Student Teacher Action Research (STAR) Using VoiceThread ... · 6/11/2019 · Student Teacher Action Research (STAR) Using VoiceThread to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills

Mt. San Antonio College ESL Department

Student Teacher Action Research (STAR) Using VoiceThread to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

Orna Carmelli Jessica Inthavong Katarina Zorkic

I. Project Background Since many of our students don’t spend a lot of time outside of the classroom speaking in English, the vast majority of their speaking opportunities are only in the classroom. To help students get additional speaking practice on top of what they normally receive in their level classrooms, our group decided to utilize the VoiceThread (VT) app, which is a web-based application that allows users to comment orally or in writing on images, documents, presentations, audio files and videos. Students from our Level 2, 4 and 6 evening classes used the VT app on a weekly basis in hopes of improving their speaking skills and self-confidence. The exploration of this topic was vital to gauge the efficacy of VT and whether students’ speaking skills would improve when practicing beyond the classroom. We foresaw that students would benefit from this project as they would receive additional guided practice, gain more speaking opportunities, obtain constructive feedback from instructors and improve their confidence. These benefits will transform and supplement their study habits to become more autonomous in their learning due to the knowledge and experience gained in this study. Based on the results from the research, faculty can determine if VT should be incorporated into their classrooms. II. Literature Reviews Brunvand, Stein & Sarah Byrd. “Using VoiceThread to Promote Learning Engagement and Success for All Students” from TEACHING Exceptional Children. Brunvand and Byrd (2011) conducted research using Voicethread with three students with learning disabilities. Their research showed that this web-based tool can be effective in stimulating student motivation, as well as enhancing students’ learning skills. The researchers concluded that there are two major benefits of using Voicethread. First, students can become involved in an active way through continuous interaction with the instructional material, as well as with their peers. Another benefit is the expansion of students’ knowledge through collaboration in a guided learning environment. Haverkate-Ens, Dawn. “Voicethread: A Technology Tool Worth Your Time” from Issues in Language Instruction. In her article Voicethread: A Technology Tool Worth Your Time, Haverkate-Ens praises Voicethread as an interface that is easy to create, fun to use and enables real conversations. Her experience of utilizing Voicethread as an efficient web-based tool includes class bonding, teaching outside of class (in particular stress/intonation of

STAR Project 2018 – 2019 Using VoiceThread to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills

compound nouns and adjective + noun combinations in English), and interaction between instructors. Huot, Bophany. City College of San Francisco. “Language Learners Use Voice Thread to Practice Speaking.” This article gave an example of how Voice Thread was used in a non-credit ESL classroom. It gave details of the assignment, goals, tools, challenges, tips and variations to using Voice Thread. Overall, the results were very good, and the use of Voice Thread was highly recommended. Kent, David. “Constructing Visually-based Digital Conversations in EFL With Voicethread” from Teaching English with Technology. In his article Constructing Visually-Based Digital Conversations in EFL With Voicethread, the researcher, David Kent, defines Voicethread as a tool which creates new ways for students to practice language while sharing their voice in meaningful and authentic learning through cooperation (Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2012). As he points out, one of the most important benefits of using Voicethread is that all the students are given an opportunity for their voices to be heard. This is especially beneficial for the students who have difficulties speaking up in class due to various reasons. Kent also provides some suggestions on creating voicethreads, examining their content and effectively using and assessing them. Kim, SoHee. “Developing Autonomous Learning for Oral Proficiency Using Digital Storytelling” from Language Learning & Technology. Kim conducted a 14-week study to investigate whether five high intermediate to advanced level ESL students at City College of San Francisco could improve their oral proficiency by completing weekly speaking tasks. She also wanted to know if digital storytelling could improve ESL learners’ motivation and self-assessment of their speaking. The five ESL students who participated in the study were of Asian descent and between the ages 20-32. They used Vocaroo (an online recording program), vozMe (a Text-to-Speech program) and VoiceThread (an interactive online slideshow program) to record themselves responding to teacher-assigned topics involving daily personal life or preferences. Students recorded, practiced or listened to their performance outside of class, and filled out a Google Spreadsheet to record how much time they spent on tasks. The participants emailed their recorded links once or twice a week to Kim, who provided periodic feedback, but students were guided and encouraged to engage in self-study. Kim provided worksheets and websites in addition to sometimes giving holistic written feedback and analytic feedback in the five areas: discourse, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and sentence complexity. Two trained raters scored the participants. “Data analysis of the four assessments revealed significant improvement in all participants’ overall proficiency in terms of vocabulary, sentence complexity, and pronunciation, but there was no significant improvement in discourse and grammar.” Participants’ grammar scores may have been affected by the lack of grammar feedback given on the holistic rubric. Overall, using self-study resources can develop ESL learner’s speaking, and


