Ruiling Lu, Timothy A. Goodale, Yanbing Guo
Department of Education, College of Coastal Georgia, Brunswick, USA.
Department of Education, Taiyuan Normal University, Taiyuan, China.
Department of English, Xiamen Academy of Educational Science, Xiamen, China.
DOI: 10.4236/jss.2014.22008   PDF    HTML     5,070 Downloads   7,592 Views   Citations

Abstract

This study presents an educational collaborative project between two colleges in the United States and China. Forty-five Chinese preservice teachers and 5 American undergraduates participated in the project which involved a 10-week online synchronous videoconference between the participants. The project aimed at improving Chinese EFL learners’ English oral skills as well as their confidence in teaching English language in future. Quasi-experiment design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. Results showed that online synchronous videoconference with native English speakers did have positive impacts on Chinese participants’ English pronunciation and oral fluency & coherent. No significant difference was found in confidence measures. The outcomes of the project contribute to the relevant literature with an applicable and low-cost English language training model for EFL learners.

Keywords

Synchronous Video Conference; EFL Learners; Oral Skills; Confidence

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Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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