefore, it is recommended to carry out research where the students might attend daily classes and extend the length of the intervention for better results. Rubrics to assess writing are an important resource for the students to know in advance what is expected from them. Even though the students struggled to assess further research in applying rubrics to assess and self-assess writings is required in this issue too.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

References

Allen, L. K., Jacovina, M. E., Johnson, A. C., McNamara, D. S, &.Roscoe, R.

evaluation. In EDMternational Conference on Educational Data Mining. Retrieved fromof Iranian EFL learners’ L2 writing. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 3

Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research Routledge.

ucational Researcher, 23

tency in online postgraduate students and its prevalence on academic achievement. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, -

rience in the college foreign language classroom. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET -

tices and promoting students’ empowerment: Collaborative learning from a dialogical approach. -

al Development technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. Teach-

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

view in an EFL classroom. English Language Teaching

tive study of peer and teacher feedback and of various peer feedback forms in a secondary school writing curriculum. British Educational Research Journal

ing best practices. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching

and students validation. Journal of Technology and Science Education,

writing teaching and research. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies -

elling and common approaches to teaching writing in Iranian EFL context. International Journal of Instruction malaysian exposure. Asian Social Science

Standards of Educational Quality

higher education: a peer review perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

students’ writing skills. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

engagement in a general education course. TechTrends

Tools-to-Promote-Reading-Engagement-in-a-General-Education-Course.pdf

higher education. In Computer-supported collaborative learning in higher education -

Computer-Supported-Collaborative-Learning-in-Higher-Education-An-Introduction.pdf

on EFL learners’ writing performance and causal attributions for success and failure. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, -

side North America. Asian EFL Journal, 13 Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies

from the perspective of output-driven hypothesis. English Language Teaching

Improving Students Writing Through Collaboration Facilitated by Google

Docs

Carlos Lenin Álvarez Llerena1 Eötvös Loránd University Budapest, Hungría carlosa@student.elte.hu

Tatiana Cozzarelli Vásquez2 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador tcozzarelli@casagrande.edu.ec

Helen Gabriela Moreira Olives3 Universidad Nacional de Educación UNAE Azogues, Ecuador helen.moreira.olives@gmail.com

Gerald Alberto Yépez Jouvín2 Universidad Agraria del Ecuador Guayaquil, Ecuador geraldyepez@gmail.com

3 Docente Investigador

Keywords

collaboration

Introduction

Nowadays, there are current studies that have shown the impor-tates the teaching, learning, and assessment of a second language and the learners’ individual and collaborative writing work.

transformed in order to focus on student-centered learning. Thus, the inner world, their emotions, feelings, and their motivation to have an active and participatory role in the language learning based on their need -

Carlos Lenín Álvarez Llerena, Tatiana Cozzarelli Vásquez, Helen Gabriela Moreira Olives & Gerald Alberto Yépez Jouvín

Abstract

tention to educational settings and focuses on learning outcomes in order to help develop students’ real-life abilities such as problem-solving skills and collaboration.

performing collaborative activities in EFL contexts has provided positive -

dents to expand their vocabulary and increase their writing and collaborative English skills. Consequently, current education is based on student-centered learning through the performance of hands-on assignments and the integration of various online learning tools that allow students to improve their English skills in collaborative learning settings. The mentioned studies have demonstrated the positive impact of connecting collaborative education and technology in the modern teaching-learning process.

relevant aspects that involve collaborative learning facilitated by the application of technology in the EFL classrooms to enhance students’ speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Hence, in order to explore this idea further, this study focused on the improvement of students’ collaborative writing skills through the application of Google Docs as the main technological tool.

for peer-editing, revising, correcting, and providing authentic feedback on

indicated that the application of Google Docs for writing purposes boosts classroom interaction by fostering critical thinking and active discussion

that integrating Google Docs in educational contexts makes students feel more motivated to acquire knowledge and perceive the learning process more positively. Incidentally, upon examination of the existing literature

the incorporation of Google Docs for educational purposes, demonstrating the need for research studies such as this one.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

is much information about the implementation of Google Docs as a technological resource in education, little research has been reported

process of English as a Foreign Language of Ecuadorian high school students. This research discusses whether the students’ collaboration in writing through Google Docs could increase their writing skills and encourage them to use this tech-tool for educational purposes. The questions that guided this study are:

2. Does the use of Google Docs motivate students’ collaborative performance in their English writing activities?

Literature Review

This section focused on providing deeper considerations of the principal concepts and terms related to this study. It includes relevant -

tive Learning, Collaborative Writing, and Google Docs.

