3 Digital Tools to Increase Speaking Practice
by Weina Li Chen
When you assign homework for your English language
classes, what assignments do you usually give? Worksheets? Essays? Readings?
Book reports? Quizzes? As an English language learner and teacher, I noticed
that most of the homework assignments that are given out focus on reading and
writing but rarely on speaking. Multilingual learners of English (MLEs) often
need ample time to practice speaking in the target language environment.
Because of limited classroom hours, how we as educators expand that exercise
time beyond the classroom becomes critical—speaking outside of the classroom,
however, is difficult for the teachers to monitor. In addition, especially
outside of the classroom, researchers have found that MLEs tend to have minimal
use of English (Tanaka,
2007; Wu, 2012) and that they often face challenges in developing speaking
skills due to anxiety and inhibition (Paneerselvam & Mohamad, 2019).
For English language teachers, then, the next
question is how to create a low-stress speaking environment outside of the
classroom, and how to make speaking assignments engaging and accountable. One
way to address these considerations is by using digital assignments.
The Benefits of Digital Assignments
There are numerous benefits of using digital
assignments to practice English speaking skills.
-
Track Learning
Progress: Digital assignments enable students to keep track of
their learning progress. Digital assignments not only collect and store
students’ speaking artifacts and make reviewing learning easier, but they are
also memory-keeping tools.
-
Promote Autonomous
Learning: Digital assignments make an individualized and
accessible learning environment possible. Instead of typical speaking
exercises, such as in-class presentations and role-plays, digital tools often
allow MLEs to access the practice at any time and place.
-
Allow Self-Paced
Practice: Digital assignments allow students to move forward at
their own pace. For example, when MLEs give oral presentations in class, they
only have one opportunity. However, when they are asked to record a presentation
or a vlog (video blog), students spend much more time speaking, as they feel
safe to make mistakes, repeat their recording process, and try again until they
are satisfied with the end product. In short, students have the flexibility to
choose how much time they can put into the assignment.
-
Encourage Social
Learning: When homework is done digitally, students have more
opportunities to collaborate and learn from each other. For example, digital
platforms such as WeChat and Flip serve as social spaces where students are
able to hear or watch each other’s contributions. These tools vastly increase
student-student interactions and provide opportunities for informal learning
throughout the process.
-
Engage, Motivate, and
Empower Students: Students today often prefer doing assignments
digitally, and they are typically more encouraged and empowered when they are
creating content for an audience. Typically, when students submit their
assignments to their teachers, their work stops in the teacher’s assignment
box. But when students’ work is being played, watched, and heard by their peers
and even the larger community (e.g., through podcasting), students feel more
motivated and empowered.
-
Extend Learning
Time: There is limited time within a class, which means that
MLEs have limited time to practice speaking in class. Digital assignments allow
additional time for learning and practice to continue beyond the classroom.
Though technology provides the necessary
affordances for educators and students to achieve many of the preceding
benefits, pedagogical consideration is another critical component of assignment
design. To receive these benefits, we need to evolve our mindset about assignments,
including what they are, when they are completed, and how they are submitted.
Communicative language teaching advocates the
process of real communication, and we know that learning happens through social
interactions (Amineh & Asl, 2015). In view of this, here are a couple
of questions to consider while designing effective speaking assignments:
-
How can I create a shared space for peer
learning, either formally or informally?
-
How can I create English-speaking opportunities
for students when they are outside of the classroom?
-
What types of assignments would generate
authentic communication?
3 Digital Tools to Increase Speaking
With these questions in mind, here are three free
technology tools you could start using as soon as tomorrow: Flip, WeChat, and Adobe Express
Video. Under each tool, I’ve included sample ideas that will help
increase social interactions and communicative language learning opportunities.
1. Flip
Flip
(originally Flipgrid) is an educational video recording and discussion
platform. It is easily accessible from computers, tablets, or mobile devices.
This free tool is widely adopted by teachers around the world. Educators can
set up groups and topics for their classes. Students can post short videos and
view and respond to their classmates’ videos. The best part about Flip is that
teachers can set up private groups for their classrooms with email domain or
password protection. Flip can be embedded in some LMSs as well, including
Canvas, Google Classroom, and Sakai. Here are some ideas for using Flip for
speaking exercises:
-
Digital
Introductions/Ice-Breakers: My go-to introduction prompt is
“Tell us who you are, what you do, why you are in the class, and, last, what
makes you smile.” This type of assignment works extremely well when the class
is hybrid/online. Give students ample time to prepare an informative
introduction as well as to connect with each other.
-
Storytelling/Paraphrase/Retell/Teach:
Provide reading assignments, such as short stories, then ask students to use
Flip to retell, summarize, paraphrase, and/or teach others what they have read.
Students can ask questions at the end of their Flip videos for their classmates
to respond to, for further discussion, interaction, and peer learning.
-
Interviews: Assign students to interview each other, family members, school teachers,
or people from the community and feature them on their Flip videos. The
interview topic can be as simple as “your favorite restaurant and why.”
Encourage students to write their own interview questions as well. The purpose
is to let students continue using English in speaking and listening outside of
school, with different people, and in different settings.
-
Debates: Set
up debate topics and let students contribute their opinions on their Flip
videos. Students will watch and listen to each other’s perspectives and provide
counter-arguments if required, depending on how complex you design this project
to be.
-
Classroom
Announcements: Pass on a leadership role to students. When you
need to make a classroom announcement, give the opportunity to your students
and let them make a video announcement instead. Design a specific group and
name it “Classroom Announcements” and designate it for this purpose only,
having students rotate turns on the announcements.
For experienced Flip users, FlipgridAR
is an exciting feature to explore; it allows you to add elements of augmented
reality to Flip videos, “placing” virtual elements in the real world.
2. WeChat
WeChat
is an instant messaging tool that has a strong voice messaging function. If
Flip projects are best for weekly or biweekly practices, WeChat is the most
convenient app for daily practices, in-time communication, and student
accountability. You can create a WeChat group for your class and invite all
students to join the group. Once the routine and expectations are set up,
WeChat is easy, quick, and user friendly for both teachers and students.
-
Word of the Day: Assign one word each day for students to practice pronunciation
and meaning-making. For example, you may ask students to use the voice text
function to repeat the word a few times and create a sentence based on that
word. You can simply voice text the word in the group WeChat every day or
assign five words together at the beginning of each week.
-
Sentence of the
Day: Similar to Word of the Day, you can assign a sentence or a
sentence structure for students to practice for the purpose of enhancing
pronunciation, fluency, intonation, and memory of sentence patterns. Not only
are students able to quickly turn in their recorded practice, but they can also
access their classmates’ work and interact with each other organically on this
app.
-
Exit Tickets/Reflections: With in-class reflections, there is just not enough time for
everyone to verbally share their thoughts at the end of class. Instead, move
this part to a WeChat group and let students debrief verbally with a voice
message about what they have learned after each class? (Limit this task to 1
minute to keep it quick and concise.)
-
14-Day Challenges/28-Day
Challenges/60-Day Challenges: To add more fun, you can make the
assignment a game/challenge, incentivizing by providing a reward to students
who complete the task every day of the challenge. For example, a “14-day audio
diary challenge” would have students create a diary entry every day for 2
weeks, and a “28-day famous quotes read-aloud challenge” would have students
find and read a famous quote every day. You can be as creative as you’d like!
All these practices are easily accessible on smart
phones, and students only need to spend a few minutes every day to complete
this practice, at any time and anywhere. Meanwhile, students are able to hear
and learn from each other’s responses organically.
3. Adobe Express Video
Adobe
Express is a free-to-use graphic and video design tool. Unlike other
professional tools that belong to the Adobe family, such as Adobe Illustrator,
Adobe Express is very simple to use. Adobe
Express Video, the video maker component of the software, is an ideal
tool for relatively larger projects, such as midterm or end-of-term
assignments. (See this
tutorial link for making an Adobe Express Video). Here are a few ideas
to consider:
-
Intercultural
Storytelling: MLEs can use this tool to create short films
introducing their culture, including names, traditions, hometowns, and
schooling differences.
-
Vlogging:
Ask students to create documentaries using a vlog
style. For example, “My Life in the United States,” “My First Gym
Experience,” “My trip to San Diego.”
These larger projects provide students
opportunities to showcase their personalities and lives, amplify MLEs’ voices
in cultural conversations, and bridge connections between who students are and
the language they are learning.
Conclusion and Additional Resources
Flip, WeChat, and Adobe Express all have excellent
audio input options and offer creative experiences for the learners. These
digital tools can each create new and different opportunities for MLEs to speak
and listen in English. Remember: Though technology is the medium, your
pedagogical knowledge and creativity are the keys to effective learning
experiences for your students. I encourage you to design your own digital
speaking assignments by using these or similar tools and focusing on interactivity,
accessibility, and authenticity—so students feel at ease and empowered to
share.
Resources
Flip
WeChat
Adobe Express
Additional Tools for Digital Speaking
Assignments
Following is a list of additional tools that can be
adapted for digital speaking assignments.
References
Amineh, R. J., & Asl, H. D. (2015). Review
of constructivism and social constructivism. Journal of Social
Sciences, Literature and Languages, 1(1), 9–16.
Paneerselvam, A., & Mohamad, M. (2019).
Learners’ challenges and English educators’ approaches in teaching speaking
skills in an ESL classroom: A literature review. Creative
Education, 10(13), 3299–3305.
Tanaka, K. (2007). Japanese students’ contact with
English outside the classroom during study abroad. New Zealand
Studies in Applied Linguistics, 13(1),
36–54.
Wu, M. M. (2012). Beliefs and
out-of-class language learning of Chinese-speaking ESL learners in Hong Kong. New Horizons in Education, 60(1),
35–52.
Weina Li
Chen, PhD, is a clinical assistant
professor at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
Her professional passions include educational technologies, learning design,
language education, and teacher leadership in the
classroom.
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