learners can benefit from completing speaking tasks with instructor feedback. All participants improved but not necessarily in the same area(s). However, all participants began to speak more confidently and used various expressions and longer sentences. Patel, Chirag. “Use of Multimedia Technology in Teaching and Learning Communication Skill: An Analysis”, International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology In this paper, Patel stresses the importance of using technology to teach speaking but explains the problems with these technologies. He explores the use of technology in teaching communication skill and the growth of ELT through technology, analyzes the necessity of applying multimedia technology in English communication teaching, and explains the problems from application of multimedia technology for English communication teaching. The reasons why multimedia technology should be used in teaching English communication are as follows: to cultivate students’ interest in study; to promote students’ communication capacity; to widen students’ knowledge to gain an insightful understanding of western culture; to improve teaching effect; to improve interaction between teacher and student; create a context for language teaching; to provide flexibility to course content. Problems that could arise from application of multimedia technology for English communication teaching include: major means replaced by the assisting one (“teachers may be turned into slaves to the multimedia and cannot play the leading role in teaching”); loss of speaking communication; the restriction of students’ thinking potential; abstract thinking replaced by imaginable thinking. Patel warns that teachers still need to play the leading role and shouldn’t have the computer screen replace the blackboard. Also, PowerPoint cannot take the place of students’ thinking and English communication practice, and multimedia technology should not be overused. Overall, when multimedia technology is effectively incorporated into the ESL/EFL classroom, it can benefit students. III. Research Methodology The research question that we investigated was: After participating in weekly VoiceThread speaking assignments, will students be able to speak more confidently and fluently, stay on topic and use correct vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation most of the time? The study consisted of evening students of various ages and backgrounds from Levels 2, 4 and 6. The materials used included the VoiceThread app, pre- and post-assessment student surveys, and pre- and post-assessment rubrics that evaluated students’ fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and content. During the first week of our research project, we gave the students a pre-assessment survey, which contained questions regarding their familiarity with technology, how often they speak English, if they enjoy speaking English, their comfort level speaking in English, what skill they want to improve, and their strongest and weakest English speaking skill (grammar, fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary).


For the first VT speaking assignment, students went to the Mt. SAC computer lab, where they created a free account and were shown how to use the app, which can be accessed through a computer or on a smart device. Then, they completed their first VT speaking assignment, which involved giving a self-introduction. For each week, we gave students a new VT speaking assignment involving either a grammar concept we were currently learning in class or a topic we had focused on in class. Students were scored using a rubric that assessed the following areas: speaking/content, fluency, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Each category was worth 5 points and a perfect score was 25 points. After each completed VT, students received the rubric and were given feedback. Sometimes students accessed the VT app on their phone or computer outside of class to complete the assignment, while other times they went to the computer lab during class time. For Orna’s Level 2 class, students went to the computer lab to complete all of their weekly VT assignments. IV. Data Analysis Only students who completed all of the VT assignments were included in our data. Below is the data from the pre-assessment survey, which students took before starting the VoiceThread project. Do you feel comfortable when you

speak English? YES NO Orna's Level 2 7 1

Jessica's Level 4

8 1

Kat's Level 6 3 1

TOTAL= 18 3

Do you feel comfortable using technology?

Very comfortable

Comfortable A little comfortable

Not very comfortable

Not comfortable at all

Orna's Level 2 5 3 0 0 0

Jessica's Level 4

5 4 0 0 0

Kat's Level 6 1 2 1 0 0

TOTAL= 11 9 1 0 0


What is your strongest English speaking skill?

