CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS
This thesis investigates the effect of voice-based CMC on improving EFL
learners’ oral proficiency and further provided the comparison of the effects that
voice-based SCMC and ACMC have, followed by the report of learners’ general
perception of voice-based CMC. Some major findings in answer to the three research
questions are summarized in this section. Subsequent to the major findings,
pedagogical implications for EFL teaching, limitations of the present study and
suggestions for future research are presented in this chapter.
6.1 Summary of the Findings
From the analysis of learners’ pretest-posttest progress in oral proficiency,
voice-based CMC in line with the previous research on text-based CMC has
significant positive effect on improving ELF learners’ oral proficiency, which
responds to the first research question. In addition to the overall development of
speaking ability, participants made significant progress in the aspect of target
language pronunciation and fluency in particular. Nevertheless, the improvement of
grammar in learners’ speech productions failed to reach the statistically significant
level (p< . 05). In regard of the outstanding performance in pronunciation and fluency,
it is attributed to the spoken nature and promising learning environment built in
voice-based CMC. Participants in the context of voice-based CMC are required to
utter rather than type out the target language so that they have more opportunities to
practice the pronunciation instead of examining the sentence structures. All in all, the
result of the present study has consolidated the positive effect of voice-based CMC on
enhancing oral proficiency with an empirical experiment.
Subsequent to the first finding, the different effect possibly brought from
different modes of voice-based CMC was further investigated to shed light on the
comparative effect between voice-based SCMC and voice-based ACMC. The results
of the comparison show that voice-based ACMC outperformed voice-based SCMC in
terms of the overall progress on oral proficiency as well as pronunciation and fluency,
negatively responding to the second research question and contrary to the studies on
text-based CMC. The software of voice-based ACMC, Gong, serves the function of
unlimitedly repeated voiced recording, contributing to a great numbers of practices in
speaking the target language. Apart from abundant target language output in spoken
channel, Gong also provides open access to other pairs’ audio recordings, presumably
facilitating EFL learners’ target language input. To sum up, in the field of voice-based
CMC, asynchronous mode tends to offer greater effect on EFL learners’ oral
proficiency than the synchronous one.
Furthermore, learners’ feedback collected from the post-study questionnaires, in
answer to the third research question, suggests their positive perception of having oral
discussion in the context of voice-based CMC, which is generally compatible with the
positive attitude toward text-based CMC reported in the previous studies. Learners
prefer the pleasant and pressure-free environment created in voice-based CMC and
perceive the convenience of adopting voice-based CMC to enhance target language
oral proficiency. Also, most learners show strong intention to continually have the oral
discussion in the context of voice-based CMC in the future.
6.2 Pedagogical Implications
Given the exploratory nature of this study, any teaching applications based on the
above mentioned preliminary findings should be treated with cautions. Two major
pedagogical implications can be draw.
6.2.1 Incorporation of Voice-based CMC into English Classes
On one hand, the result suggests that voice-based CMC could be integrated into
English curriculum in Taiwan to facilitate and strengthen EFL learners’ practice of
target language speaking ability. In reality, Chlach’s (1995) claim is true in the case of
Taiwan; class size in Taiwan ranging from thirty to forty five students on average
makes it hard for language teachers to arrange speaking activities for learners. Truly,
over-sized English classes might possibly result in “stiff and unmoving” speaking
lessons (Bui, 2006). Therefore, with the oral discussion in the context of voice-based
CMC, learners are highly motivated in foreign language learning and more target
language input and output, which are claimed to be insufficient in EFL learning
environment. Besides, compared with voice-based SCMC, asynchronous mode is
more beneficial for EFL learners’ development of pronunciation and fluency,
compensating for the lack of target language spoken input and output in the classroom
setting.
Before voice-based CMC is implemented in a language class, some elements
suggested in the present study should be taken into careful consideration. First of all, a
background survey on learners’ computer literacy and availability of computer
hardware as well as software including the Internet at home is necessary. Learners’
access to the Internet and even the Internet bandwidth are crucial because the limited
Internet bandwidth would probably lead to poor quality of voiced online conversation,
hence weakening or even ruining the effect of voice-based CMC. Second, topic
selection influences voice-based CMC greatly. If learners have no interests in the
topic and are reluctant to talk about it, it will be fairly difficult for the online
discussion to carry on even in the pleasant and pressure-free context of voice-based
CMC. According to the present findings, teenage learners tend to prefer the
Internet-related topics and those with familiar background knowledge to them, such as
Chinese culture and festivals. Teachers can keep the findings for reference while
designing the program of voice-based CMC or even invite the target learners to vote
for the topics they prefer before carrying out activities.
6.2.2 New Roles of Language Teachers and Students
On the other hand, in addition to the integration of voice-based CMC into the
authentic language teaching, the findings indicate the development of new teacher and
student roles in language teaching nowadays. Different from being a director or an
instructor in teacher-dominated English classes (i.e. teachers speak while learners
listen and take notes), language teachers are now responsible for dealing with the new
teacher-student and student-student relationships in the networked classroom
(Warschauer, 1996). With the widespread availability of the access to the Internet,
language teachers as facilitators should be able to facilitate learners’ involvement in
world of voice-based CMC where human-to-human conversation takes place orally
via the instrumentality of computer (Herring, 2001). As a result, to be an efficient
language teacher, the awareness of new teacher and student roles as well as the
computer competence which can meet the challenges from the highly developed
technology is basically necessary. Browne and Fotos’s even concluded that
“technology will not replace teacher; teachers who use technology will replace those
who don’t” (2004, p7).
6.3 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research
Although the present study has suggested several major findings and pedagogical
implications, its design is not without flaws. The first limitation concerns the nature of
self-report used in the post-study questionnaire. Learners’ positive attitudes toward
voice-based CMC seem subjective when presented without the statistically
quantitative test. More empirical and quantitative studies should be conducted to
explore more on learners’ perception of voice-based CMC. Another limitation is
rooted in the variable of gender differences involved in the present study. The fact that
male participants greatly outnumbered female participants might contribute to
different performance in the context of voice-based CMC (Chou, 2002). Thus, the
generalization of the results to other populations with different backgrounds may be
limited. The third limitation lies in the time allowed for the voice-based CMC
treatment. The training session lasted for only eight weeks, which is barely enough for
the further report of the long-term effect of voice-based ACMC and SCMC on oral
proficiency.
The present study is a preliminary investigation into the effect of voice-based
CMC on improving ELF learners’ oral proficiency, accompanied with further
comparison of voice-based ACMC and SCMC. A follow-up study to examine the
duration of the effect on oral proficiency and a longitudinal study of voice-based
CMC and foreign language learners’ oral proficiency are necessary. Moreover, future
work could further analyze the language produced in the context of voice-based CMC
from the discourse or syntactic level and examine the style of learner interaction
involved in the voice-based CMC.
