Date of Award

5-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Advisor

Dr Abdurrahman Ghaleb Almekhlafy

Second Advisor

Dr Hamid Alawidi

Third Advisor

Dr Negmeldin Alsheikh

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of ICT on the EFL speaking skill and its specific components: (I) verbal linguistic, (2) auditory paralinguistic, (3) visual nonverbal paralinguistic. In addition, the study investigated the effects of employing ICT tools on students' motivation. The design of this study was a quasi-experimental design, i.e. pre-post control group design. Thirty-nine male students, from grade eight, of two intact classes at one of the schools in Al-Ain, UAE, participated in this study. The experimental group received learning and teaching of the speaking skill through employing ICT tools, the independent variable, whereas traditional teaching aids were used with the control group. Prior to the treatment, both groups took a speaking pretest. After eight weeks, both groups took a speaking posttest. In addition, the experimental group responded to a questionnaire to assess their motivation. The study reached the following conclusions after analyzing the results using (ANCOVA). First, there is a statistically significant difference between the general speaking posttest mean scores of the two groups in favor of the experimental group, F (1, 36) =7.233, p < 0.05. Second, although there is no statistically significant difference between the verbal linguistic posttest mean scores of the two groups, F (1.36) = 1.843, p > 0.05, there are statistically significant differences between the posttest mean scores of the two groups in terms of both the auditory paralinguistic component, F (1.36) = 9.349, p < 0.05, and the visual nonverbal paralinguistic component, F (1, 36) = 12.686, p < 0.05, in favor of the experimental group too. Third, descriptive analysis of the questionnaire shows that experimental group has high motivation, 71%, regarding employing ICT tools in teaching and learning of EFL speaking. Based on these findings, appropriate recommendations were given. Finally, it was recommended that a replication of the study could be made to explore other ICT tools to enhance the verbal linguistic component of the EFL speaking skill. In addition, some recommendations concerning effective professional development for teachers of English to be more able to integrate ICT tools in learning and teaching of EFL.

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