GRAMMAR FLUENCY PRONUNCIATION VOCABULARY Orna's Level 2

2 0 3 3

Jessica's Level 4

2 3 2 2

Kat's Level 6

1 2 0 1

TOTAL= 5 5 5 6

What is your weakest English speaking skill? GRAMMAR FLUENCY PRONUNCIATION VOCABULARY Orna's Level 2

2 3 2 1

Jessica's Level 4

5 1 1 2

Kat's Level 6

0 1 2 1

TOTAL= 7 5 5 4 From viewing the pre-assessment survey data, it can be seen that the majority of participants were comfortable with speaking in English (82%) and were either very comfortable or comfortable with using technology (95%) before the project started. For students’ strongest and weakest English speaking skills, it varied. Below is the data from the post-assessment survey. It is important to note that although 21 students participated in the weekly VoiceThread assignments, only 20 of them completed the post-assessment survey because one Level 2 student was absent when the post-assessment survey was handed out due to the death of a parent.

Where did you use VoiceThread?

Only at home Only at school Both

Orna's Level 2 0 6 1 Jessica's Level 4 4 1 4 Kat's Level 6 0 1 3

TOTAL= 4 8 8


Did you enjoy using VoiceThread? YES NO

Orna's Level 2 7 0 Jessica's Level 4 9 0 Kat's Level 6 4 0

TOTAL= 20 0 From Orna’s Level 2 class, the following were popular student comments regarding why they enjoyed using VoiceThread:

• Learned new words • Helped me see my mistakes • Helped me speak more fluently • Helped me speak better • Like to try new things • Feel freer to speak • Helped me lose fear when talking

Do you feel more comfortable/relaxed speaking in

English now?

YES NO

Orna's Level 2 6 1 Jessica's Level 4 9 0 Kat's Level 6 4 0

TOTAL= 19 1

0

5

10

15

20

Orna's Level 2

Jessica's Level 4

Kat's Level 6 TOTAL

Do you feel more con-ident speaking in English now?

YES

NO


Based on the post-assessment questionnaire data, our project can be viewed as successful because all 20 students who were interviewed said that they enjoyed using VoiceThread, and 19 out of 20 (95%) said they feel more comfortable/relaxed speaking in English now and more confident. Moreover, after using VoiceThread every week, 95% of the participants claimed to have either improved a lot or a little; only 1 participant said he/she didn’t improve at all [see chart above].

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Fluency Grammar Pronunciation Vocabulary Other

Which speaking area(s) do you feel you have improved in?

(Select ALL that are true.)

Orna's Level 2

Jessica's Level 4

Kat's Level 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I IMPROVED A LOT I IMPROVED A LITTLE I DIDN'T IMPROVE AT ALL

After using VoiceThread every week, do you think you have improved your

speaking skills?

Orna's Level 2

Jessica's Level 4

Kat's Level 6


Below is the data for the final VoiceThread speaking assignment in which participants were scored in the areas of content, fluency, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Individual Weekly Scores for Orna’s Level 2 Evening Class

VoiceThread

#1 VoiceThread

#2 VoiceThread

#3 VoiceThread

#4 VoiceThread

#5 VoiceThread

#6

Student's Overall Average

Student 1 64% 64% 68% 72% 72% 78% 70% Student 2 66% 56% 72% 78% 54% 66% 65% Student 3 54% 68% 76% 62% 60% 52% 62% Student 4 68% 56% 84% 72% 72% 80% 72% Student 5 4% 58% 70% 72% 72% 68% 57% Student 6 72% 72% 74% 76% 68% 80% 74% Student 7 50% 82% 70% 70% 60% 72% 67% Student 8 72% 60% 72% 80% 64% 76% 71%

AVERAGE 56% 65% 73% 73% 65% 72% 67%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Final VoiceThread Speaking Assignment Score

Orna's Level 2 Class

Jessica's Level 4 Class

Kat's Level 6 Class


Individual Weekly Scores for Orna’s Level 2 Evening Class (continued)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

Student 5

Student 6

Student 7

Student 8

Comparison between the -irst and last VoiceThread (Orna's Class)

Last VoiceThread Score (%)

First VoiceThread Score (%)

Difference Between First and Last VT

Student 1 increased by 14% Student 2 stayed the same Student 3 decreased by 2% Student 4 increased by 12% Student 5 increased by 64% Student 6 increased by 8% Student 7 increased by 22% Student 8 increased by 4%


Individual Weekly Scores for Jessica’s Level 4 Evening Class

0% 50% 100%

Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6 Student 7 Student 8 Student 9

Comparison between the first and last VoiceThread (Jessica's Class)



VoiceThread #1

Self-Introduction

VoiceThread #2

My Best Vacation

VoiceThread #3

Where Will I Be in 2 Years?

