Content area
This study aims to explore English department students' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of Fondi Application (FA) in enhancing speaking proficiency. FA is a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) application that provides conversations in the form of voice calls packaged like games. This qualitative approach is based on semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Five selected participants with FA technology intervention were interviewed about their perception after using the application as self-learning media for two months. Five main themes emerged from the findings; FA is a potential technological tool to enhance speaking proficiency including fluency, lexical resources, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation. The participants perceived that FA as a valid tool to enhance their speaking performance. This study has implications for the importance of lecturers implementing this technological tool in speaking class.
This study aims to explore English department students' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of Fondi Application (FA) in enhancing speaking proficiency. FA is a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) application that provides conversations in the form of voice calls packaged like games. This qualitative approach is based on semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Five selected participants with FA technology intervention were interviewed about their perception after using the application as self-learning media for two months. Five main themes emerged from the findings; FA is a potential technological tool to enhance speaking proficiency including fluency, lexical resources, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation. The participants perceived that FA as a valid tool to enhance their speaking performance. This study has implications for the importance of lecturers implementing this technological tool in speaking class.
Keywords: qualitative approach, Fondi application, higher education, speaking performance, virtual technology
Introduction
Technological tools are considered effective media for increasing speaking performance. Their effectiveness makes them crucial for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners who attempt to learn English for communication needs (Diyyab et al., 2013) because the learners can practice their English as the target language anytime and anywhere outside the classroom (Cucchiarini & Strik, 2019) to develop their communicative competency (Asratie et al., 2023; Hong, 2006; Wahyuningsih & Putra, 2020).
González-Lloret and Ortega (2014) state that Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) will be very useful in language learning if it is equipped with technology. Moreover, Bahadorfar and Omidvar (2014) also argued that virtual tools such as podcasts, video conferencing, and videos are considered appropriate for teaching and learning to overcome the speaking problems faced by EFL learners. This means that technology can make TBLT beneficial and interesting for language teaching and learning. Using technology, the students can communicate with people from different countries (González-Lloret & Ortega, 2014). Thus, implementing interactive technological tools is the relevant solution to solve speaking problems among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners (Eshankulovna, 2021; Timpe-Laughlin et al., 2020).
Although technology can be used as a medium by EFL learners to teach and learn English, there are still any EFL lecturers and learners who do not know about the usefulness of technology in language learning, especially in speaking classes. The technological tool is called Fondi Application (FA). FA is a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) application that provides conversations in the form of voice calls packaged like games. It provides the learners with a virtual room in which they can interactively practice English with each other (Arifiyana & Dzulfikri, 2023).
Having familiarity with the application leads the students to interact and practice the target language virtually with others around the globe (Arifiyana & Dzulfikri, 2023). It includes teaching and learning technological tools that can help learners engage in learning and directly practice their speaking. Therefore, to achieve the objective, the technologies required the capacity to support the students' skills and engage them in the teaching and learning process in the classroom (Bahadorfar & Omidvar, 2014).
This study attempted to investigate five Indonesian EFL learners' experience in using FA to enhance speaking performance. It aimed to gather in-depth information about the effectiveness of the application in helping the students solve speaking problems. The study's findings address the gaps of the previous studies as until recently, there has been limited literature in relation to the implementation of FA in speaking. Therefore, this study intended to answer "To what extent can FA facilitate speaking performance improvement from English department students' perspectives?"
Literature Review
Speaking Performance
Speaking Performance is one of the main factors for EFL learners in learning English. It refers to the ability to express a set of opinions or ideas communicatively in a real setting (Asratie et al., 2023; Vitriyati, 2021). Specifically, a speaking performance is an interactive activity between two or more people to convey and receive information for constructing the meaning (Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking performance has an important role in supporting EFL learners to use the target language interactively (Timpe-Laughlin et al., 2020), and as a measurement of language learning success for EFL learners who are learning the language (Sasabone et al., 2022). Thus, the ability to use English communicatively is considered crucial in language learning (Garbati & Mady, 2015).
Having competency in speaking leads EFL learners to interact with other people from various countries in expressing their ideas and establishing social relationships (Juhana, 2012), affecting careers in the future (Saeed et al., 2016; Vitriyati, 2021). Proficient speaking can help students convey messages to others verbally (Sutarsyah, 2017) and be actively involved in communication (Nurdin, 2020). Therefore, the students must be able to encourage themselves to practice English regularly to overcome shyness and hesitation problems while having a conversation (Taous, 2013).
