Effects of Mobile-Assisted Blended Learning on University Students’ English Speaking Proficiency in Korea

Abstract

Many learners in Korean EFL contexts find it challenging to speak English fluently due to the lack of practice and exposure. Some recent studies have attempted to rectify this through the incorporation of various tools and methods. Of these, a popularly emerging concept is the use of mobile or personal learning devices. However, their potential is far from being recognized in actual classes due to its challenges relating to scheduling and developing an appropriate model in teaching and learning speaking skills. This study offers a blended learning model that incorporates mobile devices and social networking to overcome the contextual limitations of Korean or Asian EFL learners and examines the impact of the model in English speaking. The study uses an experiment involving 125 participants to investigate the effects of mobile-assisted blended learning (MABL) implementation on the students’ level of speaking proficiency and its factors. The results showed that the MABL implementation positively affected the students’ speaking proficiency and its aspects, such as intelligibility and comprehensibility. Further studies implementing large-scale experiments with students of different proficiency levels and exploring their affective factors and behaviors in MABL environments based on the model used in this study are suggested.