VoiceThread #4

Compare & Contrast the U.S. with My

Home Country

VoiceThread #5

The Best Place to Live

VoiceThread #6

My Favorite Restaurant

VoiceThread #7

Using Gerunds & Infinitives

VoiceThread #8

Finish the Story

VoiceThread #9

My Favorite Movie or

Book


Student 1 84% 92% 94% 90% 92% 96% 90% 86% 96% 91%

Student 2 64% 54% 78% 72% 70% 64% 80% 48% 82% 68%

Student 3 92% 90% 98% 90% 96% 90% 98% 96% 96% 94%

Student 4 94% 100% 100% 98% 96% 98% 98% 92% 98% 97%

Student 5 82% 86% 90% 84% 86% 86% 80% 94% 86% 86%

Student 6 88% 84% 88% 88% 88% 86% 88% 94% 94% 89%

Student 7 88% 100% 100% 96% 100% 100% 96% 94% 100% 97%

Student 8 88% 82% 82% 90% 82% 88% 90% 96% 92% 88%

Student 9 94% 86% 98% 92% 88% 98% 96% 90% 96% 93%

AVERAGE 86% 86% 92% 89% 89% 90% 91% 88% 93% 89%


Student 1 increased by 12% Student 2 increased by 18% Student 3 increased by 4% Student 4 increased by 4% Student 5 increased by 4% Student 6 increased by 6% Student 7 increased by 12% Student 8 increased by 4% Student 9 increased by 2%


Individual Weekly Scores for Kat’s Level 6 Evening Class

VoiceThread

#1 VoiceThread

#2 VoiceThread

#3 VoiceThread

#4 VoiceThread

#5 VoiceThread

#6 VoiceThread

#7


Student 1 88% 96% 88% 96% 80% 88% 76% 87%

Student 2 70% 84% 40% 76% 84% 98% 100% 79%

Student 3 68% 60% 56% 68% 84% 96% 92% 75%

Student 4 88% 96% 92% 100% 100% 100% 100% 97%

AVERAGE 74% 77% 70% 82% 80% 88% 84% 84%

Variables that possibly contributed to fluctuation in scores include: lack of interest in the topic, familiarity with the topic, difficult topic, difficult grammar concept, missing the class focusing on the grammar point for the VoiceThread task, mental state of the day, preparation, comfort level when recording (i.e. at home or in the computer lab), lack of guidance (i.e. not having an example to look at or hear, or example questions or sentences), and using or not using notes or a dictionary/translator. After compiling all the data, we examined whether our SLO had been met. Our SLO was: After participating in weekly VoiceThread speaking assignments, students will be able to speak more confidently and fluently, stay on topic and use correct vocabulary, grammar

0% 50% 100%

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4




Student 1 decreased by 12%

Student 2 increased by 30%




and pronunciation most of the time. Assessment method #1’s criteria for success was: 70% of students who participate in the final speaking assessment will have a passing score of 17.5 points or higher out of 25 points on their final speaking assessment. Assessment method #2’s criteria for success was: 70% of students who complete the post-assessment survey will indicate that using VoiceThread on a weekly basis benefited them in improving their speaking skills and confidence. As can be seen from the data, both assessments had successful outcomes; 85% of students who participated in the final speaking assignment had a score of 17.5 or higher, 95% of the participants said they made improvement, and 95% said they feel more confident now. V. Conclusions and Recommendations for Classroom Instruction Orna Carmelli, Level 2 This was my first time using VoiceThread. I was really looking forward to trying it with my Level 2 students. I believed it had the potential of improving the speaking performance of my students. I gave the students a pre-assessment questionnaire and took them to the lab for their first VT registration and assignment. As most of the students in Level 2 have limited English speaking capabilities (and some were not very comfortable with using the internet and the VT app), I decided to continue taking my class to the lab for all of our VT assignments. This helped to ensure that more students would participate and complete the VT assignments given to them. However, this meant that the students did not necessarily spend extra time speaking in English, outside the classroom (as we initially intended). Some students did use the app at home, but most of them did not. Unfortunately, the app had many issues and was not as user friendly as I’d hoped. I believe this too contributed to the fact that most students did not use the VT app at home. Some of the issues were: Problems signing in to the app (sometimes they needed to sign in multiple times within one sitting), linking their recording to the classroom VoiceThread; recordings were cut off after a minute or two; inability to use the app on their phones and many other issues. Overall, I do not regret introducing and using this app with the students. I learned a lot in the process: about the app and most importantly about my students. I also believe that the students learned a lot about themselves (their ability to converse in English) and about their classmates. I think my students had a good time using the app. However, I would not recommend this app to other teachers at this time, until the app fixes all its glitches. If teachers would like to use this app (as it did have some benefits for me and my students), I would recommend that it should not be done on a weekly basis. That was too intense for me (a lot of weekly grading) and not enough time between assignments for the students to work on their recordings or fixing their errors (after the graded rubrics were handed back to them). Even though I had given the students weekly written instructions for their VT task and a recorded example of what I expect of them, it wasn’t enough. I think that students should better prepare for their recordings by looking up words ahead of time and planning what they want to say (this is especially important for the level 2 students).


