Exploring the Benefits of ACMC for Speaking Development

Abstract

Currently, language educators experience difficulties in facilitatingoral practice effectively in the foreign language classroom. Regularly,they face introverted and passive learners who fail to embracespeaking opportunities (Poza, 2011), or simply do not find the time topromote speaking practice in the classroom (Meddings & Thornbury,2009). In this light, many asynchronous computer mediatedcommunication (ACMC) technologies have emerged to confront thissituation. However, central research studies do not seem toacknowledge ACMC as viable in accommodating oral development but,rather, frequently attribute this merit to synchronous CMC (Levy &Stockwell, 2006; Kervin & Derewianka, 2011). By employing a mixedmethodsapproach, this small-scale case study examines, firstly, theextent to which ACMC speaking practices are suitable for languagelearners’ speaking development. Secondly, and by extension, itinvestigates the salient characteristics of the ACMC toolmyBrainshark, that makes it appropriate for fostering linguisticgrowth. The data is obtained from post-beginner Spanish languagelearners by means of an online questionnaire and an online structuredstimulated recall. The findings show, on the one hand, that ACMC oralpractices can be beneficial in developing speaking aspects in lowerproficiencylanguage learners and, on the other hand, thatmyBrainshark has characteristics that can potentially promotelinguistic development. Finally, this paper calls for experimentalresearch on the improvement of oral competency in post-beginner andhigher-proficiency learners.