Collaborative learning

Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction where students are responsible for their learning actions by respecting the abilities and employed by instructors to facilitate learning and improve learner’s per-

promote second language learners’ academic progress and learning motivation by providing a variety of opportunities to practice and enhance problem-solving, communication, and social skills.

In regards to the implementation of ICT for EFL collaborative learn-

teaching promotes students’ collaborative learning. Thus, Avci and Adiguzel

of engaging in the target language by performing collaborative work and authentic language activities based on a project-based learning approach. -

rative teams provides meaningful experiences to students by sharing responsibilities, helping each other, and respecting members’ contributions. -

tion problems, and some of them may not feel comfortable with the members assigned to their group. However, the researchers contend that groups need to be heterogeneous, purposefully, and carefully cho-

claimed that there are social challenges, such as limited social interactions, gender bias, ICT reliance, and social norms conformance that

technological tools because they do not have enough facilities to incorporate technology in their pedagogical instructions.

Collaborative writing

writing involves two or more people who work together to produce a that collaborative writing is a relevant skill to be developed in learn-

writing is a system that associates semiotic, communicative, cognitive, and creative functions. Besides, collaborative writing helps students to be involved in constructing the meaning of the text based on content, structure, organization, and language by sharing ideas with peers, revis-

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

that collaborative work in EFL writing is crucial to improve students’ writing components skills such as content, organization, grammar, vo-

stages involved in the writing process in order to write various types of reading, revising, editing, and publishing. In the prewriting stage, the au-

In the planning stage, participants check the ideas already generated and make sure they match the topic. Next, the drafting stage lets participants transform their ideas and planning into sentences. The pausing stage is a silent moment that helps participants examine what they have already written. The revising stage involves making changes to enhance the written text. In the editing stage, participants focus on sentence correctness. Finally, the publishing stage happens when the written text is ready to be shared with other people. There are some limitations to collaborative writing in classrooms.

time to read, to build partner relationships, and the lack of technolo-

though collaborative writing is considered a great strategy to improve learners’ skills, it is necessary to have spaces where teachers can reinforce students’ writing tasks. On this matter, Soltanpour and Valizadeh

face-to-face negotiation in order to provide authentic feedback and reduce misunderstandings, errors, and mistakes with and by the students.

Google Docs

From a technological perspective, several researchers hypothe-instruction and technology in the secondary classroom as a motivator to increase the amount of writing and allow students to give useful and

nological tools such as Google Docs and Blogs as a way of enhancing

ing students´ writing sub-skills such as collaborative writing, providing peer-feedback reviews, individual knowledge construction, creating infeatures that can be used to facilitate collaborative writing in foreign

Docs have three common applications as a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, and a presentation editor and viewer. These componentsallow students to plan, revise, and collaboratively edit documents. Gra-

classroom environment where a document can be viewed, edited, and published by students or teachers.

Google Docs as an educational tool that allows learners to create and changes the students’ means of communication during collaborative writing since they can work together and learn from the other members of the group by using the internet and sharing ideas synchronously and

established that Google Docs, as a technology-supported learning environment, helped EFL learners to become more motivated and en-

nology in the learning process as a tool to increase learners’ animated feelings and to be aware of the positive probabilities to use these kinds of tech-tools in their instructions.

technology to improve education worldwide, in Ecuador, according to

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

is not adequately applied due to the persistent lack of computers, internet, and technological devices. Arguably, the limitations of using this kind explained that students who cannot use Google features and operations become discouraged from incorporating Google Docs in their learning. when applying Google Docs: namely, the arrangement of the members to each member of the group, and the concentration problems that students show when working in groups in a synchronic manner.

for the possible failure in the use of some online technologies for educational purposes. Firstly, they agreed that socio-dynamic problems between group members are often the reason for the lack of success of group work in collaborative spaces. Secondly, they mentioned that even when collaborative tools can facilitate interaction, not all individuals or groups automatically possess the knowledge, attitudes, and sensibilities to work collaboratively. Consequently, researchers recommended that instructors provide detailed in-class demonstrations and examples to overcome Google Docs’ challenges.