Jessica Inthavong, Level 4 Although I have used VoiceThread for several years with my students who have been from various levels and from Mt. SAC as well as different universities, I had never encountered as many problems as I did during this project. The phone app hasn’t been updated for a long time and can be quite frustrating to students because it reroutes them to the VT site on an internet browser and then makes them sign in again. Also, I had a couple students complain about the app limiting them to only a minute recording. Despite the bumps in the road, overall, my class had a good time using VT and felt it benefited them. I would recommend this app to Mt. SAC teachers of speaking skills classes and level classes. I think that active participation depends on your class; sometimes you get a class of highly motivated students and sometimes you don’t. Some of my students didn’t participate as often as they would have liked to because they were very busy with work. I also think I had a semi-low number of dedicated students who completed all nine VT assignments because a few of the ones who were completing them on time at the beginning dropped the class later in the semester due to getting new jobs. My advice would be the following: don’t assign weekly VT assignments unless you are capable of grading all of them in a timely manner; give students workbook pages, websites, etc. that they can look at for extra practice to improve their errors; make sure you show students how to use VT through the website on a computer and on the phone app; give handouts that include the VoiceThread URL, a brief description of the assignment, requirements and useful phrases or grammar structures to use; provide a spoken example on the VT that students will record on; have students listen to one of their completed VTs and write down what they said and then try to identify and correct their errors. Besides having students complete individual VT speaking assignments, you can have students do group projects together (i.e. describe a process using passive voice) or assign listening homework based on the completed VTs. Katarina Zorkic, Level 6 I had never used VoiceThread before this particular project. My expectations were higher than what I experienced along with my Level 6 students. We encountered many issues from the very beginning of using VoiceThread. When I announced to my students that we would be doing this project, they were very enthusiastic and excited about doing something out of the classroom that would benefit them and that they could actually do on their own time. One of the major disappointments that I experienced with VoiceThread was the fact that my students’ enthusiasm withered as they encountered many issues with signing in, and not being able to use it on their phones, which was the main idea.


What I liked about this app was the fact that I learned a lot about my students. They talked about themselves in a safe environment and they liked listening to each other’s stories. This interaction was useful and it improved their English skills. Using VoiceThread as a method to monitor and evaluate progress of the student participants is an excellent and beneficial way to motivate language learners. It can boost confidence by providing direct feedback to the students via the sound recordings of their own speech from week to week, while adding yet another avenue for the instructors to supplement in class activities.

That is, the idea of VoiceThread is what is great, while the app itself lacks user-friendly features, ease of use and most importantly, accessibility. With the increased use of mobile technology due to its main advantage – convenience - VoiceThread falls behind when it could be an essential tool in any ESL class, IF it were glitch-free and accessible to student participants on the go, 24/7.

Overall, the outcomes of this research project are positive in both my opinion and that of the students’. Their progress was noticeable and very beneficial as a confidence booster, as I mentioned previously. I don’t believe that those outcomes are nearly as good as they could have been due to all the shortcomings of the VoiceThread platform, but everything does point in the right direction offering a new, effective and refreshing approach to language learning.

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Student Teacher Action Research (STAR) Using VoiceThread ... · 6/11/2019 · Student Teacher Action Research (STAR) Using VoiceThread to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills