Can synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) help beginning-level foreign language learners speak?

Abstract

This study investigated the possibility that initial-level learners may acquire oral skills through synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC). Twelve Taiwanese French as a foreign language (FFL) students, divided into three groups, were required to conduct a variety of tasks in one of the three learning environments (video/audio, audio, and face-to-face (f2f)) over 18 weeks. The participants' performance in three oral tests was compared to see if they had developed oral skills in the three environments. The other data such as their online chat records, interview transcriptions, learning journals, and the instructor's observation journal provided further information about how they developed oral skills in their learning environment. The results suggested that factors (related to task design, learners' strategy use) generated by the three environments, rather than the environments themselves, have the biggest impact on learners' oral proficiency development. In addition, all three environments held the potential to help different types of students to develop oral skills.

Keywords:

• synchronous CMC
• text chat
• oral chat
• oral proficiency development
• beginners

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Tony Lynch, Dr Cathy Benson and Mr Eric Glendinning for their valuable suggestions and comments on an earlier draft of this paper, extracted from her unpublished PhD thesis. Special thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.