Methodology

Design action research is a type of research where the quality of the relationship between members and researchers is utmost, and it takes place within a local situation and context and pursues to contribute to the development of the organization in that context. The data were collected from pre and post-questionnaires and pre- and post-performance tasks that -

sults. To avoid subjectivity, two teachers from the school were assigned to score students’ pre and post-performance tasks.

The implementation of this innovation involves some ethical considerations. First, there was responsible conduct of this research with -

in order to avoid bias from the teacher’s perspective towards students. Lastly, all the information obtained from this study was utilized by retheir participation and resources were acknowledged, and each contributor obtained their participation credit into the research.

Participants

The population assigned for this study was twenty-one EFL learn-

Docs but not for collaborative work. All participants were Spanish native them were at the A2 level according to the Common European FrameClassroom Proceduressisted of writing a travel magazine article as a group assignment with-providing feedback, accepting comments, and working together in the development of the performance task. According to McTighe and

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

learned by transferring their understanding to new contexts.-

vocabulary, parts and template of a travel magazine article, and touristic

were arranged into seven groups of three. Each group had one hour toferred text editor to write in general. In this case, they used Microsoft Word. Students of each group had to work together to accomplish thelearning pursued and the evidence of such learnings, before thinking about the teaching instructions and learning activities to be applied.

to Google Docs. They performed one assignment using this platform in order to become familiar with this tech-tool and its main features. Students were instructed on how to create texts, type on this platform, edit texts, provide comments, and resolve comments by exploring its different features. Moreover, students noticed that by using Google Docs, they could share their documents and that this platform automatically saves all of their changes. Subsequently, students were taught about

to provide feedback when checking their peers’ documents. Group one had to check and provide feedback to the pre-performance task of group two, group two to group three, until group seven shared the document with group one. Students from each group had to provide

Then, they gave the pre-performance task back to the original group, and each group had to check the comments and feedback provided by their peers.

After students practiced how to use Google Docs, checked their peers’ documents, and provided authentic feedback to the pre-perfor-

mance task, they were asked to perform in one hour the post-performance task, in the same groups. One member of the group had to create the document and send the link to the other two members of the group. At home, they had to work collaboratively to create and design the trav-

them to the school to present each touristic place in the magazine to the whole class using PowerPoint presentations.

Instruments pre-questionnaire to know their demographic information and their exstated that questionnaires are research instruments to obtain necessary information such as age, sex, and other demographics or to gather more sophisticated data such as to measure emotions and perceptions of the participants. Thus, this pre-questionnaire was developed by using Google Forms, and it consisted of seven closed questions and one open question to obtain students’ demographics and their use of technology in the learning process.

Pre and post-performance tasks established the goal, role, audience, situation, performance, and standards where students could show

Hence, the pre and post-performance tasks were based on creating of a travel magazine article where students were travel advisors that had to plan a two-week tour to students from Cambridge university to three -

dents in groups without using any tech-tool, while the post-performance task was done by working collaboratively and using Google Docs.

A rubric was applied to evaluate the pre and post-performance

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

collaborative writing improve when using Google Docs? Menendez-Va-

tional resources that support students to identify the criteria of the objects assessed. Hence, the rubric of this study contains the following main components: Ideas, Language Use, Layout, and Final Product. By using the rubric, numerical data was obtained to compare the results from the pre and post-performance tasks. The highest grade of each

Finally, a post-questionnaire was administered after the presentation of the post-performance task in order to answer the second research question: Does the use of Google Docs motivate students’ collaborative performance in their English writing activities? This questionnaire aimed to provide evidence about students’ motivation to in-

developed by using Survey Monkey, and it included ten Likert scale questions, which students answered by choosing the best option ac-

Data Analysis

In order to analyze and interpret the data collected, the Statistics Package for the Social Studies SPSS was applied. Each criterion was labeled and coded to create variables to upload the information in this software. After creating the tables with the variables assigned, the software was run to get results from descriptive statistics such as maximum, minimum, mean, and standard deviation. Results from the pre and post-performance tasks were analyzed based on the established rubric and considering each criteria of the rubric. Moreover, the post-survey was analyzed question by question that provided information of the students’ perceptions after working collaboratively and using Google Docs. The reliability of the questionnaires was given by Cronbach’s Alpha. Finally, in order to obtain histograms and graphical results, the tools from Survey Monkey, and Google Forms were applied.

Results when using Google Docs collaboratively?”, the results obtained from the pre and post-performance tasks are the following:

pre-performance and the post-performance task, respectively. The results indicate that there was an improvement in writing achievement in terms of language use, the cohesion of ideas, layout, and organization of the post-performance task.

Regarding language use criteria, there was a total increment of

provides a result of Cohen’s d

on learning, but it cannot be generalized due to the small number of participants in this research.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Table 1. Pre and Post- Performance Tasks Results

Strongly Agree

Neither Agree or Disagree

Agree

Disagree

Results from the pre-questionnaire indicated that all the participants think that applying technology is productive for the English learning process. Most of the students indicated that technology helps them

all students did not have any experience in the use of Google Docs as a tech-tool to learn. Even though all of them have a Google account, only

Docs motivate students’ collaborative performance in their English writing activities?” A post-survey was conducted in this study. After scrutiny,

254

research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

that they would apply Google Docs to perform academic assignments in the future.

that Google Docs is a useful tool for learning how to write magazine applying Google Docs they had the opportunity to learn some English grammar and mechanics by working collaboratively, sharing documents to be checked, and providing feedback based on rubrics. Furthermore,

when applying Google Docs in order to develop their performance task collaboratively.

performed very well in their post-performance task when applying Goo-

participants showed a positive attitude and motivation towards the integration of Google Docs in their collaborative writing activities. Finally, students stated their intention to continue using Google Docs in future academic assignments as well as when they have to work in collaborative writing.

Discussion -

ogy and collaborative work in EFL settings to increase students’ Englishto perform writing activities, inside and outside of the classroom. most of the students did not have experience with Google Docs before, task. They were responsible for accomplishing the requirements of the

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

indicated that collaboration involves interaction where students are responsible for their learning actions, contribute with their peers, and respect their contributions. Results based on rubrics showed that when students worked in groups, they obtained better scores than when they worked alone. Into the four criteria established on the rubric, students showed an increment in the scores based on their collaborative writing skills: mainly in terms of layout and organization, students increment

supported this statement since, according to his research, Google Docs is a useful tool for collaborative learning and collaborative writing where students showed improvements in their learning experiences compared to performing assignments without using Google Docs.

According to the second research question, this study has shown that overall, students agreed that they enjoyed and felt motivated when using Google Docs collaboratively. Besides, most students stated that they would apply this tech-tool to carry out academic assignments in

indicated that, based on their study, participants have positive percep-

tion on writing assignments. They explained that students have these positive perceptions because Google Docs is an accessible ICT to use, and it allows students to have real and authentic communication by sharing ideas and comments between them.

search. According to the results, Google Docs is a technological tool that helps students to improve their collaborative writing skills, as well

dents indicated they felt comfortable and motivated to write their travel magazine articles and to improve it by receiving their classmates’ feed-

nology is a motivator in secondary classrooms.

On the other hand, during the implementation of this study, there were some inconveniences, such as assigning groups to work togeth-

that the arrangement of the members of the group according to their English levels and empathy, the assignment of roles to each member of the group, and the concentration problems that students show when working in groups are the three main inconveniences when applying Google Docs.

Conclusions

The present research studied how students can improve their collaborative writing skills through the support of Google Docs as a technological resource. It involved the comparison of two performing writing tasks developed by students in the classroom, as well as online. Results -

cant improvement between the pre and post-performance tasks since they could collaborate in groups by using Google Docs to provide feed-

Furthermore, the post-performance task showed improvement over the pre-performance task in all the criteria aspects from the rubric, results demonstrate that collaborative work helped participants to improve their documents by sharing their thoughts, interacting, and learning from one another. Besides, EFL students have positive perspectives activities. The majority of student’s responses indicated that they enjoyed applying Google Docs while writing their performing task. They also indicated that they felt comfortable when receiving feedback from technological resource for future assignments.