The Use of FA in Speaking Class
As a practical application, FA can be downloaded by students through the Play Store on mobile phones. Once the students succeed in downloading the application, they can start to practice their English by selecting partners. In this application, the user is like an avatar who will enter a virtual room consisting of other partners who also want to practice their speaking skills. The step of using the device is shown in Figure 1 below:
Factors Influencing Speaking Performance
In speaking, fluency, lexical resources, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation are four standards of speaking performance. These four standards are commonly used to measure speaking performance (Derakhshan et al., 2016). Fluency is the first measurement that influences speaking success. It is commonly related to the ability to express thought and its' meaning easily (De Jong & Perfetti, 2011) without an amount of silent pause (Lennon, 2000). Moreover, Stockdale (2009) defines fluency as the quality of speech uttered by the speaker, the absence of obstacles when speaking, and the effort to speak about the topics being discussed. In other words, fluency not only relates to speed in conveying ideas but also the ability to interact with other people (Santos & Ramírez-Ávila, 2022). Thus, a fluent speaker is an individual who consistently avoids errors when making a conversation (Molina & Briesmaster, 2017). Molina and Briesmaster (2017) argue that fluency problems are mostly caused by habits of prioritizing correct grammar.
Lexical resources refer to knowledge of using standard vocabulary. Specifically, it is the ability to use relevant words productively under the context (Thornbury, 2005) which has pivotal rules of fluent speaking for EFL learners (Talebi & Moradi, 2015). Moreover, knowledge of vocabulary helps the speakers understand and interpret the messages conveyed by interlocutors (Beck et al., 2013; Lesaux & Harris, 2015). However, the learners need to know aspects of vocabulary in terms of synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and collocations to get an in-depth understanding (Read, 1993). A significant correlation between vocabulary with speaking proficiency was revealed by (Iwashita et al., 2008; Saito et al., 2016; Uchihara & Clenton, 2023).
The third measurement is grammatical accuracy which relates to using grammar accurately. In speaking, it is defined as the speaker's ability to produce grammatical utterances (Quaid, 2018). This speaking measurement enables the students to express their ideas smoothly and meaningfully when making conversation (Ilam et al., 2022; Sabarniati & Zulkarnain, 2020). In other words, learners cannot develop fluency without mastering grammar rules (Kong, 2011). The correlation between grammar and speaking competency is examined by Tiana et al. (2023) who pointed out that grammar significantly influenced speaking competence.
In addition, pronunciation. It is a basic component of speaking competency which relates to the ability to produce proper sound, stress, and intonation of the target language (Harmer, 2007; Khanh, 2021) because mastering vocabulary and grammar only is not enough without following knowledge of phonetics (Kobilova, 2015; Seflianti et al., 2019). Kabilova (2015) argues that the absence of knowledge about producing the sound correctly makes the learners fail to convey meaningful sentences to the interlocutors. This means that knowledge of pronunciation has a significant correlation with speaking proficiency (Ariyanti et al., 2022).
Studies on Technological Tools for Enhancing Speaking Performance
Several studies have been carried out on the effectiveness of technological tools in enhancing speaking competency. Diyyab et al. (2013) investigated instructional online and offline videos to increase speaking proficiency. The study adopted a single-group experimental design in which the students were given the video treatment for two weeks after pre-test. The study highlighted that the mean score of the students speaking proficiency in the post-test was significantly increased.
Aktaşs (2023) compared the speaking skills and anxiety of an experimental class taught using a 2.0 web-based technology application called Voki with a control class without implementing the application. Exploratory sequential mixed-methods were used by combining semi-structured interviews for qualitative research and pre-and post-tests for quantitative research. The results of the study revealed that the students with Voki treatment had higher speaking scores and lower anxiety than the students who did not.
Baron (2021) conducted research entitled "Video project model for increasing speaking skills in COVID-19 pandemic" involving 25 English department students of postgraduate programs at Universitas Indraprasta, Jakarta. This study employed a one-group experimental research design to examine the effect of the Video project model on students' speaking proficiency. She noted that the students' speaking scores improved after treatment.
Wahyuningsih and Putra (2020) examined technology based-media in the form of language learning applications on students' computers, exactly Rosetta Stone application to enhance students' speaking skill. They involved thirty students for each two classes of experiment and control from hospitality study program at the Mataram Tourism College. The experiment class received Rosetta Stone application, while the control did not. They found that the application can increase the students' speaking scores, as shown by post-test results.