Consequently, Google Docs is a useful technological resource that motivates students to improve their writing skills collaboratively. Being an online resource, students could collaboratively interact with each other to improve their travel magazine article, thus to improve their language skills.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

Recommendations

Some recommendations that could be addressed to strengthen reliability in future studies are related to increasing the number of items in the questionnaire. Moreover, an interview must be administered to collect more factual information about students’ motivation and perceptions towards the use of Google Docs in their writing activities. It is essential to work with current computers and with a fast internet connection to encourage students to invest their time in performing their collaborative writing activities and not in other technical issues such as checking in-

have more hours of instruction in order to avoid student problems when pre-activities to gain knowledge about the established topic.

Limitations

The limitations when conducting this study were mainly based on the students’ limited access to technology, the lack of school resources, little time to carry out the innovation, and possible teacher’s subjectivity. -

cially in public schools, is the lack of current technology. Some computers worked very slowly, and some of them had viruses. Likewise, the speed of the internet connection at the high school impeded incorpo-

Some students reported that there were some inconveniences when using Google Docs. They indicated that even though they liked -

corporate some characteristics in order to improve the design of the travel magazine article. The last limitation is the number of participants in this this study. The results obtained cannot be applied in a general perspective. Also, the result will vary according to the ICT competencies that students have and their perspectives towards the implementation of technology in their assignments.

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

References

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

collaboratively using Google Docs in EFL contexts. English Language Teaching

Learners’ motivation in Iranian EFL students. International Academic Journal of Social Sciences

rative writing on EFL learners’ writing skills and their perception of the strategy. Journal of Language Teaching and Research -

International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning,

writing: A review of the literature. Contemporary Educational Technology

Casany, M. J., Alier, M., Mayol, E., Piguillem, J., Galanis, N., García-Peñal-

m-learning applications with the LMS. Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technologyprehension and writing performance. English Language Teaching,

of Korean English language learners. Reading in a Foreign Language

Doing action research in your own organization. SAGE Publications Limited.

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

iting using Google Docs on EFL learners’ academic writing skills: A mixed-methods study. Computer Assisted Language Learning, writing conventions development. Language Learning & Technology

styles on the performance of students in a ubiquitous collaborative mobile learning environment. Contemporary Educational Technology

Google apps meet the common core. Corwin Press.

motivation and engagement in elementary and middle school students through technology-supported learning environments.

Online Submission

pdf

Teaching L2 Composition. Routledge. -

ronment-A symbol of the changing landscape of education in the Mamakuna

Google docs 4 everyone. FT Press. based collaborative learning platform in EFL writing instruction. Indian Journal of Science and Technology -

ing skills: A quasi-experimental study. ELT Worldwide: Journal of

second language learners in academic web-based projects. Language Learning & Technology

Carlos Lenín Álvarez Llerena, Tatiana Cozzarelli Vásquez, Helen Gabriela Moreira Olives & Gerald Alberto Yépez Jouvín

classroom practices and promoting students’ empowerment: Collaborative learning from a Dialogical Approach. in Teachers Professional Development -

EFL research series for teachers: Pedagogical Innovations facilitated by ICT in the classroom

of collaborative writing on EFL students’ writing performance. Advances in Language and Literary Studies

mentoring: Building from student teachers’ individual needs and experiences as novice practitioners. Teacher Education Quarterly,ing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences

based EFL learning: Collaboration, motivation, and perception on the use of Google Docs. Journal of Educational Technology & Society

Research methods for social science: A practical introduction. Pearson Education.

The understanding by design handbook. ASCD.

students’ professional judgement: A study of sustainable assessment in arts education. Studies in Educational Evaluation -

through the use of mobile technology. Journal of Adult Education,-

lenged collaborative learning of secondary school students in Singapore. Education Sciences

Grade K-5 EFL classrooms. Education

Use of educational technology in EFL teaching: A case study of

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila & Lucila Pérez Cascante (coordinators)

primary education in the south region of Ecuador. Teaching English with Technology

on EFL learners’ argumentative essays. Advances in Language and Literary Studie

writing activity using Google Docs on students’ writing abilities. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET -

glish language learning among EFL university students. Teaching English with Technology

online document collaboration. TechTrends

EFL class. European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL)

Providing feedback with technology integration. International Journal of Research in Education and Science

class collaborative writing activity. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education