Timpe-Laughlin et al. (2020) undertook research on students' perceptions of spoken dialogue technology for practicing a second language practice. Employing quantitative and qualitative approaches, the data were obtained from 16 female English second language teachers who have five years of teaching experience at a US university through survey and interview. They pointed out that all participants positively responded and perceived the spoken dialogue system as it potentially led the learners to practice English.
A specific study on FA was carried out by Arifiyana and Dzulfikri (2023). They explored how the students perceive FA as media to practice speaking skill. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, information was collected from five students of an excellent class who study English in special time at one junior high school in Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. The interviews were used to obtain data from the study participants. The findings revealed that the students positively perceive FA as one of methods to increase speaking proficiency. The studies' findings provided information regarding the effectiveness of technology in practicing English for EFL learners. However, most studies tended to analyse the data quantitatively. This study aimed to explore Indonesian EFL learners' experiences in practicing English for communication needs. By undertaking a qualitative approach, it is expected to obtain in-depth and detailed information on the effectiveness of FA toward speaking performance in relation to learners' perspectives.
Authors' Context
All authors of this study are lecturers of Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci, Jambi, Indonesia. First and second authors are English department lecturers, while the third is Islamic education lecturers who are experienced in teaching English to non-English majors. We always discuss about teaching students using technology, especially for enhancing the speaking performance of the EFL learners in our country, which English posit as foreign language. To follow up on our discussion, an investigation of FA effectiveness was conducted because we believed that the technological application is effective for enhancing speaking performance.
Methodology
Research Design
This study employed a qualitative approach to gather participants' information about the effectiveness of FA in increasing speaking performance. This approach seeks to address the phenomena and problems of an individual, group, institution, and community within a natural real-life setting (Crowe et al., 2011; Flick, 2009) and has been widely used by researchers in the field of second and foreign languages research (Basturkmen, 2012). Therefore, the research approach was chosen, because it can help to describe multiple perspectives of the participants (Bradshaw et al., 2017; Creswell & Poth, 2018).
Participants
Five students of the English Department of Education and teachers training faculty at three higher education institutions in Sumatera, Indonesia were purposively selected as the participants in this study. This sampling technique focuses on participants with certain criteria (Deliani et al., 2023; Rukminingsih et al., 2024; Yundayani et al., 2024). In doing so, the third-semester students with an average age of 20-21 years who had taken speaking classes and got speaking scores lower than 60 (D) based on the scoring system of Grade Point Average (GPA) that is usually used in most higher education institutions in Indonesia. The data were obtained from lecturers who teach speaking classes in the second semester. Getting agreement from the participants for involvement in the research, the concern forms were given before the data were collected. Each participant was asked to sign the concern form as a form of agreement and willingness to take part in the study and audio recorded. Moreover, to keep privacy and to protect the confidentiality of the data gathered, the participants' names were pseudonyms: Jacky, Peter, Linda, Bram, and Cathrine.
Jacky is a third English department student with high anxiety in making conversation. He sometimes faces long pauses in expressing ideas and responses to his classmates' and lecturers' questions during conversation due to grammatical and pronunciation problems. The problems made him not confident in responding to his classmates' questions related to the topic being discussed so he chose to give short answers during the discussion in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. Peter is a student with low speaking proficiency. He speaks in English based on the grammar and pronunciation of Indonesian language. Besides, Peter also cannot use the relevant vocabulary in the context of the topic being discussed. These challenges make the interlocutors cannot catch the meaning conveyed. The third participant is Linda, who does not care about grammatical accuracy, relevant vocabulary usage, and proper pronunciation in speaking. She speaks English without considering the components as the standard speaking competency besides fluency because she assumes that they are not guaranteed to convey understandable messages to other speakers during a conversation. Her experiences made him speak without considering the standard of proficiency speaking. Bram is known as a shy and quiet student. This characteristic makes him rarely practice English with classmates and English lecturers directly, even in discussions when taking speaking courses. This bad habit made his English-speaking skills not improve even though he had taken the speaking class for one semester. Bram, the fourth participant able to speak English with limited knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The fifth participant is Cathrine, who has good ability and scores in several aspects of English learning except speaking. She found it a serious challenge to speak English with accurate grammar and correct pronunciation, especially when practicing English in front of the class and with lecturers who taught speaking courses. She was not sure that what he said to the lecturer could be understood properly.
Data Collection
To gather the potential usefulness of FA data in fostering speaking proficiency, the application was introduced and explained to the participants. In doing so, the example of downloaded FA on a mobile phone was shown to the students, followed by a presentation on how to enter the virtual room to find partners in a certain place to practice English. Having understood the steps, the students were guided to download it through the Play Store on their mobile phones followed by self-trial. This strategy is considered appropriate to increase the student's familiarity with the application so that they can interact using English with both native and non-native English speakers from other countries any time they like.After two months of using the application along June until October 2023, a semi-structured interview was used to gather the students' views of FA effectiveness for speaking proficiency. The interview helps the researchers obtain rich information from the research's participants based on reality (Bokiev & Ismail, 2021; Do, 2023). The first author confirmed the interview system and schedule for each participant through WhatsApp. The confirmation is used to provide alternatives to the participants either face-to-face or online interviews and time availability. Two participants, Linda and Cathrine, chose a direct interview at the first author's office, while three participants Jacky, Peter, and Bram sent a Zoom link two hours before the scheduled time. The quiet and comfortable place and time help the participants to express their views freely (Willig, 2013). Each participant was interviewed at a different time lasting forty minutes and was directly audio recorded using an application on a mobile phone and Zoom meeting after getting the agreement from participants.
The interviews were carried out using Indonesia language to enable gathering rich data and avoid misunderstanding due to the participants' low English ability. In the interview, several questions were asked based on the research indicators after asking the participants' demographic information, first, we asked "How does FA affect your speaking fluency?" to ascertain the usefulness of FA in developing their speaking fluency. Second, "How far does FA impact your relevant vocabulary mastery?" to examine the role of FA in increasing lexical resources. Third, "What is the rule of FA for your accurate grammar?" to learn the impact of FA on increasing grammatical accuracy. Finally, "How important is FA for your pronunciation improvement?" to know the influent of FA for improving pronunciation.
Data Analysis
The interview results were transcribed, then translated into English by second author, and immediately analyzed using six steps of Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis: (1) familiarization with the data; (2) generating initial codes; (3) searching for themes; (4) reviewing themes; (5) defining and naming themes; and (6) producing the report. The reason behind using this thematic analysis is due to consideration of its flexibility in helping researchers to describe phenomena that have not been thoroughly studied, emphasize contrasts and similarities throughout the data set, and identify, organize, analyze, and report on themes in depth (Braun & Clarke, 2006). In doing so, I first read and reread the interview transcripts several times to become familiar with them for in-depth understanding. The familiar and relevant data were then coded in different colors and categorized into units. The coded data were connected to the research theme that represents the participants' views. Moreover, the themes were reviewed to examine their relevance to answering the research questions. Fifth, we identified the emerging themes of the five research participants. In addition, we presented the saturation data
To ensure the trustworthiness of the data gathered, the interview transcripts were confirmed with participants for clarification and feedback to avoid their views being misprinted. This step was done to check the interview results consistency (Khoiriyah et al., 2024), and to avoid bias and get agreement from participants about the data gathered (Mukminin et al., 2017).
Findings
This section reports four themes of participants' perspectives on the effectiveness of FA in developing students' speaking proficiency after two months of using the application. These themes include fluency, lexical resources, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation. During the 40-minute interview, the participants were asked their views on how FA affects their speaking proficiency.
Fluency
The first theme focuses on the development of fluency. The fluency of expressing ideas is very important in interacting orally with other people because it can affect communication quality. In this theme, the participants were asked about the influence of FA as a technological tool in developing speaking fluency. All participants revealed that FA leads them to express thoughts smoothly. Jacky, an English department student with high anxiety in making conversation. He shared: "I know how to express my ideas in English clearly after using FA as a learning tool introduced by my lecturer."
For Jacky, using FA as a medium of practicing speaking helps him interact with other people and convey his ideas in English. Similarly, Peter, who has low speaking proficiency, . Based on Peter's experience, FA is very helpful for him to express his thoughts. Peter stated, "Using FA helps me to convey understandable information in English to friends."
Linda, a student who speaks English without considering the components as the standard speaking competency besides fluency. She stated, "I become more fluent in expressing my opinion in English to my classmates after using FA as the learning media for speaking." Cathrine further stating: "I become more confident in expressing my ideas in English to my lecturers and classmates orally during the teaching and learning process compared to before using FA."
Linda and Cathrine feel FA is an effective technological tool in improving their speaking performance. They were not anxious practicing English any more after using the technological tool introduced by their lecturers.
Moreover, Bram, a shy and quiet student who rarely practices English directly with classmates or lecturers, highlighted FA as one solution to overcome the challenge of not being fluent in speaking English. He stated: "FA leads me to overcome silent pauses as my main problem in speaking."
Bram's statement informs that using FA as a tool for practising English can help EFL learners develop speaking fluency in terms of grammar and pronunciation. Thus, the learners can speak grammatically and based on the correct pronunciation to avoid silent pauses.
Lexical Resources
This theme captures the benefits of FA in enhancing relevant vocabulary. The relevant vocabulary is the first step that should be considered by English as foreign language learners (EFL) to be able to speak English. Besides, it affects the student's ability to convey information and interpret the meaning when making a conversation. The participants were asked about their vocabulary development after doing self-learning through FA. four participants highlighted the development of their vocabulary after recognizing FA. For example, Jacky revealed: I feel that my knowledge of standard vocabulary has increased after practicing English directly through FA with native speakers of English from other countries.
Jacky mentioned FA implemented by lecturers in speaking classes is appropriate for increasing his vocabulary mastery, because he can listen directly to the vocabulary used by speaking partners from other countries, especially native speakers of English. Jacky's comment aligns with Peter "I can enrich my vocabulary by using FA. The application also helps me to select appropriate words based on their usage and context." For Peter, FA leads him to use vocabulary based on the speech context.
Linda acknowledged the benefit of implementing FA in speaking class "After using FA as a learning tool, I did not need more time to consider appropriate words used in communication." It was not difficult for her to choose words based on context in making conversation with other EFL learners. Similarly, Cathrine stated: "Using FA in learning helped me to overcome my vocabulary problems. I knew synonyms, antonyms, and hyponyms of the words."
This script shows how Catherine obtains the beneficial effect of FA. She can easily group words with lexical relations in terms of synonyms, antonyms, and hyponyms. Bram also highlighted, "Although my knowledge of vocabulary was not significantly increased after using FA. However, I did not doubt practicing my English with whoever outside the classroom because I knew how to select relevant words." Bram 's knowledge of vocabulary slowly increased after using FA, which made him dare to practice his English whenever and wherever he like.
Grammatical Accuracy
Although grammar accuracy is not a focus of EFL learners in conversation; however, it also has an important role in speaking. Grammar enables the speakers to use the utterances accurately which also affects the interlocutors' understanding of the message conveyed. The interviewee was asked about the rules of FA in improving grammar for speaking proficiency. Three participants acknowledged that FA is beneficial for overcoming grammatical problems. Jacky stated: "I can produce the utterances grammatically after practicing my English with native speakers through FA."
The interview script shows Jacky's grammatical utterances improved because of interacting with native speakers using FA. Jacky comments are like Peter "Practicing English using FA is an effective way to build grammatical utterances because I can learn from other speakers about how to speak grammatically." For Peter, listening to speaking partners during conversation through FA effectively improved the grammatical utterances. Moreover, Bram also stated the important role of FA for leading him to speak grammatically: "FA not only made me brave enough to speak in English but also assisted me in minimizing grammatical problems."
Bram denoted that practicing English with other speakers through FA enables him to enrich his grammatical utterance knowledge. Similar comments were also acknowledged by Linda, Linda stated "Using FA as a self-learning medium made me aware of the pivotal role of grammar in understandable messages" for Cathrine, learning to speak English using FA make her realize about the important grammar in making conversation.
One participant revealed that FA let them know about the role of accurate grammar in speaking: "Before using FA in learning, I do not care about grammar mistakes in speaking. But I just realized it after interrupting by native speakers of English who interact with me through the application" (Linda).
Cathrine words indicated that experience of making conversation with native speakers of English guides them to detect their grammatical mistakes during the conversation and increases their awareness of using correct grammar.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to producing the sound of a word correctly. Proper pronunciation enables the listener to catch the speaker's meaningful message easily. Thus, having good pronunciation proficiency can reduce the risk of misunderstandings and ensure the message is received successfully by the listeners. In the interviews, the participants were asked about the effect of using FA on improving their pronunciation. All participants expressed that they could pronounce the sound properly after recognizing the application. Jacky revealed that FA enables him to overcome his pronunciation problem: "FA gave me knowledge of proper pronunciation. I can avoid making mistakes in pronouncing the sounds of certain letters that were previously difficult for me."
Jacky is aware that using FA as a technological tool for improving speaking performance can help him to pronounce English correctly, especially certain letter sounds that do not exist in his first language. Jacky comment aligned with Peter who stated that FA can guide him to produce receive pronunciation "I can pronounce the sound correctly after listening to English native speakers' pronunciation in FA" For Peter, the application instructed by his lecturer which allow him to interact virtually with English practitioner around the world lead him to know a received pronunciation.
Bram also notes that using FA in his speaking class is appropriate for improving students' speaking problems. Bram said: "The virtual speaking application like FA suggested by my lecturers as the learning medium help me avoid pronunciation errors."
Bram's comment shows the importance of FA for him in reducing pronunciation mistakes when speaking with others in the future, as the application can help him self-correct. Moreover, Cathrine also highlights the pivotal role of FA in recognizing unfamiliar English sounds: "My ability in pronunciation continues to improve after using FA several times. I am not confused anymore when pronouncing the sounds that I previously considered difficult." For Cathrine, familiarity with FA as a speaking tool can increase his pronunciation proficiency step by step and avoid pronunciation anxiety.
Linda expressed more specifics about the usefulness of FA as an aid for solving speaking problems for EFL learners. Linda. Linda said: "I can recognize words' stress and intonation of the utterances after practising my English through FA introduced by my lecturers."
The interview script shows positive results of using FA for overcoming pronunciation challenges faced by Bram in speaking, in which he can recognize the position of stress and intonation both in words and intonation.
The interview showed that FA strongly influenced the participants' knowledge of phonetics. The participants felt that FA can overcome their problems related to how the words and utterances are pronounced based on proper pronunciation.
Discussion
This study aims to explore the students' perspective of FA in improving speaking proficiency including. Four themes that emerged to support the literature and research needs in this study are (a) fluency, (b) lexical resource, (c) grammatical accuracy, and (d) pronunciation. In the theme of fluency, FA provides solutions to overcome fluency problems faced by students in making conversation. It is in line with Sosas (2021), that technology tools which allow students to interactively speak with other people significantly influenced speaking fluency because of the direct habitual practice of using English orally. The effectiveness of using technology in speaking class is also revealed by Correa (2015), the implementation of the video technological application can help students to speak fluently. Moreover, Sun et al. (2017) examined the effect of technology on increasing speaking fluency through experimental design. The study found that the students taught using technology were more fluent than a conventional approach.
The participants can increase their knowledge of relevant vocabulary after using FA-speaking learning technology. They revealed they do not face problems regarding the use of vocabulary anymore when speaking in different contexts. The benefit of using technology was supported by (Arkan & Taraf, 2010), authentic animated cartoons which are used as a teaching treatment are effective in developing EFL learners' vocabulary. Similarly, Wahyudi (2019) revealed that audiovisual in the form of video enables improved vocabulary mastery. Zamzami and Zamzami (2023) argued that the reason behind vocabulary development is the ability of the technological tool to encourage the student's engagement in the teaching and learning process.
Concerning grammatical accuracy, the students admit that FA has benefits for improving their grammar in which they can build and produce the utterance grammatically. This finding is in line Al-Harbi and Alshumaimeri (2016) who used a flipped classroom strategy by uploading video into Edmodo and pointed out that the strategy can enhance the students' grammar. Likewise, Baharudin and Yunus (2018) highlighted that the implementation of Edmodo has a positive contribution to grammar improvement. Campos (2020) revealed that virtual aids which provide direct interaction among learners enable to motivate students to communicate in English grammatically. Technology also leads the students to study grammar independently (Phuong, 2022).
Furthermore, the findings also demonstrated that the students got better pronunciation because of using FA. Our participants were able to avoid mistakes when producing sounds that they did not previously know. This result supports the study findings of Nguyen (2020) and Yuliani et al. (2023). Nguyen (2020) revealed that virtual instruction made the students acquire the rhythm of speech from other speakers. Yuliani et al. (2023) pointed out that the learning technology of Rosetta Stone which provides pronunciation training is very useful for overcoming pronunciation problems faced by students at Junior High School in Pekan Baru, Indonesia. The effectiveness of the technology to support pronunciation was also revealed by Yoshida (2018), the technology contributes a valuable input on phonetics recognition.
This study has several limitations. First, this study was only conducted at three higher education institutions in Sumatera, Indonesia. Second, a qualitative approach in the form of thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview results. Thirdly, only five students who had lower speaking scores were selected as research. Therefore, many interviewees from different settings are recommended for future research.
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